- 21 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hey everybody, relax. Everybody sit back. We can get calm again. I know there was a little
00:09uneasiness last night in Toronto as things were going down a very, very bad path. About halfway
00:15through the second quarter, Toronto was hitting threes. The Cavs just kind of took some time to
00:23wake up. It seemed like things were not going the Cavaliers way for a while there and then
00:29things got jump-started at the end of the second quarter and then the beginning of the third,
00:35Max Struess and Jared Allen took over. They say role players at home. That's what you need. Maybe
00:41guys, it can't depend on the road and boy, were they big in igniting a massive game seven Cavs run
00:48and that place finally got a Cavalange. Daryl Ryder is in for Ken Carman today. Ken sailing the seas.
00:58We might hear from him over the course of the next few days. We'll see. But Daryl, you were there.
01:03I was at home. I was pacing around all day. I was trying to figure out around the house what
01:11I can
01:11do to not think about game seven. And then once the kids got put to bed, it was like, all
01:16right,
01:16buckle up. Season could be over. This court could be over. Kenny Atkinson, jobs could be at stake.
01:22And here we go. Best of seven against Detroit starting tomorrow night.
01:27They stave off Armageddon for now until we see what they do in Detroit. But look, that building was a
01:35little tense in the first day. They fell behind twice by 10 points and 13 turnovers in the first
01:44half. I mean, just it was really, really sloppy basketball. It was a continuation of what we had
01:50seen in game six as well as the previous two games in Toronto where they just didn't take care of
01:58the
01:58basketball. Then I think I do believe you guys call it flipping the switch. About two minutes to play in
02:06that second quarter, they flipped the switch. You went into halftime tied at 49 and they scored the
02:14first nine points of the third quarter and they were off to the races from there. And they finally
02:20got to use the Cavalanch machines. The one that famously like didn't get used last year against
02:26Indiana. Yes. They turned on the Cavalanch machines in the second half. It felt like a pep rally in the
02:33fourth quarter. Honestly, the whole fourth quarter. I know Toronto made, there was some
02:38fouling that prolonged the game. We kept sending them to the line in the fourth quarter. I don't
02:42think there were enough reviews in that game last night. Right. And it seemed like every single one
02:47went against the Cavs. Yes. Even though Reggie Miller, I just, I was laughing because OMB for the
02:52show is like, Hey, finally, we had a normal broadcast team that we're used to because obviously with the
02:58new rights explosion in the NBA and the streaming, you never know who's going to be doing your game
03:03until like an hour before. And it was like, all right, Sunday night basketball on NBC, which is
03:10something they're clearly trying to ignite. And what a way to do it. Cause they had a pair of game
03:15sevens yesterday. One was there and the other, I think it was on ABC or ESPN. It was, it was
03:20awesome
03:21viewing. I mean, it's to have this many game sevens in the first round, I think we've had some 40
03:27odd
03:27games already to start the playoffs. And to Rico was as good as always. And the thing about Reggie
03:35is like, he is not afraid to tell you when calls are bad to tell you when players are bad.
03:41And I
03:42don't know. I kind of felt like Reggie was rooting for Toronto at times yesterday.
03:48Tariqo's a pros pro, like whatever. I think Reggie kind of loves that going on the road.
03:54Like, you know, he was going for the story. He was, he was kind of treating the Cavs like
03:59the Knicks. What did the Cavs ever do to Reggie Miller? What did they do to hurt you, Reggie?
04:06I thought that, uh, I thought I just everything he was saying for about two hours of basketball,
04:12I was disagreeing with every single one. Like they, to me, they, they made up this,
04:17this, this, uh, narrative and you know how this works in radio and TV and media, like
04:23they showed a montage at halftime Harden and Mitchell coming out passive. And it's
04:28like, I don't know. Then you, you cut shots of James Harden creating nice plays and, uh,
04:35Donovan Mitchell just missing threes, but shooting the ball. Like it would be one thing
04:39if they were passing up shots. I don't know. It was just a weird narrative. Like they
04:42wanted the game, the game seven Harden to be a big issue. And he got to the line and
04:47got people involved and spread the ball around. Didn't turn the ball over. James
04:50plays defense. He's back to 500 and game sevens. He's four and four.
04:54Oh, he's also now 500 in his career in series one and these 15 and 15 now. So the hard
05:02pressed to find many with more playoff experience outside of LeBron than James Harden. And we'll
05:07get to his game a little bit later on, but I, I mean, stealing the show without a doubt.
05:12I mean, Jared Allen and Max Druse and Sam Merrill, like those guys provided everything
05:18that you had been missing for most of this series, which was, you needed some playoff
05:23try hard, some physicality. You needed to make your presence felt and that Jared Allen.
05:29I mean, I, I, where's he been? I, well, I gotta, I gotta say I've been zigging while
05:34everybody's been zagging. Like when people are high on him, I've been lower. When people
05:38have been low on him, I've been higher. I've really felt bad about the injuries over time.
05:42And when he came into this series and I thought it was noticeable, he was getting rebounding
05:46in this series. Like I, I think he was gutting through it, but every time I saw him, like
05:51he can't jump, I'm not going to crush him because he's clearly trying to play through
05:55injuries. Same thing I said for Garland last year. I can't crush Garland. Like he's trying
05:59to play. He clearly can't, but he's trying to play through injuries. You gotta, you
06:03get, all we do is just blast guys for being soft when they're trying to play
06:07through it. And then that Jared Allen I saw yesterday was as healthy as I've seen
06:11him all year. Uh, just taking off from like the free throw line, the dunks, the
06:18running the floor. Yes. Yes. It was a, it was a different Atkinson even said in the
06:23clip that we started to show with, like I've coached him for a long time. Best I've
06:28seen him. And it's the best I've seen. I don't know if you guys seen a better Jared
06:31Allen than that, just putting it all together on both ends of the floor. If, if that's the
06:36Jared Allen, the Cavaliers are going to get going forward through this playoff run. They're
06:40going to be in very, very good shape. I mean, that was sensational to watch him in the third
06:44quarter, 14 points, 10 rebounds, blocked a couple of shots had, uh, I think a quarter
06:49had, had a couple of steals was running the floor. He took off from the free throw line and
06:55slammed one home. Like I, he got mean last night. And I mean, that is a compliment. Like
07:01he really got annoyed and aggravated yanked him to the ground earlier in the, in the game.
07:06And yet that wasn't a flagrant. No. And, and it wasn't even high and yanked him. There
07:10were like two acts there. Yeah. And, and it wasn't even a play on the ball. Yeah. And the,
07:16uh, uh, I forget the official's name, but he's like, yeah, I had them by the shoulder, had
07:22them down by the shoulder. So that's not a flagrant act. And I'm just like, didn't even
07:27make a play on the ball, tackled the guy. This isn't football. And then Donovan Mitchell
07:31is getting called for flagrants later in the game. I, I, well, and Strews got called for
07:35one, too. The headbutt and the moose got a little loose and used his antlers. What was
07:40that? I will say from Max Strews, they got pretty lucky with those flagrants because that
07:45had an opportunity to turn the tide back in the Raptors favor. And it did not. And I think
07:50they went ice cold. Yeah. They were feeling game seven pressures on the road guys that
07:55have been a great all series or in parts of the series. All of a sudden that evaporated,
08:00which was good to see the first half Toronto played real free and easy. You could feel that
08:05the cap, you could feel impressive. The Cavaliers were a little tight, especially in that first
08:10quarter, you could feel it. Um, and it wasn't until late in the second quarter where you felt
08:15like the Cavs started to loosen up and get their bearings. The crowd was certainly behind
08:22them, but you could feel a little nervousness in the building when they fell behind by 10
08:26points. Uh, and, and then just the roof caved in on Toronto. Uh, and, and, you know, the
08:33Cavs really put the boots to them. We annihilated them on the board. So the toughness thing, look,
08:38you're going to have to do it again because Detroit, they are very physical team. Statistically,
08:42they were, I think the second best defense in the league last year. Toronto was the fifth,
08:45but I did see something you'd sometimes it takes, uh, you look, I didn't want seven games.
08:52Nobody wanted seven games. It's ridiculous. The series went seven. I said, if Kenny Atkinson
08:56would have saved his challenges for the right moments, I think we had two games. We would
09:00have won this series. Listen, let's get our losses. Let let's give Kenny some credit for an MVP
09:05performance last night. Zero first half challenges. I said, uh, pregame,
09:11I was watering the lawn. I made a little video and posted it on X. This was my way
09:16of, you know, making sure to stem the anxiety. I'm like, God, people like, why are you watering
09:21your lawn again? I'm like, I'll do it every day. If it keeps me from having to think about
09:25my team being eliminated, whatever. And I was pacing back and forth. Like I told you. And
09:31I'd said in this video, I said, man, if, if Dan Gilbert was in attendance yesterday, he
09:36was there in his typical Cavs owner seat. If they would have lost that game, I think he
09:41would have fired Kenny walking off the floor. I said, Daryl, if he even tries to challenge
09:45anything in the first three quarters, I'm relieving him of his duties. I have to, because
09:49that means you haven't learned. I swear. I think they, I think they would have won the
09:53two, the two games, the game for the game six. I think both of those games had they have
09:57saved the challenges. So I hope they learned their lesson. We don't need to agonize over
10:02a dispute in the second quarter. That's not even putting your guy in foul trouble. Like
10:11in the end, like it was, it was, it was nice to see that, that dominating rebounding edge.
10:18Like our guys finally in this series against the plucky Raptors who were not supposed to
10:25be here. Nobody picked us to win this series. Finally, our guys impose their will in a way
10:30that I think can be meaningful that to see both Evan have his moments of aggressiveness.
10:37I know a stat line wasn't anything special, but then to see Donovan Mitchell get his bounce
10:42back, to see role players stepping up, to see Harden limit the turnovers and play defense
10:47and bait their star into foul trouble. Like that's the recipe for making a deep run in a conference
10:55where almost nothing separates one through eight, which is all I've been making a case for
11:01to wake this city up, to get them pumped. And I know the Cavs had to prove something to all
11:06of you guys. And I don't know if Toronto seven games is going to do it. It probably isn't for
11:11some of you. Some of you are probably still down in the Cavs. We'll play some Charles Barkley
11:15audio where he said he would be embarrassed if he were the Cavs. The fact that this even went
11:22seven games, that's fine. Doesn't matter. Detroit, they should be embarrassed. They went seven games
11:27against Orlando, a team that shouldn't even have been in the post season. You know who should be
11:31embarrassed? The Boston Celtics who are eliminated. Hey, the, the two J's, you guys can watch us at
11:37home. Uh, have fun watching the Cavaliers in Detroit and the Knicks in Philly. It's wide open
11:43for the Cavs now. Of course it is. It's wide open. It's always been wide open for the Cavs, but
11:49they
11:49had to hold up their end of the bargain and it looked like they were on the brink of spoiling
11:55an
11:55all-time opportunity. And now Daryl, I'll tell you, I think they are going to make a run. I think
12:00they are going to beat Detroit. Uh, this is going to be a brutal series to watch. I can guarantee
12:05you
12:05that. I do think there are going to be fights. I do think you might get ejections. You got to
12:09play
12:10it cool. Uh, when it comes to that, they've got guys that just want to come in and literally start
12:15warfare. But I think this team is going to the Easter conference finals and why not? Why not the NBA
12:23finals? Look at the other teams. They've all got issues. Yes. And that's what I've said from
12:28moment one this year. I think now that Boston's eliminated that it worked out perfectly. The way
12:33you strategize the bracket in the final two weeks that for some reason came under scrutiny from
12:39idiots like this worked out to perfection and a Cavs team that didn't get to practice that always had
12:47staggered injuries and couldn't get their full unit together. They're as healthy as they've been all
12:52year. And that seven game series was the best set of practices you could ever have for the wars
12:57that you're going to have coming up. And I actually think you might have some advantages in this series
13:02that you didn't have against the Raptors. What a performance Jared Allen, 19 rebounds as they
13:08demolished the Raptors on the glass yesterday. He was a massive part in it, but also the defensive
13:14prowess. It felt like they credited him with three blocks, but he was chasing everything. You know,
13:22we wondered at the end of the year, like, would he be able with all the pain, the discomfort
13:27after he had that contusion, every time you would see him try to try to jump, it was kind of
13:33painful
13:33for him to land. He kind of spoke to that. And then yesterday I saw a different guy. I saw
13:37a guy
13:37look healthy and look like he was able to set all that other stuff aside. And what a performance in
13:43a game seven that they absolutely needed the way things were going. I'm kind of hoping the Pistons try and
13:48tackle him every game because after that play, he was a completely different player. Like he got
13:53angry. I think he got angry. I think that just like woke him up because, you know, my criticism
14:00over the years of Jared is when it came to basketball, I just think he's too nice. Like he's just
14:06such a
14:07good guy. Okay. That he's just not mean enough. Last night he was mean and it was, it was beautiful
14:15to watch. Three block shots, two steals, handed out a couple of assists, was running the floor,
14:23took off from the free throw line to smash one home. Like, I mean, that's, that's what you need
14:29in the playoffs. You need that, that, that passion, that anger, and you got to channel it
14:36the right way. And I felt like Jared channeled that the right way last night. And he's, he's the
14:44reason. And I realized other players contributed, but I really feel like he's the reason they won
14:50that game. He's the reason they were able to flip that script in the third quarter and take control
14:55of that basketball game and throw it into cruise control throughout the fourth quarter. They're
15:00up 22 points. They went from down again, they fell behind by 10 points twice in the first half.
15:07So you're talking about a 32 point swing and about a quarter and a half for the Cavaliers.
15:13Okay. Jared Allen was a huge part of that 14 and 10 in the third quarter alone with a couple
15:19of
15:19blocks. I mean, just absolutely insane. So they, I caution the Pistons be very careful coming after
15:26Jared Allen. Well, what's look, he's a guy that you're not, you're not going to, you know, dump the
15:32ball into him and let him work the post. I mean, that's just not a huge part of his game.
15:37So he has
15:38to do all the other little things. And look in this series, the one thing you kept waiting for,
15:42and I saw it with all the other, all the other playoff series, you see guys, especially defensive
15:48pressure on the wing. It is supposed to be tough to, to, to, to just go through your offense. And
15:55yet
15:55Toronto kept getting open looks. They were playing kind of fearlessly, especially for game seven on the
16:01road, the way they came out at halftime. And I'm just like, man, we're like the one team in the
16:05league. That's not pressuring the basketball. And then Max Strews got a steal on Scotty Barnes and
16:12Jared Allen was blocking shots inside. Finally, you made them feel you in a way that you hadn't
16:19through six plus games. And this has to be the standard. This is how it's gotta be for you to
16:24make this deep run that I've been talking about. Yeah. And Barnes had to go to the bench in the
16:28third
16:28quarter with five fouls. Uh, you know, you know, I, I know Strews got, uh, nailed with the,
16:34with, with the flagrant, but I mean, you need, uh, guys like Strews and Schroeder to get under the
16:41skin of your opponents in the same way that we've seen over the years, Cavalier playoff opponents
16:47get under the, get under the skin. Yeah. We're always on the receiving end of it, right? You got to
16:51start dishing it out, right? You got to start dishing it out a little bit. I kind of felt like
16:55Jarrett really dished it out in the third quarter. This is like the first time we've seen him that
17:00you've brought it up in the past, Anthony, like Jarrett has his, one of his best abilities is
17:04that he doesn't let, like when he gets posterized on a dunk, like he doesn't let that dwell with
17:09him, but it's been almost a detriment where you're like, Hey, we need to kind of need to see some
17:14fire out of you somewhere. We finally saw, finally saw some fire last night. And apparently there was
17:19fire even before the game. Listen to James Harden talking about Jared Allen and a, uh, maybe a different
17:25version of Jared Allen. He doesn't really talk, you know, too much, but he was talking today.
17:29You know what I mean? He was like, he had like a mean side of him today, which is what
17:32we need
17:32out of Jay. Like when he plays like that, we're a different ball club. You know what I mean? Just
17:35because our, our, our presence inside is felt. And then obviously that perimeter, you know, we can do
17:40a lot on the perimeter. Uh, but when him and Ev are like aggressive and they're rebounding the
17:43basketball, they're finishing around the rim. They're just in attack mode. You know, we got, we got
17:47two sides of the floor. And that's what it would, it has to be. If you're going to play these
17:51two
17:51bigs that don't necessarily have offensive takeover abilities, you know, Evan, we saw
17:58bits and pieces of it. I know yesterday there was a big conversation about Evan's game. I'll get to
18:04more of that in a little bit under, uh, under analysis for Evan, but I think those two guys,
18:09they have to be doing all those things. They have to dominate the boards or, you know, it's a huge
18:14detriment to be playing those two guys together. Yeah. Um, and what I really, uh,
18:21liked, uh, about what I saw last night is it felt like the ball movement. There was energy
18:30offensively in the passing lanes. Like it just, cause there were some times where things got
18:36stagnant. Uh, I remember it was in game six, there was an offensive possession where James Harden like
18:44hung out at mid court through the entire offensive possession. Like he took it off and I'm sitting
18:51there thinking, this is a closeout game. The hell are you doing? Like get in there, get involved.
18:56Right. Um, and, and, and it just, there were too many times where the basketball was sticking,
19:02uh, on the road. Look, they're going to have to find a way by the way, to, to, to win
19:06a game on the
19:06road. They cannot win the series without taking a game on the road. So they absolutely, before they
19:13play game three Saturday night, or I should say Saturday afternoon at three o'clock, they got to come
19:18home one, one series has got to be one, one after two games. Okay. Got to get one in, in
19:24Detroit. Um,
19:25and you know, obviously that's going to be a talking point for this team. Cause they've not
19:29played well on the road in the playoffs. Uh, the last couple of years, normally short turnaround after
19:34a game seven spells, a lot of trouble for a team in the cab situation. The good news is the
19:40higher
19:40seated team. They just went through a seven game war too. It's not like they've been sitting back
19:45and waiting and getting healthy and refreshed Ted in South Carolina. How are you? Ted? Welcome to the
19:51show. Good morning, gentlemen. Hey, I'm calling to say, I can't believe it, but Lama, I agree with
19:57you. They're going on a run. It's time. It's time. They're going in and, uh, Jared looked great last
20:06night. I wasn't really crazy about the balance of the Cavs last night. Okay. Why so? Just with like,
20:14with the exception of you were just talking about Harden hanging out in the middle of the court.
20:18Well, that, but that was in game six. That wasn't in game seven last night.
20:22Well, he did a little bit of that last night and I was a little tired of watching Evan dribbling
20:28a
20:28ball all over the place. I like him when he's a little bit more down closer to the basket
20:34and, and playing toward the block, but not all the time. I mean, he makes a good three every now
20:40on that as well, too, but I agree that the run is coming. All right, Ted. Yeah. Get fired up.
20:46That's right. This is the time. Listen, the playoffs, they can make fools of a lot of us.
20:52Uh, listen, if you, if you go by the history, you have every reason to believe the Cavs are going
20:57to
20:58flame out or we're going to flame out. I understand it. My pushback was that I felt like the other
21:04teams have flaws too. And this team, if they can magically come together and sometimes it might
21:10take a series like that, it might take a seven game series where you had to battle some real
21:16adversity. We used to laugh about that, but that Miami series last year did not adequately prepare
21:21the Cavs for anything. Well, and Kenny Atkinson said that, mentioned that after the game, he actually
21:25mentioned it before the game too. It just, the ease, right? Uh, because it came up, Hey, you know,
21:31a lot of folks don't believe this thing should have gone seven. You should have handled your
21:35business by now. And he said, listen, a year ago, we blew right through Miami and then look
21:39what happened. So, um, as he put it, felt like it really galvanized them, uh, as a team, this
21:45seven game series against Toronto, we're going to find out. Okay. Uh, it's easy to be riding
21:50the high of the wave this morning. Uh, they got to carry this thing forward. Now the opportunity
21:55is there. There are no excuses for this basketball team, uh, not to realize their
22:01potential. I would argue they are the most talented roster remaining, uh, in the Eastern
22:06conference. Ooh, that's a good one, but that's it. That's a good, we'll put that under the
22:09microscope, but that doesn't guarantee anything. You still got to go out there. It's also around
22:15two coming up, Daryl. And we've seen round two. Yeah, we have. Yeah. For three years in
22:19a row. Well, I remember they had that seven game series against Orlando where they, they
22:23came back. They were down 20 at home in a game seven. They battled back to win that series.
22:28And unfortunately, you know, that's the success that they had. I will say this about James
22:33Harden, the peak for this iterate. Well, the, I know Harden's been added to the mix, but I'm
22:38just saying the peak of Kobe Altman's post LeBron 2.0 was, uh, while they've been gentlemanly
22:46swept in the conference semifinals. So here we go. Here's a question for if the Cavaliers
22:53losing six, is that a step forward for them? No, it's not. No, it's not. Um, no, they need
22:58to win this series. They would, they will have won one more game in the conference semifinals
23:02than they, uh, they did the previous two years. That will not be enough for me. And
23:05I suspect that would not be enough for most Cavs. They would match their conference semifinals
23:10win total from the last two years combined Lima. I think there's a lot of questions going forward
23:15about, you know, people were like, well, if they make it to the Eastern conference finals,
23:19but it's Boston and it's six games and they, well, Boston ain't in it. Yeah. There is no
23:23Boston. You on paper, right? Probably should be the favorite now to win the Eastern conference.
23:30Well, we'll get to that. I have the numbers in front of me. I was talking about all my
23:34show yesterday, how grumpy I was. Not only that there was a game seven, but I could not
23:39enjoy the fact that the Celtics got bounced because the Cavaliers had yet to handle their
23:45business. It was, uh, it was a thing of beauty. I woke up this morning. I'm enjoying the fact
23:50that the Celtics got all of you should be Cleveland. You should be enjoying it. Hey,
23:55it's a flawed team. A hundred percent. Welcome to the playoffs. I don't want to get into ball
23:59nowhere stuff right now, but you know what? When we return, I, I do have an explanation
24:05as to a lot of the James Harden 30 feet from the basket. I can explain some of it. I'll
24:11try
24:11not to be condescending. I'm just going to get to some nitty gritty. You know, me, Owen,
24:16I like to spread the game, like the gospel. I like to do my best to let everybody in.
24:21And I think I have a chance to do that. But Lima is not going to be condescending. What
24:26have they done to Anthony Lima?
Comments