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00:00Guardians lost, Cavs lost, Browns were great over the weekend.
00:03Savor it while you can, brother.
00:05They won the weekend, baby. The Browns won a weekend.
00:07Savor it over there.
00:08Alright, who do you blame for the Cavs' loss?
00:10Almost said for the Browns' loss. Sorry, I'm so used to saying it on a Monday morning.
00:14Who do you blame for the Cavs' loss?
00:16It's so funny.
00:172-1-6-4-7-4-0-92, let's go.
00:19As this was mounting during the game, and, you know, Harden had all those turnovers in the first half,
00:25which was a follow-up to the first game in Toronto when he had, what, 10 turnovers?
00:29It was crazy.
00:30We had a terrible game there.
00:32I thought he played way better, honestly, in the third quarter.
00:34I thought Harden kept him in it, so I did not.
00:36I saw some other Cavaliers, influential people.
00:40They were leading with the turnover story for Harden.
00:44I'm like, they were up eight with the seven turnovers.
00:47So, no, I don't think Harden was the reason they lost that game at all,
00:51and I said he was the one that was unafraid.
00:53I wish other guys had the mentality.
00:54You gotta finish that game.
00:55That James, that he did biff that mid-range.
00:58I don't know why he didn't go glass.
00:59That was bad.
01:00You gotta finish that game.
01:00But, Don, he had a three that went in and out, two in the final four minutes.
01:05Donovan, I gotta put it on Donovan.
01:07I've heard others go after Mobley.
01:10Kind of want to go after Mobley.
01:11Well, we'll get to that in a second.
01:13I'll just say...
01:13I'm not sure exactly who I want to pick just yet.
01:15I'm getting at it.
01:16I'm agitated.
01:16I'm curious to see where the callers are on this,
01:20because that's how devastating a game it was,
01:22that it ran the gamut of people to blame,
01:25and I threw out some Atkinson stuff, too.
01:28But you just need Donovan.
01:30And all the stuff, and my bickering with Nick,
01:33and I cannot wait to hear Nick today, too.
01:34I cannot.
01:35That's a free promo for the afternoon show.
01:37I cannot wait to hear Nick.
01:38Well, yeah, considering you tried to sidestep it a little bit earlier this morning.
01:41Well, here's the deal.
01:42In all my calculations about how this was going to go in the playoffs
01:47and why I was so optimistic,
01:49it was because Donovan Mitchell had been so good in these types of series.
01:54Guys, the last two games, forget top 10 player.
01:59Forget, like, all-NBA second team guy.
02:02Forget All-Star.
02:04He's been a bad basketball player.
02:06He hasn't done anything on defense, either.
02:08And normally we're okay with some of that
02:11because he exerts so much energy on offense.
02:13But when you're this bad on offense
02:16and you are not getting to your spots,
02:18you're not showing that supreme athleticism around the rim,
02:21and you're taking bad threes,
02:23and you're lackadaisical getting the ball across half court,
02:26and you're not playing any defense,
02:28you're a zilch.
02:29And for all the money he's made,
02:31he's a guy that they're going to turn around where somebody is
02:33and pay $70 million a year in his next contract.
02:36Is that worth $70 million?
02:38So, to me, it's Donovan.
02:40He was the main issue.
02:42But I'll entertain some Evan Mobley stuff.
02:44Well, they came in 2-0 into Toronto,
02:46and they left Toronto 2-2,
02:48and even Evan Mobley doesn't know why.
02:50I think we were in a good position at the end,
02:53and we made some mistakes,
02:55and that got us in a bad position.
03:00They were in a good position.
03:02Then they got in a bad position.
03:08Now you're making me depressed.
03:09See you stirring over there.
03:10Here, let me help you out.
03:12We just got to do a better job of getting to our space
03:15and getting straps up and not turning the ball over in the final minutes.
03:19So, we got to value the ball more.
03:22Maybe this is just who he is.
03:23Mobley had two baskets to start the third quarter,
03:26went right at Pirtle,
03:30and that was that at eight points for the game.
03:340 for 3 from 3.
03:36Cannot space the floor.
03:37They're not guarding him.
03:38They're letting him have any wide-open shot,
03:40and he doesn't want it.
03:41We got game five coming up.
03:42Just going to move on to the next
03:44and see what you did in the first two games.
03:49Get around at home and a little more here.
03:53Let's go.
03:54So, I'm still not going to freak out.
04:00I'm not going to get loud.
04:01I'm not going to get vulgar.
04:02Now, maybe Thursday morning I might get vulgar.
04:04I'm not getting loud and vulgar now.
04:06But damn it, like, I can't want it more than you.
04:10I've been wanting to call him the unicorn.
04:12I want him to work out.
04:13What do you mean by work out?
04:15I want him to be a 1%.
04:16I want him to be a 1% guy.
04:18And for a moment, I thought at the beginning of the series,
04:21there was a point where maybe things would click into place.
04:25And then yesterday, I mean, Friday was Friday,
04:27but yesterday, I should say Thursday was Thursday.
04:31We talked about Friday.
04:31I'm sorry.
04:32Yesterday, man, you're up by eight with three minutes,
04:37three and a half minutes to go, man.
04:38You got to put this game away.
04:40I don't care.
04:41I don't give an F how sloppy it is.
04:43Like, you got to figure, you're the better team.
04:45You should be a better version of sloppy than that team.
04:49That's why I'm starting to, I'm getting a little agitated.
04:52I'm going to keep myself calm.
04:53It's only a 2-2 series.
04:54I'm not going to say a bunch of stuff I have to regret coming up on Thursday morning.
04:57But I think that everything I'm about to say,
05:00or everything that I have said is common sense to everybody here.
05:02You hear what they're saying.
05:03You hear what they've said about you for years now.
05:06Everybody wants to call you soft.
05:07Well, in the Indiana series, it might not be true,
05:10but they're going to say it, and you have to get rid of that label.
05:14And part of the reason they call you soft is because of your front court.
05:18So somebody's got to fix it, and it ain't going to be me.
05:20I can't fix it.
05:21I can't fix it for you.
05:22I can't fix it as a sports talk guy or as a fan for you,
05:25because I think a lot of fans, it's one thing to not be a great team,
05:29or it's one thing to be a team that's on the cusp.
05:31It's a totally different amount of disrespect.
05:38It's a totally different amount of depression for the fan base
05:41when you get called soft, when your favorite team is soft.
05:44You could be from the softest place in America.
05:48When people think about the Midwest and Midwest, Rust Belt, Towns,
05:52you think tough because that's what you have to hang your hat on.
05:55No town wants to be called soft.
05:57No fan base wants to think that their team's soft.
05:59Think of the softest place you can.
06:01If we were in Cabo, vacation destinations, right?
06:06Nobody in Cabo wants their team to be soft.
06:09Nobody in Miami, Florida wants their team to be soft.
06:11Everybody wants hard asses and crazy people.
06:14And it's like the worst possible thing you can call a team.
06:17And that's what I'm getting right now.
06:18It's like that's got to change.
06:20That's got to change because I'm in a different place with them right now.
06:24And I'll explain why coming up at 9 o'clock.
06:26The reason why I'm really calm, the exact reason why I'm calm about this,
06:30because I'll tell you at 9 why I can take it or leave it right now,
06:35right as I see it right now, Tone.
06:36I'm looking at the Ringer top 100, Evan Mobley going into the playoffs, 22nd.
06:42Meanwhile, the guy that owns the Ringer, Bill Simmons, had this to say on his podcast.
06:47I had the same question marks next to Mobley.
06:50He had 8 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists.
06:53And you just forget he's out there for stretches.
06:56I'm starting to wonder if this is just who he is.
06:58We kept, like, factoring in this bump and this ceiling for him
07:01and all the potential of what he could be and, oh, wait, maybe he's really a 5.
07:06Maybe he shouldn't play next to Allen.
07:07Well, what happens if he starts making 3s?
07:09That's going to change him.
07:10What we don't see from him is the, guys, get out of my ways.
07:14I'm just going to wreak havoc here for an hour, right?
07:16We need this game.
07:17We're up 2-1.
07:18Nobody can get anything going.
07:20Just I'm kicking in a fifth gear, and I'm going to destroy everybody for about a half hour here.
07:23And he just doesn't do it ever.
07:26I just said, is this who he is?
07:28So I'd love to fight him on that.
07:30Here was the little blurb.
07:32Cheat code defender harnessing the breadth of his supreme athletic gifts on offense.
07:37What player is that?
07:39I think we were in a good position at the end.
07:42And we made some mistakes, and that got us in a bad position.
07:49That Pat Shermer?
07:50You can't run away from what you said, though.
07:52People want to give you the gears over it.
07:54They should.
07:55They should.
07:56I stuck my neck out for them.
07:57They should.
07:586 o'clock hour, you didn't really want to go at.
08:00You really wanted to kind of run and hide from your comments earlier.
08:03I was here.
08:04I said it.
08:04No, I said what I said.
08:05That's not what I heard.
08:05I didn't hear it that way.
08:06Did you hear it that way?
08:07Wait a second.
08:08I heard a guy who was ready to become a slippery wizard this morning.
08:11No.
08:11No.
08:11I deserve all of it.
08:13I called the entire town.
08:15The people were telling me not to be excited about the playoffs.
08:18By the way, I am excited about the playoffs.
08:20I watched all 14 games over the last three days.
08:23So, you can't tell me that I'm so defeated that I wasn't interested.
08:26Like, I've been dialed into the playoffs.
08:27I love this time of year.
08:29And honestly, my heart was thumping out of my chest for the final four minutes.
08:33That's as ugly a game as you can imagine, but I was invested.
08:36This is no time to panic.
08:37And let me tell you, this isn't going to be some rah-rah thing.
08:40I told you I'd tell you this.
08:41I'm going to tell you this right now before we get to the phones.
08:42I want to know who you guys are blaming.
08:44216-474-0092.
08:46And I'm going to tell you right now why it's no time to panic.
08:48And the reason is simple, guys.
08:51They are who they are.
08:52If they go and they lose on Wednesday and they happen to end up losing the series,
08:57I don't think they're going to lose the series.
08:58You're nine-point favorites coming up on Wednesday for crying out loud.
09:01That helps.
09:02I will tell you that helps.
09:03But I came to this thought last night.
09:06While I was, as I told Lima, didn't plan on boozing, didn't feel good yesterday morning.
09:12I don't know if it was something I ate on the way home or whatever it was on Saturday.
09:15Both me and the Axeman didn't feel great.
09:18And then they lost to the Cavs.
09:20I felt even worse.
09:21And I went, well, no time like the present.
09:22Let's go get into the Canadian club.
09:25And as I was sitting there having another pool, contemplating what was going on and thinking,
09:30gosh, I'm not mad.
09:32How am I not mad?
09:33And I go, it hit me.
09:36They are who they are.
09:36And if this doesn't work out, they're going to trade them.
09:38And if they do trade people, if this doesn't work out, if they lose this series and they do trade
09:42people,
09:43you ain't going to be mad.
09:44You ain't going to be defensive.
09:46You will be mad when they lose because we're Cavs fans.
09:49Of course, I'll be mad that they lost.
09:51I'll be mad that I agreed with the guy to my right about what this team was doing and that
09:56I look like a fool.
09:57You're the one who has to answer for it.
09:59I think I feel foolish just because, I think I will feel foolish just because of being close to you
10:04and agreeing with you.
10:05But you're the one who's got to back up what you said.
10:07I mean, good God, you went right after Nick over it.
10:09But for all this, one, I don't think they're going to lose this series to the Atlanta, or to the
10:15Toronto Raptors.
10:17I don't think it's going to happen.
10:18All right?
10:19I know we kind of wanted to play the Atlanta Hawks.
10:22It seemed like a better matchup.
10:23Toronto can be tough.
10:25But I don't think they're going to lose this matchup to the Toronto Raptors.
10:28And if they do, there's no point in me being completely crestfallen by losing this series.
10:37It's going, okay, they're going to make changes.
10:39Donovan's going to want out.
10:40We're going to be on our way back to 19 win land.
10:43And it ain't going to bother a damn one of you because you're going to go, we spent all this
10:46money on the most expensive roster in the NBA.
10:49We have all this on the biggest roster in the NBA, and they ain't done nothing with it.
10:53So what the hell's the point?
10:53And because of that, I've got to tell you, if I'm blaming somebody, if we're playing blame game, I've got
11:00to blame Evan, regrettably.
11:01Because there's only so much that Donovan Mitchell can do, and there's only so much that James Harden can do.
11:06At the end of every game, they're both guards.
11:09And when we have these games where it's like, man, did he get it?
11:13Did he finally, is he finally going to be that guy that they drafted him to be, where he looks
11:18so much better earlier in the series against Scotty Barnes.
11:20He looked like Scotty Barnes wasn't even in the same category as him, and that there was ever a comparison
11:25between the two was one of the most laughable things ever.
11:28You go from that to yesterday, and sometimes the meekness that comes with it, that part is disheartening.
11:37But if they end up losing the series, hey, you know what?
11:39It's on them.
11:40It's on them.
11:41Hey, on you guys.
11:42I'll have fun blaming you, but you didn't play the basketball for them.
11:45Um, it's going to be upsetting, but it's not going to be the most depressing thing in the world.
11:51Well, isn't it amazing how different?
11:53We'll just know that they're not them.
11:54So, obviously, we've heard all the, and rightfully so, all the criticism.
11:58They're up eight with four minutes to go, right?
12:00On the road and getting ready to go up 3-1.
12:03And I look today.
12:05NBA championship odds.
12:06I've been posting these for out.
12:07I'm going to have to throw it up again.
12:08Yep.
12:09Do you know how many teams are ahead of the Cavaliers?
12:13There's still only three teams.
12:14I thought.
12:14They still have the fourth best championship odds.
12:17And, again, part of my premise for them making a deep run, and this is not just the afternoon show.
12:24What I've been saying all along, part of the premise was, have you seen the rest of the Eastern Conference?
12:30Have you seen the Knicks?
12:31Yeah.
12:32Have you seen...
12:33That still doesn't inspire a lot of confidence with the fans out there.
12:36Well, all I was saying was...
12:37Just saying that other teams are bad, too, does not inspire confidence.
12:41Look, a big part of it was, I don't think some of our audience, I don't think they were watching.
12:45I don't think some of the other hosts at the station, I don't think they were watching the other teams.
12:48They only talk about this team.
12:50And so when they would say, this team had these inadequacies, I'm like, yeah, but so do these other teams
12:55that I watch every day.
12:56Knicks and Pistons and Celtics, Pistons even lower than the other two, but I watched the Knicks and Celtics, but
13:01I'm not going to sit there and act like I watched Raptors basketball all throughout this year.
13:04I did not.
13:05So if you want to call me out on it, fine, go right on ahead.
13:07No, no, that's fine, but I'm not asking people to have to watch the other teams.
13:11I just wanted to express that part of the reason I thought they could make a run is because I
13:17didn't have any faith in Detroit.
13:18I didn't have any faith in the Knicks.
13:20And this Celtics team is way worse than the Celtics teams in previous years.
13:25Now it's up to the Cavs to hold up their end of the bargain because they should be able to
13:29get by the Raptors.
13:30And you got three games, two of which are at home.
13:32If you're able to get to that third game, hopefully you don't even need to.
13:36Hopefully you just win the next two, but they still have it in them to win this series.
13:41They're still big favorites to win the series.
13:43I had a Cleve TA mentioning that to us.
13:45Hey, you guys know they are still massive favorites in the series.
13:48Anthony, can I ask you, as he not?
13:49Ball knower.
13:52Is it better or worse that the Raptors were so horrible at basketball yesterday?
13:55Because they were not good.
13:56It was bad.
13:57And then they lost to them.
13:58It's bad.
13:59I mean, their best three-point shooter went 0 for 8.
14:02So, is that going to happen again?
14:04Now, who's the better team?
14:06Who's the better team?
14:07I think the Cavs are the better team.
14:08The Cavs are the better team, so when they're both playing sloppy,
14:10who's the less worst team at this point?
14:12Well, if they're both, but if one team's better and they're both sloppy,
14:15then one team should, the better team should win the game.
14:17So the Cavs should have won the game.
14:18Look, I thought the Cavs were a better team than the Pacers last year.
14:20I was pulling wrong.
14:21When you're up by 8 with just under 4 left to go, I'm sorry.
14:25You should be able to close that out.
14:26Just like I thought they should have been able to close it out in the first half.
14:28I really did.
14:30I go, man, we're going to stay above double digits here.
14:32We'll get it figured out at halftime.
14:33I go, this is a 3-1 series.
14:35This is the way it ought to go.
14:36And to sit there and to have to be shocked at the end of that,
14:39and then at the end of the game to be even more shocked, obviously, because they lost,
14:42it was upsetting.
14:43It was a frustrating day yesterday.
14:46But I had to come to a realization while the world seemed to be coming in,
14:50one, you're still the better basketball team.
14:52You are favored by so much more in Game 5.
14:56But there's also, if they're not able to get it done,
14:58we just know who they are and that this ain't going to work and that people need to go.
15:02And that we're going to have to go back to the drawing board and start this whole thing up over
15:06again.
15:06And when it comes to competitive basketball, see you in four years.
15:09That's how this is going to be.
15:11Sorry to slam my hand on the table.
15:12But when it comes to competitive basketball, I'll just see you in 2030.
15:17And we're just going to have to do this.
15:18So it is, I want this thing to get to the Eastern Conference Finals because, one,
15:23I want to be right and I want the Cavs to do well.
15:25And the other thing is, I want to put off having to tear this thing down.
15:29But if they end up losing to the Toronto Raptors,
15:30I don't have to sit there and scare everybody.
15:33There's nothing to be afraid of.
15:34They'll just break the team up.
15:36Donovan will want out and you'll say, fine, bye.
15:39You're holding on to.
15:40Fine player, fine guy, bye.
15:43What can we get back?
15:45James Harden will want out, good, bye.
15:48Evan Mobley, he may want out.
15:49There might be some people who want to drive him to the airport by the end of all this.
15:52Like, that's what it is.
15:53And that's not being overblown or crazy.
15:56You guys know what this is.
15:57So, what's the point of me losing my mind this morning and screaming and yelling and
16:03saying that you're a fool and then Nick's going to end up being right and that I hate
16:06it when Nick's right.
16:07I don't need to say any of that stuff.
16:09If Nick ends up being right, fine.
16:11I would hate it because I think I have watched a lot more of the Cavs than he has this
16:16year,
16:16I got to tell you.
16:17But, so be it.
16:19So be it.
16:212-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92.
16:23But if I'm blaming anybody, quote unquote, Donovan's always, like Donovan, I find it
16:29hard to blame Donovan when he's the reason you're here in the first place.
16:32I find it hard to blame James Harden because he just got here.
16:35I've been begging Evan to maybe be somebody he's not for the last five years.
16:39And I don't want to overdo it on criticism because he was so damn good in the first two
16:44games of the series, especially game two, man, it is really upsetting when he goes in
16:51and he turns in a turd like that during the postseason when you needed to finish that series
16:55off.
16:56If you're up 3-1, I mean, we're having a coronation on Wednesday night.
17:00Now it's a ballgame.
17:02Yes.
17:03So you're putting it on Evan because he's not living up to the expectations you set for
17:08him?
17:08And you're going to say, why am I not blaming Donovan?
17:10Yeah.
17:11Donovan, I think, is maximizing everything he's capable of.
17:13I don't think that Evan is.
17:14I think physically we've gotten everything we possibly can out of Donovan Mitchell and
17:18he's older.
17:18And I think that he's a guy that probably wants to be a number one.
17:21Yeah, but when you set the bar so high and he has never come close to hitting that bar.
17:25Which one?
17:26Evan, at some point that bar is going to change.
17:29But that's my problem is that I'm not the one who set the bar originally.
17:33That was the draft that set the bar.
17:35The conversation around him that set the bar for him, that's what I want him to be able
17:40to achieve.
17:40Donovan, I think, is maximizing everything he can.
17:42I think in the grand scheme of things, if we don't get to where we need to go, Donovan's
17:47going to have to realize that he's not a number one.
17:48That he is a passenger, not a driver.
17:51James Harden had to realize he was a passenger, not a driver.
17:54Evan, I thought, could be a driver.
17:55And a lot of Cavs fans, and myself included, banked on Evan being a driver.
18:00Well, just one more note.
18:01I know we've got to go.
18:02We've got a lot of stuff to do.
18:03Why don't we get to these calls, too?
18:04Yeah.
18:05The fact that James Harden's come here and had the ball in his hands this much, and it
18:11looks like guys are deferring to him this much, that's a problem.
18:15I made a lot of...
18:18I thought going and getting James Harden made sense on a lot of levels.
18:22But going and getting him and making him your number one, that made sense on no levels.
18:27That was not supposed to be the role James Harden was here for.
18:29Why are guys passing up shots and throwing the ball to James Harden with five seconds
18:34left on the shot clock, 30 feet from the basket?
18:36That is not the point of James Harden.
18:38That's not what he's here for.
18:40If you're trying to act like James Harden is like MVP Harden from six to eight years ago,
18:45then this thing's dead on arrival anyway.
18:47I'm not.
18:48But when you're saying that other guys aren't stepping up, it's the same problem.
18:51It's just a different guy.
18:53He's the better player between him and Darius Garland, but you're just giving me the same
18:57issues that we've had over the past handful of years.
19:01You know, I'm trying to stave off some of those conversations.
19:03But again, if they lose this series, then the truth's right there for everybody.
19:07So there's no reason for me to start screaming and yelling.
19:10You're obviously not anywhere who we thought you were going to be, and heads are going to roll.
19:15Kenny would be gone.
19:16Maybe even Kobe would be gone.
19:18A lot of these guys are getting traded.
19:20We're getting ready to do some serious things.
19:21I'm just letting everybody know what the alternative is to not winning this series.
19:25So there's no reason for me to start screaming and yelling.
19:28If they lose the next two games, it might be a different story for me.
19:32I might be mad because I have to face the consequences of what this could very well be.
19:36I don't think it's going to get there yet either.
19:37I'm still confident they're going to win this series.
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