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00:06welcome back to newswire here on sports grid we'll get a preview of tonight's game in the
00:10nba coming up in just a few minutes with carlin gay of sporting news but first let's recap what
00:14happened last night uh quick and tidy win for the new york knicks uh full transparency i was
00:20i was at a baseball game covering that not watching this but as i was walking i glanced
00:26over and saw somebody in you know at lone depot park in miami watching this game like wait a
00:31second are you supposed to be watching the marlins game but they were watching the nicks and caps so
00:35i stopped and i saw in the third quarter what the score was and i said all right that's it
00:39they're
00:39up big but you know i i guess carlin the thing is for me is that are we right now
00:46overstating
00:47the nicks because i think cleveland haven't we done this with cleveland like the last few series it
00:53looks like they're done it looks like they're out and then all of a sudden they creep back into the
00:57series and hang around i know right now living in a prisoner of the moment is easy to do and
01:01just say
01:02hey nicks win nick sweep nicks win in five is that the direction you're going here or are you going
01:06to
01:06take a pause on this based on what you've seen you tell me yeah if i could figure out cleveland
01:12i would
01:13be a millionaire right now because i would just kind of bet and figure it out with this team because
01:16they they're they're really the example of you know inconsistency in the nba and it's wild to think
01:23they've been able to get this close to an nba finals like they're four wins away from being in
01:27an nba finals they're eight wins away from winning an nba championship and if you're detroit you know
01:32you're sick to your stomach right now because you're saying like we could have done that like we could
01:36have went out there and laid on the ground for the next pound us in submission you know and everybody
01:39would have said this is a successful season for us because you know number one seed they took the
01:43level up and everything else and maybe become an attractive destination for a star player that's
01:49disgruntled and you want to play with kate cunningham jalen duran maybe a lot of players want to do
01:53that the cleveland cavaliers are head scratchers and and and really because you know i would have
01:59expected going through the wars that they went through in the first two rounds that they would
02:03realize that there is a level of physicality and a level of want to to play in the playoffs and
02:09they
02:09still have not figured that out it seems to me when they're not making shots they kind of just hang
02:13their head and then say all right like we're just going to get bullied around the court and that's what
02:18the knicks are doing to them and and it's unfortunate because cleveland has the talent to be
02:22better than what they're showing now do i expect them to go back home and play well yes do i
02:27expect
02:27them to win four of the next five absolutely not especially not with the effort that they've had so
02:31they're tired i give them that but also it looks like they're mentally and physically just beat down
02:37and you know that's not going to get it done you really have to rise your level right now and
02:41it
02:41feels like they keep dropping levels at the moment here in the eastern conference finals yeah josh hart
02:46had 26 that was one of the bigger stories there but i suppose if i told you a week ago
02:51that the
02:52knicks were playing and it was the east finals and they didn't score 110 you probably would have said
02:56oh they're back to normal and they lose but the calves only put up 93 points yesterday and in this
03:02day
03:02and age of the nba that ain't going to get it done by any stretch of the imagination so right
03:07now new
03:08york let's take a look at it i mean if you think cleveland has a shot in here you stand
03:12to make a lot
03:13of money plus 570 on your 100 bet knicks you can't bet that anymore at minus 820
03:20knicks are heavily favored not just to win the series but to win in four or in five as you
03:24can
03:24see there they're minus two and a half minus 160 on the money line so uh let's pivot over to
03:31the next
03:32game where the odds makers certainly have to make cleveland a favorite because they have played
03:38excellent no matter how you slice it at home they have been dominant at home
03:42in the playoffs they're two and a half point favorites the total 213 and a half carlin in
03:48this one do you think cleveland wins in cleveland in this series i'm actually a little bit afraid of
03:56this number uh though craig because if you consider all the factors here at hand they're back at home
04:00this is a must win game because the season's online like you go down oh three it's over right so
04:05just to be two and a half point favorites shows you that even vegas isn't you really kind of confident
04:10in this cleveland cavaliers team that they're going to get the job done i do expect them to win the
04:15game though like i expect them to win game three i think game four for me is the one that
04:19maybe if
04:19they're going to lose it they're going to lose in game four at home and and then you see what
04:23happens
04:23to the rest of the series but i expect them to win game three here get their backs off the
04:28wall try to
04:29give us some hope and make this series a little bit compelling but uh you know i'm not that confident
04:35honestly i'm picking the cavaliers in this one like i i'm gonna do it because you have to pick a
04:39team but
04:39honestly i'm not confident in this cavaliers bunch at all uh and and that actually i will give credit
04:44to the knicks because they've shown that killer instinct you remember in the philly series same
04:48scenario philly was going back home some momentum and then all of a sudden you know that it was
04:52garden south for them uh and they end up sweeping the the 76ers i don't expect there'd be that many
04:58knick fans in cleveland if there is you know cleveland should be embarrassed but you know i i do expect
05:03some to travel uh and i expect the knicks to kind of make it tough and really punch cleveland in
05:08the
05:08mouth but they should make some more shots don't get some more calls get to the free throw line etc
05:13and you hope there's a better effort so i'm taking cleveland very reluctant okay this one
05:18before we put a bow on cleveland uh same uh issues it seems like with james harden in the first
05:24game as
05:24it was in the second game harden himself said that hey i'm the second option on this team behind
05:31donovan mitchell and i'm a distributor too but the defense popped up again last night and you're
05:37seeing all the plus minus with him on the court i i mean look i i don't i don't think
05:42this is the
05:42end of the line for james harden it's just the lights are so bright right now carlin there's one
05:46game going on every night in the nba and things are going to be magnified at least that's my take
05:51on it yeah if you if you don't see the end of the line we're we're uh i think the
05:57line is definitely
05:58ambition like you don't you don't have to uh squint your eyes to see that line it's it's right there
06:01we're on hole 17 of james harden's career right now he's about to walk off the golf course and then
06:06say see you later because the defense has never been there it's now getting progressively worse
06:10where he's not even trying and and people are picking on him right and i think this is a coaching
06:15issue for for for james harden rather than a personal issue for james harden because i think if you if
06:21you're the coaching staff for the cleveland tab leaders you know he's not a good defender you just
06:24got to put him in better situations where he can kind of maximize his potential whether that's playing
06:28even small going smaller so that you can switch a little bit better or or even get some more help
06:33from evan mobley and jared allen like those are guys that are better rim protectors than they're
06:37showing right now in the series and they just really haven't done that to help them out so i get
06:42it you
06:42know it's tough to help out on every single defensive possession but that's what's going to take right
06:47now to beat the new york knicks especially if they're picking on james harden yeah but by the way before
06:51we you know close it out on him and you said 17th hole i think that's a great analogy by
06:56the way
06:57there's unequivocally no question no matter how many teams he's been on which is i think the eighth
07:01or ninth he's a hall of famer right like for sure carlin right the moment he stops yeah absolutely
07:07this is a guy that has had one of the greatest just a singular season greatest season of all time
07:14he walks into the hall of fame no question but this is going to be in the same situation that
07:18charles
07:18barkley is in there we're going to wonder what could have been if he was able to lift the trophy
07:22yep absolutely chris paul comes to mind too all right we will take a quick break we'll be back
07:27with carlin looking at the western conference next welcome back to newswire here on sports grid we go
07:32from the east to the west tonight it will be game three of the western conference finals the series
07:37is tied up at one with the spurs taking the first game and the thunder taking the second game and
07:44we
07:44got carlin gay back with us to break it all down as you can see here the spurs are a
07:49point and a
07:49half favorite which is down from the two that they were when this line opened up and that really is
07:54the big question carlin the spurs dominated the thunder in the regular season and now could be
08:02the very last time and a rare time that if you want to take okc you get points which is
08:09like i mean
08:10unheard of in this day and age of the nba carlin i was referring earlier in the week when the
08:14thunder
08:14were without shake you'll just alexander they were still four five point favorites over every team
08:19but here we are tonight with a chance if you think that they're the dog but on the flip side
08:23spurs have
08:24had their number which way do you go tonight toughest game for me to call of the week right here
08:29it is a tough game and i'm it's very unfortunate this series i think is going to come down to
08:34who just
08:35has the healthier bodies like we saw jalen williams go out of uh out of game two and and not
08:40come back
08:40into that one obviously the thunder still went on to win it but that is a big big big missing
08:45piece
08:45they were able to make it out of the first two rounds unscathed really uh you know without jalen
08:49williams and and in most of those games those are lesser teams so this is the san antonio spurs and
08:56this the series has a field as as the final series would have right like these two teams really are
09:01here and you can see why if they're standing at the podium at the end of the nba season why
09:07these
09:07two teams are good enough to win the nba title uh and and how deep the thunder is it has
09:12been a big
09:12reason of that right like they went out and got that jared mccain trader which i think is one of
09:16the most underrated trades of the nba season we see what alex caruso can do like how versatile he is
09:21he carted women yama maybe unsuccessfully in that first game but it at least gave him a different look
09:26that they can kind of go to and he's maybe six three on his best day against seven five and
09:31not much
09:31there for him but he tried to make it difficult and then also he gave me some offense coming off
09:36the
09:36bench which is pretty interesting and then you go down the list right case and wallace and all these
09:40other guys uh you know that there's some teams in the nba that some of these guys would be starting
09:45for and they're coming off the bench behind you know shea gillis alexander so the thunder are
09:49definitely flexing their muscles from a depth perspective and i think right now i would have
09:53to give him the edge in this series because of that but that's only if we get a full seven
09:59game
09:59series out of jaylen williams like he cannot miss any games and you know that that's going to really
10:04hurt them if he's not in the lineup so going back home you know even though dm fox is also
10:09missing
10:09time for for the spurs you know going back home i i think the spurs kind of taking this game
10:14three
10:14here and putting some pressure on the oklahoma city thunder in game four uh you know victor
10:20wambinyama he's just a special talent this is his coming out party i think going forward he is going to
10:26be the the taste of the nba right like he's going to be the guy that's on national tv 40
10:31times a year
10:32he's going to be the guy that's playing on christmas day for the nba and any marquee date
10:36on the calendar you will see him there he'll be the guy leading the all-star voting victor wambinyama
10:41is very very special this series is going to tell us that even if the spurs team loses uh but
10:46i i do
10:46have the thunder winning this series maybe not game three though wow could be if that's the case we
10:52could be in for a seven gamer which would be awesome because i think these two teams are fantastic
10:57and as you can see right now okc is down to minus 162 to win the western conference finals which
11:02is
11:02as low as it's ever been and the odds also to win the nba title are as tight as they've
11:07ever been they're
11:07only minus 110 they were much bigger favorites about a week ago all right so carlin before we uh we
11:14let you go here let's get to the story in the nba involving a head coach uh hall of famer
11:20and legend
11:20jason kidd who certainly i thought did his best job that he could with the dallas mavericks giving
11:25everything that went on ends up getting bought out by the new gm that comes in because essentially
11:30they want to bring in their own person i feel like dallas honestly may be headed toward a rebuild here
11:35carlin it certainly looks that way to me they'll have to trade anthony davis and try to find a way
11:39out of that what what did you make of this news and do you think kid just sits on some
11:44money here for
11:44a couple of years or do you think he gets back into the nba coaching ranks well they got a
11:49almost a
11:50monopoly style uh land on uh get out of jail free card with a bunch of money underneath that when
11:55they when they ended up with cooper flag and you saw the rookie season that cooper flag just had
12:00spectacular player one thing with masai ujiri he comes in and he comes in with a plan we saw that
12:05with the toronto raptors we saw that all the way going back to denver he's going to come in with
12:08a
12:09plan and he's going to execute that plan and it felt like jason kidd just didn't fit the plan that
12:13masai ujiri saw and fought out so if you're a dallas mavericks fan you should feel even though if you
12:18if you believe in jason kidd or didn't you should very much feel like you're optimistic about what's
12:23to come because masai ujiri has a plan he sticks to that plan and that's all you can hope for
12:28when
12:28you are rooting for a team do we have a plan can we stick to it and see it out
12:32and masai ujiri has
12:34done that and he has a ring to show for it all right so there you go good stuff from
12:37carlin on
12:38ujiri all right we appreciate it carlin enjoy your memorial day weekend we'll see you back here soon
12:42thanks again many hot dogs and burgers for everyone involved happy uh happy long weekend
12:47happy long weekend yeah
12:47Here we go.
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