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00:00Are you excited? Are you excited yet? Are we getting worked up yet for game one or no?
00:05I'm not feeling it yet from the fan base.
00:07No, I've been watching the play-in games. We'd like to say so long to Darius Garland, who was eliminated
00:13last night.
00:14Oh.
00:15Yesterday. Actually, I thought he played decently. He was in foul trouble the whole game.
00:20That's interesting.
00:21But Darius is out.
00:22You want to do that now? Hell, I thought we were going to get all excited about the Cavs.
00:26Well, I don't know if we're going to get excited yet.
00:28Well, it's just that's been a major talking point after the hardened trade that I've heard so many people say,
00:36well, if the pesky Clippers and if Darius can catch fire, and he was awesome to start the game.
00:45They were like triple-teaming Kawhi. Darius got out to a, I think he was 4-4 or 5-5
00:50from the field to start out.
00:52And I'm like, man, am I going to wake up and Darius is going to have 40 points?
00:56And no, the Clippers coughed up a lead late. All these games have been great.
01:01Well, they were up by 13 with like nine minutes left to go.
01:04And then things just went to hell for him.
01:07I heard Ty Lue's postgame a little bit.
01:09He was obviously beside himself with agitation.
01:13This is the first time the Clippers have made the playoffs since 2022.
01:17But the reason you bring it up is because of Darius Garland here.
01:20I mean, I hate to say it.
01:22Like, we have a clip of Darius in the postgame.
01:24He played 31 minutes last night.
01:26He scored 21 points.
01:27You were right.
01:27He started off hotter than hell.
01:28I think the fouls, because he got himself in foul trouble at one point, I think that
01:32that might have taken a little bit off of it, obviously.
01:35But, you know, you hear this from Darius, and I can't help but feel, I can't help but
01:40feel some sympathy.
01:41I know, guys, I know we sat here and fought each other, and there was a bunch of
01:44conversation about Darius in the postseason.
01:47But, like, when you hear this, you drafted the guy.
01:50People owned his jersey here.
01:52You can't help but feel bad for him.
01:53My first trade went really well for the half of the season, man.
01:57Like I said, this organization is really great.
02:00And I just wanted to come out here and just really prove a point that, like, I'm still
02:05one of those guys in this league, and I'm out there on nine toes.
02:08I'm not even healthy for real.
02:10It's tough, because it's never getting better.
02:13It's never getting better.
02:17The Cavs had to make the move they had to make for the right player, for the best player
02:21they could.
02:22You know, we sat there and we argued, and the whole time was, you're not going to get
02:26this dynamic wing for Darius Garland when he's got these injuries, you know, the back,
02:31the knee, then the toe.
02:34Would some of you be like, ah, toe, I mean, I don't know.
02:37If you haven't heard from Deion Sanders lately, like, it can obviously be debilitating for
02:41a player as you try to lift, as you try to push off.
02:44Like, I can hobble around without a toe.
02:46That's no big deal, because I ain't doing nothing physical.
02:48For them, obviously, it's a different animal.
02:50And last year in the postseason, when he tried to play, and he had basically the sideshow
02:55Bob shoes on that he was trying to wear to try to cover his toe, it's something he's
02:59going to deal with for his entire career.
03:01So as he deals with his entire career, like, this is just, this is something you had to
03:05do.
03:05So I feel bad when I hear that audio from Darius Garland.
03:08I really do.
03:09Like, there is a, it just, he, I don't know if he's ever going to be able to reach that
03:14potential, because this is, this has been going on the better part of two years.
03:18Well, and he's mentioning that, you know, right after the game, it tells you that it's
03:21on his mind, it's been a struggle, and it's something that, you know, if you're the Cavs,
03:27you just, you have a pretty concrete window considering Donovan Mitchell's time frame and all of
03:34that, so you, I think people don't realize just how up against it the Cavs were in having
03:40to make these decisions, because they were not just going to simply allow Darius and
03:46his, his, just his, his body cost them in such a way where it, it ends up costing them
03:52Donovan Mitchell, it ends up costing them this entire window that they are trying now to take
03:57advantage of.
03:58And you can't have like, you can't have this conversation all the time, like I, after this
04:03segment, and really after these next couple of minutes, like it's done, because we got
04:06audio, I want to, I want everybody here, the Sheriff is back in town and he's talking
04:09tough, but like, this is, I can't compare this to Baker Mayfield, they're not a serious
04:15playoff team right now, the, the, the Clippers, Kawhi, I don't know what his future is really,
04:22Darius, I don't, I think that again, he'll play and he'll show flashes, but I think that
04:27this injury is definitely going to shorten his career, and this, this is definitely going
04:31to take away from his career, hearing with Darius Garland there.
04:34I mean, when you're talking, it's so young that you're trying to prove you're still one
04:37of those guys, you know, that, that's, that's a tough, frustrating thing to hear for a guy
04:41like Darius Garland, but I can't make that comparison.
04:44You play at 10 o'clock at night for the most part, not a lot of people are going to
04:47be able
04:47to watch you during the regular season.
04:49You're not going to meet up in the Eastern Conference finals because you're not in the same
04:53ballpark there.
04:55So yeah, like it's still with or without Darius, the challenge is still to the Cavs.
05:00It's not just this trade for James Harden.
05:03Yes.
05:03Well, I know you say you feel sympathy for Darius.
05:06I do.
05:06Did you feel any, we dodged a bullet?
05:10Well, you can't.
05:11Well, that's the first thing.
05:13You can't help it.
05:14Honestly.
05:14No, you can't help it because you're a Cavs fan and you want the Cavs to do well because
05:16you want to maximize everything you have in the window.
05:19And because honestly, I thought he was untradeable.
05:21I really thought he was untradeable because what, it was a conversation.
05:25What are you going to give back for Darius Garland?
05:26Well, you know, Darius is a, is a fine player when healthy is one of the best point guards
05:31in the NBA.
05:32Now I know that he's had an up and down career.
05:34So I know that's a strong thing to say.
05:35And I know that you would fight back on that for the most part, but I think when healthy,
05:39he can play like one of the best point guards in the NBA, but he's very rarely healthy anymore.
05:44So now it's, well, what can we get for him?
05:47Well, we got back for him what we could get back for him, which is a former MVP, a 36
05:52year
05:52old, former MVP, a multiple time, all-star and a hall of famer.
05:55And that's as best as we're going to get.
05:57And that's why you got to go as fast as you can.
05:59Cause next year he's going to be 37 and who knows what's going to happen after that.
06:03So the clock speeds up.
06:05But I think if anybody hears that audio throughout the day today, anybody hears that clip of
06:09Darius Garland, like we'll play it again in about last night.
06:12But if anybody hears that clip from Darius Garland, like, I hope there's a realization.
06:15Like, yeah, man, you had to do what you had to do.
06:17Well, not only that, you just had to do this remember it was like two days before he got
06:22traded or really when the rumors started and it seemed like, Oh, they're really considering
06:27this.
06:28They're really considering trading for James Harden.
06:30Like we had to start to, you know, uh, wrap our arms around that as being a potential thing
06:37after we had just assumed he was a guy that was part of the, the core and all of that
06:43guys,
06:44Kenny Atkinson told the team, we are not going to dwell on injuries anymore.
06:49They're basically not going to be an excuse.
06:51And this was as banged up a team as there was in the NBA this year.
06:55And he said, we are, we are done talking about injuries.
06:58And I remember we played that audio and I swear that five days later, they traded Darius
07:03Garland.
07:03And what did Darius go to right after the game last night, after they were eliminated again,
07:09it's toe, he talked about his toe.
07:11And again, not his fault.
07:12I gave him so much credit for playing through.
07:15I know people don't, won't believe that.
07:17If you just started listening to the show, I thought he was gutted out last year.
07:21It was so clear that he was a shell of himself in that series against the Pacers.
07:26And I almost felt like he was, he was talked into playing just because of the conversation
07:33around him.
07:34I mean, guys on inside the NBA were crushing the Cavs because DeAndre Hunter was out.
07:39Evan Mobley was out.
07:41You remember last year, Stephen A. Smith, the things he was saying about Darius Garland.
07:45So I think Darius Garland hears that stuff.
07:47I mean, so it caused him to play what he probably shouldn't have even played.
07:51Probably not.
07:51What was our takeaway after that series last year?
07:53Like, I don't know if you can rely on Darius.
07:55Exactly.
07:56And there was a question of just, again, not just his play, because some people go, you
08:01know, he's still 6'2".
08:02He's still not very heavy.
08:03He gets shoved around a lot, even when he's healthy here.
08:06But, you know, this has been kind of a run where, you know, we naturally have to eliminate
08:10excuses.
08:11Like, I didn't realize yesterday when they had their practice, this was the first practice
08:15James Harden has had with the entire roster in two months since he's been here.
08:18Yeah, think about that.
08:18This is the first practice.
08:19Yesterday was the first time they had ever been around each other, the whole roster on
08:24the floor together, doing drills and working out and getting ready for game one of this
08:28series.
08:28It's been all based on feel so far since they've gotten Harden.
08:31Exactly.
08:31And if you still had Darius Garland, or if you did some, like, this is a controversial
08:36thing that they've done.
08:37If you have done what a lot of the general fans wanted them to do, the things that you
08:42and I got criticized for were like, hey, this is the way that it's got to be.
08:44They got to, they have to manipulate the seeds.
08:48They have to do what they can.
08:49Like, there were people getting in on me on Friday because I said I didn't want them
08:52to win against the Atlanta Hawks.
08:54I want this series to be the way it is.
08:56If they go out and they lose against Toronto and they lose the series, there's going to be a,
09:00serious issue here, but they did the best they could.
09:03And they also did what they needed to do while they were getting healthy.
09:07Like, that has to be an underlying thing.
09:09Like, this was as about as perfect as you could set it up for a team that had to deal
09:14with what they had to deal with this year.
09:15And it's, it's pretty crazy.
09:16You consider how talented Darius was, the way people were talking about him, not just
09:21here, when, when he, you know, got off to that really, really sensational first three
09:27months, a year ago, two-time all-star, you know, we were wondering just where, where
09:32you could put him in the realm of point guards in the NBA.
09:36And a year later, he's on the Clippers.
09:39It's not his fault.
09:40Don't, don't get me wrong.
09:41I mean, it wasn't his fault, but he got eliminated.
09:44They were in the play and to begin with, they were fighting for their lives.
09:47He now only has nine playoff wins, not series wins.
09:51We're talking playoff wins.
09:53He only has nine in seven years in the NBA for Darius, for somebody as talented as him
09:58just goes to show how, when, when you draft somebody with talent and you start to go crazy
10:04with the thought of, Hey, how, how, how good could somebody like him be seven years later?
10:09We're sitting here.
10:09We had to trade them for James Harden, a guy that nobody liked watching before he got
10:14here.
10:14It's just pretty crazy to think about how this all unfolded.
10:17And we talk about the current Cleveland Cavaliers because James Harden's a current Cleveland
10:20Cavalier.
10:21Donovan Mitchell's obviously a current Cavalier and Evan Mobley is a current Cavalier.
10:26And ladies and gentlemen, the sheriff is talking tough yet again.
10:30Not too much, honestly, free mind, free focus, been here before now, multiple times and not
10:36feeling too much pressure, just ready to be locked in and ready to go and go all the
10:39way.
10:41He's got that bass in his voice now.
10:42He sounded a little louder there at the Cleveland Clinic courts.
10:47Talking tough, man.
10:48One of the best groups going into it.
10:50We have a lot of talent.
10:51A lot of guys locked in and focused.
10:53A lot of guys with playoff experience as well.
10:55Still pretty young.
10:56So I think we're, we're in a great spot overall.
11:01I'm excited to see this, Kenny.
11:02Hard ass.
11:03I am really excited to see what he's going to be made of in these playoffs.
11:06You know, as we said, goodbye to Darius.
11:08He was, you know, one of the youthful members of the core.
11:11We thought now, boom, tier seven.
11:13Like these things can pass very quickly.
11:16Like it's time for Evan to have a playoffs that we've been waiting for him to
11:21have.
11:21And I think the formula is there.
11:24You know, you look at, what's the formula?
11:26Well, he has eliminated the waste from his game.
11:30He has wasted.
11:32He's eliminated the stuff that everybody wanted to see the last few years.
11:35Hey, I want to see three pointers.
11:37I want to see him dribble the ball.
11:38I want to see him do unicorn things.
11:40Since the all-star break, he's basically gotten rid of dribbling the ball on the perimeter.
11:45He's gotten rid of the three-point shooting, and he has really focused his game on catching
11:50the ball around the paint and going quick and cleaning up the scraps on the inside, you
11:57know, with more of an emphasis on rebounding and defense.
12:01And I do think it's been noticeable, and we'll see what carries through in the playoffs.
12:05See, there's something interesting here is that I slept for about two hours last night.
12:08I could not sleep because of the photos I was sending you.
12:12So, it started creeping into my head.
12:15We have a serpent in the front bushes, and I could not sleep last night.
12:20There's something I have in common with Scotty Barnes, though, is that we both woke up at
12:243 a.m., and when I hear that audio, that means that the difference is that I woke up
12:29fine, he woke up in a cold sweat, getting ready to take on Evan Mobley in game one of
12:34the Eastern Conference playoffs.
12:36It's been limited, but for the minutes we got played, I feel like we played great in those
12:39minutes, and we feel very comfortable.
12:42I'm with everyone out there, and obviously, more minutes will be better, but that's what
12:45we have, and we're going to get more minutes, obviously, in the playoffs, so we're going
12:49to keep learning from there.
12:50Clint Eastwood, John Cassavetes, Evan Eastwood, Clint Mobley, however you want to say it.
12:59It's time.
13:00Did last night prove that the Cavs won the trade with Darius Garland and James Harden?
13:04And did Darius Garland admit it when he said this after the Clippers lost last night to
13:12the Golden State Warriors?
13:13My first trade went really well for half of the season, man.
13:16Like I said, this organization is really great, and I just want to come out here and just really
13:22prove a point that I'm still one of those guys in this league, and I'm out there on nine
13:27toes.
13:28I'm not even healthy for real.
13:30So that's Darius Garland admitting his injuries.
13:35And it's a big part, obviously, before I weigh in on that, that question that you just asked
13:39to start the segment, obviously, Darius, this has been very unfortunate for him, and the toe
13:46thing just brutalized his playoff resume for last year, and after last night, I mean, he's
13:52not going to get a chance to have a real playoff series this year, so he's sitting on nine wins
13:56in seven years as a two-time All-Star, so that's very unfortunate.
14:01It's not his fault.
14:03I mean, it's just not his fault.
14:04I thought he tried to gut through it last year.
14:05The win per toe.
14:06But then he had, remember, he had the other toe, the other foot, and another toe on the
14:11other foot.
14:11Now he's ahead.
14:13So this year, it's just been really tough for him, and you can see it weighs on him.
14:17At the same time, that is why they had to make the move that they made.
14:23Like, they knew that they could not rely on him being healthy this time of year.
14:29And he played well last night offensively, defensively, got in foul trouble, and he was,
14:37let's just say, he was exposed, you know, on the defensive side as well.
14:41Oh, I saw the video you posted.
14:42I saw the video you posted.
14:44I'm trying to be as fair as possible, because he got off to a great start last night.
14:51It was actually pretty cool to see.
14:53I mean, he started out, with all those playoff bugaboos, he started out like five of five
14:56from the field.
14:57And he also had a big three in the fourth quarter that took the lead to seven, where
15:01you're thinking, oh my God, they're going to eliminate Steph Curry.
15:04And then, of course, Steph does stuff that Steph does.
15:06Al Horford hit four threes, I think, in the fourth quarter.
15:09So Golden State comes from behind, and that's just it.
15:11Darius is done.
15:12One, they got to figure out what's next for the Clippers.
15:14I know no one here cares about the Clippers, but that is kind of how we judge.
15:18This big trade is monitoring both teams going forward.
15:21And I think, Andy, you got to think about how we felt about trades in the past, because
15:24this is different than anything else.
15:26And by the way, Andrew Barry, 11 o'clock today.
15:28Also, go to the Fan Mock Draft tonight, 7 p.m.
15:30Game on in North Olmstead.
15:32A lot of people are going to be there.
15:33It's going to be a fantastic time.
15:34Even if you don't have a team for the Fan Mock Draft, you can still get a team, because there's
15:39always standby.
15:39If somebody doesn't show up, you might be able to get a team.
15:42So we'll see how it goes.
15:43Can't guarantee a team, but stop on by.
15:44It's a fun time presented by the fine folks at Bud Light.
15:47So going back to what you just said, usually, like when they made the trade with Francisco
15:51Lindor, okay?
15:54There's a lot of trash talk out the door.
15:56You remember that.
15:56The story about him falling asleep and all the other stuff.
15:59I've gotten over that.
16:01You know, people got upset because he didn't want to be called Frankie and all that other
16:05crap.
16:06When it comes to Darius Garland, we fought over Darius Garland.
16:11We fought about Darius Garland.
16:13But I didn't have a problem with Darius.
16:15I didn't really have a problem with Francisco Lindor.
16:17The only problem that Francisco Lindor had is that he really, I don't think he really
16:20wanted to play here.
16:21And when they found a way to move on, it seems that, hey, we're the team that is just as
16:27good as what the Mets are.
16:28And the Mets are spending way more money on him than they are, and Juan Soto, than we
16:32are on our team.
16:33So what's it really matter in the grand scheme of things?
16:36This is different.
16:37I think a lot of us wanted it to work out with Darius Garland.
16:39He's number four overall pick for crying out loud.
16:41Seems like a fine young man.
16:44I know that there's always been questions about how seriously he takes going to the
16:49playoffs, competing, being a champion.
16:52I think right there, that was a grown-up moment right there when he said what he said.
16:55Because you're talking like a guy who's in his late 30s saying, oh, I can still prove
16:59what I got here.
17:00I'm still one of those guys.
17:01And this guy's still in his mid-20s talking like that, like Darius Garland.
17:04You don't want this to go the way of like Brandon Roy, who had all that talent, but
17:09by year, for him, I think it was year six or year seven, he had debilitating chronic
17:14injuries, and he was never going to be able to really play, and then he had to retire early.
17:18That's not, Darius doesn't have to retire early or anything like that.
17:21But, you know, the thought is, of somebody like Darius, is you're building a team around
17:26him as maybe the second best player.
17:28And I don't know if that's going to be possible if you can't simply rely on him getting through
17:33the season and being available.
17:35I think that's an absolutely fair point, and that's why you make that move.
17:38Remember, remember, Kenny Atkinson said a few days before Darius got traded, they had
17:45a big meeting.
17:46I remember Chris Fedor did the reporting on this, I believe.
17:48They had a big meeting, and they said, from the organization down, we as an organization
17:54are making no more excuses for injuries.
17:58That didn't come from nowhere.
18:00Like, they obviously thought there were guys in the past that maybe had been doing that,
18:05and they basically said, nobody cares.
18:07Nobody cares about your injuries.
18:09People that talk about the Cavs this year, they certainly don't care.
18:11Like, they've been one of the most injured teams in the NBA, and no one seems to care
18:14about it.
18:14No one's giving them a pass.
18:16Our own fans don't care.
18:16I've tried to give them a little bit of a pass and say this regular season actually was
18:20miraculous considering the injuries.
18:21It's pointless, and you know, we just got done arguing with Deshaun in Cleveland about
18:26the realism versus the hope when it comes to Shador Sanders.
18:30You can sit there and hope all you want that we're going to give them a pass over the injuries.
18:33They'll give you a pass once.
18:34They gave the Cavs a pass in 2015 over injuries.
18:36They're giving you a pass now.
18:38No.
18:38You can't do it.
18:39It's been five years.
18:40That's it.
18:41You can't do it.
18:42As bad as it is, and God forbid something bad happens.
18:45This is, you'd be right.
18:46This is the first time they've practiced with a full roster with James Harden since they
18:50got James Harden.
18:51That's two months, guys.
18:52This is the first time they've been able to do it.
18:54That's an incredible amount of time.
18:55Incredible.
18:56So finally, you're healthy.
18:58But again, going back to the trade, they did what they had to do.
19:01Like, I'll have to defend Kobe Altman and King to come because I didn't know that there
19:05was any other possibility.
19:06I didn't even know that James Harden was available at that time, to be honest with you, at least
19:09for Darius Garland.
19:11But you had to do what you had to do because some people took it as, my God,
19:16you take this guy who's 36 years old, he's an also-ran, he's a has-been, quote-unquote,
19:22and I think a lot of people didn't see James Harden.
19:25Frankly, I mean, there's been a lot of nasty things being said about James Harden here over
19:28the last three years.
19:29Let's not act stupid.
19:31I'm telling myself, I don't need to act stupid with you.
19:34The strip clubs, wings, out of shape, not fun to watch.
19:38You bring it up, not fun to watch.
19:40The foul merchant of what he is.
19:42And so when you don't watch a lot of the other teams of the NBA, and he's playing on the
19:45West
19:45Coast for the last couple of years, you're not going to get a chance to see.
19:48The Clippers are not must-see TV to me, and they really have never been.
19:51Even with Chris Paul, even with Blake Griffin, they've never been that team.
19:54The Lakers, when I was up and when I was doing the night show.
19:57Darius Miles and Lamar Odom.
19:59And I like Darius Miles, okay?
20:01But even when I was doing the late show, when I was doing nights, it was Golden State,
20:05when they were first coming up, it was the Lakers, it was Portland.
20:08That's the Suns.
20:09That's who I'm watching.
20:10I didn't care about the Clippers.
20:12And it's still that way.
20:13So no one's watching James Harden.
20:15So all you do is you hear nasty things about James Harden, because that's all people had
20:20to say.
20:21He's obviously been a fantastic player and a pretty good teammate here with this basketball
20:24team so far.
20:24It's early.
20:25We'll see where it goes.
20:26And it speeds up the clock, because he's 10 years older than Darius Garland.
20:29So people don't like the clock being sped up on this.
20:31They want to elongate it as much as they can.
20:33But you had to do what you had to do, because the guy just admitted in front of God and
20:36everybody,
20:37you're playing with 10 toes.
20:37I have said, though, with, unfortunately, the constraints of the new CBA, the clock was
20:45already going to be sped up, because you couldn't put a team together and have all this money
20:50tied up in your super max deals and your max deals with Evan Mobley, Donovan, and Darius.
20:56They were going to have to pivot off somebody anyway.
20:59Now, you might not be happy that they ended up pivoting off somebody that was a two-time
21:03all-star, young, but would you rather have them say goodbye to Donovan Mitchell?
21:09And then what?
21:10Your core is a banged-up, often-injured Darius and Evan?
21:14How many wins is that team going to win every year?
21:16Well, if you say goodbye to Donovan Mitchell at that point, you're just spinning out of
21:18control.
21:18Now, if you don't get to the Eastern Conference Finals, it's going to be interesting to hear
21:21what some fans feel about all this.
21:23Because I do think...
21:26You guys know I rip on Kendrick Perkins a lot, and I think you guys play him just to get
21:31me going at times, like I'm a wind-up doll for you, for the producers and our boss.
21:37But he did make a point, like, yeah, they've done a lot for Donovan Mitchell.
21:40They've done a lot for him.
21:41They've made a lot of trades, a lot of moves.
21:43They did a lot for LeBron, but I do happen to agree with Kendrick Perkins.
21:46I think they've done more for Donovan Mitchell.
21:48And if you don't get as far, like, I can't guarantee a championship.
21:51I can't guarantee NBA Finals.
21:53Donovan is not LeBron.
21:54But if you can't get to the Eastern Conference Finals, I think some people, they might hear all
21:57this, and if you can't get there, and they might just go, you know what?
22:01What the hell are we going through all this hell for?
22:03What are we doing this for?
22:04Maybe you're not a number one.
22:05LeBron, you never questioned if he was a number one.
22:07That never happened.
22:09It never happened.
22:10And there are certain guys you never question whether or not they're that guy.
22:14And that's why they are all-time greats.
22:16Him, Michael, and then a couple of other guys and a list.
22:20With Donovan, you're at a crossroads right now.
22:22Whether or not you're a number one that can lead a team to a championship, or if you're going
22:25to have to get into that passenger seat and do that, this year's going to be a critical
22:28year for them.
22:29That's why they have to get to the Eastern Conference Finals, because I want to elongate
22:32that.
22:32But that's still going beside this.
22:34What Kobe Altman did, when this comes down to the end of this season, whether they go
22:38to the NBA Finals and win it, whether they just go to the Conference Finals, whatever,
22:42I will have to defend Kobe Altman on this.
22:44And there's things that are definitely coming back on Kobe Altman with this team.
22:48But you were stuck in a rock and a hard place.
22:50He was more injured than what we wanted to let on.
22:52He was more injured than what anybody was saying.
22:54When Darius Garland said that last night, he let you guys all in about what it's been
23:00over the last two years.
23:01He's been dealing with this injury, and it's never going to get better.
23:04But one thing I will ask then, is when I'm watching yesterday, him bounce around and shoot
23:10those step-backs, side-step threes, and seem to be able to do it with ease.
23:15You can run on adrenaline and cortisone.
23:18Well, if he's saying that, well, I'm doing that on nine toes, is that still maybe just in
23:23his head, because he looked fine.
23:25Physically, he looked fine.
23:27He's looked fine ever since he got traded to the Clippers.
23:30So then it begs the question, like, is this turning into a more...
23:34Last year during the playoffs, yes, that was physical.
23:36No doubt.
23:37Like, you could see him laboring.
23:38I haven't seen him labor since he's been a Clipper.
23:41And then it makes me wonder, is it more in his head?
23:43And if that's the case, how does he get past that?
23:45Because he's going to get banged up again.
23:47Then, that almost causes a whole other set of issues.
23:50Yeah, that does.
23:512-1-6-4-7-4-0-9-2.
23:53BP and Pepper Pike, you're next up on the fan.
23:56Hey, guys.
23:57How you doing?
23:57Doing well, BP.
23:58Go right on ahead.
24:00Oh, great topic.
24:01You know, I stayed up late, watched that game.
24:03I wanted to see how Garland was going to do.
24:05And of course, you know, he came up short in a big game.
24:08I mean, he had five fouls.
24:09I don't know why.
24:10He doesn't guard anybody.
24:11You know, but I'm a fan of Garland.
24:13Well, he was trying to yesterday.
24:14I think he was playing his ass off because I think he understands the role.
24:17Real quick, BP, I'm going to let you back in.
24:19I think he understands the role and the questions that are being brought up about him.
24:22Like, that was – I think that was a really emotional night last night for Darius Garland.
24:26Yeah, I mean, he's always been kind of like a poor man, Steph Curry.
24:29And, of course, who was he going against?
24:31Steph Curry.
24:32And, of course, who won?
24:33Curry had 35 points.
24:35You know, he pulled it out again.
24:36I mean, I hate the guy, but he always pulls it out.
24:38The guy's incredible.
24:40But, you know, I said last night on Twitter, right after the game, I said,
24:44Darland is already – Darius Garland is already out of the NBA playoffs,
24:47and we haven't even begun yet with James Harden in the Cavs.
24:49So, it's just kind of – that's why I'm optimistic.
24:52I want to see how Harden is going to do.
24:53To me, he's the X factor for the playoffs, you know.
24:56We know it.
24:57Yeah, so great job.
24:58Let's see what happens.
24:59Looking forward to Saturday.
25:00BP, thank you very much for the call.
25:02We've got to be fair.
25:03You can't question BP.
25:04You know he knows ball.
25:04I'm not trying to do the thing here, but he's a ball-knower.
25:08He is.
25:09Ball-knower, ball-knower, ball-knower, ball-knower, ball-knower, ball-knower.
25:12Lots of knowledge here.
25:14And this show has cultivated a lot of that, I think, in this town, which is good.
25:17I can't say that for everybody, but I do think our listeners –
25:21We go one effing show without you taking a shot at that.
25:23So, I do have to be fair here.
25:26What happens if Harden is atrocious in this series or in these playoffs?
25:32Are we going to have to go back and –
25:34Hell yeah.
25:34– revisit all of this?
25:35Yeah.
25:35So, I want to be fair.
25:36Record all this, but I'm still going to defend Kobe Altman.
25:39One guy has a track record where he's had –
25:41Yes, he's had a handful of bad games in the postseason.
25:45He's also had a bunch of 30-point performances.
25:48How many did you bring?
25:49You had the number off the top of your head, didn't you, in the postseason?
25:52And plus, that guy's been asked to be a number one before.
25:54James Harden has been asked to be the leader of a team before.
25:57He's not.
25:58Darius Garland's never been asked to do it.
25:59I think Darius Garland wants to do it.
26:01James Harden has an MVP.
26:02He's not asked to do it.
26:02There was one little, little, little, little point where we thought he could have been the guy.
26:06And then they traded for Donovan Mitchell, and so you guys all knew the score.
26:09To the point where we thought that maybe Darius was going to get upset.
26:12You remember those conversations we would have with Jason on the air
26:14where we thought that Darius might get upset where,
26:17Oh my gosh, this was supposed to be my team.
26:19You get rid of Colin Sexton, but you bring in Donovan Mitchell.
26:22That all went out the window in about 15 minutes on the air.
26:27So, Darius is at a crossroads for his career just because of his own health.
26:31Donovan's got to get it figured out, obviously.
26:33And obviously, James Harden has to go with him on this.
26:37So, this is where I penciled him in for the finals.
26:41I'm not going to take that back.
26:42I'm going to wear it.
26:43That was before Jason Tatum, but I'm not going to sit there and make excuses for myself
26:47because they're not going to make excuses for the Cavs.
26:50Here we are.
26:51And it's going to be up to James Harden to raise up to the level of expectation that a Cavaliers
26:56fan has.
26:56And that's dominance against the Toronto Raptors.
26:59Let's call it what it is.
27:00It needs to be a five-game series against Toronto.
27:03And then we'll see what happens against Detroit.
27:04But it should be a win against Detroit.
27:06It might be a tougher series.
27:07It might be six.
27:07It might be seven.
27:08But it's got to be a win against Detroit.
27:10And then we'll see where it goes against Paul.
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