00:00Let's bring in Dave McMenamin. He is on the Wiseheart Right. We Make It Right called Kyle
00:03Right Hotline. Dave, good morning to you. Are the Cavs finished in this series or can they bring it
00:08back? They were 0-2, down 0-2 against the Pistons. Yeah, I don't think they're finished. Look, you
00:15think of the first two games and it was a huge letdown in game one. We all saw that, but
00:19in game
00:21two, they played them even for a half, then just got blitzed in the third quarter. Now, I do think
00:28the strategy to leave Josh Hart completely wide open is not one that I think is smart.
00:36I've seen other coaches do that. J.J. Redick, quite frankly, I cover the Lakers primarily
00:42and that's one of the strategies the Lakers use. They play the percentages and they determine
00:48this is the one guy that we're going to allow to shoot. I mean, the Cavs did it with Harrison
00:52Barnes back in the day, right? It helped them win a championship. You had to pick your poison.
00:57So, it's not Kenny Atkinson. It's the one guy to do it and, oh my God, what a terrible
01:02decision. I just don't like that strategy in general. I'd rather see teams play guys
01:07straight up and then just be better at their rotations.
01:11Yeah, there's no doubt that Jalen Brunson's been a technician. So, in game one, he was pretty
01:15quiet until the fourth quarter when he went off. And then, in this game, it wasn't about
01:19his scoring and he could certainly do it, but it was about, you know, the assists, the
01:23hockey assists, and really getting the Cavs defense on their heels. And yet, we look at
01:29the Cavs and that's exactly what James Harden and Donovan Mitchell should be doing to Jalen
01:33Brunson at times. And yet, they've been unable to do it. Dave, why do you think that is?
01:39Yeah, I mean, there wasn't great ball penetration by the Cavs in either game. I think better from
01:46Donovan Mitchell as the game went on in game two. And listen, it seems to me that the only
01:53way you're going to get the Cavs digs involved, and they have some talent, obviously they have
01:57the size, but they have some talent and some decent hands. But, you know, sometimes, sure,
02:03you can get Mobley and have him score off the dribble. But most times, you've got to go
02:07collapse the defense and then pass it to either of those guys in the dunker spot and allow them
02:13to score easily. The only way that's going to happen is if you collapse the defense. You've
02:18got to get that penetration. And there wasn't enough of it. I think some of it is, you know,
02:23actually James Harden started off game two with the jumper falling. And so he was kind of relying
02:30on the jump shot rather than trying to put the ball on the floor. And, you know, that's the
02:37fickle nature of basketball. Like, if your jumper's fallen and continues to fall, you're like the
02:42Nixon game two. If it starts to go awry, and, you know, Harden was hardly the problem with his
02:49jump shots. You know, look at Max Drews couldn't hit a shot. Sam Merrill couldn't hit a shot. And
02:55these were wide open looks. But to me, it'll be paramount on them for game three to get some
03:02penetration in order to get some better looks for the bigs.
03:05David Benjamin joined us on the hotline. Of course, he was here covering those phenomenal
03:10LeBron teams. I am curious, the more and more I hear in today's day and age in the league,
03:14especially from Joe Mazzula, and at times the coach you cover with the Lakers, the,
03:19hey, we got our, we got our looks. We just didn't hit our shots. And I understand that first half,
03:25I thought the Cavs got the best looks they've gotten in the entire playoffs, but they were down
03:29four and they don't have a change up. They don't have an off speed pitch. Dave, is that something
03:34that a team like this, most expensive roster in the league, only double apron team, shouldn't
03:39they have other viable options?
03:43Yes. And like you think about their bench, they have talent on their bench. They don't
03:50really have a guy who's going to go get his own stuff going other than maybe Schroeder.
03:56Schroeder hasn't had a good series thus far. I've covered Schroeder in the past when he was
04:01the Lakers. He has that in his game. But quite frankly, you know, when the Cavs made their
04:07lone run in the second half, Schroeder goes to the line, misses two free throws. I think
04:12it was an eight point game with a chance to cut it to six, goes over two from the line.
04:16Like that, that was a big momentum sequence there because, you know, if you make some,
04:23maybe you're extending that, that little bit of momentum they were able to generate there.
04:27But I agree with you, you know, their bench to spend all that money, you know, listen,
04:33I think their starting lineup is tremendous. I don't have any qualms there. I understand
04:38why the money goes there. But to spend all that money and not have a guy, you know, to
04:44be able to create that, I think it does say that this isn't the best use of the money
04:50spent. Now, you know, Jalen Tyson got kind of his first edition of the series and hadn't
04:55played much down the stretch against the Pistons either. He had some moments and I do like
05:02his game and he's under a cost controlled contract, obviously, because he was a rookie
05:07last year. It's not that there's no hope there, but I do think it's worthy to point out that
05:13for all the money they spend, it's not a perfect roster.
05:16David Menemann joining us on the show. Donovan playing banged up.
05:22You know, I don't know. I mean, there was a play late in the first, in the fourth quarter
05:29of game one, where he appeared to like run into OG Ananobi and went to the floor. And
05:36I wonder if that was some sort of tweak. Now, Kenny Atkinson at halftime of game two said
05:44he didn't think Donovan looked right, but he was asked about it after the game. And
05:49he said, well, yeah, I mean, I don't know if he looked right, but he hasn't told me anything.
05:53And then he looked better in the second half and he never asked to come out. Like, I don't
05:57know. It's pretty strange. Like he hasn't told me anything. I think I would ask my player
06:00if I thought he didn't look right. So the fact that they haven't just completely squashed
06:06it, uh, makes me think that there's something going on. Um, but you know, listen, it was
06:12what two seasons ago where Mitchell couldn't finish out the playoffs. Um, that weighs on
06:18a guy. And, uh, I, I would imagine if he is going through something, this could be like
06:25the 2018 finals where LeBron comes to the final podium with the wrap around his hand. We won't
06:31know about it until that happens.
06:32Yeah. Dave, I know you got other responsibilities. We appreciate you jumping on. I do got to
06:36ask where you think LeBron James could be playing basketball next year.
06:40I think the Lakers would be the most obvious choice. Um, obviously there's a couple of teams
06:47that would be possible. The, the, the, the cats, I don't think are eliminated from that
06:52scenario, but at this stage of his life, the off court portion is as important as, as ever
07:00been. And, um, he's literally like building a compound in LA. Uh, he has a 12 year old
07:05daughter who lives there. Um, and to, to uproot his life from Los Angeles, I, I haven't gotten
07:11any indication that that that would be his intention, but there's going to be a negotiation
07:17that occurs. And, you know, listen, it seemed at one point, it seemed like the most obvious
07:23thing in the world that Ty Lue would be the Lakers head coach and that, that negotiation
07:27didn't go well. And, uh, Frank Vogel ended up being a guy. And so, um, there's a chance
07:33that negotiation wouldn't work out and there'd be other options for LeBron, but I would say
07:37the Lakers would be the leader in the clubhouse. Dave, is this wishful thinking? Cause you
07:41don't want to move back to Cleveland because you've got a nice little life out there.
07:44I love Cleveland. I love Cleveland. Anytime I get in Cleveland, I, I embrace, I just don't
07:50think that's the most likely scenario. I'm sorry that he puts you in a bad spot, Dave.
07:56Yeah. Terrible. Dave, thank you very much for the time. All the best. And we'll talk
07:59to you again soon, friend. Thanks fellas. Dave McManaman, ESPN on the wise heart, right?
08:04We make it right. Call Kyle Wright hotline. We had to ask it. I know we're in the middle
08:10of the playoff series. Besides the point. Well, yeah, we don't know. We will probably
08:13talk to him again and probably sooner than later, but you never know. So we want to make
08:16sure that we got him on the record about that, which he agrees with me, but that's a conversation
08:20for another day and maybe next week, by the way, things are going anyway. Um, do you think
08:26they win game three tomorrow? Could we, we got to go fast now? Cause we got coming in
08:30hot coming up at nine 45. So we got to get moving here. I know we spent a lot of
08:34time
08:34bitching about the way things went in game two. I am. We got a lot of boogieing to do.
08:37And now you say you're worried. Come on. You're supposed to pick this thing up. I am
08:40worried. They were going to come back to two and then started making a bunch of jokes.
08:43So now I'm thinking Daryl was just saying that to get out of the interview. Well, part of the
08:46reason I am worried is I use the term technician for Jalen Brunson and it's because of the respect
08:53I have for him. I mean, he went from hitting the very quiet for three quarters and then
08:58he starts hitting these awkward leaning floating contested off the glass. And then because he
09:05started making those then hardened, let's be honest, 36 years old, he couldn't stay with
09:11them. So then he started getting by him with ease and he steps into a three and then you saw
09:15the Cavs tried to adjust. Then they got our defense on our heels and then they're hitting
09:20shots. And that was game one. Game two, he came out, let the game come to him. They weren't
09:24just going to, you know, put the pedal to the metal on that mismatch. And then they showed
09:29you they could beat you an entirely different way with the way that he could move the ball
09:34and make smart decisions. They're going to win a game. How do you stop that if you don't
09:38really have a guy that can take Jalen Brunson out of it? Can it be as simple as making
09:43shots? Can you outscore them? So you can put different kinds of pressure on them by
09:48making shots. You know, you saw that in the second and third quarter in game one. You
09:53know, you saw all of a sudden a pretty sound Knicks defense that was reeling, that was
10:00set scrambling. Then you even got out in transition a few times. And then yesterday you just saw
10:06none of that. And so it is because they weren't hitting shots that the Knicks didn't have to
10:11resort to making any drastic changes and they didn't have to get out of character.
10:15They didn't have to mess with their identity. So if you do hit some shots, all of a sudden
10:19that does change things. I mean, think about Josh Hart was taken out of the game because
10:23he wasn't hitting shots and they were kind of abusing him on both ends. But instead in
10:29game two, he was able to stay out there and then he's hitting his threes and then the, uh,
10:33the roof gets blown off the place. Do they hit shots tomorrow? They're due. So then if
10:40they hit shots tomorrow, they're going to win because they can't lose, which is terrible
10:44analysis, but that's what it is. That's where I'm at right now. I, I, I, if I'm going to
10:49take my chances, I know it's the pick the poison stuff and everybody hates it. I hate it. Dave
10:54clearly doesn't like it very much and you don't either, but you got to do it. And I'd
10:58rather pick my poison and go ahead and drink the Josh Hart than I'd rather have with the
11:03Jalen Brunson. So I'll go put, I, again, I think if they just hit their shots last night,
11:08I think it's a different look. I don't, obviously it's not an 18-0 run. Obviously they don't
11:13get blown out. Obviously things are different down the stretch in the third quarter. Had
11:17they not had some of the issues that they had had in the first quarter, it would be a little
11:21bit different here. You hit those shots. I think it's a 2-1 series and then we go to
11:25Monday and then we'll figure out what happens on Monday because it's, the chips are down
11:31and odds are against you. And the further you get into it, Detroit is not as good as
11:36the Knicks. Toronto is not as good as the Knicks. So I can't just say, and I'm not going
11:41to say, well, they'll just, they, they won two game sevens before. If they get to a game
11:46seven, it's going to be on the road. We'll see. They, they just don't do well there. He
11:49doesn't seem to do well in closing it out there. They are 2-14 all time in the postseason
11:55against the Knicks in the entire history, if I'm not mistaken. There's a lot of things
12:00against you, but if you hit your shots, I think that you, you get back in this series.
12:04It's 2-1. It just sucks that you and I aren't going to get a chance to talk about it
12:07before
12:08Monday night's game. Yeah. What? They're two and a half point favorites. The Cavs in game
12:11three. Okay. Got it. I don't want to. Okay. Does that surprise you? All right. It actually
12:21does surprise me. It actually does. It actually does. Okay. It's a little things to get me
12:28talking again. Is that Vegas just telling you just hit your shots? I think so. It says
12:34minus two and a half. Stu Feiner's just saying hit the shots. Stu Feiner shoots 15, 15, 30
12:39every night. So it's no big deal. He says other things. Yeah. He does say other things.
12:43Well, we can't say those. He's a bookmaker. No.
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