00:00A win Saturday afternoon for your Cleveland Cavaliers are 1-0 in this series against Toronto.
00:05Lima's already looking forward to the second round.
00:08I'm mapping out the whole run of the Eastern Conference Finals and maybe beyond.
00:12This is great.
00:13All right, what did you think of, obviously, what did you think of Saturday throughout the whole thing?
00:18Was there a statement that was made on Saturday afternoon by the Cavs,
00:21or was this one game, was it a feel-out game and that's it?
00:24Well, I got it. I'm watching that game. I was there for it.
00:27I kept walking around Cleveland and going, where is the playoff feel?
00:32Because I was wondering in the lead-up, was this going to be a city-wide thing,
00:37or is this a bubble thing, or are people still thinking about the draft?
00:41And I got a mixture of all the above.
00:43I mean, once I was in the building, you know, just watching the intros
00:47and feeding off, you know, that crowd, especially towards the end of the first half,
00:52that run that they went on, the Max Strews layup, Max was playing out of his mind.
00:57Obviously shot really well, and you kept waiting for them to distance themselves,
01:01put some distance between them and Toronto, and then the lid came off the place.
01:06And I'm like, all right, a little more like it.
01:08And I think fans who have kept this team at arm's length, I know it's only one game,
01:13but I think they needed that.
01:15They needed to see that, oh, we're way better than some other teams.
01:20For them to start to think that this team could make the run that we've been hoping for
01:25and talking about for a long time.
01:27All right, so I'm excited about the win.
01:28Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to poo-poo the win.
01:30I'm just not, I'm not there yet like you are.
01:34I've been with you basically lockstep.
01:37However, you know, it's the first game of the series.
01:40It could be a feel-out game.
01:42I'd be very surprised if they blew them out the way they blew them out on Saturday afternoon.
01:47I was surprised the way they blew them out Saturday afternoon, to be honest with you.
01:50I know that it was kind of close in the first half,
01:52and then things got kind of separated there right before the end of the half
01:56where Kenny Atkinson talked about that.
01:59But to see the way that things were up in the third quarter,
02:02and then basically by the halfway through, I'd say the nine-minute mark, eight-minute mark,
02:06it was just like, well, you can watch the rest of the game if you want to.
02:09If you don't want to, no one's going to really bother you by it.
02:11Like, I think that that's kind of the way that a lot of folks felt about it.
02:14I don't think it's going to be like that tonight.
02:19Well, I'd just be surprised if it were like that tonight.
02:22Well, yeah, teams make adjustments.
02:23Yeah, I know.
02:24There's always, you know, I saw people say, no, they have to sweep Toronto.
02:28Like, nothing's ever going to be good enough.
02:30And I'm like, you know, the percentage of sweeps that happen in the NBA are very low.
02:35Like, you're going to have tough moments.
02:37The Cavs are going to be trailing in games.
02:39That's the playoffs.
02:40But, again, I think so many people were not far enough removed from the LeBron years
02:45that LeBron spoiled this entire city to such an extent that people don't know
02:51that in the playoffs you don't just crush your opponents every game.
02:55Well, if the game would end, see, this is where it's going to be.
02:58And I just got to feel it out for the rest of this first round, really going into games
03:03one and two, if I really want to quicken it up.
03:06There were no games within single digits yesterday.
03:09Of the four games, they were all basically blowouts in so many ways.
03:12And yesterday's results really grounded me on, because I just can't see every single
03:19series being a four-game sweep, five-game gentlemen sweep, blowout, things like that.
03:24I can't see that.
03:26So because of yesterday and the way things went yesterday, it did.
03:30Like, if they would have played yesterday, if the Cavs would have played yesterday, I'd
03:33probably be saying some pretty irresponsible stuff right now.
03:36But because they played Saturday and I got to see what went on yesterday, it's like,
03:41all right, it's great.
03:43I'm glad to be up 1-0.
03:44Don't get me wrong.
03:45Like, I'm glad they won, and I'm glad they won handedly.
03:47But I don't think you're going to find tough talk in me just yet.
03:52Now, that might be tomorrow morning if they go out and they blow them out tonight, but
03:55I'm just not ready to talk tough.
03:56Well, and I think we did this last year to Miami.
03:59We pulverized Miami.
04:00It was the most lopsided series in NBA history by the numbers.
04:04I give Toronto more respect.
04:06Like, I should be more excited about this than I was last year against Miami.
04:10Miami was not in anywhere near condition to compete against you as an eight seed versus a
04:16one seed, and just watching Toronto, I give Toronto more respect than I gave them.
04:23And the only respect you were to give them last year was going to be because of Eric
04:26Spolster.
04:26This, I do respect the players.
04:28You know, I do respect what they have, and I think that they do have a bit of a future
04:33ahead of them.
04:34I mean, obviously, they're going to have decisions they have to make here over the next few years,
04:37but I give them a little bit more respect than I gave the Heat.
04:40I don't mean to cut you off, but that's the way I felt about it.
04:42I did think of Miami, though.
04:43I watched that game, especially when they turned it on in the second half, because Toronto,
04:49the only shot they have to win this series is to force turnovers, get out in transition,
04:53and the Cavs were just so disciplined.
04:56And even though it was a very back-and-forth battle for most of the first half, I think
05:01it was only back-and-forth because you had guys hitting threes that don't hit threes.
05:05Scotty Barnes is a terrible three-point shooter.
05:07He was three of four.
05:08The guy, man, everybody was, I have some commentary coming up on Emmanuel Quickly, who I, with Cavs
05:15haters, apparently became a top-five guard in the NBA because apparently they were missing
05:19him in such a way, even though his backup hit five threes.
05:24Like, I'm laughing because I know Toronto, they, if the Cavs, if the Cavs, if you talk to
05:32the Cavs' coaches and we're being honest, they'd be like, yeah, we are going to allow
05:36those guys to shoot as many threes as humanly possible.
05:39As long as we're making it tough on Brandon Ingram, Toronto has no chance in this series.
05:43And that's exactly how it played out.
05:44I heard in the lead-up to these games how, oh, no, it was going to be an afternoon game,
05:50a matinee.
05:51Oh, no.
05:52How are the Cavs?
05:53How's James Harden, this old man, going to wake up in time and be able to play?
05:58No, he was fine.
05:59He dominated.
06:00James Harden dominated that game.
06:01Well, wouldn't you be better in the early morning if you're an old man?
06:04Right, yeah.
06:05Early risers.
06:06Yeah, I mean, remember, this isn't the old James Harden that would be out till five in
06:10the morning and going to the strip clubs.
06:11I know why this...
06:12It's a very different James Harden now.
06:13I know why you got the responses you did.
06:15You went to the game, right?
06:16Yeah.
06:16Okay, so you didn't get to see the television broadcast.
06:19No.
06:19Did you see at all the television broadcast?
06:20Okay, so third quarter, fourth quarter, they showed a lot of Emmanuel quickly on the bench.
06:28And there was a little bit...
06:31All right, I know you're friends with Eric Collins, and I'm not trying to be nasty about
06:34it.
06:34There was...
06:35It just seemed a little disjointed.
06:36Am I wrong?
06:37I'm trying to be nice about it.
06:38No, I agree with that.
06:39Okay.
06:40And there was just a lot of...
06:43Like, almost like he was trying to pull it into being a game there for a moment.
06:47Nothing against him, man.
06:48I'm not trying to knock him.
06:49Who was the color analyst?
06:50Who was he working with?
06:52It was...
06:52Eric's done a ton of big games this year.
06:54He's done...
06:56And he's done Ohio State football.
06:59He's, like, been elevated over the years.
07:01I'm out in Poland, and they got...
07:03You know, we got the game going, and it was just a lot of shots I felt of Emmanuel quickly
07:08on the sidelines.
07:09They tried to make that to be a huge story.
07:11I think that's kind of where you're getting that going.
07:13Well, if Quickly's back in game two, it's going to be a different animal here.
07:16Well, hey, he's a talented player.
07:18He's also not a starter on 90% of teams in the NBA.
07:22So this is what I got to laugh at.
07:24Strong commentary there.
07:25I can tell, again, not to go all condescending.
07:31Call people ball-knowers.
07:32No, I...
07:33Yeah, do it.
07:33You want to do it, do it.
07:34I'm not going to do it anymore.
07:35We're 10 minutes in, do it.
07:36I'm not going to do it.
07:36It rubbed people the wrong way.
07:38People were saying, Limey, you're talking over people.
07:40I'm not going to do that.
07:41Why wouldn't you?
07:42Why wouldn't they say that?
07:42You've done it all the time.
07:43No, I'm done.
07:44I'm done.
07:45I'm retiring the bit.
07:45It's going to end now.
07:47But I got to say...
07:48But I already made this thing.
07:49I'm retiring the bit.
07:51You don't know ball!
07:53Yeah, if it were up to me, I'd just get rid of it.
07:55Nothing gets retired and you're not getting rid of anything.
07:57I would say that I want to bring people in.
08:00I don't want to be divisive for the playoffs.
08:03But I could tell, frankly, who knew ball and who didn't by those that overreacted to Emmanuel
08:09quickly not playing.
08:10Because he would only start on like four teams in a league and maybe the tanking teams.
08:15He's not that good.
08:16He's a bench player.
08:17I looked up at the Ringer rankings.
08:19He was 100th on the Ringer 100.
08:22He was 100th.
08:24He was the 45th guard.
08:26What are we talking about?
08:27What are we talking about, people?
08:29I get that you hate the Cavs.
08:31I get that you're trying to make it seem like they were going to lose in any game.
08:34That they should have been basically a playing team.
08:37But if you're telling me that the Toronto Raptors in this whole series would hinge on
08:42Emmanuel Clickley, somebody you guys did not even know who that was six months ago.
08:46And you're telling me the Cavs got some giant break because he didn't play in this series
08:50or play in this game.
08:51I know he was upgraded to questionable.
08:52Stop it.
08:53His backup went five of six from three-point range.
08:56He was not going to go five of six from three-point range.
09:00So, nonsense.
09:02It makes sense.
09:03I'm not.
09:03It's a great weed out.
09:04I'm not discreeting with you.
09:05If anybody in your life told you that Emmanuel Quickly, not playing in that game,
09:10was going to be the difference in just, it's a good weed out.
09:14You don't know balls.
09:17You don't know balls.
09:18Mute that person from your timeline.
09:20It's a perfect weed out.
09:21But it made sense.
09:22Can I just explain the other side?
09:24It would make sense when I think there were a lot of people who just dropped in on the Cavs.
09:30Everybody's got, I think more people got pride than they got to some of the other channels.
09:34Which tonight's going to, tonight's Peacock, right?
09:36We got to tell them.
09:37Yep.
09:37Okay.
09:37Not NBC.
09:38I'm going to let them bleep and know that it's on Peacock.
09:41How do you put playoff games on non-broadcast television?
09:43What has NBC got going on tonight?
09:45And it's disjointed because over the weekend, it was on NBC.
09:50So they had a game on NBC.
09:53It was Mike Tirico doing the game.
09:55But this is not going to be on NBC.
09:56They don't start those primetime singing shows until the middle of the week, right?
09:59There's no Monday night American singers.
10:02Are there?
10:03What the hell do they have on the broadcast schedule?
10:05Is there a ninja warrior?
10:08I mean, Joe Thomas can't save your program every single year for the love of God.
10:12Okay.
10:13So the only thing I'm trying to save the Browns, he couldn't do that either.
10:16So people jump it in.
10:17It appears to be Hawks Knicks.
10:20Oh, that's what's on regular Channel 3?
10:22Yeah.
10:23Wait a minute.
10:24So at least they do have some.
10:25They do have basketball, yeah.
10:27I guess the Knicks are a higher seed.
10:28We tip off at 7 tonight.
10:30They tip off at 8, I believe.
10:31Fine.
10:33At least they do have regular sports going on.
10:35I was like, what else do they have going on?
10:37That was a quick Google search.
10:38Thank you very much.
10:39No, I just checked the guide.
10:41You're right about that.
10:42Thank God.
10:42Well, first round.
10:43All right, fine.
10:43I guess we'll deal with it.
10:45Guess what, Ken?
10:46All right.
10:48You don't know, Bob.
10:49I know more now.
10:50Which I used to air on NBC.
10:52That's right.
10:53So here we go.
10:54We got it right.
10:55So, all right.
10:56The only thing I'll explain is that they were probably jumping in for the first time.
11:00Maybe they've watched the Christmas Day game.
11:03The Christmas Day game was an abomination.
11:05And you see Emmanuel quickly.
11:07And I think there's just a lot of people waiting for the other shoe to drop on the Cavs.
11:11And I think that a lot of people, it's a weird, weird year.
11:15People have not been bought in the way they've been bought in before.
11:18I think Donovan Mitchell was right.
11:20Owen citing Donovan Mitchell was correct.
11:23Anybody who brought that up was correct about it.
11:26And now you have this blowout.
11:28And when they keep showing one guy on there, where people don't know who he is, who's watching
11:33the Raptors, who's watching the Raptors, which is even more puzzling that anybody was telling
11:38me we were going to have all these problems with Toronto.
11:40So it's just that you just don't like the Cavs or you just know, you just, they might not.
11:44You just might not know.
11:45You just totally, totally.
11:47Because you think it's, it's all about us.
11:49And I know I get the teams do that.
11:50It's always all about our team and nobody else.
11:52But this is why when you see the other playoff games, you see the other teams, I mean, guys,
11:57how do you think they're feeling in Detroit today?
12:00We should, we should, honestly, we should have John get some audio from our sister station
12:04up in Detroit and see how they're feeling because they were the one seed.
12:07They were the tryhard JB Bickerstaff basketball team.
12:11They won how many games this year?
12:12And then they, they were able to keep winning games without Kate Cunningham.
12:15And they are now down to a team that was totally written off.
12:21And the coach was supposed to get fired.
12:23And Paulo Vankero was supposed to get traded.
12:25That all was just a week ago, less than a week ago.
12:28And Detroit just got humiliated in, you want to tell me again, I ask you every time.
12:3335 point first quarter.
12:34Let's do a face-off with, with different teams.
12:36Who would you rather be?
12:37The Cavs or the Pistons?
12:39Who would you rather be?
12:40The Cavs or the Hawks?
12:41The Cavs.
12:42We can do this up and down.
12:44The Cavs or the 76ers?
12:45I'd rather be the Cavs.
12:46Well, much rather be the Cavs.
12:47Yeah, of course.
12:47So this is why I did not understand all this naysaying and all these people down on the Cavs.
12:54Because of prior years, when did you see James Harden in that game?
12:57He didn't even break a sweat.
12:59Kenny, he didn't break a sweat.
13:00He didn't even play hard.
13:01He did.
13:02Even he admitted after the game, he's like, we didn't play that well.
13:05Like, that's coming from James Harden.
13:07No, just.
13:08And they had no answers for James Harden and Donovan Mitchell.
13:11Did you see Jared Allen and Evan Mobley throwing down in the first quarter?
13:17But still, at the end of it, Anthony, it's just one more game.
13:21And they have three games to go to try to get a sweep.
13:24But you still have six games left in the series, technically.
13:27So I don't think it's really wise to be writing checks that we can't cash when it's been one game.
13:32Who do you think is going to win that series with the Pistons and the Orlando Magic?
13:38Man, I don't want to overreact to one game.
13:41If you think people are like that now, you don't.
13:42Okay, go ahead and say it.
13:43Go ahead and say what you were going to say.
13:44It looks like every bit of a six or seven game series.
13:47I mean, I don't think.
13:51I just saw Suggs and Ban Carroll.
13:54It was giving me nightmares of that series we played against them a few years ago.
13:56Where they totally clamped you.
13:59It wasn't just one run that got really big.
14:02And then the Pistons.
14:03They won three or four quarters scoring.
14:05Yeah.
14:06They outscored them in three of the four quarters.
14:07Yeah, it didn't look like a fluke.
14:09Right.
14:09It looked like exactly what I said a week ago.
14:11It was going to be Cade Cunningham and everybody else.
14:14And Cade Cunningham took like 50 shots.
14:16And they had no other offense from anywhere.
14:19And the playoffs are a different animal than the regular season.
14:23It's all about matchup hunting.
14:24They did.
14:24They do.
14:24They do.
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