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00:00Dial in. Lock in. Come on.
00:02We've got a playoff game tonight.
00:04It's a big one. Legacy's at stake. Let's go.
00:07Legacy's at stake?
00:08I just say it after every game, but it's kind of true.
00:10Legacy's at stake. Actually, that is.
00:12Like, if Donovan Mitchell did not have that performance in the second half.
00:17Well, you're right.
00:18And let's say the Cavs just lose.
00:20First of all, we're all talking about,
00:21shouldn't we be trading Donovan Mitchell?
00:23There goes that music.
00:24That's the end of that real quick.
00:25But isn't that how that works in the NBA?
00:27And then we overreact to every single game?
00:30Because I'm going, yeah, James Harden's 17 years in his career.
00:33What's the biggest knock on James Harden?
00:35Fades and playoffs.
00:36What have we talked about with Evan Mobley?
00:38Is he ever going to be legacy-defining stuff right now?
00:41And you just mentioned Donovan Mitchell.
00:42Well, here we are.
00:44Like, and now, I'll tell you, now that I have been reminded,
00:47I guess we should have always knew that Donovan had that in him
00:51because we've seen it.
00:52But as you get older, it's like, are we going to see it again?
00:55Is this the drop-off?
00:57Is this the Dwayne Wade drop-off?
00:59And then he reminds you, oh, yeah, I can score 39 points in a half.
01:02I can do that in a half of a playoff game.
01:04How many guys on the planet can do that in the half of an NBA playoff game?
01:08Are there three?
01:10Are there two?
01:11What Donovan Mitchell did?
01:11What Donovan Mitchell just did?
01:13All right, Steph Curry.
01:14You want a power rank?
01:15And even now, can Steph Curry do that today?
01:17First one since I came back from vacation.
01:19Thought we might get one yesterday, but there was no reason to.
01:21Maybe Luka, but Luka has been banged up.
01:23Can't just order it up.
01:24The Lakers are not playing in the playoffs right now.
01:28All right, I think I can power rank it.
01:30Here we go.
01:31Number one, Shea Gilgis-Alexander.
01:36Good?
01:37Is that a good one?
01:38Yeah.
01:39Yeah.
01:39Number two, I want to say Luka.
01:45Yeah.
01:45Okay, all right.
01:46I can't.
01:47We got to go with health.
01:48I would not be debating you.
01:50Number three.
01:53Who the hell else would be number three?
01:56Tobias.
01:57No.
01:57It felt like it.
01:58It did feel like it at times.
02:01No offense.
02:02Could Jalen Brown do it?
02:04No.
02:04Okay.
02:05I don't think he could.
02:06Damn it.
02:06I got two out of three.
02:07I guess I can't power rank it.
02:08You mentioned guys that are all better than Donovan Mitchell, but this is the gear Donovan
02:12has that these other guys do not have.
02:17Bam out of Bayou.
02:18Actually, yes.
02:19Now we do know Bam could do it.
02:21But the fact that Donovan pulled that off, and you know for a fact, the city of Detroit,
02:27if he comes out tonight and scores like a quick eight points the way that Harden has,
02:33but if it's instead Donovan Mitchell, like he has a chance to hush that crowd in a way
02:38where they're going to start going, oh my God, we have nothing to stop that.
02:41We have nothing that can match that.
02:43I would certainly hope so.
02:44Again, Cade Cunningham is a better player right now because of what he does on both ends.
02:50He's 6'6".
02:50He can control the game.
02:52He can't do that.
02:53There's no way Cade Cunningham can do that.
02:56No.
02:56No, he can't.
02:58I'm glad you brought up that crowd because I'm in a weird state.
03:01I think we're all kind of a weird place with the Cavs.
03:05Win or lose, I'm getting myself ready for just basically clocking in to watch an NBA basketball
03:11game tonight, which is not the type of outlook anybody should have, but I think that's the
03:16way we're going to be, and I'll explain myself coming up here in about 20 minutes.
03:20It doesn't feel like a rivalry the way it used to be.
03:25They don't feel like a rival.
03:27And that's not to put down the Pistons.
03:30It's not like the Pistons are pesky.
03:32Like, I'm surprised.
03:33I told you I was surprised it's a 2-2 series.
03:35But it's like, I have respect for Cade Cunningham.
03:37I have respect for J.B.
03:40Bickerstaff for all crying out loud.
03:43I got respect for the Pistons.
03:47But my focus, and I think a lot of people's focus, is still just Cavs-centric.
03:51And why are we doing that?
03:52We compare them to the Cavs of yesteryear.
03:54And the Cavs of yesteryear, you go back two generations ago, because we're talking about
03:59you-know-who, and we're talking about the Cavs of yesteryear.
04:01In the mid-to-late 2000s, the Pistons were a rival.
04:05Like, they were a rival.
04:06They were this crowning force in the Eastern Conference that one of the best rides ever
04:13was beating them in the postseason in the first LeBron era.
04:17Like, that was one of the greatest moments.
04:19Honestly, as a Cavs fan, that game outside the arena, not even in the arena, outside the
04:25arena, and the way it was, and there was people in these clubs, but you couldn't see it.
04:30And they're pounding on the windows, and people are going nuts out in the mall.
04:33Like, it was wild.
04:35It's one of the greatest things ever.
04:36And that was like, you finally slayed Goliath.
04:40You finally slayed this dragon.
04:41It was this amazing feeling.
04:43We have this young star.
04:45He's going to be one of the greatest ever, if not the greatest ever.
04:47And it's like, now, everything's a comparison to that.
04:52Everything's a comparison to that.
04:54I'm putting myself in there.
04:55Like, in my age group, everything's a comparison to that time in our history.
04:59And it's like, man, you're just competing with yourself and your own legacy as an organization.
05:04Like, I didn't look at the Toronto Raptors as a rival.
05:08I don't look at this.
05:10I'm waiting for the moment where this Pistons team becomes a rival.
05:14And it's like, well, both teams have played tough, like the Cavs.
05:17There's no way you can sit there and say the Cavs were softer over the last two games.
05:20I mean, hell, they were hard as hell inside just the other day.
05:22So I don't think that we're saying that these teams are the quintessential rivals the way we were.
05:28And I think that for a lot of people, it's not as much the Pistons.
05:31I think a lot of people respect the Pistons just as a good young basketball team.
05:35I think it's this comparison of the Cavs of what the Cavs used to be, even though they could never
05:40be that way.
05:41Even Cade.
05:42Do you guys hate Cade?
05:43No.
05:44I don't think fans hate Cade.
05:45Duncan Robinson, I can understand.
05:47Why?
05:48Well, just, first of all, let's think about where he went to school, where he has kind of been a
05:57little more boisterous with his mannerisms.
06:00And, you know, trying to foul bait and kind of trash talking in a fun way.
06:05I don't think it's an animosity like they truly want to kill him.
06:09Well, I'm not even trying to be disrespectful when I say it.
06:11It's like I could see myself maybe someday hating Cade Cunningham the way that, not the way that people hate
06:17LeBron James.
06:18Yeah, if he victimizes you.
06:19But it's like if Duncan Robinson, no offense to him.
06:21If he beat him, oh, who cares?
06:22He ain't listening.
06:24Plenty of offense to Duncan Robinson.
06:25If Duncan Robinson is the one that ends up beating you so badly, you just blame your own team.
06:33You just blame the Cavs.
06:34That is what's happening.
06:35I also do wonder if, and the JB stuff, the war of words about officiating, and we'll see the last
06:40three games because you know everybody's going to be watching now that, from an officiating perspective, and the coaches, like
06:47a hawk.
06:48Like, people are going to be really dialed in because both teams have made it a storyline now where both
06:54teams thought they got a different whistle at home.
06:56Both teams, 100%.
06:58And the fan bases think that as well.
07:00So, now that's going to be, unfortunately, and I hate that, but that is going to be a focal point
07:05over the next two to three games.
07:07The other thing, like you mentioned it, because we're just comparing our guys to our great teams and our one
07:12Cleveland championship team.
07:15I really wonder if LeBron James had never come through here, and we hadn't had that kind of success, wouldn't
07:21this town be on another level, like for the rest of this series and going nuts?
07:26Wouldn't they? Like, let's say that that whole last run from 2015 to 2018 never transpired, and say LeBron never
07:37beat the Pistons back in 07, and that stuff never happened.
07:42If you just erase it from the memory and we were in a relevant team, we were like the Sacramento
07:45Kings all those years.
07:47Wouldn't this city be going desert over this basketball team and a chance to break through?
07:52I think you're right.
07:53Because before, when you made these type of trades, it all, it just meant you were going to the NBA
07:58Finals.
07:59And I just think this is a different era.
08:02There's a conversation that you said, was it Bill Simmons you said you were listening to?
08:06Yeah.
08:06And how on his show they were saying that they, well, this is just going to be San Antonio and
08:11Oklahoma City for the next eight years.
08:13And I, like, this is before the show.
08:14This is like a 540 this morning, and I kind of like slapped the table.
08:17Sorry I had to do it.
08:18I know that Keith gets mad because the messes are on the cameras.
08:20But I slapped the table, and I'm like, you know, I keep hearing this stuff.
08:24We got to stop having these conversations that aren't real.
08:27Like, I hate labels, and I hate not moving along the conversation and always falling back on stuff.
08:32We'll do this with you-know-who coming up later on.
08:34And I'm tired of hearing, well, you know, this is going to be the way it is.
08:38Like, I thought the Celtics, with Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, were going to be the next big thing for
08:43the next umpteen years.
08:44And there were plenty of people who thought that Jokic and the Denver Nuggets were going to be the big
08:50thing for the next how many years?
08:51And it hasn't been that way.
08:53And, guys, we're going on over now half a decade where it's been different championships consecutively.
08:59Like, I think we just have to realize here, and I think a lot of people don't.
09:02Like, it's just not the way it used to be, where there's this one team in the East and this
09:07other team in the West,
09:08and you just hope your franchise is one of those teams.
09:10And we got to be that way for four years.
09:12We were one of those two teams for four years, and it was a great history.
09:16Could have beat them twice, but, hey, we ended up getting one.
09:18That's fine.
09:19It was a great time in our history.
09:21It's not like that.
09:22And I think with the way the NBA is set up, I don't think it's ever going to be like
09:25that again.
09:26Like, you've already brought it up.
09:27It's like we think Oklahoma City did everything right.
09:30They're still going to pay the Fiddler for this over the next couple of years.
09:32They're going to have to let guys go.
09:34Like, Boston, you've already seen it where it's like, all right, where's the next team that Jalen Brown's going to
09:37play?
09:38And we keep having this, well, my God, who's going to step through and beat this team?
09:42Who's, like, yes, Oklahoma City can repeat.
09:45They can be the first team in six years.
09:46But Steve Kerr, and for that matter, I think anybody with even the Golden State Warriors, the last dynastic team,
09:55they were the first ones to say it.
09:57Like, this is not going to last the way that you guys all think it's going to last.
10:01And it's changed dramatically.
10:03When Giannis won with the Bucs, I remember, because I listened to those same national guys, they're all like, who's
10:09going to beat Giannis over the next five years?
10:12Exactly.
10:12This guy is incredible.
10:13And then the same thing happened with Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, and they're just going to be there every
10:19year.
10:19He may be the best offensive player we've ever seen in the league.
10:22Look at his numbers.
10:23And so when I think about this type of thing, it's like, well, if you have to make moves where
10:27you move guys away, are the rivalries the same?
10:30Because I don't see the Pistons the same way that I saw the Pistons in the mid to late 2000s.
10:35Now, part of that is that they were the already established team and we were the upstart.
10:38Maybe Pistons fans feel differently about the Cavs than what Cavs fans feel differently about the Pistons.
10:43I think the rival with the Cavs is their own history, is the comparison to having the greatest player of
10:49the generation, arguably the greatest player ever, having that guy on the team with this nucleus of Hall of Famers
10:56and going and playing one of the greatest super teams that's ever invented in the entire sport.
11:01And really with sports in general, when you put all the other ones in there, and it's just this time
11:07that cannot be, it can't be compared.
11:09It's not comparable.
11:10And that is an unfair comparison for this Cavs team, but it's true.
11:14Like I can sit there and look at this by the end, by the time it's all said and done,
11:17like say the Cavs go through the Pistons tonight.
11:19They go through the Pistons in the series.
11:21They win the series and they go up against the Knicks and say they fall in seven.
11:24Say they win, go to the NBA Finals and they still fall.
11:27It's still a great run for this organization.
11:31It's nothing to, but I know what's going to be said afterwards about the quote-unquote seriousness or unseriousness.
11:38I just think a lot of us right now, we are struggling to find identity with not just the Cavs,
11:43with basically all these teams.
11:45And so it's just a pull string.
11:47And we go with teams that we think we can trust.
11:49We think we can trust Oklahoma City because of Wemby's age.
11:53We think we can trust San Antonio.
11:55And how many teams have we thought we could trust here over the last six years and it just hasn't
11:58been that way?
11:58And with the second apron and everything like that, I think it affects how we feel about this Cavs team
12:03compared to Cavs teams in the past.
12:05Like you can't compare Donovan Mitchell.
12:07Donovan was great and you're right.
12:08He's one of four guys probably that off the top of your head you can think of that can do
12:13what he did the other night.
12:15But he's still not you-know-who.
12:17And because he's still not you-know-who, we tend to be overly critical of him.
12:20Because we've seen a guy that we've done all these moves for go out there and be dominant basically whenever
12:27he wanted to.
12:28I'll tell you this.
12:28One other thing I'm looking for tonight with both teams supercharged, paying attention to the toughness conversation that seems to
12:35be pervasive with this series.
12:36Is tonight the moment with only two or three games left in this series that we get a fist fight?
12:45That we get somebody do something like we saw Wemby lashing out a couple games ago where he took an
12:52elbow to a player's face?
12:54Like is there a chance that we see something like that tonight where both coaches are telling their, imploring their
13:01players,
13:03please come to the fight ready to go?
13:06How do you think, I mean I have to go to the usual suspects then, I'm sorry.
13:09How do you think Isaiah Stewart feels about things right now throughout most of this series, through the first four
13:14games?
13:14He's been terrible.
13:15Okay.
13:16So does he, in a moment of frustration, like he only played in like five minutes the other night.
13:21Does he, in a moment of frustration, lose his mind?
13:24The way that he's known to lose his mind and does that cause a problem?
13:27I think rivalries are started with like guys of, no offense, again I'm here to say no offense, like he's
13:33listening.
13:34It usually starts with guys that are well known going after each other.
13:38You know, like Larry Bird and Isaiah Thomas, like that type of stuff.
13:42Guys getting in each other's crawl in game.
13:45Guys getting mad at each other in game, going after each other.
13:49That's usually where it starts.
13:51Isaiah Stewart is a bench player.
13:54It can be a good piece, but as you said, they've taken, whatever he can add, he's been taken away
13:59in the game.
13:59And they've been terribly, they've been terrible defensively over the last couple of games Detroit has been.
14:04And so if you take away that calling card, I just think they're kind of focused on their own game
14:08before they start taking hell hacks in the Cavs.
14:10Plus, I mean, what's, what's really the frustration?
14:13I think they've got to focus on their own stuff, so I don't know if we're going to see anything
14:16like that.
14:17That will get the fan base's juice.
14:19That will certainly go that way.
14:20I know we've got to go.
14:21You're right.
14:21It's just, are we going to be a more desperate team because we're on the road?
14:24Could we be the instigators tonight?
14:26Because we have not been able to break through on the road so far in the playoffs.
14:29These are, these are career defining games.
14:31This is, this is a career defying series.
14:33No matter how far they go, there will be another chapter.
14:37Like Donovan Mitchell is up against either A, being a guy who can lead this team to a championship or
14:42B, or leading any team to a championship or B, being a helper to a, a better overall player.
14:49Quote, unquote, leading a team to a championship.
14:52Evan, we know what's at stake with Evan Mobley.
14:55James Harden, his entire history.
14:57I mean, we're talking about at least two out of three Hall of Famers, probably three by the time it's
15:01all said and done.
15:02But we're talking about two bona fide Hall of Famers here and their legacies being on the line.
15:07Did you just throw Evan Mobley in the Hall of Fame?
15:09Well, I assume by the end, by the time it's all said and done, a lot of guys make the
15:14Hall of Fame, guys, in basketball.
15:16Is it, is it a horrible bet?
15:17He wasn't even an all-star this year.
15:19I understand that.
15:21He's still only 24 years old.
15:23So there's still a long ways to go.
15:25I said probably.
15:27I didn't say he was going to be.
15:29I know what you're doing here.
15:32A lot of guys tend to make the Naismith Hall of Fame.
15:34Do they not?
15:35They do.
15:35Okay, so I don't think he has the worst chances in the world of making the Hall of Fame.
15:41Okay.
15:43Can I move forward now?
15:44Yeah, sure.
15:45Okay.
15:45Well, I just, I just feel like you're trying to set me up for something.
15:47I just search, I'm like, man, we're playing with three Hall of Famers.
15:49Now the stakes just went up.
15:50See, I know what you're doing.
15:52I know you're trying to set me up for something.
15:53Normally, three Hall of Famers.
15:55Three Hall of Famers, that's championship.
15:57I'm not stepping in the trap.
15:58I'm talking about two Hall of Famers and a possible third.
16:01That's what I said.
16:02And that's by the time it's all said and done with that guy.
16:04Okay, is Donovan Mitchell already a Hall of Famer?
16:06Yeah.
16:06Oh, yeah.
16:06Is James Harden already a Hall of Famer?
16:08Yeah, 100%.
16:08Okay, there you go.
16:10I almost said F and relaxed.
16:13I know what you're doing to me, and I don't like it.
16:16Real quick, the hate watching thing, because I totally co-signed that to start the show,
16:20because the road games have been an unadulterated two and a half hour, two hour, 45 minute hate watch.
16:26Why is that?
16:27I don't remember ever tuning into a Guardians post to a playoff game and going,
16:34all right, here we go.
16:35We got to get through this.
16:36Why is that?
16:37What is it about the NBA playoffs or the Cavs situation?
16:40And you certainly would never do that for the Browns.
16:42I mean, if the Browns, when they get into the playoffs, it's the whole city is just jubilant and excited.
16:50The Browns went to the playoffs the first time.
16:51It's like you were losing your virginity.
16:53Yeah.
16:54Why is it?
16:55Can't believe I'm here.
16:56Why is it that we've got a playoff game tonight?
16:58We just saw our superstar play like a superstar and put the fear of God in Detroit.
17:03Why isn't that more of, hey, let's get excited about this?
17:11Well, I'm hemming and hawing here.
17:17I think it's because I think that there, it's exactly what I said.
17:20I think your rivalry is with yourself and your own history.
17:23I do.
17:24And I think because these games are such slogs, maybe people ain't paying attention the way they always would.
17:29I mean, it's been a, I mean, you just said it.
17:32Like, this is going to be a two and a half, two hour, 45 minute just mud fight is what
17:39this is going to turn into.
17:41And we romanticize that type of basketball.
17:43It'll be played into the hundreds.
17:45It's not like it's going to be 92, 84 or something like that, but it'll be played into the hundreds
17:49more than likely.
17:51And there will probably be a lot of frustration.
17:55And I don't think fans maybe look forward to frustration in round two.
18:00We're used to having like, all right, here we go with the NBA finals.
18:04But when it comes to round two and round one, I think people would like a little bit of an
18:08easier road.
18:08And I got to tell you though, but this is where I like, this is just the new NBA.
18:12I think that a lot of teams, I know that the Knicks just had a sweep, but they had themselves
18:16kind of a tougher first round series until they got things figured out.
18:19100%.
18:19The Celtics obviously had a tough series.
18:22I think there's a lot of teams that they got met with a lot more resistance than they thought that
18:27they were going to meet.
18:28I think this is just the league.
18:29I don't think that the Cavs and Pistons are any more unique than some of the other series out there.
18:33Like, think about it.
18:34Boston is at home.
18:35Denver is at home.
18:36The Lakers are at home.
18:38Yeah.
18:38So obviously the notion that this is just easy, that just because either your owners spent a lot of money
18:44or you've got superstars.
18:46So why, that seems kind of like an entitlement.
18:49Like, we should just be in the finals.
18:52It's like, wait a minute.
18:53All right, so should Boston.
18:54They have better odds than us.
18:56So should Denver.
18:57They have better odds than us.
18:57They're not there.
18:58Walk it back for a second though.
18:59I mean, you just said, like, I would feel a lot better about the game if we were playing at
19:03home.
19:03I think everybody would.
19:04I think a lot of people would just say, well, we're winning now.
19:06Because it's at home.
19:08It, if we're playing well at home, are you saying everybody else is playing well at home?
19:13Well, at least the home court advantage is back when you want that.
19:15So at least you got, I mean, in the NBA in general, at least you got something like that going
19:19on.
19:19But I, I'm getting ready for a frustrating night of basketball, win or lose.
19:24I would be shocked if one of these two teams went out and blew the other one out by 25.
19:29I think it's going to be a frustrating night.
19:31I think the guys are going to miss a lot of open looks that they were going to, that they
19:35would have hit in the regular season.
19:36And I think both teams are going to do it.
19:38I think it's going to be a frustrating ordeal for everybody involved.
19:40Yes.
19:41Yes.
19:41Just the, the last two games we have built significant leads and, you know, the, really the whole series, we
19:48came back from down, you know, double digits in the first two games to make those games.
19:52Like, isn't there any excitement that odds are this will be a one possession game with four minutes left?
20:00Yes.
20:01But why am I not feeling that?
20:02Why am I just feeling this is like a chore for everybody involved to tune in tonight?
20:06Because when your team is one of the last, I know why, what five teams, there are only five, there
20:12are only five teams, six teams left playing basketball.
20:14Because, because you got the refs in your head, because you don't know which way the calls are going to
20:18go, because we already made a big deal about Kenny Atkinson complaining in the first couple of games.
20:22We've obviously made a big deal about JB Bickerstaff complaining over the last couple of games.
20:26You don't know how the files are going to go.
20:28And because you don't know how the files are going to go, you don't know what's going to be called
20:31down the line.
20:32Obviously, everybody's going to be frustrated.
20:33It's basketball officiating.
20:34Somebody's going to be frustrated.
20:35But I think that that's part of the reason you think you're going to be in for, at least that's
20:41part of the reason I think I'm going to be in.
20:42I don't know what I'm going to expect from the referee crew.
20:45I'm not trying to blame them.
20:46It sounds like I'm already trying to blame them.
20:48That's not what I'm doing.
20:48I just already tell you, I don't know what to expect from them.
20:52It would be one thing.
20:53Because JB was the last one to talk.
20:54It's like, well, are they going to get the last word now?
20:56It would be one thing if we were playing, like, in their prime Steph Curry, and it's like, what are
21:01we going to do to slow him down?
21:03You've slowed down Kate Cunningham in every game.
21:05Yes.
21:06Okay?
21:07Jalen Dern's been one of the biggest disappointments in the NBA playoffs.
21:10You just held Duncan Robinson to a game where he was non-existent and couldn't even get shots up.
21:17So why isn't that carrying over to, hey, tonight might be an awesome night where we forge at?
21:24But is there no thought that maybe we're getting better in the series?
21:27We may very well be, but the refs are there.
21:29Does Detroit look like they're getting better?
21:30But the refs, you also have the situation.
21:33We haven't won on the road.
21:34And we've looked like a different team on the road.
21:36And the games up in Toronto and the games in Detroit, we've looked different.
21:40Now, that said, yeah, chances to win both those first two games against the Pistons on the road.
21:45But it's like, hey, you're going to have to figure out a way to close it out.
21:48And because we saw a great performance with Donovan where he did what was necessary, it's like, all right, it's
21:52time to start driving and it's time to start getting after it.
21:54And because it's that way, then you have to look at it in a totally different way.
21:58You have to look at it and take it further and say, all right, who's going to be the next
22:02one to step up and take that?
22:03Because it can't always be Donovan.
22:04Is it James tonight?
22:05Who still had a massive game just the other night with 11 assists, 24 points, and only two turnovers.
22:10But is it James tonight who steps up into that role?
22:13Because if the Cavs do win this game, I think that everybody's thoughts change going into tomorrow morning where, hey,
22:19the series might be over.
22:21Like, I do think tonight if the Cavs lose, I don't think the series is over.
22:26If the Cavs win tonight, I think I'm already getting ready for the New York Knicks.
22:31So shouldn't that come with excitement?
22:33Shouldn't the city be like...
22:34No, because it feels like it's up to you.
22:37It's up to you to take it from a team that I know you're better than.
22:41I know you're better than they are.
22:43But there's certain things that happen at certain times where I can't fully trust you because of that history.
22:48So if I can't fully trust you, that means I'm not over here pumping my chest and brimming with confidence.
22:53It's on them.
22:54If this were three years ago and we were more happy-go-lucky like we were, I'd be pumping my
22:59chest out and yelling from the rooftops about how dominant this team is going to be over time.
23:04I can't really say that now because there's a lot of evidence to the contrary to that.
23:08And I think a lot of people don't want to look like fools.
23:10I mean, I thought for sure that this team was going to go to the Eastern Conference Finals after round
23:16one.
23:17I thought this was setting up perfect for us.
23:18But looking like fools, I mean, if you've had an opinion on this series, you've already looked like a fool
23:22at some point.
23:23So that's just the way these teams are.
23:25And that's what stops people from wanting to make another foolish decision.
23:28So yeah, the Cavs should win in so many ways.
23:31Are they favored?
23:33Are they favored in this game?
23:35I think they were three-point dogs.
23:36So that plays into it as well.
23:38I mean, that's basically almost even Steven.
23:40I get what you're saying, but you're asking for reasons.
23:42I'm giving you the reasons.
23:43It's just amazing to me that what they were able to do in Cleveland, and it looked like they were
23:51figuring stuff out.
23:53See, that is the difference.
23:54Like you figured some things out with the way your team, and I even noticed little intricacies,
23:59like the way the Cavs moved off the ball they did not do in the first two games.
24:03And I think they're going to continue that.
24:05And I think they've put the Pistons in some dicey predicaments that I don't know that the Pistons can defend.
24:11And I think we're the more talented team and have more skill.
24:13And we match their toughness, and our superstar played better than their superstar.
24:18And their coach is complaining about officials.
24:20Is that not a formula for you guys to feel excited about tonight?
24:23Well, then let me ask you this.
24:24I don't need some pep talk.
24:25I just need honesty.
24:26So do you feel that if the Cavs win tonight that the series is over?
24:32No, not over.
24:34But I feel like –
24:35So who's the one who's cheerleading over here?
24:36No, I'm just not going to say things just to lie and be like –
24:40I'm not trying to lie.
24:41I'm not trying to lie.
24:42I'm telling the truth.
24:43Obviously, if they go on the road and win, I'll feel really good about their state of affairs.
24:48But these teams are very close.
24:49So who's afraid to make a statement here?
24:51It mirrors you.
24:52You're open to your own emotions.
24:54You don't have to lie.
24:55I'm not asking you to lie if you don't feel that way.
24:57But if you're calling me out, I'm still the one here still willing to say, like, hey, this series is
25:01over if they win tonight.
25:01I think they're two very even teams.
25:03And I've just – I've watched how these playoffs have unfolded.
25:06And two even teams are going to be in a slugfest.
25:09And I'm excited about tonight.
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