00:00We've got a game tonight between the Cavs and Knicks to break down, so let's take a look at
00:05the odds. The Knicks are six and a half point home favorites. The total is 216 and a half.
00:10A lot of different directions I'm seeing online with this one. I see people taking the Cavs to
00:15win outright. I see some money. I see some, hey, Knicks get back to their 140 tonight. Man,
00:21everyone is all over the map with this one, but let me start here with you on this.
00:26I see a lot of Cavs win the last game if they don't, I mean, this is crazy, if they
00:32don't have
00:33James Harden on the court for the end of the game in overtime. So we saw that Kenny Atkinson defended
00:38him to the end in the last one, and I would also say, SBJ, that it feels like the Cavs
00:43are here
00:44partially because of that trade that they made with Harden. So let me get your Cavs angle first
00:48before we go to the Knicks. Yeah, like I said in the last series, breaking this down, this is the
00:53biggest thing about these types of games. You have to adapt and you have to respond.
00:58The Cavaliers have a bunch of questions that they have to answer inside of themselves, but they also
01:02have to look themselves in the mirror and say, we have to be better in the big time moments of
01:08these
01:08games. Kenny Atkinson as well. I mean, there was lots of stretches down the stretch of that game
01:12where they were losing that 22 point lead where Jalen Brunson, as they said on the broadcast,
01:16the Brunson, the Brunson burner was lit, right? And when that happens as a head coach,
01:20sometimes you got to, you got to put that fire out. You got to call a timeout. You got to
01:24slow
01:24that momentum down a little bit. And instead of doing that, they just, he let them kind of roll
01:28with it. The other thing too, is they didn't make the defensive adjustments necessary down the stretch
01:32in that game. Dean Wade is one of the better on-ball defenders on Jalen Brunson in every single
01:37matchup they played the Knicks this season. He was doing a pretty good job all game long. If you look
01:41at the box score, obviously Brunson ended with 38, but a lot of those points came in the fourth quarter
01:45when, as Mike Brown said in his press conference, they were hunting the matchup with James Harden.
01:50They were throwing Harden on an island with Brunson, basically playing four wide after that
01:54and just letting Brunson cook. The Cavaliers made a bad mistake and did not adjust. They did not allow
02:00Dean Wade to slip through some of those screens. They did not allow for, they basically just said,
02:04okay, if you want to beat us this way, let's see what James Harden can do on an island. And
02:07boy,
02:07oh boy, did they find out that that was not the way that you're going to win a basketball game.
02:11So I get defending your guy. He was a big reason why they got to this particular point
02:14in the Eastern Conference Finals playing second, you know, being the one to punch with Donovan
02:18Mitchell, but they had to make adjustments down the stretch. I would be shocked if they don't
02:21make this, if they don't make adjustments going into game two, especially on the defensive end.
02:26And I just feel like that if you watch for three and a half quarters of this game,
02:31the Cleveland Cavaliers were actually punching the Knicks in the mouth. They were scoring at will.
02:34They were getting downhill. They were getting to the cup. They were offensive rebounding. They were
02:38playing the better brand of basketball. That is the reason why they became, they are in the Eastern
02:43Conference Finals. It was a bit of an anomaly. It hasn't happened. I want to, I can't remember the
02:47exact step. It was like, oh, and 200 plus that it's 22 point lead gets decimated in the final
02:53seven minutes of a playoff game. So it was a one in a lifetime opportunity that the Knicks took
02:57advantage of. And it was incredible game to watch, obviously, but I don't think the Cavs had to run
03:02away from that feeling like they have to make ginormous, incredible. Oh my God, we need to change all this
03:07type of stuff. They just need to look at themselves, go, Hey, we didn't make the adjustments down the
03:11stretch. Now we just do exactly what got us here. The first three and a half quarters. Maybe we fix
03:16a couple of things that we needed to do on the defensive end. Like I said, with guarding Brunson
03:20a little bit more, throwing some double teams at him, allowing some switches of those screens,
03:24and then you can probably get the job done on the road. But I don't blame people for not wanting
03:29to
03:29trust the Cavs. This is a hard team to get behind. They look fantastic in stretches. Then they also look
03:33like boneheads in particular moments as well. So it's hard to kind of back a team like that. But if
03:38I had to
03:38choose, I don't have any side in this particular game. But if I had to choose, I would lean with
03:41the Cavaliers and the points. All right, fair enough. SPJ is honest with you. It doesn't throw
03:46out picks on this show that he doesn't believe in, but he will give us picks. So let's get right
03:51to
03:51it. We've got three selections from you here. And I mean, I don't want to say that they're random,
03:57but definitely some interesting player props here. So fire away. Yeah, going a little bit back to what I
04:03saw in game one, and they both cashed for me, I added an additional sprinkle in there. Now,
04:08if you want to go a little bit chalky and take like Jalen Brunson or Donovan Mitchell to have
04:11big games once again, I don't fault you. They were both fantastic in game one, especially Brunson.
04:16I think their lines are very bettable once again. But I'm going with some role players here. As I
04:20mentioned, Dean Wade, I bet his PRA last game at nine and a half. And there it is staring at
04:24me again
04:24at nine and a half. The best on ball defender against Jalen Brunson. He's a good scorer against this
04:29Knicks team has hit this in all games against them in the regular season and had a really good game
04:33one scoring the basketball as well, hitting this PRA with just points. He also had a nice
04:36rebounding game as well. Mikkel Bridges on the other side is kind of that secondary de facto
04:41scorer. Him and OGN and OB when Cat has not really been fantastic to start the season. He was pretty
04:46pedestrian in game one. Mikkel Bridges was really good. I like this PRA line once again with the
04:51rebounding facilitating roped into his obvious scoring efforts. And then off the bench, Dennis
04:55Schroeder, not going to play a lot of minutes, probably 20 plus, but Kenny Atkinson can trust his
04:59veteran leadership. His assist line, he had five assists against the Knicks in game one,
05:04hit this in every single game in the regular season against the Knicks as well. I think that
05:07three plus assist line is a little too low. So go to the role players, but I think we get
05:10another
05:11banger tonight in Madison Square Garden, Craig.
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