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00:00and coach how are you thank you for joining us we appreciate you uh thank you for having me on
00:05it's an exciting day here in Cleveland tell me your thoughts on tonight's game uh there might
00:11be a little bit of a flu bug going on with the Cavaliers right now but I don't think you
00:14you
00:15can worry about that right now you just got to go with what you got there right well I probably
00:20read
00:21the same article you did reporting that um Merrill has a little touch of it I guess a bigger than
00:27just a little touch of it and Kenny Atkinson and who knows if any of the other players have been
00:33affected by it but it's obviously if it's a strain of the flu that's sapping energy and sapping
00:40liquids out of their body that's a concern but to what level we don't know at least I don't know
00:45reading the article that I read so you put that behind you because you're in the playoffs you're
00:51in game six and you have an advantage of being ahead three two and you'd like to end this thing
00:57tonight you don't want to go back and have to play Sunday game seven on the road or but having
01:04said
01:04all that we've done certain things really well we've done other things not as well and they just
01:11seem to keep jumping up and and haunting us but somehow some way the resiliency of this team
01:18they keep fighting back fighting back and give themselves a chance at the end and I I started
01:25looking at the box scores to try and see what what's a constant here and one of the things that
01:31jumps out is four out of the five second halves Cleveland has outscored Detroit so what does that
01:39mean does that mean the adjustments at halftime have made a difference doesn't mean that the Cleveland
01:45defense is wearing down Detroit and I noticed and I don't know if this was something planned
01:52by the Pistons but Kate Cunningham did not bring the ball down the floor in quarters one two and
01:59three of the last game they let the kid Jenkins bring it down and my thinking is they were concerned
02:05that Cunningham was wearing out that he was the full court pressure that Cleveland was putting on
02:11was getting to him and in the second half of games he wasn't quite as effective as he had been
02:18in the
02:18first so by him not bringing it down for three quarters he gets 27 field goal attempts he makes
02:2513 of them and he has a 39 point game for them now fourth quarter they put it back in
02:30his hands
02:30over time it was back in his hands but it's kind of interesting that they took it out for three
02:37quarters of the game because most times you're used to seeing him bring it all the way down the court
02:42and
02:42get him into their offense or get a score so four out of five I think was was probably an
02:49indicator and
02:49then which guys for them have stepped up in the playoff series against the Cavaliers and the three
02:57that jump out Cunningham is like 2.7 points better per game than he was during his regular season scoring
03:07Tobias Harris is 4.9 points better that's a lot and the guy that really stands out for them is
03:15Paul
03:16Reed who is their third string center who is plus 4.2 points per game that's big for a third
03:25team
03:26they're giving him a lot of minutes because I mean he's averaging 12 points a game against the Cavaliers
03:31that he's played very very well so those are the guys that jump out at me that we we
03:37need to be a little more concerned or do a little better job Mike with that thought in mind and
03:43great to have you with us by the way with that thought in mind you've got if you're JB Bickerstaff
03:47you have Jalen Duren who averaged just under 20 points a game and he hasn't scored more than 11
03:52in a game this series do you try to get him on track tonight what do you do how do
03:58you do it
03:59well you know you you'd like to say that we'll try and get him going so maybe you give him
04:04a couple touches early in the game you run a couple set plays him to try and get him going
04:10because when you lose that 10 point you know 19 down to to nine a game uh right in that
04:17area that
04:17that's a big loss for him you know I just mentioned the guys who have stepped up their game yeah
04:21uh but
04:22this guy the Cavs have done a very good job and you need to give credit to Allen and to
04:27Mobley uh
04:28to Wade the guys who have switched on to him had to play him had to try and keep him
04:34off the
04:34offensive boards he still goes after the ball still is a is a a pest to have to try and
04:40stop
04:41those second shot opportunities from coming but as a coach you try maybe let's run the first two
04:47set plays for Jalen see if we can get him going but after that you're in you know this for
04:53you is
04:53win or you're home uh so you go back to what you know is working well if he's not going
04:59well you're
05:00not going to waste a lot of time or a lot of plays and trying to get him going you
05:04got to worry about
05:04your main guy which is Cade Cunningham Tobias Harris who's who's been sensational in the series for them
05:11and getting the other guys involved remember the first game that Levert really was big
05:16uh he had 17 at halftime for Detroit against us and you know they've now gone back to using
05:23Karis Levert where he had kind of been an afterthought down the stretch of the regular season and against
05:29Orlando but he has resurfaced and we all know Karis Levert is capable I did a game where he scored
05:3641
05:37points in the backcourt along with Donovan Mitchell scoring 41. Former Cavaliers coach Mike Fratello
05:44joining us on the hotline coach can you tell me just put me inside the mind of a head coach
05:48in
05:48the NBA when you you know we we ask teams all year long to play 82 times we say hey
05:53you'll play one
05:54team tonight you'll play another team tomorrow night every once in a while you get a back-to-back
05:57but when you're playing a team multiple times how does that change from a coaching aspect you know
06:03you start now okay we're playing them for the third time playing them for the fourth time
06:06you know playing them for the fifth time how does that change the mindset of a head coach
06:11you're going to tinker with certain things that's why the video is so important that's why
06:15teams watch so much more video now than ever before they they send it into their iPads they send it
06:22into
06:22their laptops they can be at home and get the stuff sent over to them when it's edited down
06:28by the assistant coaches but you're not going to make major changes you throw too much at the team at
06:35this time it's it's not going to be good they'll have their heads spinning around but you may for
06:40example Detroit not allowing Cunningham to bring the ball down in quarters one two and three there's a
06:47subtle slight adjustment and he responds with a 39 point game you may not switch on to certain guys
06:55the way you've been doing it you may say we're staying at home there's no switch when so-and-so
07:00is
07:00involved a little tinkering here and there but you know it's getting down to making sure you're
07:06getting the ball into the areas that you want to getting the ball into the hands of the players
07:11that are your shot makers guys who are not afraid of the moment you know your big shot makers guys
07:18who are willing to take shots at the end of the game I'm sure Kenny Atkinson would like to have
07:24that
07:24last shot of the regulation time against Detroit before they wound up going into overtime you may
07:31have done something different there you may you may just have something ready just in case and you go
07:38over that perhaps at the walkthrough or shoot around if you have it the day of the game Mike what
07:46has a bigger carryover a team that blew a nine point lead with 245 to go or a team that
07:53made up
07:53a nine point deficit with 245 to go what might be more impactful for tonight you know I'm not sure
08:00that that is as important in the NBA as it might be other places only because when you think about
08:08it
08:08there's 81 or 82 times during the regular season you have to put yesterday's results behind you
08:14and move on to the next game and it could be a back-to-back you could have flown right
08:18after
08:19the first game and have to play the second game um you know in the old days it was four
08:23games and five
08:24nights you better have a short memory because you're moving on you're playing a totally different team
08:30who does runs different plays and you're getting ready for them so the nine point loss why I think the
08:38the biggest reason why did it happen what's the reason that we gave up that nine point lead what's
08:45the reason that Cleveland was able to come back what did we do that we have to make that if
08:50we get in
08:50that situation again tonight if we're holding a lead down the stretch what do we have to do better and
08:56that's what you try and impress it's not like it's going to dwell with them they've got to move on
09:02they've got to be ready for game six because game six either extends the season for Detroit or ends
09:08the season for Detroit and that's the sudden reality of playoffs you play 82 games to try and
09:14get in the playoffs you try and get home court advantage you try and have that throughout the
09:18playoffs but then all of a sudden you got to play the games and look for Detroit after five games
09:25it
09:25was almost over for them you know they're down three one and game five was like go home or win
09:30this one
09:31and stay alive and they did that and won that series and here they are now down three games to
09:37two and they've got to win to stay alive Mike what are your thoughts on Kenny Atkinson this year
09:42compared to last year and I can't imagine you know we sit here and talk about it all day I
09:47can't
09:47imagine having the pressure of having the largest payroll in the NBA on my back and trying to make this
09:52thing happen especially when you when you put Harden into the situation at the trade deadline but what
09:57have you thought of Kenny I don't think Kenny's worrying about the payroll I don't think it even
10:02came out of his checks that I know of unless he's been trying to help Dan Gilbert out willing to
10:07chip
10:07in what a guy huh Mike nice guy hell yeah that's something we all would do right sure out of
10:15my next
10:15paycheck um I think the point is that he he wants to get the best group of young men players
10:23that he can
10:24to represent the Cavaliers we said after last season when they were one of three teams to win
10:3060 or more games this doesn't happen very often and it was a magical season and all of a sudden
10:36Ty
10:37Jerome showed back up on the scene people saying who's this guy Ty Jerome not bad okay yeah because
10:42I hadn't seen him the year before but for two games and the year after Ty Jerome missed so many
10:48games
10:48for Memphis where we wound up going so for Kenny uh knowing what they had done a year ago you
10:54erased that they changed the dynamics of this team they really changed the dynamics of this team when
11:00they did the trade and uh sent Darius to LA the Clippers and brought in James Harden now you've got
11:07a
11:07dynamic backcourt of two veteran guys who are both capable of scoring a lot of points or distributing the
11:16basketball or playing the one or two guard position and how do you deal with that are there enough
11:22games to get them on the same page and then you add you know Shrew's coming back late in the
11:27season
11:27uh which you would have liked to have had him the whole year I think adding Shrew was a terrific
11:33pickup for them having that uh that balance that backup a veteran guy who in playoff games has
11:41proven in the past how he plays well all of these things tinkered with why the team won fewer games
11:48than the one the amount they won last year but the fact they got in the fact that they're finishing
11:54the
11:54top four teams is is king Kenny's done a very good job he's had to deal with all these new
11:59players
12:00their new faces guys in guys out minute restrictions and you you do the best you can do with what's
12:07available and that's the key thing with a coach can you make something out of what you have can you
12:12make them be good enough to make the playoffs can you be in the top four teams to have home
12:16court
12:16advantage in round one or round one two etc and here they are they have a chance right now and
12:22I've been
12:23in this spot before I've been in it with a very young team in Atlanta and we came back after
12:28being down
12:290-2 and won three straight games against the Celtics we took the lead 3-2 unfortunately we were too
12:37young the city wasn't ready for it everybody was celebrating the fact that we had won game five
12:43and we went on and to lose in our building game six by two points to the Celtics came back
12:50in game
12:50seven in Boston lost by two points two heartbreaking losses by two points but you lose the series that's
12:59the key thing and you don't move on and the Celtics did so I know what it's like we had
13:04that young
13:05squad they got a little bit too happy a couple breakdowns that we didn't have in games three
13:10four and five we had them in game six cost us a two-point game so let's hope the Cavs
13:16don't have
13:16that type of thing happen so they concentrate execute eliminate the things that have hurt them
13:22like the turnovers like the offensive rebounds let the three ball that Detroit is shooting at 40
13:28and they get a victory Mike Fratella joining us of course former NBA head coach former Cavs head coach
13:34and spending a lot of time working with the Los Angeles Clippers the last several years
13:39on the broadcast crew where you watch James Harden Mike how's he how does he fit in here
13:44what have you thought when you get James Harden you have to know what you're getting and
13:51some people don't like the fact that James uses a lot of dribbles that's James Harden it's not like
13:57Colby Altman and Kenny Atkinson didn't know that when they did the deal but what you also need to
14:03know is James Harden will help you win a lot of basketball games and he's a guy who can make
14:08threes he's a guy who gets fouled a lot goes to the foul line last game 10 out of 11
14:12free throw attempts
14:14successful um he's a guy who can help your team go to a different level and you know how many
14:22guys
14:22can step up in a playoff game uh with this intensity and get you 30 points on a night and
14:29he did that
14:29last game when they needed it the game before that Donovan Mitchell stepped up so I you know I've been
14:36fortunate to be able to see James over the last couple seasons play with the Clippers where he was
14:42really playing great then he came right in here didn't miss a beat they incorporated him and he was
14:48willing to you know understand I've got Donovan Mitchell next to me I've got to get the ball in his
14:53hands
14:53he's a dynamic scorer and they both kind of gave a little bit understanding who the other person was and
15:00then they take turns some nights it's Donovan's turn another night it's James's turn and uh when the night
15:08comes in they're both doing a great job then you got a dynamic team providing your big guys
15:13do their job of rebathing the basketball blocking shots playing defense and we can't fault them for
15:20the defense they played on the interior our big guys done a terrific job Mike I have to bring up
15:26something on a little different note I sat in front of my television in early March and just kept
15:32smiling as you and Bob Costas and Doug Collins did the throwback game on NBC outstanding it was so much
15:42fun the only thing missing was a good game is the Spurs beat up the 76ers by 40 how fun
15:48how much fun was
15:49that for you Mike it was just a great the the retro game as I'm referring to it um the
15:55only guy that was
15:57missing was Marv Albert and you know Marv was supposed to be doing that game they're actually
16:02going to be um two games two retro games that night the the second game after that Philly San Antonio
16:11game
16:11from the west coast was going to have Portland in and what happened was Marv being Marv and being the
16:19pro that he is called uh NBC uh maybe three weeks before the game and said look I don't want
16:27to
16:27cause an embarrassing moment he's dealing with acid reflux and it really affected his vocal cords
16:33you could hear him in his voice that he was struggling he said I don't want to be in the
16:38at the end of
16:40the first quarter where I can't speak anymore or I sound so bad people don't want to listen that's not
16:46fair to the broadcast it's not fair to everyone else so he said I think I should remove myself
16:51so that was a complete shuffling because they would have had two separate crews
16:56the first retro crew uh which could have been Marv myself Ahmad Rashad whatever and then the second
17:04group of Casas Doug Collins uh out on Jim Gray out on the west coast and uh the studio show
17:12Hannah Isaiah was on there and uh because Marv removed himself they said look let's just make
17:18it one game bring everybody into the same city and we'll do it that way so that's how it turned
17:23out
17:23and at the end it wound up at that time being the third highest uh ratings for viewers uh after
17:31uh the all-star game and the opening night um that was the third highest so we were very excited
17:39about
17:39that and they mentioned the possibility of maybe doing it again next year so I hope I would love
17:44to see that happen again so would I yeah so would I you were great Mike thank you we appreciate
17:49your
17:49time you're the best and uh thanks for being a friend of the show thanks for having me on guys
17:53let's go Cavs we'll talk to you soon thanks Mike Mike Fratella former coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers
17:58Czar the Telestrator joining us right here on Baskin Phelps
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