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00:00I'm never going to be comfortable, and I wasn't comfortable until the final whistle.
00:05Can I share one thing with you? And I think people don't care,
00:08because then it might make you feel more comfortable with this team.
00:12I had an epiphany last night. I go, this is a great win. And I did get a couple tweets
00:18going, Ken, win of the season. I go, well, we only have six to choose from, so you go ahead
00:22and pick. I love it. I was like, yeah, win of the year. Absolutely win of the season.
00:27But I also had an epiphany last night that they're going to frustrate you because they're
00:35just going to walk around some days. Like, really just walk around. Like, there's times
00:40it's like, ah, it's a bad day at the office. And I think that a lot of people, like, they've
00:44lacked trust with the team. They've lacked trust with Kenny. They've lacked trust with James
00:49Harden and da-da-da-da. And I think it just shows you, like, yeah, there's going to be
00:54days they just go out and walk around. And they just don't have it. And they're going
00:59to roll at the basketballs. They're going to walk around. They're going to get boat
01:02raced by 30. And they're going to walk off the floor. And that's going to be the end
01:05of it. Because I'm sorry. Like, they must have just, they don't care about the Charlotte
01:09Hornets. They didn't have Con Canoople. Who's the forward they didn't have? And I'm blanking
01:15on. Oh, Miller. Yeah. Thank you. They didn't have him. Brandon Miller. Brandon Miller. And
01:21they still got boat raced. I mean, they were down by 33 at one point. And they gave up
01:25like 25 threes. Yeah. They make it close in garbage. They pull it within 12 at garbage
01:31time. The reserves did. Yes. They pull it within six possessions if you're going by twos in garbage
01:39time. And then last night, they didn't cruise to a victory or anything like that. But I felt
01:43they had it, had the game kind of where they wanted it throughout the entire game. Maybe
01:48you disagree. I'm not sure. And James Harden was masterful yesterday. Yeah. We'll get to
01:53him in a second. Cause I've never seen anybody like him. I maybe some NFL guys, but I'll explain
02:01that in a little bit, but I know what you said to start out the show. Like it's at MSG.
02:09It's
02:10nationally televised, no Cavs fans going into last night, had faith. Like we, we know you
02:15can always win a game in the NBA. You shoot well, you can win a game. I had one buddy
02:19texted me, him and his buddies were doing impressions of me. And they were, they were
02:21texting how like they were, he was like encouraging his friend, like they're going to cover tonight.
02:25He's like, well, I thought you said they're going to win. He's like, well, they're at least
02:27going to cover. And like, like people were doing impressions of the Jason stuff and stuff
02:31like that. It's funny. Hey, look, we, we've been really, really hard on them, but people
02:35are talking about them as if they are the Owen 16, one in 15 Browns. That's the level
02:40of frustration. It would seem like they're, they're fans saying, I'm not even going to
02:44subscribe and watch their games this year. I already know how the season ends. And I'm
02:48like, well, yeah, I mean, if you like basketball, they still will have fun getting. Nope. Nope.
02:54They, uh, they're not going to try hard if they're not going to defend. So they, they have
02:57earned the try hard thing. Yeah, absolutely. It's important to people. I mean, if they're
03:01going to pay money and I know you're paying money for cable. We've done this
03:04a million times, but if you're actually going to like scratch, I would, people
03:08don't write checks anymore. If you're going to give them your credit
03:11information, certainly that your body can't cash. If they're going to give you
03:13credit card information, you want to return on your investment. And so if you
03:17pay it, like you said it yourself, you get the seven day thing. Should I pick it
03:21up? And then they go and they lose, they get hammered by Charlotte and you're
03:24going, what is this? I got to pick it up. I have to, I had till, till Saturday. Well,
03:28they won on a free game. They didn't, they didn't win on a, uh, so I only
03:32should re-up if they can do it on a paid game. Where the hell's that schedule?
03:36How does that work? How does that schedule it? They got Miami tomorrow night.
03:40That's on the zone on the road. You got to get it done by Saturday. This is it.
03:44This is it. This is do or die time. You opened your window too early. I know. And
03:48they're going, it was next. It was not strategic. Owen's right. Because I think
03:52in the middle of next week, they basically seven games in seven days. You say, well,
03:56you basically say goodbye for about a month there before they're on free TV.
04:00I thought NBA TV gets blacked out. I did not heed the warning from Owen. Owen has
04:05been Mr. Schedule in every sport. And it basically determines how he feels about
04:09every team, how he feels about the economy, how he feels about politics, all
04:13schedule. I mean, he has, he has the president's daily itinerary. It's basically
04:17script right here. It's almost sports astrology in so many ways. Dow Jones
04:21industrial. I like a sports farmer's almanac. Oh, I love that term. Thank you. Yes.
04:27But the thing is, he's doing it all on chat GPT. Can you imagine, can you imagine, was it,
04:32was it Biff having chat GPT? Yeah. Oh, Biff Henderson? Yeah. It would have been a game changer.
04:39Anyway, what were you saying? So I think this team, this team had not shown any pull, like
04:45they had beaten the 76ers. They had beaten LeBron. Nobody cared. Nobody cared. They want to see
04:54effort. I got news for you. This Cavs team, you know, this, this whole season
04:59in the regular season is going to be about them making sure to at least make the playoffs and
05:03everything. And, you know, have a decent, have a decent draw. Hell of a sell job you're doing here.
05:08But, but it is, it's, it's the reality of the only thing that matters is getting these guys healthy
05:13to the post season. Cause if they go balls to the walls and they have a bunch of guys,
05:18remember how many guys went down with injuries the first two weeks of the season?
05:21And I'm like, well, the Cavs saw that. And let me tell you something. The Cavs are not going to
05:26allow this season to go that route just because they, they did that. Is it going to be the nights
05:31that they play the Charlottes of the NBA that I should just go, well, they're not going to try
05:37as hard tonight cause they don't want to get hurt tonight. Well, and furthermore, Owen, the NBA in my
05:42lifetime, it just became this over the last five years, which the worst team in the league on any given
05:48night can shoot well and try hard and beat really good teams. I don't even know for a really good
05:53team. I don't, I saw a great moments yesterday by a bunch of guys doing extra stuff. Peyton Watson
05:59was not good offensively. What did he do? He did all the little things, right? I've seen him have,
06:05I don't know anything about, I don't know if I've seen him make a shot all year, but I've seen
06:08him
06:08block people from behind and slap it off the board like five times. And he blocked two, three pointers
06:13yesterday. Okay. There aren't a, there's like a handful of guys in a league that are doing that
06:18kind of stuff. True. Okay. It's the hustle stuff that I would say Donovan Mitchell was doing it
06:23with, you know, I know he had a couple of bad passing turnovers, but his vision has definitely
06:29improved. Tyrese Proctor coming off the bench and you know, just, just going on a heater, right? I mean,
06:37he was, he was doing the microwave stuff off the bench and Malik Thomas on a third. Yeah. I like
06:44that. Okay. And Malik Thomas, uh, just came in, has zero conscience. Like he is just going to put
06:50them up no matter what, but rookies aren't normally like that, especially role-playing rookies, like
06:55rookies on terrible teams can do that. Not on good teams, but here's the difference. They needed that
07:01because it, it actually demonstrated that to the Knicks that, oh, these guys are going to get back
07:07on defense. Oh, these guys are going to actually run and get out and start runouts. Like James
07:11Harden, like chucking the ball down the floor to Jared Allen and igniting the secondary break.
07:17That's something we didn't see really most of this year, but also a lot of the playoffs last year,
07:23we were so bogged down in the half court that they were getting out and sprinting. And I know
07:28everybody looks at James Harden as the poster boy. Well, okay. It's one thing if he's not getting
07:32back, I need everybody else to get back because those are guys that can actually stop
07:37runouts. James Harden can't stop a runout. It's kind of irrelevant whether he gets back
07:40or not. I need everybody else to do that. And last night on the road, knowing that while
07:46guys like us, the, the chit chatters that talk sports in the morning, we're wondering how,
07:51how, how many quarters Kenny Atkinson had left as the head coach of this team. They went
07:57out there and played hard. Maybe not for the coach. I don't know. Maybe they just played
08:01hard to save face. I know it's a low bar. We'd like them to just play hard to play hard
08:04because they're NBA basketball players. They are in these are pro pro athletes are
08:08proud men. And there is a difference between a, uh, a Monday night at the spectrum center
08:12and a Wednesday night, any night at Madison square garden. All right, let's, let's be
08:17serious about that. I mean, one's the spectrum center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The other
08:21one is arguably the most famous arena in the world, if not the most famous guys always get
08:27up. So here's the other thing, the James Harden part of this, I want to know if it calms you
08:31down about James Harden. Well, it was much needed because I mean, I tweeted
08:34yesterday. He has not looked like a starter this year, a starter for somebody. And I
08:41know his contract came down from where it was. It was 46. Now he's making 30, but you
08:46know, people looked at three years, you know, a player option in year three. And
08:49they're like, what did we pay for? He's not even Anthony. You're telling me he's not
08:53even a starter. He every year, I will say this, it's no excuse, but it'll sound like an
08:59excuse and probably is an excuse is that he does play his way into shape. He is one
09:04of those guys in the league that absolutely plays his way into shape. So what does he
09:08do? And he's, I, I think not this out of shape. Well, I think I'll tell you what it
09:13is. The same thing with Joel Embiid. They're the exact same is that those guys are not
09:18going to, well, I'll explain it. Those guys are not going to do the things to get ready
09:24for the season that some of our specimens in the league do. You know why they'll get
09:28injured? They'll be out the first month of the year. Would James Harden be injured
09:31if he worked out during the summer? Like he's been pretty durable. I know, but at
09:3537 and you know, same thing, Joel Embiid, they say Joel Embiid doesn't do anything
09:39now in the off season because the only thing that matters is for him to get into
09:43the season and start to work its way out. Problem is with him, he still gets
09:47injured. James Harden has it. So then how much, how much slack did this give James
09:52Harden then? Cause well, he was playing with no confidence. This is still in there.
09:56Like James was of all the guys. I mean, he is a first ballot hall of famer. He go look
10:03at his numbers, even in the playoffs where everybody says he's so bad. He's like one
10:07of the active leaders in almost every category in the playoffs. He's going to go down in history
10:11as one of the most unique players the game has ever had. And for some of the terrible
10:15reasons, like the heliocentric stuff that I thought doomed the game for a long time, but
10:21nobody can doubt that dude's talents, his ability to see the floor, the three steps
10:25ahead stuff, the, the cross court, you know, the, the cross court seal off passes that only
10:31like LeBron can do that he can do too. Like he has all these amazing gifts and people talk
10:36about him like he's the worst player in the NBA. And, and it's just, I don't know how to
10:41explain. Like, I know you don't like the way that he seems to trudge up and down the
10:45court, how his body balloons. If he's, if he's out of action for a week, his body like
10:50balloons, he's got a very different build. Saw it last night. You know, he guarded last
10:54night. He got a Jalen Brunson on a bunch of possessions actually forced him to give the
10:59ball up. Actually he played as good of defense as James Harden's ever going to be able to
11:02play. I know it's not Sterling. It's not lockdown. He also guarded Carl Anthony
11:06Towns in the post and Andre, Andre Drummond in the post. Like he does, he does believe it
11:12or not have that ability to kind of make life a little bit more annoying on those
11:17guys. So he does, he does do good things. He is not so far this year. He's been
11:21God awful. I, I, I, I make, I can't make an excuse for him. It's been that bad. He
11:26looked like he shouldn't be playing anymore, but last night was huge. Cause I think his
11:31teammates needed to see it too. I was going to ask you about someone else, but this
11:33is, I think, I think they all needed to see it. I think Kenny needed to see it. Cause
11:39I think guys were starting to wonder, is he washed? And then he has a performance
11:43last night. He's not going to be able to do that. Nor should he be asked to do
11:45that every night. You wouldn't even want him to try to do that every night, but
11:50you got to know it's still in there. Cause if you don't know if it's still in
11:53there, then we're all looking around going, how are we going to do this? How are we
11:58going to keep up with these other elite teams? I was going to ask you about
12:03someone else. Let me get to the phones out here. Isaac and shake you your first up
12:06on the fan. Hello. Hello guys. Good morning to you guys. I just wanted to ask
12:10the question and then give my quick statement about it. The difference
12:14between last night, well, all the other games, the difference between last night's
12:17game to you and the Charlotte game. What was that difference to you? As far as
12:22you telling me that it was play, it was laziness or was bad play or didn't want
12:27to play. But I'm, I'm thinking it's a whole different thing. Tell me what it is.
12:31What's your theory? I hope, I hope it's not lazy. Well, I guess I do hope it's
12:34laziness. Cause that means they turn it on and turn laziness is a strong word.
12:38I, I don't think they were lazy. I really thought that they were actively
12:42trying to get Kenny Atkinson fired. And I still kind of hold that theory, but
12:45either way, go ahead, go ahead. But, but, but the thing is in order to get, Kenny
12:50can get himself fired because he has control of the rotation. He has control of
12:55the rotation and you have guys like Malik Thomas, you, you have to look at, and
12:59that's, that's my answer to the question that I just gave you. It's the
13:03rotation. If you notice the rotation, I'll let you look at it and let you
13:06figure it out. Charlotte's rotation and the games before that, who played, who
13:11didn't play, who played last night, who played last night, mostly in the second
13:15half and in the third, second quarter on, on, on to the rest of the game, who
13:20played, who played, who didn't play certain games. People are going to play, but
13:24these types of games, you cannot play a 10 man rotation. You can't do it because
13:30you have too many mistakes and you're looking for continuity in your players.
13:34Your rotation last night was basically a great rotation. That rotation last
13:38night, this Proctor, this Proctor kid, the more he plays, the better he's going to
13:43get. Thomas, he's better. He's going to get this watching kid. He's going to get
13:47better. You're going to have days where players like, uh, I can't pronounce his
13:52name. Don't beat me up. Hazonia. Hazonia. Hazonia. Yeah. It wasn't a game for him last
13:57night. Not a good matchup. But you, you get what I'm saying. Yeah. I'm not saying
14:01they can't play. I'm just saying matchups. Exactly. It's matchup. And Kenny's got to
14:06figure it out. Kenny won't get fired if Kenny figures out the matchup. If Kenny
14:11stopped trying to cater to people, if Kenny sees Harden making four and five
14:15turnovers in a row. Gotta get him out. Harden. Yeah. Well, but, but does that mean...
14:19Not get him out. Wait. Isaac, I don't, I don't disrespect your opinion. Don't
14:23sit him down. Don't sit him down. Isaac, I don't, I don't disrespect your opinion,
14:27but I mean, are we saying there, there are a bit like scary Terry back in the day
14:31was a Cavs killer, especially in Cleveland, but it's like Nas Reed, the
14:35the kryptonite for this team. That's still one of the most expensive in the NBA when
14:39they still didn't have conca doople and Miller. But that there's my point.
14:43Your rotation. If you can't guard, if you can't play and start defending, get
14:49somebody in there that's going to defend. Who got them back in the game? Didn't the
14:53second string get them back in the game? You guys don't want to play tonight. Oh,
14:57Procter and Thomas. Yeah. Yeah. Procter and Thomas. Come back, get somebody. Kenny can
15:02get himself fired. I'm not saying he's Greg Popovich, but Popovich would sit down Tim
15:08Duncan. If you don't want to play tonight, that's okay. I'll get somebody that wants
15:13to play that can do at least give me technique and execution. That gives me a chance. If you
15:19don't give me technique and execution, I don't have a chance to do anything because you let
15:23people do what they want to do, when they want to do it, how they want to do it. You
15:27got Burger King babies. They want it they way. You understand what I'm trying to say?
15:31I see. All right. Thank you.
15:34I'm going to do it my way this time. Give me the special sauce. Give me a big player that
15:39gives me an effort. Get a starter that don't give me anything. I mean, but Harden last night
15:44showed you he can do it. So you can't sit him down because you need his three. If you take
15:48him off
15:48the ball and set him in the corner and other players can get him in the ball, I'm sorry.
15:52No, you're fine. I'm fine. You're fine. Thank you. Thank you very much for the call and for
15:55listening. All right. I want to address that when we come back. Okay. Cause I, it's a good
15:59theory. I, I think it's a little far-fetched. Let me explain when we come back. And also you
16:05want to talk about addressing things. Todd Muckin cleared some stuff up yesterday. Just couldn't
16:10do it on Monday though. Ken Carman, Anthony Lyman live in the family.
16:12Hey, man.