- 1 day ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00This next series, this Cavs-Knicks series,
00:02feels like we're going to have at least three of the seven games,
00:07if it goes seven, games are going to be blowouts
00:09because both teams can score at a ridiculous clip.
00:12Both teams can get heated from three and then just kind of take off in a game.
00:16It doesn't mean I think the Cavs are going to be on the plus side
00:19or negative side of that, but this does.
00:21If you thought the first two rounds of this series,
00:24the first round of the playoffs were bipolar from the Cavs' perspective,
00:27I imagine that there's going to be just a natural bipolarity
00:30in this Knicks series for both teams.
00:32Well, because it does feel like the Cavs kind of adopt
00:34whatever team they're playing against, their style of basketball.
00:36And even though the Knicks do work at a slow pace, as you mentioned,
00:41I mean, they score a lot and they're able to score in bunches.
00:43And so if the Cavs just adopt what the Knicks' pace is
00:47or really what their scoring habits are,
00:49we're going to have a high-scoring game.
00:51It's not going to be these rock fights that we've been getting into.
00:53But I do think, like, I think Spencer is as close to on track
00:58to how we should view this series.
01:00It is an incredible opportunity for the Cleveland Cavaliers, right?
01:04Like, this is, the Knicks are a very good team.
01:07I will not besmirch the Knicks the way I did the Pistons or the Raptors,
01:12but the Knicks can be beat.
01:13You know, whether it's in an individual game
01:15or whether it's in a seven-game series,
01:17these aren't the 2016-2017 Golden State Warriors.
01:21And so, whereas Spencer was getting into, like, the specifics,
01:25listen, I think you're going to lose a couple ugly games in this series.
01:28And I think the Knicks probably will, too.
01:30I think the idea that it's playoff basketball,
01:34the idea that we're going to walk out of any game that is a loss
01:37and feel good about it probably ain't going to happen.
01:40So style points mostly don't matter
01:42other than I do need you to stick in this series
01:45and make it hyper-competitive.
01:46That's it. You've got to make the series competitive.
01:48You just can't have it be a four- or five-game series.
01:50You've got to make it competitive.
01:51And so we'll see what they do.
01:53It's just interesting.
01:54Like, the people that are like Spencer, it's like,
01:55well, I still have NBA Finals aspirations.
01:57That's perfectly fine.
01:58You should still have NBA Finals aspirations.
02:01I guess I'm more curious to the people that are like,
02:03if they fall short, I want to know what they're going to do.
02:06Because for myself, I'm not firing Kenny Atkinson.
02:10That was left if you got done in round two.
02:14I'm always, they could win a title.
02:15I'm open to LeBron James coming back and playing basketball for the Cavs.
02:18So that part doesn't change.
02:20The only true dynamic that potentially gets changed one way or another,
02:24in my opinion, is how hard you go after Giannis.
02:28So I think you're in a really nice spot here
02:30where I think you've accomplished enough
02:32that if this doesn't go your way,
02:34you don't necessarily have to do something drastic.
02:37I also think that there would be,
02:40I think if the Cavs were to win a title this year,
02:42I'll go ahead and say there's not a chance in hell LeBron comes back.
02:45He'll be the guy that gets you over the hump if you lose in the finals.
02:48You can't bandwagon on at that point if you're LeBron.
02:51Exactly.
02:51And certainly not on his retirement tour.
02:53But everything in between is,
02:56and by the way, like Donovan's future,
02:57I still think bears discussion this summer,
03:00depending on how he feels about things
03:03and how close you think you are.
03:05That should, like this is kind of a series
03:08that's a great litmus test of how close are you to the Knicks really.
03:12Because if you're right there,
03:13if this thing goes down to a shot at the end of game seven.
03:17From Donovan's perspective, he has to be honest with himself.
03:19And I think the Cavs have to be honest with themselves.
03:21Because you have now seen enough out of Mobley.
03:24You have now seen enough out of Jared.
03:26I do think the Windhorse report on the weekend
03:28that it's fait accompli,
03:30that Harden is back in a multi-year deal.
03:32Well, that was decided when you traded for him.
03:35So I didn't think there was going to be anything that upended that
03:37because I think that business was concluded
03:39when you made the trade for him.
03:40But everything else, like, I think you can now sit back
03:44and if the right things come to you,
03:46you can take those avenues.
03:49But I don't feel like, even right now,
03:50I don't feel the need to go chase Giannis.
03:53Right?
03:54Because I think I've seen enough from both of our bigs.
03:56I know.
03:57I think I have too.
03:57And that's part of what this experience has kind of been
04:00is because if you asked me that, I don't know,
04:02a week ago, it might have been a different answer.
04:03You know what I mean?
04:04And like part of that and watching Mobley rise to the occasion,
04:08like you do get some confirmation there.
04:09And you get some answers that they are kind of building this thing
04:11and they're doing it the right way.
04:13And in a way that it's, again,
04:14and the whole point of this initially
04:15was not to just make it a three-month window with Harden
04:18and call it a day.
04:19It was to make it an extended stretch
04:20where you get to be competitive.
04:22But this is where I get to now draw the distinction
04:24between how I'm feeling
04:26after getting through the first two rounds of the playoffs
04:29and where I think Dan Gilbert would be.
04:31Dan Gilbert is putting a full court press
04:35on the importance of this.
04:36Not only did he go all in with the Harden stuff,
04:39he's gone all in with his team financially
04:41over the last couple years.
04:43It is apparent with these incredible goodwill gestures
04:46he's doing with the fans.
04:48Guys, it's not just about just being good to the fans.
04:51I think he also wants to try and increase Cavalier presence.
04:54I think this is him showing his support of this team.
04:57I think that's another way of looking at it,
04:59saying I think it's a little premature to say
05:02everybody's safe now that they're in the Eastern Conference Finals
05:04because I don't know Dan Gilbert's thinking that way.
05:06Well, here's what we know.
05:07We know that Dolan in New York gave that directive in January
05:10that if they don't make it to the NBA Finals,
05:12it's a massive disappointment on their behalf.
05:13And then we've seen all the actions
05:15that Cavs Dan has done as well.
05:17And so like there's going to be an owner
05:19that leaves pissed off
05:20and felt like they got robbed
05:22one way or another out of the series.
05:24The two teams that have owners
05:25that have basically gone as hard as you possibly can
05:29about the idea that they need to make
05:30a deep playoff run and a finals run,
05:32well, they're staring each other in the face now.
05:34I don't think it's an accident.
05:35The thing about it,
05:35Dan Gilbert could fire Mike Brown three times.
05:38He fired him twice as a head coach in Cleveland.
05:41You beat the Knicks, Mike Brown, Mike gets fired.
05:43It's on the table.
05:44Dolan was about as adamant as it gets in January
05:46about this whole entire thing.
05:48Now, I don't feel about Mike Brown
05:49the way we felt about JB.
05:51I find JB to be very annoying in a series like this.
05:54I think Mike Brown is one of the least offensive NBA head coaches
05:57you can ever coach against.
06:00Genuinely great guy.
06:01And I think JB's a great guy too.
06:02He just is annoying to coach against.
06:04But, like, Mike Brown's not going to kick the hornet's nest,
06:07but it still would be a little funny
06:09if this is the thing that got him fired.
06:11He's just like, maybe I should avoid LeBron.
06:14Maybe I should avoid the Cavs.
06:16Shoot, I mean, Thibodeau got fired
06:17for the Eastern Conference Finals last year.
06:18Yep.
06:19Like, this is, when you're making the bar what it is,
06:21this is how this goes down.
06:22There's no way Dan can do the busloads to New York
06:25the way he did for Detroit, can he?
06:27You can't put people in danger like that.
06:30Is that what that is?
06:32Knicks fans are unhinged in a way that is not okay.
06:35There was two full sections of Cavs fans when they went and actually panned over
06:39that you saw last night's game.
06:41I'm just trying to think.
06:42I mean, he's got unlimited money.
06:43I get it.
06:43But, like, the amount of money that would cost is going to be insane.
06:47Can we get, like, the Jokic brothers as protection?
06:51Because I'll tell you, Knicks fans are insane.
06:53They're not Jokic brother insane.
06:55If we get them running bodies, basically, of, like, I am Cavs fan,
06:59and then they just go out there and pimp slap the nearest bing bonger
07:02that they can find.
07:03Just one by one, just pick them up and just toss them a several rows?
07:06Because there's no way they couldn't do that.
07:07The whole point with Knicks fans is they all seem to be like short kings.
07:12They all seem to be a little bit overcompensating.
07:15Why is it a short city?
07:16Why is New York as it is?
07:17You're right.
07:17I don't understand.
07:18They all seem like they're perpetually short.
07:19Or at least it's all Knicks fans, maybe the tall fans or Nets fans.
07:22I don't know how this goes.
07:23I'm just – it's an observation.
07:25Yeah.
07:25But they're small, but they're mighty in numbers.
07:28And so they kind of work the way, like, cockroaches do or mice do.
07:33You know, like, it's a school kind of – it's a pack atmosphere.
07:36Yeah.
07:37You get one or two Jokic brothers, and they can break that pack real quick
07:41with a little slap back.
07:43They're definitely like the who would you fight, 100 mice or one lion?
07:46Yeah.
07:46Type argument of 100 mice.
07:47I'd fight a single Knicks fan.
07:49Ten Knicks fans?
07:51No, that's – no, those numbers don't work for anyone.
07:54I was looking at the Jokic brothers' names.
07:55Yeah.
07:56They don't have cool names like Nikola.
07:58Well, what are they?
08:00Strahinja.
08:01Strahinja.
08:02And Nemanja.
08:03Nemanja.
08:04Nemanja's a pretty cool name.
08:05Nemanja's pretty sweet.
08:05Yeah.
08:06Yeah.
08:07Nemanja's got the ganja.
08:08That's what I just write.
08:08It's close to, like, a Jumanji-type thing, too, which kind of makes you feel like you're
08:11a badass.
08:11Also, this is one of those things where you have the hot name theory, which does work
08:17for, like, 80% of people on planet.
08:19That's either a hot name or it's not.
08:21I feel like Eastern European dude names, the coolness factor gets inflamed by how much of
08:28a badass that dude really is.
08:29Nemanja.
08:30Nemanja Jokic, that's a badass man right there.
08:33Yeah, but Strahinja is not.
08:35That's not it at all.
08:35That's just hard to say.
08:36You know, it's probably not even how they say the name.
08:38Oh, sure.
08:39It's probably like Stewart.
08:40Nemanja probably isn't it either.
08:42It's probably something.
08:42No, we know Nemanja because Bialica.
08:46Because what?
08:47Nemanja Bialica.
08:48He played for the Timberwolves.
08:50Yeah, but like, that's, that's, is that like the, all right, all right, you got me.
08:53That's fine.
08:53Yeah.
08:54All right, we got the name.
08:55Bialica.
08:55You got me, you got me on the name.
08:57Those are great.
08:58Do you have a Strahinja?
08:59I sure don't.
09:01I sure don't.
09:02Who's the most for Strahinja and most famous Strahinja in planet Earth?
09:06There's probably, if this is like the mark of over there, I'm going to be really pissed
09:09about it all.
09:10That's always how it goes.
09:12Like, Nemanja is a very, and Nikola too.
09:15Headline is, who is Nikola Jokic's scary brother, Strahinja?
09:19He's apparently the scarier one.
09:20Apparently out of the two, he's connected.
09:22He's the scary one.
09:23But the, the polar opposites here are, you get swept in this, this round, or you win the
09:30NBA finals.
09:31I think, I think everything's on the table.
09:34If it's one of the extremes, which is get swept in this one, I still think it's on the
09:38table for Dan Gilbert.
09:39And obviously all the partying is on the table.
09:42If you, if you go ahead and win the NBA finals, I think the calves in terms of like where
09:49my
09:49expectations are instead of hard lining it for this series, because you've already done
09:53the first thing I needed you to do now becomes, can you shoot for the middle?
09:57Right?
09:58Like I can accept the middle here.
10:00I'll take, I would really love the far extreme, which is you go ahead and win the NBA finals.
10:06I really can't handle you get swept in this, but I can, I can live somewhere in the, in the
10:12gray area between those two extremes.
10:14And I think it still will be a massive success.
10:15I think so too.
10:16Uh, you know, what I've been saying the entire time is six or seven games in the Eastern
10:20conference finals, that makes it a massive success in my mind.
10:22And that hasn't changed.
10:23I will tell you, I've been, I've been skirting the way I've been saying this.
10:27I think if you say they've already won nothing that, you know, house money, what was, what
10:33was Ken's exact phrase?
10:34He called it a successful season.
10:35Okay.
10:37You're showcasing a massive lack of belief saying that in this team before game one of the
10:42Eastern conference.
10:42As if to imply, like, you're just worried that's going to go poorly.
10:45So you're getting ahead of it.
10:46Is that the idea?
10:46Yes.
10:47Am I, am I just, I, I don't want to see my too much of a homer here, but I
10:50really don't
10:50feel like this is some sort of big stretch for the Cavs here.
10:53No, I don't.
10:53And I'm befuddled by why people think that it is.
10:56And I think Cavs fans are already annoyed by this.
10:58I've gotten multiple messages about this today.
11:00Like, why are people turning the Knicks into insert great team here?
11:03I don't, I really don't understand it.
11:05Okay.
11:05There's a few things.
11:06One, there is you polished off your second round opponent quickly.
11:10It doesn't matter who it is.
11:11But I get it.
11:11Like great.
11:12Like biggest point differential in playoff history for the first two rounds.
11:15I can respect.
11:16I got it.
11:16Like, I understand, but they're still the Sixers.
11:19Yeah.
11:20Yeah.
11:20Like, how does that not come into the equation at all?
11:22And here's the other thing in my entire basketball watching history.
11:26If it's happened to the Knicks, it's been the greatest thing that's ever happened or
11:31the worst thing, anything that happens involving the Knicks, there's a 10% juice on either side
11:38of the hype or the downfall that I just, that I don't quite frankly understand.
11:43I mean, but it's absolutely there.
11:45Nick, they're acting as if we're playing a completely different game just because Cat
11:48is running point center.
11:49Yeah.
11:51Like, huh?
11:51Like, I get it.
11:53Yeah.
11:53It changes how they do the offense.
11:54It changes how they move.
11:55It changes some certain things to it.
11:56But, like, that's not, that isn't the aha moment for Knicks basketball the way that
12:01people think that it is.
12:02There's just no way.
12:03Also, it was tested against a good Hawks team, good, and a Sixers team.
12:10Like, the Sixers have a lot of talent, but the talent was hurt or playoff Paul.
12:17Like, what are we doing here?
12:19Edgecombe's the real deal.
12:20That guy will be a pain in the ass if you build around him.
12:22I like Tyrese Maxey too.
12:23Me too.
12:24But, like, they didn't have the horses to run with the Knicks.
12:26So, yeah, I mean, I think there's so much of this that the Cavs actually are sitting
12:31pretty because no one's giving him a chance in this series.
12:35So, just by showing up, you're going to glow up just a little bit.
12:38But, I still need you to show up.
12:39You got to show up, yeah.
12:40I just think it's going to look different offensively than what we saw in the first
12:43couple series.
12:44That's the part I'm banking on, Nick, is the idea that I think you're just going to
12:46have, both guards are just going to be able to, they're going to be so much freer than
12:50what they were in the Pistons series, at least.
12:52Yes, but I think you're going to have to defend a different way, and I think that's
12:56what's, I think the, we're going to, we're going to basically overhelp and the
13:02late closeout, you can't do that against this next team, they'll shoot your ass out
13:05of the series.
13:05You can't leave them as open as the Pistons were.
13:07Like, the Pistons, what you relied on is the Pistons just can't shoot.
13:10And, at times, they actually were able to shoot because you left them so wide open.
13:13You, you'll get run out of the gym if you give them the looks.
13:16Even, like, early on in yesterday's game, if you give, if you give the Knicks the looks
13:19that they were giving the Pistons, that won't be pretty.
13:21I did get an almost, almost bedroom-level joy of watching Evan Mobley twice let Asar Thompson
13:28take a wide-open three and wave at him and watch Asar Thompson come nowhere close
13:33to the cup.
13:34He air-balled the one.
13:35It was, I got, and here's the thing, that kid's a really nice young player.
13:39If he was ours, man, would we love Asar Thompson, but by the end of that series, I wanted to
13:44put him through a freaking wall.
13:45Some things are just so easy in basketball when you think about it, and it's like, how
13:48did it take him this long to figure it out?
13:50Well, you saw Atkinson's comments in the postgame yesterday talking about Asar Thompson.
13:53He's like, yeah, we just had to, anytime anyone, anytime he came close to the ball, we just
13:56moved it away from him.
13:58And that was the key.
13:59I could have told you that in game one.
14:01Also.
14:01That could have been obvious in game one.
14:02I could have had this figured out.
14:03Maybe he is taking advice from Dan Gilbert about Alan.
14:06Maybe I'm giving Atkinson too much credit.
14:08Also, how do you get to the NBA and you can't shoot?
14:13We've got a history of guys that are like that.
14:15I know, but I don't get it.
14:16Like the one thing my fat ass could do, conditioning, no, at no point have I ever been like conditioned
14:23to play basketball, even in my best condition.
14:27Defense, well, that is an effort game and I tried real damn hard.
14:31Dribbling, all these other things.
14:33Shooting, I could just sit at a hoop when I was like a 10-year-old and shoot the same
14:38shot a thousand times.
14:40Yeah.
14:40How is that?
14:41I know you think you just lock yourself into a gym all summer long and just, I don't know,
14:45shoot 10,000 shots a day until it worked, but it just doesn't work.
14:48Contested shots are different.
14:49Yeah.
14:50But like when people just leave you wide open and you still don't come close to the cup,
14:55you don't know ball.
14:56I'm going to say it.
Comments