00:00Last night's Cavs loss was a personal one for me, not just in the fact that I was very
00:05annoyed with how you lost that game, and that was the kind of annoying loss that in the
00:12playoffs really grinds my gears, but it grinds them even more because I officially lost the
00:19burger bet to Daryl Ryder, and that really stinks.
00:21Yeah, first burger bet you've lost, and that couldn't have felt good.
00:27No, it didn't.
00:28There's no way it felt good.
00:30So when you lose that way, where the Raptors played as well as you could for the first
00:37three quarters to just stay in the game, and it felt like the Cavs at points, like they
00:42would get down like six, seven, eight, nine points, and then like Struce would hit two
00:46threes, or Jalen Tyson had a really nice third quarter to keep them in the game, and it felt
00:52like the Cavs, it was just a matter of time before the Cavs flipped the switch, and then
00:56it was the Raptors that flipped the switch, and that like, I'm cool with you kind of toying
01:02with your food, so to speak, for three quarters, but could you possibly trouble me, or at least
01:08have the decency to like go through finishing them off in the fourth quarter?
01:12I mean, I've been telling you for a couple days now what scared me, that Orlando series a couple
01:16years ago, where the Cavs go up two games to none, and then game three lose by 38, and then
01:21game
01:21four end up losing by 20, like this is kind of how the NBA works in many ways, and so
01:26I don't
01:27know, you're calling everybody cowards, are you willing to go ahead and say maybe we're not in fact
01:31cowards?
01:32No, for the first, the Cavs should have swept them, that was a stupid loss last night.
01:36That's how the NBA works though, there's a lot of stupid losses.
01:38No, no, but if the Cavs want to be, and this is about, if we want to change the narrative,
01:43losses like that can't happen.
01:45Am I, do I think that that loss is indicative of, oh, the Cavs are never, no, but if you
01:51want
01:51to change the narrative, avoiding games like that, where the Raptors, again, RJ Barrett and
01:57Scotty Barnes were playing out of their skis for that game, and it was a tie game for most
02:05of that game, like it took Herculean efforts from their two best players, or two of their
02:10three best players, and it was still just a tie game, and so the idea that the Cavs at
02:16no point woke up and went, oh, they really can't win this game unless we just give it
02:22away, that really, that, I find that kind of loss annoying, and what I will say is.
02:28Definitely annoying.
02:29It is kind of anthemic of like, the things that annoyed me about the Cavs the three previous
02:35years, and the things that when they traded for James Harden, I was like, well, I'm going
02:39to have to see it in the playoffs, because I know those kind of losses happen in the NBA,
02:43and I do, it's just one, I'm not panicking, it's not a referendum.
02:47Yeah, it's just one.
02:48But man, those are the kind of losses that chip away at your confidence if you have too
02:52many of them in the playoffs.
02:53If you have too many of them.
02:54That's why you can't, like, we can't go into game four, and kind of like what worried
02:57us with the Orlando series was then the response after getting 38-point drumming was to then
03:01lose by 20, and so like, if the response out of this one isn't the right adjustments and
03:06isn't a much better game, then yeah, we get to say, hey, Atkinson, what is going on over
03:10here?
03:10But I, Nick, I don't think I've ever seen a worse combo between Mitchell, Harden, and Mobley
03:15than what we saw last night.
03:16Yeah.
03:17Between the three of them, and we've already all conceded the idea that the three, we're going to go
03:21as those three go in any given game, and it's something I feel comfortable doing, and
03:25something I feel comfortable with that being the route, but collectively, that was, and
03:30even like Mobley, like, we've gone back and forth in the past about how much credit he
03:34deserves defensively in any sort of game.
03:36Him and Allen were getting bullied on the inside.
03:38Yeah, well, and.
03:39That's not supposed to happen.
03:40And offensively, too.
03:42Yeah, offensively.
03:42The amount of times they tried to.
03:44But defensively, like, Mobley's supposed to be a stalwart consistently, and that was one of
03:48the worst defensive games I've seen him play.
03:50Listen, kudos where it belongs, which is Toronto played a tough physical game, and that aided
03:57to the Cavs' struggles at different points.
03:59What pissed me off about it, though, is the Cavs not wanting the smoke.
04:03That's, that is, I will, like, that I cannot abide.
04:06Like, in a game, and I know they went, I know, like, they're, who's, Colin Murray Boyles.
04:10I know he's a different player than Pirtle, right?
04:13Yep, that's right.
04:13Like, they're throwing different guys out there, and that's part of this, and that's
04:17changing the identity the Raptors are going for in that game.
04:20But, like, so you face a little static at the rim.
04:24Have some onions.
04:25Like, Evan and Jarrett last night.
04:28I know, they folded.
04:28Just didn't, like, I mean, even just, like, a little physical, like a slight bump, and
04:33then you could tell it changed the way they went up at the rim offensively, and it's
04:38like, to hell with that.
04:39You got blocked.
04:40Get back down and do it again.
04:42Defensively, they got worked in a way, I've just not seen those two get worked before.
04:45And, like, we can expect Donovan and Harden to have lapses like they had last night.
04:49That's kind of something that just comes with the territory of Donovan and Harden defensively,
04:53collectively together.
04:54But, like, the Mobley-Allen side of that was, that was, you're just not going to win games
04:59if they play like that.
05:00The best, listen, this is the best of both worlds in a crappy affair, right?
05:04Because I think it's a one-off.
05:06I do.
05:07Now you get your gentleman's sweep.
05:08Yeah, I agree.
05:09Like, to me, this is like a mini wake-up call for the Cavaliers, because I think, I think
05:14they're going to watch that tape back and just be pissed at themselves, as they should
05:17be.
05:18And at the same point, so it's, again, as of right now, not a referendum on the Cavs.
05:25But that doesn't make it any less infuriating for how that game went.
05:29Well, I think they got really lucky that the NFL draft was last night.
05:31Oh, yeah.
05:32Because if not, and the sad part is, I thought we were going to, if the NFL draft wasn't
05:36last night, if this was happening Wednesday night, or let's say Tuesday night into Wednesday,
05:40the sad part is I would just have to be telling people, as many people know, but like, hey,
05:44guys, it's just, that's one game.
05:45NBA's weird.
05:46This happens.
05:47Don't freak out.
05:48The freak out part happens if what they did in that Orlando series happens again, and
05:52we take this into game four.
05:53Because Toronto feels like they just found something here.
05:56Toronto feels like they found something, and now we got to see the Cavs' response.
05:59And if a lot of this response is Mobley and Allen not getting beat up in the paint, well,
06:04okay, then I got to see, I got to see these guys respond.
06:06Yeah, and it's, it's, every loss you can learn from, learn from this.
06:14Because that's just, like, I, I, it's where, when we went through the first two games, and
06:20there were people on the station named Anthony Lima, who wanted to take their victory laps,
06:25it was always like, man, that is incredibly premature.
06:28I'm not going to do the reverse of that, by the way.
06:31This is not, I will not, you will not hear, I told you so.
06:34But when we start talking about the Cavs and the playoffs, and the things that we look
06:39out for, of signs of, you're going to disappoint me, getting bullied by inferior opponents,
06:46is that thing.
06:47Yeah.
06:47So we're to the point where, that's a one-game thing.
06:50And I really am.
06:50Like, guys, I wasn't hot about this.
06:52To your point, with the NFL draft last night, I was pretty laid back.
06:56It wasn't until, who's, I've already forgotten his damn name.
07:00Who's the guy again?
07:02Was it McGraw?
07:03Oh, your redhead?
07:04Battle.
07:04Jameson Battle?
07:05Yeah, Jameson Battle.
07:06Your redhead, non-redhead?
07:08And still hit, he's the redhead.
07:10And until he started dropping threes from just, just making unconscionable shots.
07:16You make him seem like he's like Scalabrini or something like that, though.
07:19What do you mean?
07:20Like, there's redhead.
07:22There's sliding scales of ginger.
07:22There's redhead, and then there's what Jameson Battle is, which I don't even know if it constitutes
07:26as a redhead.
07:26I think many people would say he's a redhead.
07:28The point is, like, when that guy starts just raining threes, and you don't have the
07:34hutzpah to, like, get up on him and play defense, oh, did that, oh, did that infuriate me?
07:39Don't do that again.
07:40Jameson Battle shooting a three is actually a good defensive tactic, though.
07:43That's, like, the, that's the fun thing about that, is that, that's the, the Cavs are winning
07:47when they get Jameson Battle to be launching threes at the rate he did.
07:50He just kept hitting them.
07:51That was the problem.
07:52He was four for four last night in the fourth quarter.
07:54Yeah, like, that was the problem.
07:55He just kept hitting them.
07:56Like, that was, but, like, that's a good defensive possession for the Cavs.
07:59If Jameson Battle is thinking to himself, in a high leverage moment, I'm the one taking
08:03the three, that's what they're going for.
08:05At what point?
08:05Scotty Barnes going six for six in the fourth quarter is not the recipe, by the way.
08:09I'm actually pretty sure, by the way, you don't want anyone to make their shots.
08:11I think, I think a good defensive battle is when those guys, when none of them make their
08:14shot, or at least they make it at 25%.
08:16But the idea is you give the lower percentage three-point shooters, and the guys that don't
08:20typically score, if they're the ones shooting in high moments in the fourth quarter,
08:24that's the advantage.
08:25You win in that.
08:25Second time, he aces a three, maybe that, you throw a little defensive, or no, maybe
08:31just guard him.
08:32That's the problem, is.
08:34It's not, it's...
08:35That's part of that, though, is that you could tell, again, Scotty Barnes went six for six
08:38himself in that fourth quarter.
08:39You could tell they were just trying to put everything on R.J. Barrett, and Scotty Barnes
08:42were trying to stop that, and they said, if Jameson beats us, then Jameson beats us, and
08:46then Jameson just kept beating them.
08:47All right, let's go with BP and Pepper Pike.
08:49BP, welcome to the show, buddy.
08:50What you got for us?
08:52Hey, guys.
08:53Good to hear.
08:53Good to talk with you.
08:54Yeah, that was a disappointing loss.
08:56I mean, I knew, I had a feeling the Cavs were going to lose a game in Toronto.
08:59It's a tough place to play.
09:01You know, they felt kind of comfortable, but yeah, the way they lost was unacceptable.
09:05You know, just all those paint points and, you know, the redhead, Jameson Battle beating
09:10us.
09:11You know, he actually, he had a good game against us earlier in the year.
09:14That's how he lost a game to Toronto earlier in the season.
09:16He had about 15 or 17 points off the bench.
09:19Cavs killer.
09:20Yeah, so this is not the first time this has happened.
09:22So I kind of blame Atkinson on that one.
09:25And one last thing I want to mention is, you know, I don't love the, when the Cavs go
09:28to their bench, you know, they are like, it's like a center and four guards.
09:32So, you know, they, you know, this could be a series, you know, I want to see what happens
09:36on Sunday, but if they don't get their act together on Sunday, i.e. Donovan Mitchell
09:40have 40 points, you know, we could be in trouble.
09:42BP, we appreciate you there.
09:43It feels like the Cavs are going to win the war, but they lost to battle.
09:49I say they lost to battle.
09:52Yeah.
09:522-1-6.
09:53I wanted you to sit in that one.
09:55Oh.
09:56I did.
09:56And I enjoyed it.
09:57Yeah.
09:58I will sit in my own filth, and I will enjoy it.
10:01Unlike the Cavs last night, who just sat in their own filth and did not enjoy it.
10:05No.
10:05Oh.
10:06God, pressure at the rim.
10:08And now we get another two days off, because they're not playing until Sunday at one now.
10:11Yeah, I hate the NBA schedule.
10:13It's just too many days off between games three and four.
10:15I don't understand it.
10:16It should be every other game, or every other day, for every series.
10:19Yes.
10:20Sometimes when you're traveling back and forth, I get it, and then they want to extend that
10:23out.
10:23But, like, once you're already in the city, let's get this thing going.
10:26Game five isn't even until Wednesday.
10:28Yeah, that's...
10:29It's ridiculous.
10:30Just dumb.
10:312-1-6, 4-7-4, double-O-9-2.
10:33What's the right reaction to the game three loss?
10:37I think we're simpatico here.
10:39That was really annoying.
10:40The Cavs really...
10:43That was just an annoying loss.
10:44The Cavs should have won that game on multiple fronts, at multiple moments.
10:48And also, it's just one game until proven otherwise.
10:51Do you even know how to pay out a burger bet?
10:53I'm going to have to...
10:54How do you order a burger?
10:56I mean, is it going to be...
10:56I haven't ordered my own burger for so long.
10:59Are you going to do the digital card?
11:00Are you going to send it through an email?
11:01Are you going to take Darryl out for the burger on his own?
11:04I mean, that's what he did for me, so I kind of have to do it in reverse, right?
11:07Oh, that makes it like you lost two bets, in my opinion.
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