00:00Can I say, since I was all in on being about James Harden on Friday,
00:06that was awesome.
00:07James Harden came through in the most important part in Game 3.
00:11He had those seven straight buckets,
00:13which took the game from relatively close to out of reach.
00:16That was why you trade for a guy like James Harden.
00:19Exactly right.
00:19I mean, especially, and it just gets highlighted.
00:22Obviously, the three shots are important,
00:23but it gets highlighted when you have him hit the mid-range
00:26to then have Cade Cunningham have the monstrous dunk on the other side.
00:30He goes back, he hits the floater.
00:31Cunningham then hits the three,
00:33and you're just trading these back and forths,
00:35and then obviously he finishes with the three-pointer that was the dagger.
00:38And we've forgotten about the nice defensive play
00:41on the three-point attempt on the sideline as well from Detroit.
00:44I mean, it's one of those sequences
00:46that you could not have dreamed it up any better for a James Harden,
00:50basically, not revenge game,
00:53but James Harden just wiping away what happened in Game 2
00:55and being able to get that win for the Cavs.
00:58Yeah, it's funny.
00:58I saw folks having problems with Donovan kind of deferring in that moment.
01:03I'm like, guys, they won.
01:05That's the whole point in what they were trying to do
01:07is get to a spot where you get James Harden iso at the end of the game.
01:10That's the goal.
01:11It's what they've been fighting for.
01:13If anything, you want to bring up those complaints.
01:14Should have brought him up in Game 1
01:16when he was scoring 13 in the fourth quarter.
01:17Yeah, and I mean, I would just look at it and go,
01:19when it comes to the Cavs,
01:22if Donovan and James are who they're supposed to be
01:25and you lose, I can live with that.
01:27Yeah.
01:28I can.
01:28And that was a great Donovan game, by the way.
01:30We've got to acknowledge that as well.
01:3235 and 10 is unreal.
01:33But I just think, like, we haven't seen enough of that.
01:36And I think Donovan and James are still learning each other
01:39in the postseason, which makes sense.
01:41They didn't have a full second half.
01:44I don't know one game in the end means that all of a sudden,
01:47I believe, well, they flipped the switch
01:49or they founded it, you know, whatever.
01:51But it is encouraging, especially because, again,
01:54it doesn't even have to be they have to be great every night
01:57at the same time.
01:58But just one of you on any given night.
02:01Because that's like when if both of those guys have a bad game,
02:04I'm just not going to go and then bitch about Evan Mobley.
02:06If those guys aren't showing up, I'm not going to be like,
02:09but that defensive possession by whoever the hell else.
02:14You know what I mean?
02:14Yeah, but I do think, though, some things that got highlighted
02:16is the idea that you do need some of these other guys to step up.
02:19Even when you do have your two guys step up, like Max Struis
02:22and the defensive play he made with Cade Cunningham,
02:24he just steals the ball on the inbound pass
02:26and then takes it back for the layup.
02:28Like, stuff like that in vital moments still has to happen
02:30for this Cavs team to have success.
02:31I'm going to say this, and I know this is going to be unpopular
02:33because he's actually had a bad game in this series.
02:35Max Struis has been, for his role,
02:38the most consistent and best playoff Cavalier this year.
02:42And when it comes to the investment in him three years ago,
02:46the man is, it's so rare that you take a guy.
02:49He's got a lot of hustle.
02:49I don't know, I can't call him consistent
02:51because game one he was awesome, game two he stunk,
02:53and then game three he was back to being awesome.
02:54Yeah, but I think you're, no, I don't want to say that
02:56because we're in the good vibe here.
02:58It's just not consistent.
02:59I think people base Max based off his offensive output.
03:03I think he, much like Jared Allen,
03:06I think people lose sight of him
03:08unless he's making three-point shots.
03:10Max is a little bit of everything.
03:13When you need a steal, you get a steal.
03:15When you need a rebound, Max tends to get it.
03:18When you need a defensive stop, Max is the guy on it.
03:21And I just, I don't think, you know,
03:23we don't talk a lot about the other guys
03:24because obviously we talked to the headline guys.
03:28I get that.
03:29It is, you almost forgot this regular season
03:32how, what much of a good impact he is.
03:35And so he was fantastic in game three as well.
03:38I mean, I'm giving him his flowers.
03:39He only scored seven points.
03:40It wasn't like he was an offensive juggernaut in that game.
03:42Defensively is where he mattered.
03:43But the steal of Cade Cunningham,
03:45the idea that Cunningham, three straight turnovers
03:47in that entire sequence, like it's just a,
03:49it was a really nice game.
03:51Now, was it perfect?
03:51Of course not.
03:52He got destroyed on the offensive rebound
03:54side of things.
03:55I think 17 to five was the total number there.
03:57Like there was, there's all sorts of things
03:58they can do better with.
03:59But when you shoot the way that they did,
04:01especially early on,
04:02you're just going to be able to beat a Pistons team
04:04that can't hang with that.
04:05Yeah.
04:05And it's, it's interesting.
04:07Like, I do think you have to talk about the blown lead.
04:09You do have to, like, there were a lot of things in that,
04:11but when it comes back to heart,
04:12because I do think, listen, I actually think
04:16in the wild extremes of every different day
04:20being a different topic,
04:22I actually think across the spectrum,
04:24not just us here,
04:26but across the station,
04:27across the format,
04:29I actually do think Cleveland Sports Talk
04:31is handling these playoffs
04:33and these series the way we should,
04:35because your estimation of this team
04:38should absolutely be based off recency bias.
04:41Like this is,
04:42we're not to where we were at LeBron,
04:43where it's like,
04:44just get me to the finals,
04:45and then, you know,
04:45we're not going to panic
04:46unless you lose two games in a row,
04:47stuff like that.
04:48No, I mean, we should be,
04:50this whole journey should be herky-jerky.
04:52This whole jerky should be,
04:53Friday we say,
04:54James Harden's washed,
04:55and Monday we say,
04:56thank God for James Harden.
04:58Like, that is,
04:59and I want to say that, like...
05:01At least you're giving him that, by the way.
05:02The amount of people that today turned around,
05:04because it had been 24 hours,
05:06have already, like,
05:07done this Game 3 amnesia thing
05:09has been a little interesting to me.
05:10Yeah, and listen,
05:11I still think it's one great game.
05:14Like, I think that was his best game
05:15that I've seen from James Harden.
05:17I'd love to see it again.
05:19So I don't want to go farther than that,
05:21but I do think the appropriate response is,
05:23man, he was dog-butt in Game 2,
05:25and he was phenomenal late in Game 3
05:28when you needed just somebody to step up.
05:30If that can't be Donovan,
05:32it's got to be James Harden.
05:33Yeah, no question about it.
05:34Again, it's just,
05:34it's one of those really nice signs,
05:36and it's like,
05:37I mean, they lose that game, Nick.
05:39I mean, it's curtains.
05:39There's no other way to describe it.
05:41You needed someone like Harden
05:42to step up in the way that he did.
05:43Now we're back to the idea, though.
05:44Well, I don't know that tonight's a must-win,
05:46but tonight's one of these games
05:47where if you don't win,
05:48you're in the same spot you would have been,
05:50like your ass is in the jackpot.
05:51Oh, I think it's a must-win.
05:52Yeah, when you go-
05:53I just can't say must-win
05:54because I feel like I just do that a lot now
05:55at this point with this series.
05:57No, I mean, I think you correctly called,
05:59listen, I think in this series,
06:01any one of the home games against Detroit
06:03was a must-win.
06:04You needed to take one of those early.
06:05You didn't.
06:06That is a significant failure.
06:07Then Game 3 became the must-ness of must-wins,
06:10and tonight is a step down from that.
06:12You can't go to Detroit down 3-1, though,
06:14because you haven't proven-
06:15I mean, it seems really hard to go down 3-1
06:16and then be able to escape this.
06:17Well, and listen,
06:18the Pistons did it against the Magic,
06:19but I'll be honest with you,
06:21I just, this is where trust matters,
06:24and this is where, again,
06:26getting back to that idea
06:27of the bipolar responses
06:29from Cleveland's media members
06:30and just kind of the way
06:31we're all living and dying with this series,
06:33and we're either the farthest down
06:35you can be of the Cavs
06:36or the farthest up you can be of the Cavs,
06:39that's what this postseason is about.
06:40It's about building trust.
06:41It's about finding what they can and can't do.
06:45At three games in,
06:46I still have no idea
06:47what's going to happen
06:47the rest of the series.
06:49I think that's right where we should be
06:51at this point,
06:52given how it's gone,
06:53but also that makes tonight,
06:55like, I don't have a great feeling
06:56about tonight.
06:57No, I don't know.
06:58You should win.
06:59You should win.
06:59You're a three-and-a-half-point favorite.
07:00And it is a must-win,
07:01so I expect them to win,
07:03but again, like,
07:04the Cavs have to prove it
07:05in every damn game.
07:06Here was the encouraging part
07:07out of game three for myself,
07:08obviously outside of just Harden
07:09being Harden
07:10and how great that was,
07:11is the idea that
07:12in games one and two, Nick,
07:14they melted down late.
07:15Games one and two,
07:16they put themselves right in the spot
07:17to go ahead and win those games.
07:19Two-point possession,
07:19or one possession game
07:20with five minutes left
07:21in both of those games,
07:23and this one in the final three minutes,
07:24they didn't just vomit
07:25all over their shoes.
07:26They gave back the lead.
07:27They were down one
07:28with three minutes remaining,
07:29and they closed that thing out,
07:31which is not something
07:31they did on the road.
07:32And again, like,
07:33will they do it once the road happens?
07:35We've got to find that out.
07:36But the idea that they were able
07:36to close this game out late,
07:38like, that's a progressive sign.
07:40That's a good thing.
07:41Well, and the other thing
07:43that I think to build
07:44on what you're saying is
07:45Detroit really,
07:46I know Cunningham
07:47made a couple mistakes,
07:48but they weren't giving it away.
07:50Like, Detroit didn't,
07:51at no point in that fourth quarter
07:54did Detroit come close to giving out.
07:55Once we got past
07:55the three straight turnovers
07:56from Cunningham,
07:57and then Cunningham locked in,
07:58and that's when we ended up
07:59having that Harden Cunningham
08:01back and forth,
08:01that sequence that I described
08:02a couple minutes ago
08:03where it was the Cunningham dunk,
08:06the Cunningham step back three,
08:07and you just thought
08:09that he was just going to
08:09lock in in such a way.
08:11I mean, the man had a 28,
08:1227 point triple-double.
08:13You thought he was just going
08:14to overpower
08:15and take over everything,
08:16and Harden and the Cavs
08:17responded better.
08:18Also, is Duncan Robinson
08:20becoming the person
08:21we hate more than anybody
08:22on that team?
08:23Because I did not have that
08:24on my Pistons hate bingo card.
08:26I really hate Tobias Harris
08:27an awful lot right now.
08:28I don't know.
08:28Duncan Robinson looks the worst.
08:30You just hate Tobias Harris
08:31because he's making good shots.
08:33Yes.
08:34He shouldn't be this good.
08:35He shouldn't be playing this good.
08:36Well, that's what happens.
08:37It's infuriating to me.
08:38Tobias Harris,
08:39you're not this good,
08:41Tobias Harris.
08:42I know it.
08:42You know it.
08:43Your parents know it.
08:43You're not this good at basketball.
08:45He's actually pretty good at basketball.
08:46What you just said
08:48is how I feel about Duncan Robinson.
08:50Because Duncan Robinson
08:51makes a shot,
08:52and you would think
08:53it's Michael Jordan
08:54making the shot
08:55over Byron Russell
08:5610 times out of 10.
08:57Like,
08:58Jimmy Neutron
08:59is an absolute gasket.
09:00You didn't go Jordan
09:01over Elo there
09:01for obvious reasons.
09:02Too soon.
09:04It's been 37 years.
09:06Duncan Robinson
09:06is a gasket
09:07on the defensive side.
09:08A blown gasket, rather,
09:09on the defensive side
09:10of the ball,
09:11and then comes down
09:12and makes like
09:12an 18-foot jump shot
09:14and just walks around
09:15like he's Pepe Freakin' Le Pew.
09:17At least Tobias Harris
09:18could walk the walk
09:19on either side.
09:19But think about it.
09:20Tobias is not this good.
09:21We have not had
09:21a beef stew moment.
09:22We really haven't even
09:23had a Jalen Duren moment.
09:25And Jalen can make some
09:27dirty plays.
09:28We haven't gotten any of it.
09:29We had a closed line
09:30of Schroeder
09:31that then just turned into
09:33the ref just getting
09:34on the mic
09:34and being like,
09:35that was an unfortunate incident.
09:36Yeah, explain that to me,
09:37by the way.
09:38That was just an
09:38unfortunate incident.
09:39That that can be that,
09:41and then Wemben Yama
09:42can get thrown out.
09:42That's all I was thinking
09:43about yesterday with Wemben.
09:44I was like,
09:45how does that happen
09:46with Wemben?
09:46And by the way,
09:47Schroeder gets sidelined,
09:49thrown into next week,
09:50and it's like,
09:51unfortunate.
09:51I'm absolutely okay
09:53with Wemben not getting
09:54thrown out in that game.
09:55It was just,
09:57again,
09:57this goes back to the NBA
09:58and why everybody
09:59hates NBA officials,
10:00is that Max Schroeder,
10:01or Max Schroeder,
10:02Dennis Schroeder
10:02can get blasted
10:04in nearly an identical play.
10:06And I guess because
10:07Wemben did like a little
10:08huh,
10:09little huh,
10:10back at him,
10:10then all of a sudden
10:11that made it a worse play.
10:13Wemben went for the neck.
10:14That was the problem.
10:14Well,
10:15he's so tall.
10:17Like,
10:17think about trying to aim down.
10:19He's 7'4",
10:20Nas Reed's like 6'8".
10:21We'll talk about it later.
10:22That was direct contact.
10:25I think,
10:25right in the Adam's apple.
10:26I think,
10:26I think Nas Reed flopped
10:28a little bit.
10:29And I think that's
10:30the worst part is,
10:31I think Nas Reed flopped a lot
10:33and then officials
10:34just were like,
10:35well,
10:35I hit him in the throat.
10:36We got to do it.
10:36Maybe so.
10:37The amount of people
10:38getting on Jared Allen
10:39in that game,
10:39I thought was interesting.
10:40I thought Jared Allen
10:41played a fine game.
10:42Is it because he scored
10:4318 points?
10:44No,
10:44I just thought he played
10:44a fine game.
10:45Like,
10:45I just thought there was
10:46a good game to be had
10:46by him.
10:47And people are just
10:48railing on him
10:49as if the only thing
10:49he's ever done
10:50in this entire postseason
10:51is Game 7.
10:51Which is wild
10:52because Evan did not
10:53have the best of games.
10:55He had an okay game,
10:56but he didn't have
10:56the best of games.
10:57I honestly thought
10:58in that game,
10:59I thought Evan was going
10:59to take the most crap
11:00out of it.
11:00And you're right,
11:01Jared Allen got the more
11:02crap out of the big.
Comments