- 11 minutes ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Oh, now let's pivot over to some NBA and covering it, of course, for Sporting News is Carlin Gay ahead
00:04of this very big weekend in the association.
00:06Carlin, great to have you back here on Newswire. And you talk about fans being excited in Montreal.
00:13Cleveland Cavaliers fans are going to be very excited to 7, 10 p.m.
00:17Eastern. The Cavs can close this series out. I did not see this coming like this, but here we are.
00:22Total of 210 and a half. Cleveland finally did the job getting the win on the road in Detroit.
00:28Is this the end of the Pistons here tonight?
00:33I think so. And I know when we spoke last week, it was all doom and gloom because it was
00:382-0.
00:39Cavs were down. They were going back home.
00:40I think we came off of a game where Evan Mobley had one rebound, and I was lamenting that.
00:46He's played much better, not to the level that I think he should be at, but he's played much better
00:50over the last three games.
00:51James Harden gave you the game that he would give you in a series where he kind of took over.
00:56I thought that was in game five. He played great. Now I think it's up to Donovan Mitchell.
01:00And I know if you just look at the stats for this second round, he's actually leading the league in
01:04scoring, 30 points per game.
01:06He's played well on paper. But those stats have been kind of quiet.
01:10There hasn't been like a Donovan Mitchell type game yet in this series.
01:15Going back home, an opportunity to close it out, where I believe they really – it's a must-win situation
01:19for Cleveland.
01:20They don't want to go back to Detroit for a game seven. I think Donovan Mitchell has to have that
01:24Donovan Mitchell-esque type game where he scores 40 points.
01:28He controls every aspect of this game for the Cleveland Cavaliers to be able to move on and for him
01:33to get to his first-ever conference finals in his career.
01:38James Harden's been there before. James Harden's already known what that pressure is like.
01:42Donovan Mitchell has not, and this is his chance to do that. Close it out tonight in Cleveland.
01:47Yeah, it could be the case, and oddsmakers are telling us Cleveland's going to win the series.
01:51They're minus 355 right now on FanDuel, so obviously not a lot of faith that Detroit can win one of
01:56the next two.
01:57This is surprising. I mean, Detroit was the number one seed.
02:00They were playing like the best team in the NBA, but Boston learned fast, and maybe Detroit is about to
02:05learn as well.
02:06So the odds to win the Eastern Conference have the Knicks currently, Carlin, as the favorite because they've been playing
02:12the best basketball, really, of anyone, maybe even including Oklahoma City.
02:16So they're minus 240 to win the East, and oddsmakers tell us that Cleveland essentially wins.
02:22And then naturally, once, if Cleveland does win tonight or in the next game, we know that their odds will
02:27be plus 200, something like that.
02:29Knicks will go down a little bit more to minus 180.
02:31But at this point, is it the Knicks' conference to lose based on the way that they've played?
02:37Yeah, it is. And it really comes down to this.
02:40Like, they're going to have home court advantage in the series, if it is Cleveland, and it should be.
02:45And, you know, you have that rest factor, and that helps O.G. Ananobi, basically, because O.G. Ananobi did
02:52not play the last two games in the Sixers series.
02:54Up until that point, I thought he was playing the best basketball of any New York Knick, not named Jalen
02:59Brunson.
02:59So, you know, you have O.G. Ananobi healthy, you get him back, where he can guard a Donovan Mitchell
03:04or guard a James Harden and kind of take them out of the picture
03:07and just allow the other four players to focus on one guy. O.G. Ananobi is that good.
03:13And with the Knicks' length defensively, they're able to – Mikael Bridges, let's not forget, he's a pretty good defender.
03:18Josh Hart could also switch up and make some defensive plays.
03:21And protecting the rim, you do have Mitchell Robinson when he's healthy and ready to go.
03:24So, that is a pretty good lineup, and they're shooting the cover off the ball right now.
03:29You know, maybe the rest kind of hurts them in terms of the jump shooting because they didn't miss against
03:34the Sixers.
03:35But I do believe that they found something offensively to kind of unlock things,
03:38and it's a completely different offense than what the Cavaliers are having to deal with with the Pistons who don't
03:43have that much offense.
03:44So, I do favor the Knicks in this one, and they'll finally get back to the finals.
03:48It's like 1999 all over again.
03:50If that is the case.
03:51Let me ask you something that some people are saying is that, no, we know the Knicks are not rooting
03:56for one team one way or the other.
03:57But I hear from some that it would be better for the Knicks if Cleveland won this series.
04:05100%.
04:06Right, okay.
04:06Why is that?
04:07100%.
04:08Less physical, less wear and tear on the body.
04:11Detroit's going to beat you up.
04:12They're going to take you in the back alley and force you to kind of play this sort of, you
04:16know, UFC style of basketball
04:18that has gotten them to this point in their season.
04:22They don't want to have to go through that war of attrition.
04:24You kind of want to just play basketball, play freely.
04:27Cleveland is not as physical, and the Knicks could actually take care of that physicality.
04:31They did that against Atlanta.
04:32When they started to play a little bit more physical, that's when Atlanta kind of fell by the wayside.
04:36Remember, Atlanta was up 2-1 in that series.
04:38We forget about that because that feels like three weeks ago, and it is.
04:41If they can do that against the Cleveland Cavaliers and kind of shut them down physically,
04:46saw if the Raptors were able to stick with them.
04:48We see what Detroit is able to do pushing it to six games, and they were with a 2-0
04:52lead.
04:52The Knicks should be able to do much of the same in terms of physicality,
04:56but they have much better offense than both of those teams and offensive players than both those teams.
05:01So that's what will take them through into the finals.
05:03Makes sense.
05:04But if one NBA game isn't enough for you, we got another one tonight, and it could be another closeout.
05:10So when we come back, we'll break this game down, Spurs and Timberwolves,
05:15and they play tonight at 9.40 p.m. Eastern.
05:18Carlin will stick around.
05:19We'll break it down next.
05:20Stay on the grid.
05:21Carlin Gay back with us, keeping busy with the NBA and the WNBA, by the way.
05:25He's got a lot to cover this weekend and moving forward here.
05:28So maybe it is better for you, Carlin, to get this NBA out of the way and just move on
05:32to the WNBA.
05:33But for most of us, though, I think we're hoping for a Game 7 selfishly.
05:38Oddsmakers are telling us, no, that will not happen.
05:40So I want your opinion.
05:41Spurs, I mean, this is a big road favorite for a Game 6, minus 5.5, total of 218.5.
05:49I guess it's just fair to say that if the Spurs are playing like they should,
05:54then there's simply no chance that the Timberwolves would have to win this game tonight.
05:58But I don't know.
05:59I question that.
05:59I think at the very least we get a close game.
06:01How about you?
06:03Yeah, and I think the oddsmakers are looking at this saying, you know, we've seen what the Spurs can do
06:08defensively,
06:08and we probably just don't trust what the Minnesota Timberwolves can do offensively, and that will kind of carry us
06:13through.
06:13But when you look at the splits between home and away, the Spurs are a better defensive team when they're
06:19playing at home.
06:19Most people are, right?
06:20Like, you're comfortable sleeping in your own bed, et cetera, et cetera.
06:23Plus, we have to remember one of those games is kind of a bit skewed because Victor Wamanyama took himself
06:28out of that contest.
06:30So the Timberwolves are able to score a little bit more.
06:32He's going to be playing in this game, and he's going to remember the last time he was on this
06:36floor,
06:36he made one of the biggest mistakes in his career in taking himself out of that game with the elbow
06:41that he threw.
06:41So I expect Victor Wamanyama to come in with some intensity, some kind of that killer instinct that he does
06:49have,
06:49and one of the reasons why he is one of the better players in the NBA today, not later on,
06:54like I'm talking right now.
06:56But on the other side, there's a killer on that side, too, and his name is Anthony Edwards,
06:59and he hasn't gone down without a fight in many of his playoff series.
07:04So I expect Anthony Edwards to fight the knees bothering him,
07:09but he's going to feed off this energy off this crowd in Minnesota.
07:12Minnesota knows that this could potentially be the last time they see their home team play.
07:16I actually think that Minnesota Timberwolves, I'm going to take them to cover because that's a big number.
07:20I think they'll be able to keep it close, and I actually do believe that they're going to actually push
07:24through
07:25and force a game seven back in San Antonio.
07:28Whether or not they win the series, I think San Antonio will be too tough at home in a game
07:32seven,
07:32but I can count on them for game six because I do believe in Anthony Edwards.
07:36He's probably the most underrated star, Craig, in all of American sports right now.
07:40Like, Anthony Edwards is that good.
07:42He should be a bigger star than he is even within the NBA circle.
07:45He should be.
07:47And that hasn't happened yet, but this will be one of his moments that I think we'll remember later on
07:52in his career.
07:52Yeah, and the Spurs, as you can see, just very big favorites to advance,
07:56and certainly I think, as Carl had even said, he thinks that's the case,
07:59but maybe Minnesota wins tonight.
08:01Odds to win the Western Conference overall, I mean, not much discussion here.
08:06Oklahoma City, as big as a favorite as you're ever going to see,
08:08maybe even going back to the Warriors' days dominating the West or the Lakers' days
08:13or even the Miami Heat.
08:14Like, this is just a huge Western Conference favorite here at minus 290.
08:20But let's move on to something else that I'll ask you, Carlin.
08:23Oklahoma City, as they wait and wait to play in the Western Conference Finals,
08:29you can actually get them, if they go 4-0 in the Western Conference Finals,
08:34at plus 500, meaning they sweep.
08:37And if they have a 16-0 postseason, which I would find incredible, but I don't think so,
08:43you can get that at 20-1.
08:45So, I ask you, Carlin, does it matter?
08:48Between San Antonio and Minnesota, do you think that either of those teams can win a game?
08:54We saw the Spurs have a lot of success against OKC during the regular season,
09:00but OKC has taken this to another level since the playoffs began.
09:03What do you think?
09:05They have, and I think the Spurs are the one team that OKC will genuinely look and say,
09:10we probably should treat them with a little bit of fear.
09:13And I do believe that the Spurs would make that a longer series.
09:17You know, OKC has been able to kind of get by in the first two rounds by playing lesser teams.
09:21They have had the confidence of like, hey, we won a championship.
09:23We know we're better than you guys.
09:25We're going to step on the floor and prove it.
09:26And I've been impressed by the way that they're going out and sweeping these teams.
09:29Like, they're not allowing, you know, a gentleman sweep.
09:32They're just getting them out of there in four games.
09:34The problem right now for OKC isn't anything on the other side of the court.
09:38It's internally.
09:39Is Jalen Williams going to be healthy?
09:41He's been able to kind of rest the first two series and miss some games here and there.
09:45He cannot do that against the San Antonio Spurs because it's a Spurs team that's going
09:48to be coming in there with some confidence, a Spurs team that has some history with this
09:52OKC team saying, hey, we beat you a couple of times in the regular season when you were
09:56trying to win games.
09:57So, you know, don't give us like it's a regular season.
09:59We weren't trying.
10:00No, no.
10:00We were trying to win those games if you're OKC.
10:02And we still lost against the San Antonio Spurs.
10:04So there's some confidence there for the Spurs.
10:06And I think Victor Weminyama is just an ultimate equalizer.
10:09Like, he is just a different player that we've never, ever seen.
10:12So, you know, that's one guy that could take over a series.
10:15So the Thunder, I would say they're not going to sweep the Spurs by any means.
10:20And they definitely wouldn't sweep the Timberwolves.
10:23I think the Timberwolves are going to gain.
10:25OK, fair enough.
10:26There you go.
10:26Carlin's been spot on.
10:28So hopefully he helps you out with these series as they wrap up.
10:31And we'll check back with you, Carlin, next week here on the show.
10:35I appreciate you.
10:36I appreciate you.
Comments