00:00Is Mahorn okay?
00:01Yeah, murder at the LCA last night.
00:05They go up 2-0, 2-zip.
00:08I love Rick Mahorn's reactions.
00:10We've used them before, and that is as genuine as you're going to get.
00:16That's the beauty of the home broadcast.
00:18Rick has really amped it up in the playoffs.
00:20He's brought his playoff level.
00:22I listened to most of the first half on the radio last night.
00:25It was outstanding.
00:26I mean, it's a former player who understands the excitement
00:31and the intensity level that goes up.
00:33And he was quite critical in the first round of what they were doing.
00:36Good.
00:37There's plenty to be critical of.
00:38You don't sugarcoat it.
00:39That's what we expect from people.
00:41But then you're right there to highlight and enjoy all that's happened since
00:46because this team clearly has flipped a switch and learned a lesson
00:50from what happened in that opening round.
00:53In fact, Kate Cunningham addressed that after the game.
01:57I really liked what he had.
02:00I mean, the whole thing is great.
02:01But that one game at a time mentality, game six in Orlando, one game at a time.
02:09I think that in and of itself, because, you know, okay, it's one thing to win two games
02:13at home against Cleveland.
02:15And now you're going to go there.
02:17Game six, being able to win on the road gives them that confidence that they can do that.
02:22That one game at a time.
02:23Hey, it doesn't matter what happened when we were, you know, four games in, you're down three,
02:27three, one, you still have the ability to come back, which they did.
02:31They know that from the opposite side, you cannot allow Cleveland any breath, any glimmer
02:39of hope.
02:39And it is one game at a time.
02:42Look, and their two games are very similar games where they jump out early, strong defense,
02:49double digit lead.
02:50They take Cleveland's best counter punch and they finish led by Kate.
02:54He set up a bunch of during buckets in game one, and then he knocked down a bunch of shots
02:58in game to finish 25 points.
03:0010 assists, 50% from three.
03:02He had 12 points in the fourth quarter.
03:04The Pistons have controlled both games at home.
03:07Yeah.
03:08And they're in control of the series.
03:09And again, I'll just read the numbers.
03:11No one's asking them to move on already to the Knicks.
03:14They still have to finish this out.
03:16Teams that take a 2-0 series lead and best of sevens win 92% of the time.
03:21That's per ESPN research.
03:24But you know they're not going to take this lightly going to Cleveland because of what they
03:27went through in round one.
03:28Yeah, and I mean, they certainly can't.
03:31No.
03:32But it's being able to go into somebody else's environment around their fans and be able
03:40to do the same thing that they just did at home where you control the game.
03:46Who does this say more about?
03:48The Pistons or the Cavs?
03:52Because there's a lot of, hey, James Harden, playoff Harden.
03:56This team can't get out of their own way.
03:58They don't come to play.
03:59They're flat.
04:00How much of this is Cleveland who regularly bows out in the second round?
04:04And how much of this is Detroit who learned lessons in the first round has grabbed control
04:09of this series with their calling card, their defense, and their star player ascending to
04:14another level?
04:16Question to you and to the people.
04:17Does this say more about Detroit or say more about Cleveland?
04:24It's tough.
04:25Yeah, it is because there are things on both sides where you could talk about playoff James
04:31Harden.
04:31You could talk about Cleveland, the second round exit.
04:33You could talk about all those things.
04:34But I still think it's more about the Pistons and the fact that just take last night, for
04:42example, where you have a team in the Pistons that from moment one, they're dogging the Cleveland
04:52Cavaliers all game long defensively.
04:55And sure, there are times where you're going to leave Donovan Mitchell wide open for a three.
05:01And every time they did, he knocked it down like it was automatic, but they never let
05:07it bother them.
05:08And they continued to make them earn every single shot, every single opportunity, even
05:15when he was left.
05:16It wasn't like they came down on a fast break.
05:18All of a sudden, hey, first five seconds of the possession, he's got a wide open three.
05:22No, it was with five seconds left on the shot clock or as the shot clock was expiring, they
05:29made them work.
05:29And what did that do in the fourth quarter?
05:33Their legs were tired.
05:35They were exhausted.
05:36Please just get out of my face.
05:39And they went 0-4-11 from three point in the fourth quarter.
05:44Yeah, that's not some of that is.
05:46Yeah.
05:46Okay.
05:46We talked about it with Orlando and the fact that they couldn't do anything at the in the
05:51second half of game six.
05:53That was about the Pistons wearing them down and not allowing them any easy buckets throughout
06:00the course of the game.
06:02I'd buy it because it is both.
06:04Yeah, but I think you have to highlight.
06:06It's not like Cleveland is some superior team choking.
06:08It's the Pistons choking them out, right?
06:11It's a better team doing what better teams are supposed to do.
06:14Detroit's playing at home and they're smothering Cleveland.
06:18I mean, there is a sequence that was being shared all over last night.
06:21It's the first half.
06:23It's the I think the second quarter first quarter even and they're recovering and helping
06:27one another.
06:28It's five guys on defense all working in combination.
06:31It's team defense.
06:32It's not.
06:33Hey, we just have a Sar Thompson who can smother you.
06:35It's also we play within a defensive concept.
06:39A Sar was in foul trouble.
06:41He had three in the first half.
06:42He picked up one early in the second half.
06:44And while the Cleveland Cavaliers made their best run with him off the floor, the Pistons
06:49still played strong defense in totality last night.
06:53And I think it says a lot about them that they bring that style.
06:56It says a lot about them that when the other team does give you their best punch and tie
07:00the game up late, you finish like that.
07:03That's that's where the rubber meets the road.
07:05You could say Cleveland is this or that when the game's tied and there's five minutes to
07:09go.
07:10Who does it say more about?
07:11It says more about the team that finds ways to win.
07:15We talk a lot about Cade Cunningham and whether it was the assists with five minutes left
07:22to Durin in game one.
07:24It's the 12 points.
07:25We talk about him offensively, but when you bring up defense and it's defense without
07:29a Sar Thompson, the reason that this team values defense is because their superstar values
07:37defense.
07:38He is dogging them just as much as a star.
07:42Maybe not at the same level as a star, but he is.
07:45It's important to him.
07:46So now all of a sudden it's important to Duncan Robinson, who's not a defensive mastermind,
07:51but it's important to Ron Holland when he's out there.
07:56It's important to every single guy because their stud that's being paid more than anyone
08:02else.
08:02It's important to him to four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97 says guys, the Pistons
08:09are hitting on all cylinders.
08:10Thompson is everywhere, but let's give a big shout out to James Harden's nutritionist MVP
08:15of the series.
08:15He's by far that's G in new Baltimore, the Pistons game, the Pistons game gave me a Harden.
08:24That's Cam in Adrian.
08:27I enjoy watching James Harden fail.
08:30It's must see TV.
08:31God, that guy's so annoying.
08:32It is.
08:33Well, that's the case that this says more about Cleveland.
08:35Like they made their big, bold decision to break up the core four and bring in James
08:40Harden, who is a minus 15 last night, worst of any player on the floor.
08:44Like their best path is with him, not on the floor, him glued to the bench.
08:49I mean, that would be the case that this is Cleveland melting down.
08:52Yeah, but Detroit still got to be able to take advantage of it.
08:56And I think a SAR is in James Harden's head.
09:02I really do because there was, I think it was, I can't remember if it was the first
09:07quarter, second quarter, but you know, on the free throw line, there's a little pushing
09:10and shoving, right?
09:11And a SAR is not known.
09:13At least I haven't seen him to be a big time trash talker, but he didn't back down.
09:19And then there's a loose ball, loose ball foul where a, you know, they're kind of scrapping
09:23for a ball.
09:23SAR thinks that, you know, Harden threw him an elbow.
09:26I didn't like the push because I thought it was a show of frustration.
09:32But I love the fact that a young player in a SAR is not going to back down from the
09:38veteran of James Harden and he's putting them in his place.
09:42Definitely maybe in his head more than Stanley Johnson was in LeBron's head.
09:46You think?
09:50Cade gave them his best, his best rock performance.
09:53It's not how hard you get hit.
09:55It's how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
09:58That's how winning is done.
09:59We'll get more phone calls from you guys, more texts from you guys talking Pistons up
10:022-0 against the Cavs.
10:03It's 97-1.
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