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00:00Let's welcome in Danny Cunningham as things aren't so great for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
00:04They lost yesterday.
00:05Something about Sundays at 1 in this city that just don't go well no matter who's playing.
00:10And the Cavaliers lost to the Toronto Raptors yesterday in one of the most frustrating basketball games I think I've
00:14ever seen.
00:15And I'm still not freaking out.
00:17And I'm wondering whether or not I should freak out.
00:19Lima said I should freak out earlier today.
00:21So let's welcome on Danny.
00:22He's from Locked on Cavs, Inside Shot on Substack, Cleveland Magazine, 92-3 The Fan.
00:27He's on the Make It Right Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:29Danny, good morning to you.
00:30Should I be more angry than what I have been all morning about the Cavaliers lost yesterday to the Toronto
00:37Raptors?
00:39Probably.
00:40Because any time that you have a playoff game wrapped up the way that the Cavs should have with an
00:45eight-point lead with less than five minutes left to go,
00:48you find a way to lose that basketball game.
00:50I think it is something that is worth being concerned over.
00:54And I still think that the Cavs are going to win this series.
00:56But now this series is going to take more time than it should have.
01:00Instead of being a five-game series, it's going to at least be a six, maybe even a seven-game
01:03series.
01:04And I also think that it is an example of the Cavs not growing the way that we anticipated that
01:10they had grown.
01:10This, to me, I realized that the specifics of this game were different than the specifics of game two against
01:17the Indiana Pacers last year.
01:19But it felt a lot like that, where the Cavs were in control, they were in command, they did everything
01:23that they needed to do, even though they didn't play well.
01:26And, I mean, to be fair, the Toronto Raptors didn't play well either.
01:29I thought this was one of the ugliest basketball games I've watched.
01:32It felt like I was – I felt like I was watching a Browns game yesterday sitting there in the
01:37arena.
01:38But, like, they had that game wrapped up, and they found a way to lose that game in a way
01:42that a team that is a championship-caliber team, I'm not sure, does.
01:47So, like, they'll probably still win this series.
01:50But I think that the way that happened was, to me, a pretty concerning outcome.
01:59I need to answer the question of toughness.
02:02Do you think that this is a toughness issue?
02:05I don't think it's a physical toughness thing.
02:08Like, I didn't feel like they didn't meet the – I didn't feel like they weren't up to task physically
02:16yesterday.
02:16I do think you can question their mental toughness with what happened yesterday down the stretch of that game where
02:22they couldn't get the ball across half-court.
02:25That's on Donovan Mitchell.
02:26They did not grab a defensive rebound in the final five minutes of that game.
02:31That's on everybody.
02:32I've never heard of that, by the way.
02:33Danny, I've never seen that before.
02:36Neither have I.
02:37Sam Merrill scored all five points.
02:40The Cavs were outscored 17-5 in the final four minutes and 30 seconds of that game.
02:46They got, I guess we'll call it one stop.
02:49There was that possession where Sam committed a flagrant foul.
02:53Colin Murray Boyle split the free throws, and then the Raptors turned the basketball over.
02:57I guess you want to call that a stop.
02:59Like, that was the only time that the Raptors didn't score at least two points on possession, I believe it
03:04was.
03:04So, like, I don't think it was a physical toughness thing.
03:08I felt like they met the challenge physically.
03:10But mentally, it kind of seemed like they wilted down the stretch.
03:14They needed to do one, maybe two more things well in the final five minutes of that game, and that
03:19game is wrapped up.
03:21Like, James Harden hits a wide-open 14-footer.
03:23The Cavs are up by five with a minute left.
03:25They found if Mitchell gets the ball across half-court, maybe the Cavs score there, go up three or four
03:31with under a minute left.
03:33Like, they needed to do one more thing to win that game, and they just couldn't find a way to
03:39do it.
03:39And I think it's probably a little unfair, again, to question their physical toughness.
03:44But I think the mental stuff is very much on the table.
03:47Danny Cunningham with us.
03:48He was there.
03:49They didn't recover last year after.
03:51I know they had injuries, but they didn't recover last year after the Halliburton step back over Jared Allen.
03:56And, you know, you're wondering about this series.
03:59The curious thing to me, and I've seen basically the entire internet and the national media,
04:05they are now putting Donovan Mitchell's playoff resume under the microscope.
04:09And I had to talk to a caller earlier who said, no killer mentality.
04:13And then I read off all his 50- and 40-point games in the playoffs.
04:16And look, it's fair to say he's never gotten out of the second round.
04:19But he has absolutely dominated opening rounds of series before.
04:23What is this?
04:25How can you explain the last two games in Toronto?
04:28You can't.
04:30I expected, like, you know, a bad game is going to happen here or there.
04:34And that's why I didn't think that game three was all that concerning.
04:37I thought the Cavs played poorly and, quite frankly, had a chance to win going into the fourth quarter of
04:41that game.
04:41And I thought that, okay, Donovan is probably going to come out on Sunday.
04:45He's probably going to have 35 to 40 points.
04:47And the Cavs are going to win because Donovan Mitchell is the best player in the series.
04:50And he had another stinker yesterday.
04:53And that, to me, was very surprising.
04:55And I don't understand.
04:56I mean, like, from a basketball standpoint, the Cavs are struggling with the Raptors top-locking him and Jim Sturton.
05:02And they're making it really difficult for those two to get the basketball in advantageous situations.
05:07And when the Cavs finally do get those guys to ball in an advantageous situation, there's not a ton of
05:13time left on the shot clock.
05:14And just like the Raptors have done a really good job, and give them credit, they've done a really good
05:18job defensively to make life difficult for Donovan and for James.
05:24But those are two superstars.
05:26Those are two guys that I don't want to say should be above that, but they should have the answers
05:31to the problems that the Raptors are presenting them.
05:34And the fact that they haven't in these two games, and maybe it's just two bad games that happened back
05:39-to-back.
05:39And part of it is the Cavs didn't shoot the ball well, and it was guys other than Donovan Mitchell
05:44and James Harden that are part of that.
05:45Nobody other than Sam Merrill shot the ball well from beyond the arc yesterday.
05:49The Cavs are, and I realize that the Raptors were 4 of 30 and still won that game, but the
05:55Cavs' record when they shoot below 33% from three-point range is abysmal.
05:59And that's what we saw yesterday.
06:01They were 10 of 40 from beyond the arc.
06:04So they do need to hit shots, and I think that is something that can relieve pressure, but they need
06:09Donovan Mitchell to be better.
06:10He was 2 of 12 on two-pointed times yesterday.
06:13But when Donovan's at his best, he's getting downhill, he's getting to the basket.
06:17That did not happen whatsoever in these two games here in Toronto.
06:21So is the three-point shot going to come and go a little bit?
06:24Probably.
06:24But he needs to be able to get downhill.
06:26And the fact that he hasn't been able to do that in these two games, I think, is the concerning
06:29part.
06:30Well, Danny, not only that, he's not elevating around the rim.
06:35You know, we would see Donovan at his peak look like Dwayne Wade with those explosive plays.
06:42We all know about the footwork and, you know, that patented move he has where he takes the ball, you
06:48know, over the shoulder and Euro steps his way into the lane.
06:51But the difference here is, and I'm also noticing, is that Toronto's not guarding three of our starters.
06:57They're not guarding Dean Wade.
06:58They're not guarding Evan Mobley.
06:59And they're not guarding Jared Allen.
07:01So a lot of the stuff they typically do to really tax teams with their pick and roll, Toronto's like,
07:07you can try and come into the lane.
07:09Good luck.
07:10How do they get over this?
07:11How do they beat this?
07:13They need Evan Mobley to be a lot better than he was in Toronto.
07:16I thought that he had two excellent games to start this series.
07:21I thought, and I know that his box score wasn't wildly impressive in game one.
07:25I think he had 17 and nine, but he did it on six of nine shooting and he felt forceful.
07:30Like he felt like, okay, this is a guy that you could see almost taking his game to another level.
07:35And then game two, he was outstanding at 25 and eight.
07:38He was, I think it was 11 of 13 from the floor.
07:41Like he looked in games one and two like a star player.
07:46And then we get to Toronto and the Raptors actually moved Scotty Barnes off of him.
07:52And now Scotty's spending more time defending Donovan and work James.
07:55And Evan Mobley has not been able to capitalize on the mismatches that the Toronto Raptors are just handing him.
08:01They're defending him with RJ Barrett.
08:03They're defending him with the awesome hurdle.
08:04They're defending him with guys that Evan Mobley should be able to torch.
08:08And Evan Mobley has had two horrible games.
08:11And that's a big part of the reason why the Cavs are in a series now, as opposed to up
08:16three, one, or even having swept because Evan Mobley did not play well in any way, shape or form in
08:22these games.
08:23And try, I didn't think he was good defensively either.
08:24Like the Cavs yesterday were better defensively when he was on the bench than when he was on the floor.
08:29And listen, he'll probably be better at home, but I think it's, I think it's fair to be really disappointed
08:36in the way that he's played in these two games.
08:37And I think that they need him because the Raptors are saying, we are going to allow you a mismatch.
08:45We're going to allow you the ability to beat us.
08:48And Evan's not taking advantage of that.
08:50And that's part of the reason why this is a 2-2 series.
08:53Danny Cunningham joining us right now on the hotline.
08:56So, you know, I had texted you about something that I noticed.
08:59So we're always sitting here, pick your poison, who's responsible.
09:03A lot of the internet thought Harden was for the seven turnovers.
09:06Even though they were up eight, despite those seven turnovers.
09:09I really question the lack of using some timeouts strategically.
09:13They had two on the board and a use it or lose it before the three-minute mark.
09:18And they didn't use it.
09:20And so they lost it.
09:21And they lost the game.
09:22I'm not saying that's the reason they lost the game, but I thought they had some bad possessions offensively.
09:27And then they couldn't get a defensive rebound.
09:28I thought they were gassed.
09:30Was there anything to, you think, Kenny Atkinson just kind of sitting there allowing his guys to play through it?
09:36Do you think that was something he would do again?
09:40I do think that there are some things Kenny would probably like to have back from the final five minutes
09:46of that game, certainly.
09:47And that might be one of them.
09:49You know, I didn't ask him about using the use it or lose it timeout.
09:53I don't know his exact thoughts on that.
09:55But when you blow an eight-point lead in the final five minutes as a coach, I'm sure he's spent
10:00a lot of the last however many hours it's been since that game ended.
10:03I'm not doing math at 7.20 in the morning.
10:06But I'm sure he's spent a lot of time thinking about what went wrong there and what he could have
10:11done differently.
10:11Like, if I had to guess, he probably would have liked to have called a timeout, seen Donovan Mitchell struggle
10:17to get the ball across half-court with 18 on their shot clock.
10:20Instead, he doesn't, and the Cavs get called for an eight-second violation because Donovan doesn't get it across half
10:25-court.
10:25They had a timeout they could have used there in that situation with, I believe, 40 seconds left on the
10:30game clock.
10:32You know, we can have a conversation about the challenges that he used.
10:36I thought it was ridiculous that he had to use a challenge and a ball that was very clearly off
10:40of Scotty Barnes and the Raptors' bench.
10:43Danny! Danny!
10:43The officiating crew into changing the call on the floor.
10:46Like, that's me.
10:47And, like, I know that you don't want to have to burn a timeout in the first quarter the way
10:52they did, but Jalen Tyson was so clearly fouled on that.
10:54What do they think?
10:55He shot putting the ball out of bounds?
10:57Like, five feet left of the rim?
10:59They think that magically happened?
11:00It was either blocked and it's our ball or it's a foul.
11:03And the fact that they allowed that other one, you can't gloss over it, Danny.
11:08That was a big deal because the Cavs got their...
11:11It was.
11:11They shouldn't have had...
11:12How did they not realize that, wait, the call on the floor originally was this?
11:16How are we not allowing the Cavs to challenge anything else the rest of the game when they shouldn't have
11:21had to even challenge that one?
11:23It is a ridiculous thing.
11:25And that is not the first time that it's happened to the Cavs.
11:28Because think back to that game in Detroit they lost in overtime where Jared Allen fouled out on a call
11:34that was later ruled an incorrect call on the last two-minute report.
11:39And the Cavs didn't have a challenge because they had to challenge two very clear incorrect calls in the final
11:45four minutes of that game before it got to that point.
11:47Like, I do think, and maybe this is the thing, and I don't know, like, they didn't show a ton
11:52of replays in the arena.
11:53I don't know exactly what the officials got right and wrong in the final few minutes of that game.
11:58But I'm sure Kenny Atkinson would have liked to have a challenge.
12:00But he kind of needed a challenge in two calls that he did challenge.
12:03And when you do that and you get them right and you don't have one at the end, it can
12:07hurt you.
12:08So I do think, like, it's a difficult thing as a coach to manage, okay, what is worth a challenge?
12:14What is a call that is clearly wrong that is worth overturning because you don't know what they're going to
12:18get wrong later?
12:19And the one that I think should be bothersome is that second one where they got it right originally on
12:24the floor.
12:25The Raptors bench freaked out, so they overturned it.
12:28And then the Cavs challenged it, and the original call was right.
12:31And, like, losing a challenge over that is, I think, something that the Cavs should have a legitimate gripe over.
12:37Like, and I know that you're not this guy either because you texted me telling me that you're not this
12:43guy.
12:44But the officials really screwed up in that moment.
12:47And that is the one thing that I look at and say that was out of the Cavs' hands, and
12:51that got screwed up.
12:52And, like, they should have a gripe there.
12:54Danny, thank you for the time.
12:55All the best.
12:57You got it, Ken.
12:58Good to talk to you.
12:58Danny Cunningham, locked on Cavs on the Make It Right Call Call Call Right Hotline.
13:02Does that mean I am that guy?
13:03If I'm texting him that I'm not.
13:04You're absolutely that guy.
13:05But we know you're not that guy because you texted us and told us.
13:08Yeah.
13:08You're that guy.
13:08Don't put it in the paper that I'm mad.
13:10You are.
13:10You are that guy, and you are mad.
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