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00:00Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight, 8 o'clock.
00:05Lima wants to ask me if I need to admit if it's officially weird.
00:09What is officially weird? We will tell you at 6.43.
00:13Alright, you guys ready to rally around the Cavs?
00:16Because you're going to hear something that's going to want to make you rally around the Cavs.
00:19Here is Marcus Morris on Yahoo Sports Daily.
00:23Owen, hit it!
00:25Two things I see with Cleveland that don't have really good leadership as far as player-wise.
00:29If you look at the James Harden team and the Donovan Mitchell team,
00:32they always had a guy on the bench somewhere where he was a vocal leader
00:36where you call a timeout and you could see that guy showing passion
00:39and kind of bringing the team together.
00:40That's what I think that Cleveland is missing.
00:42But I can't put that on coaching.
00:44You have two guys that's going to be Hall of Famers.
00:46At some point, up 22, okay, now it dwindled down to 15.
00:51Okay, now it dwindled down to 10.
00:52Them two guys got to be able to settle the team down to get quality shots
00:56and make sure we have quality possessions.
00:57I think that's the big thing that they were missing.
01:00And I'm not going to put this on coaching as a player.
01:02You know, we always want to say, well, he could have called better plays,
01:05but he's not on the court, right?
01:06If I got Donovan Mitchell and James Harden on the court with a 20-point lead,
01:09I feel great about that.
01:10When I'm saying pointing fingers, I'm saying that's the thing where our two superstars
01:14has to be in the room together and take ownership and say,
01:16yo, yo, this was our fault, man.
01:18We can't allow our team to crumble like that up 20.
01:21And the Eastern Conference Finals, like, are we serious?
01:23Okay, the second part of that, I kind of agree with.
01:26I mean, you have two guards making a lot of money that are Hall of Famers,
01:30and both were gassed, and they couldn't settle the team down, and they couldn't.
01:34I know the Cavs have their own data that I did hear over the last 24 hours
01:39that they thought they got good shots in the fourth.
01:41I disagreed.
01:42I mean, I thought they looked gassed.
01:44I pointed to that air ball that Donovan, that air ball floater.
01:48James took that step back, and his threes have all been right around the rim,
01:52and that one was an air ball, like a foot long.
01:54I was like, oh, no.
01:56Like, they are totally gassed.
01:58They don't trust themselves.
01:58The first part of that, I think, is just comical.
02:01Like, the leadership thing, it's so funny.
02:03When you have LeBron James on your team, and we sat here and debated his leadership
02:07style for better or for worse over time, and depending on the day,
02:11we talked about whether or not it was good leadership.
02:14But they had LeBron James.
02:16Like, he can put an end to that on offense and defense because he's LeBron James.
02:19He's really good, and then we're not talking about leadership.
02:21Like, if they get any of the stops, if Shamit's three ball doesn't crawl up
02:26like a spider from the bottom of the rim, are we talking about the lack of leadership,
02:31or are we saying, holy cow, the Cavs just went from two unbelievably adverse situations
02:37that they overcame in game sevens against physical teams
02:40to then stealing game one against the Knicks and silencing MSG for three hours.
02:45That's what we would have been saying.
02:46Well, you know you're not going to hear that type of stuff from Tim Legler,
02:49who is on the broadcast, and he will be on with us.
02:51Tim Legler from ESPN, he was on with us coming up at 9 o'clock this morning.
02:55How did the Cavaliers bounce back in the series?
02:57I totally agree with you.
02:58I know yesterday we were literally at each other's throats at this time.
03:01I totally agree with you here.
03:03I think that that was some of the biggest line of Bolsheviks I think I've heard in a while.
03:06Because you're right, had Sam Merrill's shot goes down, it is all, oh my God,
03:12the Cavs went into MSG, they played two games, just like you said,
03:16they had two seven-game series, the Knicks have been waiting around on you for nine days.
03:22Celebrities all over the place, packed house, whole thing, New York, the whole bing-bong thing,
03:26and you went in there and you got them.
03:29The 22-point lead being given up would be a talking point.
03:32It would be, and yes, if you and I were on WFAN in New York,
03:37I would look at this and go, well, they probably would overreact,
03:40but I would still go, hey, it's an 0-1 series, but you came back from a 22-point deficit.
03:45It's no sweat.
03:46I would say that.
03:47I guarantee I would.
03:48And it's funny, too.
03:49You are right about what you're saying.
03:50It's also funny because it would have been, instead of James Harden, take him out,
03:54and then Carl Anthony Towns, front and center.
03:57You're right.
03:57He is the national embarrassment to end all embarrassments.
04:01You're this big, and you had that little impact on the game.
04:06And then, you know what they would have said, too?
04:07Then it would have turned into, James Harden made two clutch plays in the last 30 seconds.
04:12That's what they would have said.
04:13I'm not trying to turn this into weird therapy here and explain what happened yesterday.
04:16I don't like coming over the table, but I'm not trying to overdo it.
04:19Let me tell you this.
04:20That's part of what went on.
04:21Because in my head, like, I didn't hear you say that the series was over against Detroit.
04:26All right?
04:26I didn't hear it.
04:27And I think a lot of people agreed with you, but they don't have a microphone in front of them.
04:30I was out of town.
04:32That was in my head, though.
04:33And that was in my head all night two nights ago.
04:36Last night.
04:37Yeah, two nights ago.
04:39Because all I'm thinking of is I'm extremely disappointed and angry.
04:45It's also game one.
04:47It's also game one.
04:48In the St. the 2018 finals, I don't have that same type of feeling.
04:53It was almost where I was ambivalent, I got to tell you.
04:55And it was an expected, I didn't expect J.R. to forget the score, but it was kind of an
05:01expected outcome there.
05:02And I felt bad about it, and I was disappointed in the outcome there, but it wasn't like this.
05:06Because it's still the Eastern Conference finals.
05:08And so I had to kind of go back and say, all right, is it the worst loss of the
05:12year?
05:12Absolutely the worst loss of the year.
05:14Worst loss in a long time.
05:15But it's still game one.
05:16So I can't overdo it and say that the series is over if I don't believe the series is over.
05:21And I don't, as mad as I am, and as mad as I get, and as red-faced and loud
05:25as I get,
05:26there's still a measure of some sanity that I'm trying to keep.
05:29And I think that we lose that.
05:31And we're trying to fill the space.
05:33We're trying to fill the time.
05:34And basketball, of all the sports, football has a little bit of this.
05:38Baseball doesn't have very much of it at all.
05:41Basketball, of all the sports, everybody talks.
05:44Everybody gets dramatic.
05:45And for a long time, these were super teams, big names.
05:49It was always, could it break up?
05:52Could it happen like that?
05:53And this is a team that very well could break up at the end of the year.
05:55Things don't go our way over the next couple of days.
05:57That's absolutely true.
05:58But I think that we've kind of gotten used to some of the nasty things we've said.
06:03And then ending up being true.
06:05Yeah, man, if they get swept, heads could very well roll.
06:08Kenny could be out of a job.
06:09That's all true.
06:10But it's still game one.
06:12And I just didn't think that that was a measured response by him.
06:14Yeah, and I've seen plenty of teams that have guys vociferously, you know, on the bench,
06:21going nuts and finger-pointing and talking and hyping guys and still lose games.
06:25Remember, this Knicks team coughed up a massive lead last year against the Indiana Pacers.
06:31It felt like in the NBA, I just, I did, now 22, that is a, that's a horse of a
06:36different color.
06:36No doubt.
06:37Like, that was really bad.
06:38I understand.
06:38That was all-time bad.
06:39Like, if we lose this series, if it's close, we're going to be looking at that one forever.
06:44If they just get swept, I don't know.
06:45I mean, maybe people will say that's why they got swept is because they got off to a rough start
06:49in game one.
06:50I'd say, well, you got bigger problems, obviously, than that.
06:53Absolutely true.
06:53But this is, this is pretty indicative of today's NBA, where in the playoffs, you're seeing bigger and bigger leads
07:02get erased.
07:03And you're seeing these big opinions, and I'm looking at it going, it's not true.
07:06It's not true.
07:08Like, at one point, one versus eight, that's a snoozer.
07:12And the playoffs didn't really start until the second round.
07:14Now you have more, even more balanced teams.
07:17And you're seeing number one seed struggle a little bit.
07:19But you're seeing a team like the Sixers, who I just left for dead because of the injuries back in
07:24February,
07:25and they come out and they get a first-round series.
07:27And then people thought that they were going to be hot.
07:29Oh, yeah, you lose Joel Embiid, and this is what happened against the Knicks.
07:31Same thing with the Knicks, for crying out loud.
07:33I mean, you go back, and I hate to keep giving plugs, but it is a sister station.
07:37You know, I listen to FAN every now and then, and they were hating the Knicks a couple of months
07:40ago.
07:41Absolutely hating the Knicks.
07:42A couple months ago.
07:43Comparing a month ago when they were losing to Atlanta in the first round, but four weeks ago.
07:47Comparing Mike Brown directly to Tom Thibodeau, what Mike Brown does wrong compared to what Tom Thibodeau did right,
07:53why James Dolan's the biggest goofball in sports, all those things were being said.
07:57And now, hey, they're three wins away from getting to the NBA Finals.
08:00We're four away from getting to the NBA Finals.
08:02And that's basically where it stands.
08:04Like, you had every single right as a Cavs fan to be mad and upset about what had happened on
08:11Tuesday night.
08:12You have every single right to still be disappointed about that.
08:14I think everybody, you don't need my permission, it's a natural reaction.
08:19But to say, well, they don't have leadership.
08:21This is because of leadership.
08:23Is it, or did we just not call a timeout?
08:26Did we just not call a timeout?
08:27I think people do, but I'll tell you.
08:29Is it, or did shots stop falling?
08:30Is it, or if Sam Merrill hits the shot, again, what did I just tell you three minutes ago?
08:35Well, they're saying how the Cavs were able to overcome adversity again, blowing that lead and still not giving up.
08:42But instead, the shot doesn't go, and then in overtime they look like they quit.
08:45What were you going to say?
08:46I asked you a question.
08:47But it's about them being gassed.
08:48I just think that, you know, you can have a guy go rah, rah, rah, scream and yell on the
08:53sidelines.
08:54Does that necessarily end the run?
08:56Do you think the Cavs players didn't know that this was going south?
09:00You don't think the panic alarms were sounding?
09:02I think they probably were wishing the head coach could use some of his tools at his disposal to try
09:08to stop that.
09:08And so people, because, you know, we're on the Odyssey app, so people are listening after you're not a guy
09:12bringing it up.
09:12Because social media reactions are brought to you by?
09:15Shibin Jewelers, Cleveland's premier jewelry store.
09:176.35 and 10 seconds for those scoring at home.
09:19I had a couple people come in and defend Kenny Atkinson.
09:22Going, hey, you're beating him up too much.
09:23He can't play for him.
09:24I go, you're absolutely right.
09:25He can't play for him.
09:26But when you leave your little...
09:28We didn't ask him to go out there and make a basket.
09:31Yes.
09:31We asked him to do one thing and one thing only.
09:34See what's happening on the floor and figure out a way to stop it.
09:37And guys, timeouts are...
09:39They can be overrated.
09:40Yelling just to take a timeout ain't gonna fix anything.
09:43I mean, you can have all the timeouts in the world.
09:44If your team sucks and they're getting boat race, they ain't gonna help you.
09:47But it does need to be mentioned, like, you have...
09:51You can only take two timeouts in the final three minutes.
09:54So you do have...
09:55If you have more than two timeouts, those are called use-it-or-lose-it timeouts now.
09:58That is a difference here that we've seen in the past.
10:01So if you have two timeouts in your pocket or one timeout in your pocket before three minutes,
10:06you're gonna lose that timeout.
10:08So when you lose that timeout, when you're in the middle of giving up a 22-point lead,
10:13ain't gonna sit well with the fans.
10:15Okay, it's a mistake.
10:16You can't take it with you.
10:18Okay, you're not King Tut in his tomb.
10:20So there's nothing you can do other than take the timeout, try to get it fixed.
10:24I wouldn't have blamed him for putting...
10:26I would have supported him in putting James Harden back out there.
10:29Because you need him for a full seven-game series,
10:31and where Marcus Morris is right, he's a future Hall of Famer.
10:34So you can't just give up on your Hall of Famer,
10:37who you traded for and traded a big piece for,
10:40a controversial piece for.
10:41You can't just trade him and then put him on the bench
10:44and then expect to go out there and win a series.
10:46You'll give up on each other.
10:47I would have seen it that way.
10:48It's just, you should have called a timeout.
10:50You didn't call a timeout.
10:51We'll see where it goes tonight.
10:52I just don't think you're gonna be in the middle of a 22...
10:5618-to-1 run and then a 30-to-8 run
10:58and things like that at this point.
11:00Cavaliers game two tonight.
11:02Is it do or die?
11:04I thought Detroit game two was do or die.
11:07And so, yeah, I mean, I feel like tonight...
11:10Now, I know that sounds silly because they came back
11:12and won four of five,
11:14but the level of play also goes up.
11:17You know, the level of competition
11:18is going up every single round.
11:20So I'm taking that into consideration.
11:22Like, the Knicks, while we were right there
11:25on firm footing with them,
11:26I did not think the Knicks had some huge advantage over us.
11:29Like, all the people that picked the Knicks in five,
11:32maybe you thought their mental fortitude was higher,
11:35but who was saying that about the Knicks
11:36in the fourth quarter when it was a 22-point game?
11:39Who was commending, you know,
11:41any of their mental fortitude?
11:43So, I do feel like you gotta kind of win tonight.
11:46I do.
11:46And I know, look, if it doesn't happen...
11:48Oh, now we're doing must-win?
11:50But I said it against Detroit.
11:51Which technically is the same way to say do or die.
11:53I just didn't realize it.
11:54I wanted to know from you
11:56because I'm surprised by your opinion
11:57because you said that last series was done 0-2, apparently.
12:01And I was proven wrong.
12:01And you were proven wrong.
12:02Literally, the Cavs are in the next round of the playoffs.
12:05I don't believe that...
12:06I don't believe it's over if they lose tonight.
12:09I'm gonna be concerned.
12:10I don't believe it's over if they lose tonight.
12:12They gotta come back on Saturday.
12:14If they lose on Saturday,
12:14then yeah, you're gonna get a different answer
12:16from me coming up on...
12:16Well, we won't get a chance to talk about it
12:18because it's Monday.
12:18But isn't part of it, Kenny,
12:19after seeing our guys worn down
12:22at the end of the game,
12:23isn't that part of it?
12:23Like, we're playing every other day.
12:25And I know now the Knicks are too.
12:26But you can see the mileage piling up.
12:29Like, why is...
12:30But you were up by 22
12:31if you would have just done something a little differently
12:34and made one little adjustment.
12:35If you would have been a little bit luckier,
12:37we're not saying this.
12:38I know, but because they lost the game,
12:41now, obviously, this is even more important.
12:43And part of it is,
12:43I'm looking at James Harden, right?
12:45Like, I was worried about certain aspects
12:47of this series and James Harden.
12:48I was up front about that
12:49as someone who wanted the trade.
12:51But, you know, I recognize
12:53as this gets further along,
12:54it's a lot of mileage piling up for James.
12:56And I know typically in the past,
12:58James plays his horrible game six
13:00or horrible game seven
13:01and his team's eliminated.
13:02Here he played the horrible game one
13:05and now he's got the whole series
13:07still in front of him.
13:08How does he recover?
13:10Is he going to be able to turn back the clock?
13:12I know he played two horrible games
13:13in Detroit to start out
13:14and then, wow, three, four, and five.
13:16He was awesome.
13:17So, I'm curious to see how he rebounds.
13:20That's interesting.
13:21I don't know how much I'm expecting
13:22out of James Harden
13:23and I don't want to ask Tim Legler
13:24that coming up at nine.
13:25Like, I am curious
13:25why the threes aren't falling.
13:29Like, he's getting the looks
13:31and with the exception of the one
13:32I pointed out in the fourth quarter
13:33that he airmailed
13:35as they were all in panic mode
13:36and they were like,
13:37somebody stopped the bleeding.
13:38Here, here's a grenade.
13:39You take it.
13:39You take it.
13:40You take it.
13:40And he took it
13:41and he missed by a long shot.
13:43All of them have looked good to me.
13:45I don't know why they're not falling.
13:46He was a 40% three-point shooter this year.
13:48Is it that he's gassed?
13:51Is it the 36-year-old?
13:52But he was sitting around in Los Angeles.
13:55What happened to Tobias Harris
13:56at the end of that series?
13:57Is that happening right now
13:58to James Harden?
14:00That's what I'm worried about.
14:012-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92.
14:03I want to look that up
14:04but I got to get the Peter in Eastlake first.
14:05Hello, Peter.
14:07Good morning, gentlemen.
14:08Hey.
14:08Hi.
14:11It's not a do-or-die game.
14:13There's up to six games left to be played.
14:16They have to win four of them.
14:17It's not an elimination game.
14:19I understand everyone's emotional
14:21based on how they could have
14:24and should have won that game
14:25on the other night
14:26but it's over.
14:28It's done with.
14:28It's won nothing in the series.
14:30There's six games,
14:31potentially six games left to play.
14:33See, I agree.
14:34I agree but you got to push it further now, Peter.
14:37Like, I don't know if you're going to call in tomorrow, right?
14:39So say if they don't win today
14:40and then I come on tomorrow
14:42and I say that the series isn't over,
14:43how many people are going to say
14:45we're doing the liar show today?
14:47How many people are going to say
14:48I'm lying to myself?
14:49No, you work in sports radio.
14:51You're going to have every caller
14:52call in and say that the series is over.
14:55If they win,
14:56if the Cavs lose tonight,
14:58the series still isn't over
15:00because they'll still have a chance
15:02to win two games
15:03in Madison Square Garden
15:04or one game in Madison Square Garden.
15:06Like, it's not over.
15:07It's not over till it's over, guys.
15:09It's just not.
15:11Listen, and I should be informed
15:13by what happened, obviously, last series.
15:14Peter, thank you for the call.
15:15Part of it is, like,
15:17are we going to have a 22-point lead
15:18again in this series?
15:19Probably not, right?
15:21So you had so many forces
15:23working in your direction.
15:25I know we still didn't shoot the ball that well.
15:27That's the crazy thing,
15:27so maybe I should hold out hope
15:29that what happens
15:30when we actually shoot the ball well,
15:31we maybe have a more sustainable situation.
15:35But it's hard to fathom
15:37they're going to have that kind of lead again
15:39in this series.
15:39And so the wasted opportunity,
15:41I'm hoping that doesn't come back
15:44to haunt us in that way.
15:46We were defending.
15:47I mean, Donovan Mitchell, like I said,
15:49that was a Dwayne Wade defensive performance
15:52from a smaller guard.
15:53Like, that was insane, the force.
15:56They keep using the term the force,
15:58that he was operating at defensively.
16:00But I also think,
16:02did that lead to him getting gassed?
16:04We do what-ifs all the time.
16:05What if it is a, like, 15-point loss?
16:08What if it just isn't very competitive
16:10and they go out there
16:10and they just lose by 15
16:11and we're getting ready for Saturday?
16:13Do I change my mind then?
16:14Because I don't think it's over.
16:15And you're saying it's,
16:16are you saying it is over
16:17if they lose tonight?
16:18Yeah, I'll feel,
16:19I'll come on tomorrow
16:20if they lose and say,
16:21well, that's probably it.
16:23Like, I'm still going to go to game,
16:24I'm still going to go Saturday,
16:25and yes, when I get in the arena,
16:27I'll be pumped.
16:28That's how it works.
16:29I'm a basketball fan.
16:30The realist in me that hosts a show
16:32that tries to be honest with the fan base,
16:34like, yeah,
16:34I kind of feel like they've got to win one tonight,
16:36especially now,
16:37the way they lost in game one.
16:402-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92.
16:42Kenny Atkinson was talking yesterday
16:44about a lot of this stuff.
16:45I feel that when you have the type of game
16:48that happens yesterday,
16:50or it happens a couple days ago,
16:51you really need to come out
16:53and you need to,
16:53you need to prove yourself again.
16:55Because when you're playing in the postseason,
16:58we played the Marcus Morris stuff
16:59in the first hour of the show.
17:01I mean, that was as rough as it gets.
17:02But also,
17:03Kenny Atkinson is taking a little bit of heat
17:05because every time he opens up his mouth,
17:07it seems that he's sticking his foot into it
17:09with some people.
17:10Here is Kenny Atkinson,
17:11and this is a little spicy.
17:14I want to just lean on the positive.
17:16We did,
17:17we had three quarters of really good basketball.
17:19Some of the best basketball we've honestly played
17:22in the playoffs,
17:23especially offensively,
17:24offensively and defensively.
17:26Really good.
17:27And in the fourth quarter,
17:28I'd say looking back on it,
17:30the fourth quarter,
17:30what I'm probably more disappointed about it
17:32was our offense.
17:33Shot quality wasn't great.
17:35We weren't getting to the rim.
17:35I think we took nine threes.
17:37Thought we could have gotten to the rim more
17:39and put more pressure on them at the rim.
17:41Now there's another clip of Kenny Atkinson
17:44that we're going to play for you later on in the show
17:45because it's even spicier than that.
17:47But I was hearing a lot of people yesterday
17:49on that clip get very upset with,
17:52you didn't play a full four quarters.
17:54You didn't play in overtime.
17:55Stop bringing up the first three quarters.
17:57Yeah, nobody cares.
17:58Nobody cares when you blow that kind of a lead.
18:00I do think some people are looking forward,
18:01but when he talks,
18:03they just don't care about him talking about
18:04the first three quarters
18:05because it ain't the CYO, man.
18:07It's professional basketball.
18:09You can't, I think that he's doing it right
18:12with his team.
18:13I do.
18:14I just don't think you're going to,
18:15I don't think you could say that publicly.
18:17Well, so when he says that he wishes
18:19they would have got to the rim,
18:20I mean, part of that is your guards were gassed.
18:24I don't know how he couldn't read that body language.
18:27Like I've been watching basketball my whole life.
18:29I can see when guys start to feel that way.
18:31And then the day before he goes,
18:33yeah, you know, when things get down,
18:35they start bowing their head a little bit.
18:36And I'm like, no, that's what an excuse
18:38for this fan base.
18:40Whatever.
18:40You can't just sit there and say they're tired.
18:43Oh no, I think you totally can.
18:44I think that was obvious.
18:45And when that's apparent,
18:46that's why as a coach you use your time out.
18:47But I think we all understand.
18:48You're supposed to read that stuff.
18:49And that's on him.
18:51I think we all understand that they're tired,
18:52but I just don't think that that's going to be
18:53acceptable to the fans.
18:55Oh, what happened back in 2026?
18:58Well, you know, they were just tired.
19:00That sounds ridiculous by a regular fan.
19:02Does it not?
19:02I don't know how, I don't know how it's like,
19:06it's like when, um, everybody's tired,
19:08when the air conditioning went out in San Antonio,
19:11like, yeah, this stuff happens.
19:12And LeBron looked like he needed to go to the hospital.
19:16Uh, there are times Matthew Delvedova
19:18and Charles Barkley famously called him a baby
19:21and Matthew Delvedova,
19:22when he busted his ass trying to defend Steph Curry
19:24and he literally had to go to the hospital.
19:26Like there are ways to read what's going on on the floor
19:29and Donovan Mitchell for three quarters
19:32was whizzing past guys at 200 miles an hour.
19:36And in the fourth quarter,
19:37he was passing the ball to James Harden.
19:39Why was that?
19:40You just gave everything.
19:41You just gave me everything.
19:42Did Matthew Delvedova and the Cavs win that game?
19:44Did they win that game?
19:45So that's a story that people get to tell lovingly
19:48for the rest of his career
19:49and really for the rest of their lives as fans.
19:51It just sounds like some great big excuse.
19:53Yeah, but again,
19:54the memes of LeBron with the cramps and the heat
19:57and all that other crap,
19:57he just made fun of into oblivion.
19:59Yes, but if you're Kenny Atkinson
20:01and you're seeing the stuff that I am talking about
20:04and you're not calling timeout
20:06and you're just like,
20:07I'm not going to use this as an excuse.
20:08Okay, well, you lost the game.
20:09You did nothing to end the bleeding.
20:11Like you had some tools at your disposal.
20:13You refused to use them.
20:14And now you're kind of doubling down on it.
20:16Which you and I are fighting over this,
20:17which is weird because it's a head coach
20:18who seems to make plenty of excuses
20:20every time he's out.
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