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00:01All right, welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid.
00:03SPJ is with us, Daniel Collins.
00:05He is paying close attention to the NBA
00:08and arguably some really good finals going on in the East and West.
00:12Hopefully folks are tuning in.
00:14SPJ, great to have you back here on the show.
00:16And this is basically what we wanted, right?
00:18Like we want a long series in the West.
00:21I think we're going to get one in the East too.
00:22The Thunder win yesterday and just barely cover that spread of 7.5.
00:27I thought personally, just from watching, you know, the condensed,
00:30because that's usually what I do when I'm working at night.
00:32I'll come back and I'll watch the condensed game.
00:34It felt like you always thought that the Thunder were going to win.
00:37It was just a matter of if they were going to cover that spread.
00:40So naturally, it sort of tells me that we could be in for a fun one here.
00:44I think the Spurs probably take care of business back at home here.
00:47And I think that SGA and company have a battle.
00:51Yeah, I mean, this is the time of year, like you said,
00:53you're getting the cream of the crop going head to head on a night to night basis.
00:55It's exactly what you want as an NBA fan.
00:58And Craig, the most important thing for me right now is paying attention
01:00to the chess matches between these coaches.
01:02You got the two biggest words to me right now to focus about is,
01:06how are these players going to respond?
01:08And how are these players going to adjust?
01:11Each individual game is its own story, right?
01:13But that's not a part of the entire novel that we're looking at in these series.
01:16And game one was one story with Victor Wimpenyama taking over the game,
01:20obviously hitting that crazy 30-footer at double overtime,
01:24SGA having a little bit more of a pedestrian performance.
01:26But the Thunder took all of that away.
01:28They learned, they adapted, and they said,
01:30what are we going to do in game two to make sure that Wimpy does not just
01:33completely take over this game and turn into exactly what we saw in game one?
01:37And what they did was is they put Isaiah Hartenstein out there.
01:41And I have personal opinions about this, but however you feel about this,
01:45they just allowed Isaiah Hartenstein to play as physical as possible with Victor
01:48Wimpenyama and make his life really, really difficult.
01:51And the refs decided to not call a lot of those things.
01:54It kind of changed the temperature of the game.
01:56And as you mentioned, the defending champs came in, got the job done at home,
01:59and really evened out the series after getting punched in the mouth in game one.
02:03So I'm fascinated to see how the chess match continues between Dagonal
02:07and Mitch Johnson going forward.
02:09Obviously, these coaching staffs are going to spend a lot of time looking at each
02:12individual play, each individual moment, because we are seeing some cinema.
02:17Game one was one of the best basketball games I've watched in this series.
02:20Game two didn't quite live up to that, Bill, but it was still a fantastic basketball game.
02:24Every single possession mattering.
02:25The other thing, too, about this, Craig, is injuries are going to start to play a factor here.
02:30You've got guys like De'Aaron Fox obviously didn't play game one and game two.
02:34Dylan Harper goes out of the game last night.
02:36Jalen Williams, unfortunately, for the Thunder, that hamstring injury flared up once again.
02:39So we'll see what his status is going forward.
02:41We're at the point of the season where, as all players will tell you, nobody's 100%, right?
02:46They're all dealing with these nagging injuries and things like that,
02:49playing on a night-to-night basis.
02:50And then you get the added aspect of these are two of the most physical basketball teams
02:55in the entire association, especially on the defensive end.
02:58So I'm looking at how these players and these coaching staffs continue to adjust,
03:02how they continue to respond to the adjustments in the coaching that they're getting
03:06on a night-to-night basis, and also how they're taking their treatment.
03:09So, as you mentioned, a spectacular game last night.
03:12SGA showed up, played like these two-time MVP, 30 points, played 38 minutes,
03:16was really good on the defensive end.
03:18I have opinions on, you know, whether or not they got some calls
03:21and they flopped around a little bit, and the referees kind of helped them out
03:24on certain stretches of this game, too.
03:25But regardless, they got the job done, as you mentioned, covered the spread,
03:29getting a double-digit victory.
03:31Or, yeah, double-digit nine-point victory.
03:33Almost double digits.
03:34It felt like a double-digit victory, right?
03:35Close enough.
03:36Yeah, and now it's up to the Spurs.
03:38I mean, they held home serve, right?
03:40They got to win on the road.
03:42You got to think that the defending champs are going to come in
03:44and maybe win one of these next two games in San Antonio.
03:46But, I mean, the Spurs have the momentum right now.
03:49Even after losing the game yesterday, I think they're going to kind of learn
03:52from what they saw in game two, how they deployed Isaiah Hartenstein,
03:55like I said, to defend Victor Wimbanyama,
03:57the different looks they threw at them offensively as well,
03:59and make their adjustments.
04:00And we'll see which team comes out on top in game three.
04:03But this is the part of the season that's the best, as a true basketball fan,
04:07you get to watch every single possession,
04:09how these guys are processing information,
04:12how these guys are taking the coaching that's happening so quickly in front of them
04:15that they watched in the film room maybe, you know, 12 hours before.
04:19This is not like they've had an entire offseason to prepare
04:21for this particular moment.
04:22They've got sometimes this much time to kind of make a decision
04:25and learn on the fly.
04:27So you're learning, you're seeing all of this happen at the best of the best
04:30on the Western Conference side, obviously.
04:31And as you mentioned, we got a banger in game one
04:33in the Eastern Conference side,
04:35and we're going to see what happens in game two tonight as well.
04:38Yeah, I think so.
04:39Thunder is still favored, by the way, heavily to win the series.
04:42Let's just be clear on that.
04:43Minus 164 current odds there.
04:46But I would guess, with no data associated,
04:50that the Thunder have played, I think, about 90 games
04:53when you think about it, regular season and playoffs.
04:56I'm going to say that less than two or three times they've been dogs
05:00in games this season.
05:01And that's even without SGA playing.
05:03But here we are, going into the next game.
05:06And maybe, by the way, I would say this.
05:08If the Thunder win, and win by more than a deuce,
05:12this is it, SPJ.
05:13I don't think that they're dogs any game the rest of the way.
05:17So that would be the question.
05:18Do you think that this is it?
05:20Do you think that this is the Thunder moment to just ride them to the end?
05:25Or conversely, do you think maybe the Spurs just simply,
05:27like the regular season, have their number?
05:31Most likely.
05:31The other way you could look at this, too,
05:33if you want to look a little bit further down the line,
05:35you can actually get the Oklahoma City Thunder in some places
05:38at plus money to lift Larry O'Brien in a couple of weeks.
05:41Or you can take them at minus 110 value.
05:43And as you just mentioned, if they win game three,
05:46that value is going to disappear.
05:47So if you think the Thunder maybe kind of got the monkey off their back
05:50in game two, can take care of business in either game three
05:53or game four here,
05:53you're getting a really good price on them to win the NBA Finals.
05:57I mean, do you remember the last time, Craig,
05:58that they weren't minus 160 or higher to be a champion?
06:02Yeah, exactly.
06:02So you're getting a great price right now
06:04if you want to kind of look at the futures market.
06:06I already invested on the Spurs at 3-1 to start before the conference
06:10finals began just because I thought I was getting a good price there.
06:12So I've got that ticket in my back pocket.
06:14But you're right.
06:15I don't remember this team being a dog
06:17and they're going to probably come in with that mentality.
06:19And you don't want a team that has already won a championship
06:22that already has the two-time MVP
06:24that already has all the caliber of players
06:26that they have on this roster with their dog mentality being a dog.
06:30You don't want them to have that extra hunger, right?
06:32So we're going to see what happens in game three.
06:34I mean, again, this series is going to be blow for blow.
06:37I mean, Mike Tirico and Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford
06:39have been fantastic calling these games.
06:41And they talked about it.
06:42It's felt like a heavyweight fight already.
06:43And game one was that way.
06:45Game two was exactly the same way.
06:47And we're going to see what happens when this turns the page to San Antonio.
06:50I don't see this changing.
06:51It's going to be more of the exact same thing.
06:53Haymaker after haymaker after haymaker.
06:55So you better strap in and get ready for a dogfight for 48 minutes.
06:59So I'm super excited to see how this series continues to play out.
07:03And as you mentioned before, I mean, this series has been awesome.
07:05And I didn't know what the Eastern Conference Finals was going to hold.
07:07People were kind of like, I don't know.
07:09Maybe it's not going to be as good of a series.
07:10But, man, oh, man, we got cinema in game one.
07:13Probably not the kind of cinema Cavaliers fans would be looking forward to.
07:16But we're going to see how they're going to respond tonight in the Garden
07:19and if the Knicks can pull some magic out of their hat once again.
07:22All right.
07:22Well, hold that thought because we'll break that game down next with SPJ
07:26when we come back on Newswire.
07:32Welcome back to Newswire.
07:33Here on Sports Grid, Daniel Collins.
07:35SPJ is here with us.
07:36We've got a game tonight between the Cavs and Knicks to break down.
07:40So let's take a look at the odds.
07:42The Knicks are six and a half point home favorites.
07:44The total is 216 and a half.
07:47A lot of different directions I'm seeing online with this one.
07:50I see people taking the Cavs to win outright.
07:53I see some money.
07:55I see some, hey, Knicks get back to their 140 tonight.
07:58Man, everyone is all over the map with this one.
08:00But let me start here with you on this.
08:02I see a lot of Cavs win the last game if they don't, I mean, this is crazy,
08:08if they don't have James Harden on the court for the end of the game in overtime.
08:12So we saw that Kenny Atkinson defended him to the end in the last one.
08:16And I would also say, SPJ, that it feels like the Cavs are here
08:20partially because of that trade that they made with Harden.
08:23So let me get your Cavs angle first before we go to the Knicks.
08:27Yeah, like I said in the last series, breaking this down,
08:30this is the biggest thing about these types of games.
08:32You have to adapt and you have to respond.
08:34The Cavaliers have a bunch of questions that they have to answer inside of themselves,
08:38but they also have to look themselves in the mirror and say,
08:41we have to be better in the big time moments of these games.
08:45Kenny Atkinson as well.
08:46I mean, there was lots of stretches down the stretch of that game
08:49where they were losing that 22-point lead where Jalen Brunson,
08:51as they said on the broadcast, the Brunson burner was lit, right?
08:55And when that happens as a head coach, sometimes you got to put that fire out.
08:59You got to call a timeout.
09:00You got to slow that momentum down a little bit.
09:02And instead of doing that, he let them kind of roll with it.
09:05The other thing, too, is they didn't make the defensive adjustments necessary
09:08down the stretch in that game.
09:09Dean Wade is one of the better on-ball defenders on Jalen Brunson
09:13in every single matchup they played the Knicks this season.
09:15He was doing a pretty good job all game long.
09:17If you look at the box score, obviously Brunson ended with 38,
09:19but a lot of those points came in the fourth quarter
09:21when, as Mike Brown said in his press conference,
09:24they were hunting the matchup with James Harden.
09:27They were throwing Harden on an island with Brunson,
09:29basically playing four wide after that and just letting Brunson cook.
09:33The Cavaliers made a bad mistake and did not adjust.
09:35They did not allow Dean Wade to slip through some of those screens.
09:38They did not allow for it.
09:40They basically just said, okay, if you want to beat us this way,
09:42let's see what James Harden can do on an island.
09:44And boy, oh boy, did they find out that that was not the way
09:46that you're going to win a basketball game.
09:47So I get defending your guy.
09:48He was a big reason why they got to this particular point
09:51in the Eastern Conference Finals, playing second,
09:53you know, being the one to punch with Donovan Mitchell.
09:55But they had to make adjustments down the stretch.
09:57I would be shocked if they don't make this,
09:58if they don't make adjustments going into game two,
10:00especially on the defensive end.
10:03And I just feel like that if you watch for three and a half quarters
10:06of this game, the Cleveland Cavaliers were actually punching
10:09the Knicks in the mouth.
10:10They were scoring at will.
10:11They were getting downhill.
10:12They were getting to the cup.
10:13They were offensive rebounding.
10:14They were playing the better brand of basketball.
10:17That is the reason why they became,
10:18they are in the Eastern Conference Finals.
10:21It was a bit of an anomaly.
10:22It hasn't happened.
10:23I want to, I can't remember the exact step.
10:24It was like, oh, and 200 plus that it's 22 point lead
10:27gets decimated in the final seven minutes of a playoff game.
10:31So it was a one in a lifetime opportunity
10:33that the Knicks took advantage of.
10:35And it was incredible game to watch, obviously.
10:37But I don't think the Cavs had to run away from that feeling
10:40like they have to make ginormous, incredible.
10:42Oh my God, we need to change all this type of stuff.
10:44They just need to look at themselves, go, hey, we didn't make
10:47the adjustments down the stretch.
10:48Now we just do exactly what got us here.
10:50The first three and a half quarters.
10:52Maybe we fix a couple of things that we needed to do
10:54on the defensive end.
10:55Like I said, with guarding Brunson a little bit more,
10:57throwing some double teams at him, allowing some switches
10:59of those screens.
11:01And then you can probably get the job done on the road.
11:04But I don't blame people for not wanting to trust the Cavs.
11:06This is a hard team to get behind.
11:07They look fantastic in stretches.
11:09And they also look like boneheads in particular moments as well.
11:12So it's hard to kind of back a team like that.
11:14But if I had to choose, I don't have any side
11:16in this particular game.
11:17But if I had to choose, I would lean with the Cavaliers
11:18and the points.
11:20All right, fair enough.
11:21SPJ's honest with you.
11:22He doesn't throw out picks on this show that he doesn't believe in.
11:25But he will give us picks.
11:26Absolutely.
11:27So let's get right to it.
11:28We've got three selections from you here.
11:31And I mean, I don't want to say that they're random,
11:33but definitely some interesting player props here.
11:36So fire away.
11:38Yeah, going a little bit back to what I saw in game one,
11:41and they both cashed for me, I added an additional sprinkle in there.
11:44Now, if you want to go a little bit chalky and take like Jalen Brunson
11:47or Donovan Mitchell to have big games once again, I don't fault you.
11:50They were both fantastic in game one, especially Brunson.
11:52I think their lines are very bettable once again.
11:54But I'm going with some role players here.
11:56As I mentioned, Dean Wade, I bet his PRA last game at nine and a half.
12:00And there it is staring at me again at nine and a half.
12:02The best on-ball defender against Jalen Brunson.
12:05He's a good scorer against this Knicks team,
12:06has hit this in all games against them in the regular season
12:08and had a really good game one scoring the basketball as well,
12:11hitting this PRA with just points.
12:12He also had a nice rebounding game as well.
12:14Mikkel Bridges on the other side is kind of that secondary de facto scorer.
12:18Him and OGN and OB when Cat has not really been fantastic to start the season.
12:22He was pretty pedestrian in game one.
12:24Mikkel Bridges was really good.
12:26I like this PRA line once again with the rebounding,
12:28facilitating roped into his obvious scoring efforts.
12:30And then off the bench, Dennis Schroeder,
12:32not going to play a lot of minutes, probably 20 plus,
12:34but Kenny Atkinson can trust his veteran leadership, his assist line.
12:38He had five assists against the Knicks in game one,
12:40hit this in every single game in the regular season against the Knicks as well.
12:43I think that three plus assist line is a little too low.
12:45So go to the role players,
12:46but I think we get another banger tonight in Madison Square Garden, Craig.
12:50All right, SBJ, good luck with all the picks.
12:52Thanks again.
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