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00:00Obviously, I'm on Twitter.
00:01We're checking things out, right?
00:03In my world of Twitter, I did not get lambasted.
00:06I did not get cooked the way that I thought I was going to.
00:09And I think there was a recognition that the Cavs themselves blew that game.
00:12And there was a recognition that there were some fluke things that happened at the end of the game.
00:15And some people that, I don't know, maybe have to bear the responsibility of that game.
00:19They're the ones that have to account for it.
00:20Who are those people?
00:21More so than me speaking five hours prior.
00:24I don't think that's exactly how the basketball gods look at it, but I appreciate.
00:28By the way, Jared Allen...
00:30If I have this newfound power, I have to really be careful with this.
00:33You know, Jared Allen totally got on the right side of basketball gods yesterday.
00:37Four years after the lights were too bright, which was a joke by him.
00:41He was doing it in jest, right?
00:44He was the reason why you won game seven.
00:46So all of a sudden, he's off the basketball gods checklist.
00:49It's just you now in Cleveland.
00:51And maybe James Harden perpetually.
00:53Is it just basketball?
00:54Am I on the football gods?
00:55Do they spite me as well?
00:56I'm sure I predicted a Browns win that didn't happen before.
00:59I believe if you look at the Browns' eight wins in two years, I think we know the answer.
01:02Am I the reason why?
01:03It's either that or they're just smiting all of us at this point.
01:06I mean, the baseball gods already have you on their bleep list with Chase the Water injury stuff from earlier
01:11in the season.
01:11Yep.
01:12No, but that was proven out that obviously there was no injury attached to it.
01:15They were giving you the warning.
01:16You guys all thought he was going to get injured because of how I was speaking.
01:19He has not been injured.
01:20So does that mean I have no power with the baseball gods?
01:22Now see, now you're taunting the baseball gods again.
01:24I have no power with them.
01:25He just had a great weekend.
01:27Why are you taunting the baseball gods about Chase the Water?
01:29No, it was proven.
01:30I got no power with the baseball gods because what I said did not come to fruition with them.
01:34Now you're taunting them.
01:35So here we are.
01:35You're like looking them right in the eye and taunting them.
01:37Yeah.
01:38Anyone that believes I jinxed anything is just an idiot and I don't want to deal with them anyway.
01:42I will tell you, it's very good to see that none of the Cavs' problems exist anymore
01:49because they played about 15 minutes of good basketball yesterday.
01:53Oh, is that the response?
01:54Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:56Guys, they trailed in the last five games.
01:59They trailed more often than they led.
02:02Like, they are lucky to have won that series.
02:05Thank you, Jared Allen.
02:06They did win the series, though.
02:07No, no, no.
02:08And listen, I'm not here to dunk on them.
02:12Like, the Cavs won the series.
02:13And they took over that game in an important moment.
02:17They remembered that they have an advantage in the post, which was nice to see.
02:22Ball knowers had only been asking for them to remember that for about five damn days.
02:26But no, I mean...
02:27Who's the ball knower in this scenario?
02:28I can't keep track anymore.
02:29I think we all know ball to some degree.
02:31Because the morning show went back to not even referring to your name today.
02:33They just called you non-ball knower.
02:35And then asked if they should send you gifts and everything like that.
02:37And Daryl, by the way, oh, to be Daryl.
02:40Is he a spineless jellyfish again?
02:42Big time spineless jellyfish.
02:44That man, when the team is down, he's the first one to kick them.
02:47Okay?
02:48Like, first one to just boot that team to the moon.
02:50And then all of a sudden, they get a win and advance in the next round.
02:52And he's Johnny Go Cavs.
02:54He turns into Moondog.
02:55Now, play the hot hand.
02:56It's an insane, insane level of...
02:59Hold on.
02:59I just heard you for hours the day prior.
03:01You sounded totally different.
03:03All right.
03:03Listen.
03:04There have been guys in the Cleveland media at Cleveland sports talk shows who have made
03:09a career out of flip-flopping.
03:11And just living with the wave.
03:12You go, Daryl.
03:13They just live with the wave, some of these guys.
03:15It's most of them.
03:16It's a large majority of them.
03:17Like, I honestly think you and I get crap because we just don't ride the wave.
03:21And we just don't do the obvious thing every time it's happened.
03:24Like, the Cavs won yesterday.
03:25It didn't really feel like a series win.
03:28It didn't.
03:29Half of my texts were, I mean, do we even want to go to the next round?
03:33And the other half were, great.
03:35When we get to the second round, we're going to get outcoached and outplayed by J.B.
03:38Bickerstaff.
03:39Well, so the first half of that game was obviously disastrous.
03:42And then again, they did the same thing that they've been doing where right before the half
03:46and then out of the half, they just went on a run and it just made everyone feel good
03:50inside and everything was all back to being normal.
03:51There's a reason why Vegas doesn't have them as the favorite against the Pistons, though.
03:56Like, they're not the favorite in game one.
03:57They're not the favorite in the series.
03:58And I find this so fascinating because I do think a lot of Cavs fans have just gone to
04:02this idea that we're just going to, I don't know, sleepwalk through the Pistons series
04:06and everything's going to be all right as if there were some massive advantage.
04:10Pistons and really Vegas don't see it that way.
04:13Yeah, and here's the thing.
04:14You took a Toronto team that does not shoot well from three and you turned them into the
04:19Boston Celtics when the Boston Celtics are actually making their threes.
04:22Outside of the final three games of their own series.
04:24That's why I had to differentiate.
04:25Yeah.
04:25But no, I mean, you were getting cooked by battle and Shed and Walter.
04:31Walter turned into Steph Curry for some of these games.
04:32There's a bunch of guys who I believe coming into the season were looked at as like, are
04:38they NBA guys or are they not?
04:40That's who cooked you in this series.
04:42And listen, Scotty Barnes was really fantastic.
04:44Kind of disappeared in the second half.
04:46Don't know where that went.
04:47But like, RJ Barrett had a couple moments in this game.
04:50Like, I can't help coming out of this series, though, feeling like you let that series become
04:57a seven-game series.
04:59And I don't think we should run from that feeling, because if you do, then you're going
05:05to be real surprised the first time adversity hits the Cavs in this series, because I do
05:10think this is going to be a long series.
05:12I think that the expectation is that it's going to be a long series.
05:15Six or seven games has got to be the expectation out of just about anybody that's going to talk
05:18about this series at any sort of seriousness.
05:21And so, yeah, like, there's a lot about the Cavs that I liked about yesterday, and there's
05:25a lot I liked about the second half.
05:27In particular, Jared Allen, but you're far from running away with this thing.
05:31I don't believe that the Toronto series is just what they needed.
05:35I think that's way too early.
05:37I think that's way TBD.
05:38The Toronto series might be the warning siren that we're all going to ignore, because they
05:43won the damn series.
05:44And what's nice about winning an NBA series, you get to kind of refresh and reset, and
05:48hopefully then it was just a bad matchup.
05:50But right now, I think we should be closer to, that was a warning sign in real time, versus,
05:56oh, you figured something out there in game seven.
05:59No, you just had more talent, and you outlasted them.
06:02And then Jared Allen played unreal basketball.
06:05You can disprove that take that I just said by taking command of this series and not giving
06:11it up, because this is far more of a traditional one, you know, one versus four, their style versus
06:18your style.
06:19Like, you should be able to have your advantage here.
06:23You are the better team by talent, by a wide margin, but it's talent versus a team that
06:29has played well as a team.
06:31I was texting him.
06:32Well, so the Pistons, though, they have their same problems, too, though.
06:34And if you're talking about, like, some of the warning signs.
06:36Is it that they can't hit shots?
06:37Well, that's one of them.
06:38Yeah.
06:38Because Toronto couldn't either.
06:39They can't shoot the three ball at all.
06:41So we'll see.
06:42We'll see what turns.
06:43But, like, that last series against Orlando, I mean, they had to fight and scrap and claw
06:46themselves.
06:47Game six, and then game seven in particular.
06:49Game seven, if the Magic don't miss 23 straight shots, 23 straight shots.
06:54Nick, if I took you down to the YMCA and had you chuck up 23, there's no way you're missing
06:58all 23, okay?
06:59And I'm being guarded by Jalen Duren.
07:02Even then, you're probably not missing all 23.
07:05I'll make one.
07:06I think you'll make one.
07:07Like, missing 23 in a row in an NBA game is unheard.
07:09And so, like, if you're a Pistons fan, some of the same things you're saying about the
07:13Cavs right now, you could be saying the same thing if you're doing Detroit Sports Talk
07:16Radio today.
07:16As a matter of fact, that's exactly what Jim Costa, who's the morning guy at the Tick
07:21in Detroit.
07:21And he usually is a homer, so I'm interested to hear what you have to say.
07:24Well, so he didn't engage on this.
07:27But I said, how is it that both of our teams have advanced today, and neither of us feel
07:33better about our team?
07:34There might be a point where we look back and go, that Toronto series was what you needed,
07:39right?
07:40Yeah, definitely.
07:41The problem is, the same theme that turned that from a 2-0 game to a you sneaking by because
07:49of a great third quarter and decent fourth quarter last night, it's the same thing that
07:56cost you the Indiana series.
07:57It's the same thing that caused the previous Orlando series to go the distance, to get
08:02bounced out by Boston.
08:03And that is, when physicality comes to the Cavs' door, it really stymies them.
08:10And it doesn't matter if you're naturally good at it.
08:12Like Toronto, that's not Toronto's game.
08:14And the Cavs, in some of their issues, turned Colin Murray Boyles into, I don't know, Draymond
08:20Green circa 2016.
08:22Sure, CMB.
08:22So, like, it's, I don't want to completely shoot down the idea, but I don't think there's
08:28a, I don't think there's a Cavs fan alive who can say, coming out of this series, you
08:33feel better coming out of this series than you did going into the series.
08:36Well, no, but there are things that they were able to learn, at least, and able to maybe
08:39unlock, right?
08:40Like, Jared Allen, now in his, what was it, like, Dr. J, is he trying to call himself
08:45Dr. J?
08:45Is that what it is?
08:46Or Dr. J-A?
08:47Something like that?
08:48Dr. J-A.
08:49It's something like ridiculous.
08:50I'm not Dr. J, you just think you added A, though, and that's who I am.
08:54It's very, it's very Marvel comic-esque, where he's like, I just have to create this, you
09:00know, other person that I just kind of morph into, and now all of a sudden I can do the
09:05things that Jared Allen himself could not do.
09:08Is this like, is this like McCarthy's 9?
09:12It was Dr. J-A.
09:13Okay.
09:13Yeah.
09:14Yes, very similar to McCarthy's.
09:15Yes, very similar.
09:16That's what he was, like, crediting after the game, was this whole idea of, like, this
09:20Dr. J-A persona that he has to take on, and at least it worked for one game.
09:24For one, that was a different Jared Allen for one game.
09:27It was.
09:27And that was an incredible Jared Allen for one game.
09:29And is he just going to morph into this Dr. J-A for every game now moving forward, or
09:34is it only for specialty games?
09:35I don't know when this happens.
09:36So what's interesting about Jared is, I actually thought Jared was playing with the requisite defensive
09:41intensity for most of this series.
09:44It's just, he was invisible on offense.
09:47You're correct.
09:47Yeah.
09:47So what made, what made last night so special is it, there just wasn't a part of the court.
09:53And I'm talking about even in like transition where he wasn't going after, trying to get
09:57a steal, trying to disrupt.
09:59And it's like, that is everything every Cavs fan ever wanted.
10:03And the fact that it happened in a game seven should count more.
10:08And it's going to last about two games into the series if he disappears in the first two
10:12games of this series.
10:13Because that's how this kind of works with everyone.
10:14And so I don't know.
10:15I don't know how, are Cavs fans going to look at this as like a fresh clean slate for everyone
10:19to start up?
10:20Or are we just going to carry over some of the problems we had in the first round and
10:23then antagonize them as well?
10:24Yeah.
10:25I mean, we should probably expect the problems to stick with the Cavs until they beat those
10:30allegations by going farther than they ever have.
10:32And it's funny, like, I do think, like, the Raptors did not take a lot of threes in the
10:38regular season, but they've got some guys who can shoot.
10:42Although Emmanuel Quickly, who's their best three-point shooter, is not on the court in
10:44the entire thing.
10:45Well, and even last night, though, I mean, they didn't have a good three-point shooting
10:48night last night.
10:49I mean, the Cavs had like the same 29% from the field.
10:52It was not, no, neither team shot particularly well from the outside.
10:55But I do think, like, Detroit, you already know, like, it's so funny.
10:59Toronto took two games to realize, hey, they don't really like physicality, and if you
11:06get up in their grill, it's going to make them uncomfortable.
11:08And they responded by playing.
11:10And I think it's underreported what great defense Toronto played for most of that game.
11:16That is the credit that I will give them, even if they were just, the Cavs' perimeter
11:20defense was just absolute and total bunk.
11:24Like, at some point, hey, let's collapse.
11:27Let's collapse on the guy who's going to end up shooting the ball.
11:30If it burns your ass for most of that series, maybe take a look at that.
11:34I don't know.
11:35I'm just thinking out loud here.
11:36I mean, I just think the Cavs looked at it like that was an advantage to have Toronto
11:39shoot as many threes as they were trying to shoot.
11:41And I believe they were wrong.
11:42It was not.
11:42It's not like they were hitting a great deal.
11:44And so, like, that is, I really do think that was part of their plan.
11:47And that's why, like, last night, again, when Toronto just kept chucking up threes and
11:51it not falling, that's how you separated.
11:52But I do think, like, when it comes to this Detroit series, I kind of am going into the
11:58Detroit series the way I am in the Toronto series, which is like, if this team was at
12:04the Cavs aren't 100% as healthy as anybody is in the playoffs.
12:08What I mean is, if this team had more time to gel together and Donovan and James weren't
12:15exhibiting some signs of, hey, I don't really know how to play with you in this pressurized
12:20environment yet.
12:20And if maybe the bigs were a little bit more consistent in the last series, maybe I'd feel
12:26more confident.
12:27But it's funny, like, I think the Cavs, at full health, at full strength, with a full
12:32season, I would expect them to gentlemanly sweep Detroit.
12:35I have no respect for this Detroit team.
12:38The problem is, the math that troubles me is they keep coming back to the Cavs, how they
12:44played on the road in all three playoff games.
12:47The fact that Harden and Mitchell together, James struggled with the turnovers we talked
12:54about, but he did not in game seven, which was nice to see.
12:57Only two turnovers in game seven.
12:58Donovan was wildly inconsistent.
13:00They had 13 turnovers as a team in the first half, though.
13:02They were picking up the slack for James' not having his turnovers.
13:05They're picking up your teammate.
13:06Donovan had, arguably, his worst playoff series as a Cavalier.
13:11And again, like, the bigs, you know, have been wildly inconsistent.
13:14There have been moments where both of them ate in this last series, and there are moments
13:18where both of them disappeared.
13:20I just, I don't have any better feel that they're going to do what I think they should
13:25do, which is beat Detroit in a five-game series.
13:28Meanwhile, though, if you're Detroit, your lead superstar in Cade Cunningham is scoring
13:32a lot, but he's committed more turnovers in the series than James Harden just did this
13:35last series.
13:36You've mentioned Duren.
13:37Duren had been on basically a milk carton the entire series long, and you've talked
13:41about how you don't think he's a playoff player necessarily.
13:43Like, for as many flaws as this Cavs team has, you're going up against a Pistons team
13:49that, at seven games against Orlando, exposed a ton about what they aren't.
13:53How is what you're doing now for the Pistons, how is that different than what you did for
13:58the Raptors, who, in fairness, neither of us respected going into that series?
14:03Because, and I can answer real quick, because I don't mean this as like an attack.
14:08You keep talking about the other team.
14:10I think all of our doubts should be on this Cavs team, and that really is what this next
14:16series represents.
14:17Hey, we actually did learn things.
14:19Hey, we needed the extra time to figure out how to play with each other, and it should
14:23be commended.
14:24If you can win a seven-game series with that Donovan and those turnovers from James Harden,
14:31I mean, that's an incredible win to get if I told you how bad Donovan would be at certain
14:36parts of this, and the turnovers from James, but that's what this series is.
14:42Like, if you get up 2-0, which would mean you take the first two games of this on the
14:45road, which would be the nicest way you could start the series, I need you to finish off
14:50the series.
14:51Like, if you're in a position to finish the Pistons off, you need to learn what maybe the
14:56Magic didn't, and maybe you didn't against the Raptors.
14:59And that's why I think, like, this Raptors series is that next great opportunity, and
15:03certainly a better opportunity than Toronto, because you've already got the first-round
15:07series out here.
15:09All right, let's see what you really did learn.
15:11I can't give flowers today when it's like, oh, you won the first-round series.
15:16And I get you not wanting to give flowers today.
15:18It's totally understandable.
15:19I get it.
15:20I felt like the second half of last night's game, and really even game six, that was a
15:25loss.
15:25But the way that they erased the deficit that they had and was able to claw back into
15:29that game, like, they have shown a different sign relative to at least game four and five
15:34where they just kind of laid down.
15:36Does that mean that they're fixed?
15:37No, of course not.
15:38Does that mean all their problems are taken care of?
15:39Of course not.
15:40But it definitely means that they're in a good enough spot to be able to do everything
15:44they wanted to accomplish before the postseason got underway.
15:47Boston's no longer even a part of the equation anymore.
15:50Like, the runway is there for them, and that's a good thing.
15:53So, I'll ask you, how much of this is based off beating Toronto, and how much of this
15:58is based off Boston losing to the Sixers?
16:00Because I did, I will tell you.
16:02I mean, it's all right there.
16:03In between game six and seven, I saw an uptick in Cavs' confidence, and I'm like, they haven't
16:09played a game in the last game they did play.
16:12I guess, but Boston being out, that does change the math as far as for what you're thinking
16:16about for the Eastern Conference Finals.
16:17I mean, Boston was out last year, and it didn't change the math.
16:21Right?
16:21Like, I guess, I just have seen this play before, and again, I'm excited about where
16:26the Cavs are.
16:27I love that we're in prove-it mode.
16:29We've been in wait-and-see mode, right?
16:31We've been waiting for a moment where the organization would show, hey, we gotta get
16:35it done.
16:35And if we don't, we gotta find a way around this.
16:37No, Nick, I think that just, all that does for me is, it almost like sparks a fire of how
16:42disastrous a game seven loss would have been if Boston's already out.
16:45And if anything, it highlights, if you don't get past Detroit, if you do what happened
16:49last year, where you don't get past the Pacers, and that was because of injuries, we get it,
16:52but like, the door was there for you.
16:55It was wide open.
16:56Like, for me, that makes it even more crushing.
16:59That makes it more like, hey, I have to really get after these guys and hammer them for not
17:03achieving the goal, because the runway is right there for you.
17:06It's set up.
17:07Everything they wanted this postseason to be is all right in front of them.
17:10They have to go do it now.
17:11But this is why I think it's important to add, the runway's been there before, right?
17:17Like, they, hey, I'm gonna tilt this to play Orlando in the first round of the playoffs.
17:22They damn near lost that series.
17:24They lost the very next series.
17:25They lost the next series to Boston.
17:26Yes, that's right, to Boston.
17:27Well, okay, but you got gentlemanly swept.
17:29This is, this is it.
17:30They chose this path, and they needed an electric performance by Jared Allen, which cannot be
17:36stated enough how much fun that was to watch him just go absolute psychopath on the
17:41court last night.
17:43But they needed that, and some good Max Strews action to go ahead and get past a Toronto team
17:49that they chose, and the Toronto team that almost beat their ass.
17:54Like, these, they've been here before.
17:56And so this is, again, like, we've had the James Harden fight in Donnybrook for three months.
18:03All right?
18:04All I heard about is how, ah, this is why you need a James Harden.
18:07You shouldn't have needed James Harden to beat Toronto.
18:09I digress.
18:10But they did need James Harden to beat Toronto, it seems like.
18:12But, yeah, that's also not maybe the best thing in the world, because I think James was just
18:16okay in this series.
18:17But, like, it's time.
18:20Like, it is right here.
18:21You're not wrong.
18:22That's it.
18:22That's all it is.
18:22It's all right there.
18:23The problem is, it has all been right here for four years.
18:27And so, like, don't, I know people get upset because I don't just come out and be like,
18:33is Jared Allen the greatest center in the NBA history?
18:36Is Donovan, Kenny Atkinson?
18:38Guys, if that game goes any differently, you're firing Kenny Atkinson today.
18:42Not me, but you're firing Kenny Atkinson.
18:44100% you fire Atkinson.
18:45And you're probably trading Donovan Mitchell, too.
18:47So, let's not act like there's this huge pound-our-chest moment just because Boston
18:52lost to Philadelphia.
18:54The opportunity's there.
18:55The opportunity's been there.
18:56And the Cavs haven't heeded the call enough times.
19:00We should still be looking for them to prove, for proof of concept in this Piston series,
19:05which, if we're all being honest, should be over as quickly as the Toronto series.
19:10Maybe not a sweep, but a five- or six-game series going the Cavs' favor.
19:14But I do think that's why Cavs fans took last year so, I'd say, three times as hard.
19:18Two years ago, you went up against a Boston team that won the title, and it was Tatum-Brown.
19:22It was everything they, you weren't getting past them.
19:24But last year, against Indiana, and the injuries that popped up, like, yeah, that was devastating.
19:29Why?
19:29Because the injuries kind of exposed the idea that you weren't going to be able to get past
19:33a Pacers team that you should have been able to get past.
19:35And if they were healthy, they probably would have gone past Indiana.
19:38They probably would have gone past the Knicks, and it would have been a different story.
19:40And so, like, this is, this is like your second chance of sorts, in my opinion.
19:44You have the bracket set up about as perfect as you could have ever wanted.
19:47If you just told me results-based, Nick, results-based, you have the Celtics out in the first round,
19:52and then you advance, you couldn't have asked for a better first-round outcome for the Cavs
19:56from a results standpoint.
19:58And so it's all, it's all right there.
19:59What if I told you the Cavs trailed for most of this series from game three on?
20:03Did they win the series?
20:04All right.
20:05All right.
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