Speaker 1: This crowd rises to its being what Carl slammed it out?
Speaker 1: Carl left wing free ball perfect.
Speaker 2: Then he left block the shot of the rim. How
Speaker 2: with the left hand head of foul. Welcome the Chase
Speaker 2: Doown podcast, part of the Calves media family. I'm your host,
Speaker 2: Justin Rohwan. The Chase Doown is presented by Fubo, the
Speaker 2: official streaming partner of the Calves. Watch over three hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty channels of live sports and TV, including fan
Speaker 2: Duel Sports Network without cable. There's no cost and no commitment.
Speaker 2: Try for free at FuboTV dot com. Slash Calves. The
Speaker 2: Cleveland Cavaliers are officially the number one seed in the
Speaker 2: Eastern Conference, coming off of their win against the Chicago Bulls.
Speaker 2: We are recording now post game after a close close
Speaker 2: loss to the Indiana Pacers. Calves now fall to one
Speaker 2: and two against the Pacers this season. A possible second
Speaker 2: round opponent concern Carter Rodriguez. How you doing? Are you scared?
Speaker 1: I'm shaking in my boots, Justin.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's going to be used against us someone, you
Speaker 2: know a few weeks from now, because I'm personally I'm
Speaker 2: going to go out on a limb here. I think
Speaker 2: Indiana is getting out of the first round of the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Someone a month from now is going to look at
Speaker 2: the regular season record and be like, hey, Indy got
Speaker 2: some games off of Cleveland.
Speaker 1: You know, it's definitely gonna happen, you know. But it
Speaker 1: was a fun game, man. I know we'll talk about
Speaker 1: the one seed as well, but sometimes these were not
Speaker 1: playing almost anyone. Games are a slog and sometimes they're
Speaker 1: really really fun and everyone gets to, you know, test
Speaker 1: the space a little bit more, gets to play around,
Speaker 1: gets to try stuff. And I just thought the Cavs
Speaker 1: played really really hard this whole game, and I really
Speaker 1: appreciated that level of effort. And obviously, like you know,
Speaker 1: part of it is guys who don't always get to play,
Speaker 1: you know, gave great effort, Guys like Tristan, guys like Craig.
Speaker 1: But I thought Dean worked hiss ass offt DeAndre Hunter
Speaker 1: had eleven rebounds in thirty two minutes. Isaac was guarding
Speaker 1: and switching and fighting. I just really liked their effort
Speaker 1: up and down the roster. Obviously, Jerome and Hunter had super,
Speaker 1: super fun games. Sam Merril goes five of eight from
Speaker 1: three as well. Heck of a game for Kevin Harlan
Speaker 1: and Reggie Miller, who had a lot of fun calling the.
Speaker 2: Pure professionalism, pure professionalism and maybe the last.
Speaker 1: Game on TNT, last regular season game they're ever gonna call.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know, and the Cavs did their part
Speaker 2: with a high effort game. I agree with you these
Speaker 2: games where you know guys are out of the lineup,
Speaker 2: particularly when there's nothing to play for, when when something's
Speaker 2: on the line, and you know this situation as a
Speaker 2: result strictly of injuries, where you know it's not even
Speaker 2: an option for guys to play, that's not fun. But
Speaker 2: in these kind of you know, very very low leverage
Speaker 2: at least from a calves standpoint games, it's a ton
Speaker 2: of fun.
Speaker 1: An elective, elective bench night.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Like I think back to, you know, the Jordan
Speaker 2: McCrae game, game eighty two, I think that was twenty
Speaker 2: sixteen thirty. Then you have like thirty six points or
Speaker 2: something like that. It was so much fun. Someone's going
Speaker 2: to look that up and correct me, I'm sure, but
Speaker 2: I feel like you had like thirty six points, But
Speaker 2: like that was a ton of fun, And you know,
Speaker 2: I was sitting here. Going into this game, I thought,
Speaker 2: you know, there's a chance that they can win because
Speaker 2: and I don't want people to discredit Indy. Indy's been
Speaker 2: playing great since the All Star Break. I think that
Speaker 2: they've really rounded into form. I just think that it's
Speaker 2: human nature. We've seen it happen with the Calves over
Speaker 2: the years. When teams are missing guys, it's just impossible
Speaker 2: to get up to the same level as if both
Speaker 2: teams are fully healthy and it's a TNT game and
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff, like you're going to have
Speaker 2: some slippage in those spots. So I thought, you know,
Speaker 2: there's a chance that if the Cavs shoot well from three,
Speaker 2: that can be a bit of an equalizer they can
Speaker 2: hang around. And the other thing that was rattling around
Speaker 2: in my mind was Tyjerome. He owes us this for
Speaker 2: what he did to the Cavs in this exact situation
Speaker 2: with the Golden State Warriors two years ago. He needed
Speaker 2: to do it once for us, and unfortunately, I think
Speaker 2: he hit his minute restriction or you know, the team
Speaker 2: took a long term approach there with.
Speaker 1: Called a soft minutes restriction for all the fellas tonight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know the way that they ended up
Speaker 2: closing the game.
Speaker 1: I kind of can't believe DeAndre got to thirty two
Speaker 1: minutes me either.
Speaker 2: I thought maybe, you know that that last nine seconds
Speaker 2: we'd see Sam subb in to maybe take the three pointer.
Speaker 2: I definitely thought going for the three in that situation
Speaker 2: was the right call. You don't want to chance five
Speaker 2: minutes against the Pacers. I think they may have pulled
Speaker 2: away at that point, particularly with who we were playing.
Speaker 1: But you know, it was a really and almost sent
Speaker 1: us their baby.
Speaker 2: Ah. Yeah, you know, he had a few shots that
Speaker 2: rimmed out, just you know that missing some time with
Speaker 2: the injury, just that touch, just the hair off. If
Speaker 2: any of those go down, we're going to ot. But
Speaker 2: I thought it was you know, in all seriousness, I
Speaker 2: do think it is a bit of a testament just
Speaker 2: to the offensive infrastructure that the Cavs have, where everyone
Speaker 2: kind of knew where they were supposed to be. It
Speaker 2: didn't look super disjointed. Yeah, there were times where guys
Speaker 2: had a little bit too much dip on their chip
Speaker 2: and would lose control or try to do just the
Speaker 2: hair too much. But you're going to have that in
Speaker 2: these situations. But I thought the ball movement was there,
Speaker 2: Guys knew where to go there, you know, they're sinking
Speaker 2: into the corners or rising up into passing lanes. I
Speaker 2: just thought, you know, it just goes to show you
Speaker 2: how much understanding everybody has up and down the roster
Speaker 2: or what their responsibilities are. And I thought the effort
Speaker 2: was there, and obviously the execution was great for the
Speaker 2: guys that were available.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it just goes to show that togetherness. And
Speaker 1: we've buried the lead because how about Kenny Atkinson letting
Speaker 1: the refs have it?
Speaker 2: Who more showed who showed more intensity than my coach
Speaker 2: of the year Kenny Atkinson?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean, is there is something special about like,
Speaker 1: you know, I haven't heard any post game availability. Actually,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you do availability if you get tossed, I.
Speaker 2: Don't think so. Maybe that was the motivation there.
Speaker 1: Maybe, But you know, I wonder if you asked him
Speaker 1: and you could give him some true difference. He's like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: like Tristan almost never gets to play. He made a
Speaker 1: great play and didn't get what he deserved and that's
Speaker 1: not cool, you know, And like your coach of being
Speaker 1: willing to go to bat, not just for the number
Speaker 1: one or number two guy in the call sheet, but
Speaker 1: down to your you know, fourteenth fifteenth men. I think
Speaker 1: is really really special, really reflective of like and you know,
Speaker 1: for a second when I was watching, I was like,
Speaker 1: is he laying it on? You know, is he going
Speaker 1: you know, is he trying to like k fabe a
Speaker 1: little bit? You know, I just wondered. But I don't
Speaker 1: think so. I think he was legitimately pissed on behalf
Speaker 1: of Tristan, and I thought it was one of those things,
Speaker 1: is like really reflective of. Like every time you listen
Speaker 1: to a basket any pro that played for Kenny or
Speaker 1: plays for Kenny, they talk about a psychohes and I
Speaker 1: do think there is something to it, you know, like
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter that the Cavs don't need the game,
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter that Tristan's in. If Tristan gets a foul,
Speaker 1: he deserves the call. And Kenny, you know, let the
Speaker 1: officials hear about it.
Speaker 2: And not only that, you know, he got shoved in
Speaker 2: the back while he was in the air. That's a
Speaker 2: dangerous play. Obviously, It's a little different than someone on
Speaker 2: a fast break situation. But you know, at Tristan's age as.
Speaker 1: Didn't get too far into the area.
Speaker 2: No, No, he really didn't. And as a fellow thirty
Speaker 2: four year old one, I can relate to not getting
Speaker 2: too far in the air. And I can also relate to,
Speaker 2: you know, the times that I do get up into
Speaker 2: the air, even if it's just getting off of my bed,
Speaker 2: that landing hurts. You don't need to be shoved in
Speaker 2: the air. That that's a dangerous situation to be in. So,
Speaker 2: you know, Kenny's out there standing up for you know,
Speaker 2: the senior member of the Cleveland Cavaliers standing up for
Speaker 2: a Canadian. You know, we need more of that in society.
Speaker 2: Not not all teammates support their Canadian teammates equally. Here,
Speaker 2: Carter and I think sometimes you've you've you've let me
Speaker 2: down in that way, But I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not Kenny Atkinson.
Speaker 2: You know. But he's setting that example, right, He's setting
Speaker 2: that leadership, and I you know, it just goes to
Speaker 2: show you if if the guys are out there giving
Speaker 2: maximum effort, you're going to do the same thing as
Speaker 2: a coach. Right. It's a it's a two way street,
Speaker 2: it's a two way relationship there. So I thought that
Speaker 2: was fun, and then you know, I obviously the heavy
Speaker 2: lifting in this game, outside of the good effort you
Speaker 2: got from Dean Wade and Icicle Chorl filling in the gap.
Speaker 2: Sam Merrill did a great job, but the real heavy
Speaker 2: lifting was done by the Virginia Cavaliers in this game,
Speaker 2: like DeAndre Hunter with twenty three points, eleven rebounds, to assists,
Speaker 2: two steals, Ti Jerome twenty four and six and twenty
Speaker 2: five minutes. Just awesome, awesome performance from those guys, and
Speaker 2: it's cool to see guys that have accepted a lesser role,
Speaker 2: right like DeAndre Hunter coming over from the Hawks. He's
Speaker 2: playing fewer minutes, like he is kind of in like
Speaker 2: a very conserved role. Ti Jerome has been in kind
Speaker 2: of this low twenty minute range. Not that he got
Speaker 2: a whole lot more minutes, but it's kind of neat
Speaker 2: to see those guys spread their wings a little bit more.
Speaker 2: You got to feel more of DeAndre Hunter as an
Speaker 2: isolation score, and it's also interesting to see him playing,
Speaker 2: particularly in those lineups with Tristan and Dean. He's playing
Speaker 2: a lot of small forward and it was kind of
Speaker 2: cool to see him take advantage of some of the
Speaker 2: mismatches there where he had such a length advantage.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just a really really fun DeAndre game, you know.
Speaker 1: And there were some times where, to your point, like
Speaker 1: there was a little bit too much dip on the
Speaker 1: chip and he had to do a little bit too
Speaker 1: much playmaking, and you know, this is such a handsy
Speaker 1: Pacers team, But like, I really did love that play
Speaker 1: where he got Haliburton switched on him. And Haliburton is
Speaker 1: a big guard in terms of height, but like it
Speaker 1: was a really nasty just you know put you know,
Speaker 1: I think DeAndre at his not best is can be
Speaker 1: a little bit of a horizontal player. It was really
Speaker 1: nice to see him just kind of put his chest
Speaker 1: into his shoulder, into Hallie's chest, knock him back and
Speaker 1: get an easy bucket. Like I thought the three point
Speaker 1: game obviously was on point. I thought the physicality was
Speaker 1: on point. I really did like to see him rebounding,
Speaker 1: especially in a game where you know, Jared's everyone kind
Speaker 1: of knew Jarrett was going to cross the fifteen minute
Speaker 1: threshold and go away, so you kind of just needed
Speaker 1: up and down and like, you know, and he's still
Speaker 1: and he's still got a few offensive boards, but the
Speaker 1: Cavs out offensive rebounded the Pacers in this game, so
Speaker 1: like despite playing no center like half the game, well
Speaker 1: over half the game. And uh so, Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: really fun to see from beyondre and then Tie, Tie
Speaker 1: is uh. I'll tell you what, brother, I feel like
Speaker 1: the three point slump might be over his last five games.
Speaker 1: He's three for four, four of five, one of four,
Speaker 1: three of four, four of six from three.
Speaker 2: It's pretty good.
Speaker 1: He's back to taking the hard threes there. You know,
Speaker 1: he's been hitting the threes that are like those momentum shifters.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: For the team. You know, he hasn't been playing crazy
Speaker 1: heavy minutes either. You know, has crossed twenty six minutes
Speaker 1: in any of these games on those nights where he's
Speaker 1: really shooting the ball. And you know, we've been talking
Speaker 1: about wanting to see this team get over that hump,
Speaker 1: especially the Guard trio in terms of kind of that
Speaker 1: nightmare march from a shooting perspective, and seeing Tie lace
Speaker 1: in the net like that was really good to see.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think your hope is that Darius and Donovan
Speaker 2: they're going to get a week off here through the
Speaker 2: playing week, that the time off is going to do
Speaker 2: them the same amount of good that it did tie right,
Speaker 2: Like he was definitely in a big slump prior to that.
Speaker 2: Darius kind of showed a little bit of life there
Speaker 2: from three going six to ten against Chicago. He was
Speaker 2: awesome in that game. The funny thing about small sample
Speaker 2: sizes is prior to that game, we go on the podcast,
Speaker 2: you know, talking about how the team's been shooting and
Speaker 2: all that. Darius going six to ten in that game,
Speaker 2: it's bumped up his three point percentage for the last
Speaker 2: twelve games to thirty seven percent. Like he's fixed.
Speaker 1: We did it.
Speaker 2: Right right like, And you know that goes to show,
Speaker 2: you know, the ability to use creative sample sizes here,
Speaker 2: and particularly when you're talking about a ten twelve game sample,
Speaker 2: how much a single result, whether it be to the
Speaker 2: extreme to the negative, which when you look at at
Speaker 2: you know, Darius's poor shooting month. You had that game
Speaker 2: like where he took the fall against the next and
Speaker 2: just shot like crap. Like I think he had some
Speaker 2: extreme examples on that side, but any one result can
Speaker 2: really really skew the overall sample. And I've had beef
Speaker 2: with our buddy Anthony Lama, who you know, I think
Speaker 2: some of it's a little bit of a bit, but
Speaker 2: when he goes back to fame but yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, I have love and appreciation for the the
Speaker 2: art that he does there. But when he drags the
Speaker 2: sample all the way back to the start of February
Speaker 2: and I point out, I'm like, well, that's not fair
Speaker 2: because the first eight games of February, which was pretty
Speaker 2: much all the games that they played in February forty
Speaker 2: eight from three. What are we doing here? You're standing
Speaker 2: the sample here because of some late February outliers. But
Speaker 2: you know, obviously, whether he was shooting well going into
Speaker 2: the playoffs or whether the slump continued, whatever the case
Speaker 2: may be, it's not going to change things. Like you're
Speaker 2: you're basically getting a fresh start. It's basically a training
Speaker 2: camp through the play in week for the teams in
Speaker 2: the one and two seed, So it's going to be
Speaker 2: really interesting to see what that time off does for them.
Speaker 2: But one of the things that gives me confidence when
Speaker 2: you talk about the break going into the playoffs is
Speaker 2: look how we started the season, Like, look what you know? True,
Speaker 2: it's not like we took some time and needed to
Speaker 2: kind of find our footing and ease into the regular season.
Speaker 2: Cavs had a training camp and then they hit the
Speaker 2: ground running. Didn't we go winless in the preseason and
Speaker 2: everyone was kind of freaking out about that? Or was
Speaker 2: that this year or was that yes year?
Speaker 1: I don't know. People were freaking out, but we did
Speaker 1: go winless in the in the preseason.
Speaker 2: There was a little bit of freaking out, trust me,
Speaker 2: and you know, it was, Oh, you're not carrying momentum,
Speaker 2: You're not going into this the right way. And it
Speaker 2: didn't matter.
Speaker 1: So I'm it these boys to Sarah Sota for playing week.
Speaker 2: I've got I've got a high level of confidence, you know,
Speaker 2: going into this first round series. And you know, obviously
Speaker 2: no Garland, no MOBILEI no Mitchell, no Struce. In tonight's
Speaker 2: game a limited dose of Jared Allen. TNT did report
Speaker 2: that Garland and Mobile are expected to play tomorrow. I
Speaker 2: would assume that that also means that Max Strus would
Speaker 2: be playing. No sense of those guys playing a back
Speaker 2: to back, but it'll be interesting to see. I think
Speaker 2: Donovan's probably done for the regular season, but you know,
Speaker 2: I think if those guys are playing, I think they
Speaker 2: have more than enough to beat the Knicks tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and at the end of the day, I'm really
Speaker 1: just glad to see them get that break. I think
Speaker 1: you made a really good point that this team did
Speaker 1: well to start the season with that extended break. I mean,
Speaker 1: they did unbelievably well. And speaking more broadly, they've mostly
Speaker 1: hit their worst stretches of the season when they're playing
Speaker 1: a bunch of back to backs for you know, you know,
Speaker 1: three out of four, you know, going weeks without playing
Speaker 1: in the same the same game in the same city
Speaker 1: twice in a row, like, and all that stuff doesn't
Speaker 1: happen in the playoffs. So I think it's a good
Speaker 1: point that, you know, any layoff I'm not super worried about,
Speaker 1: especially for these these guards, who I just think they are.
Speaker 1: I do think there is a little bit when you
Speaker 1: are when you're not like Lebron and you're not like
Speaker 1: this unbelievable thing, you are a little bit more of
Speaker 1: a like a you know, a Swiss watch, where you
Speaker 1: kind of you don't you want to get all the
Speaker 1: all the grains of sand out of gears. You know,
Speaker 1: you want to be at as close to one hundred
Speaker 1: percent as possible, especially since God knows the playoffs so
Speaker 1: likely to knock you down five or ten percent over
Speaker 1: the course of a long run. So like being in
Speaker 1: you know, we saw that with like I got like
Speaker 1: Steph Curry. You know, it's no slight where the Cavs
Speaker 1: strategy literally was like, we're just going to beat this
Speaker 1: guy up rich, but by the time we get to
Speaker 1: the end, he's just going to be fried. You know
Speaker 1: how many times have we heard Tyron toron LU call
Speaker 1: that twenty sixteen finals a battle of attrition? David Griffin
Speaker 1: the same thing, and uh and so yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: you really do want to see these guys in in
Speaker 1: tip top shape. You want to see them any any
Speaker 1: usage kind of like minor maladies. You want to see
Speaker 1: them kind of even out and just kind of reset
Speaker 1: back to your resting state, because I think this Calves
Speaker 1: team at their fully you know, healthy rested state is
Speaker 1: as good as any team in the league.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agree, And I think on the last podcast,
Speaker 2: I thought you brought up a good point about you know,
Speaker 2: how you come out in the first round isn't necessarily
Speaker 2: going to guarantee what your playoff run is going to
Speaker 2: look like. It's not the most meaningful thing. But I
Speaker 2: do think coming out and having a strong first round
Speaker 2: series and shortening the amount of games they have to play,
Speaker 2: I think that's going to be something that would be
Speaker 2: to their advantage. Like, I think it really is important.
Speaker 1: You know you brought up I seem to recall you
Speaker 1: making fun of me for saying that would be to
Speaker 1: their advantage, and here you are saying it.
Speaker 2: There's no consistency with anything I'm saying. I'm you know,
Speaker 2: I'm I'm, I'm, I'm I'm.
Speaker 1: Working on It's definitely it's definitely good to win more
Speaker 1: games than you lose. Groundbreaking stuff, Carter, And here you are.
Speaker 2: That does sound like my take. Oh man, that does
Speaker 2: sound like me. But I can't be sure. Man, you
Speaker 2: know I didn't as I can recording that conversation I
Speaker 2: would have because only I can do my best work.
Speaker 2: Carder Zuomei Companion can help you do the rest. They
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Speaker 2: paid plans. Were happy with Zoom Mai Companion. Carter, do
Speaker 2: you want to take a little trip down memory lane?
Speaker 2: Here we do we do a little prediction sheet in
Speaker 2: our chase down discord to start every year. Do you
Speaker 2: remember where you had the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 1: Did I have fifty four?
Speaker 2: You had fifty four? No, you moved up to fifty
Speaker 2: five and it forced me to go up to fifty six.
Speaker 2: So both of us were wrong there. But do you
Speaker 2: remember where you had them? What seed you had them? Uh?
Speaker 1: I think I had them the two seed. Maybe you
Speaker 1: had them that the one at the one I thought
Speaker 1: this team had a shot at the one seed. I
Speaker 1: didn't think they would have a shot with the Celtics
Speaker 1: being still this good.
Speaker 2: Your top eight was calvs Celtics, Bucks six. There's Heat, Knicks, Hawks,
Speaker 2: and Raptors. A little embarrassing for you at the end.
Speaker 2: You did not finish strong, you know that's in nine.
Speaker 1: I don't know what I was, so I don't think
Speaker 1: I was in that thought.
Speaker 2: You obviously weren't. I absolutely crushed this list. Whenever I
Speaker 2: got the one seat.
Speaker 1: I remember, by the way, during the summer, before you
Speaker 1: know all this, all the dust had settled, I was
Speaker 1: very confident that this team could be the one seed.
Speaker 1: I think I was one of the first people in
Speaker 1: Calves in the Calves community to loudly say that the
Speaker 1: team's goal should be the one seed, and that and
Speaker 1: that that there's there is no reason why they shouldn't
Speaker 1: be as good of a regular season team as a
Speaker 1: Boston and New York, a Milwaukee in Indiana. So I'm
Speaker 1: going to take the win, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, pat yourself on the back. I mean, if
Speaker 2: you want to get into a optimistic Homer measuring contest
Speaker 2: with me, I would not advise that. Oh I'm not.
Speaker 1: It's not a it's not a Homer measuring contest. It's
Speaker 1: a it's a sea in the landscape contest.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about seeing the landscape. Listen to
Speaker 2: this top eight, but from me, my prediction for the
Speaker 2: Eastern Conference Cavs, Celtics, Knicks, Bucks, Sixers. Obviously that went
Speaker 2: to crap and Magic, Pacers and Pistons. I had the
Speaker 2: confidence and the Pistons. It was pretty much that exact order,
Speaker 2: only with the Sixers in Magic dropping out. That was
Speaker 2: pretty damn good.
Speaker 1: And with and you had absolutely no faith in the Pacers.
Speaker 1: You did not. You thought they were like a fringe
Speaker 1: playing team seven seven yeah, yeah, yeah, you didn't believe
Speaker 1: in them. At all, and then I slandered them relentlessly,
Speaker 1: which you know, they've been much better than you acted
Speaker 1: like they were. And they have won me over because
Speaker 1: I am fair and I accept new information and I
Speaker 1: adjust from it, and people love it. People love these, uh,
Speaker 1: these measuring contests I've got.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm sure, but I like I honestly. Right now,
Speaker 2: I would say Indy is the third best team in
Speaker 2: the East when you consider current form and all that.
Speaker 2: I think that they are playing at that level. We'll
Speaker 2: see how that translates to the playoffs. Obviously that that's
Speaker 2: always a little bit of an unknown. But they've got
Speaker 2: a lot of depth, They've got wings, they can shoot.
Speaker 2: Their defense has been better this year. It's been middle
Speaker 2: of the pack. I believe they're fifteenth in defensive ratings.
Speaker 2: So the one thing that I think we saw in
Speaker 2: today's game is defensive rebounding is not a strength for them.
Speaker 2: I believe they're twenty eighth.
Speaker 1: They miles turn.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they are susceptible to giving up those extra possessions,
Speaker 2: which you know, when the casser are shooting forty five
Speaker 2: percent from three, you don't want to do that because
Speaker 2: Dean Wade might miss the first look in the corner.
Speaker 2: He might miss the second, but he's not missing that
Speaker 2: third look. You know. It's uh, it's going to be
Speaker 2: really really interesting to see how this plays out. Because
Speaker 2: the playoff picture is pretty much settled. There is still
Speaker 2: an outside chance though, that it can be a little
Speaker 2: bit of a shakeup at three and four. If if
Speaker 2: the Knicks were to lose out these last two games
Speaker 2: against the Cavs and the Nets and Indy were to
Speaker 2: win out, they actually would swap. However, the Knicks do
Speaker 2: have the tiebreaker with Indy, so they really just have
Speaker 2: to win one game. We'll see how they approach these
Speaker 2: last two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it is pretty interesting, you know, when you're
Speaker 1: looking at the way these last the Knicks are on
Speaker 1: a four game losing streak.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and by.
Speaker 1: The way, count it Knicks under fifty three. That's a
Speaker 1: cash out. I think it was fifty three and a
Speaker 1: half actually, so even better. But you know, they've lost
Speaker 1: two in a row. Now four in a row. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: they're six and four in their last ten, which is
Speaker 1: where I got the four. You look at these last
Speaker 1: two games, and you know Og hasn't been playing, Josh
Speaker 1: Hart hasn't been playing, and I do wander justin if
Speaker 1: you're the Knicks, you might not feel great about playing
Speaker 1: the Calves after the after the matchups you've had. But
Speaker 1: I know you don't feel great about playing the Boston
Speaker 1: Celtics after they have absolutely bombed you out of the
Speaker 1: gym at every opportunity. And you know, last year, the
Speaker 1: Nick's got a lot of I would say, probably due
Speaker 1: credit for playing it out through eighty two, really going
Speaker 1: for it, trying to you know, not trying to game
Speaker 1: the system or anything like that. Do you think they
Speaker 1: might be thinking about it, knowing knowing that, knowing that
Speaker 1: it's it's probably you know, for the rest of the league,
Speaker 1: playing the Calves might be a little more appealing than
Speaker 1: playing the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2: I mean, I hope that's their mentality. Not not because
Speaker 2: I'm afraid about playing Indie or anything like that. The
Speaker 2: concern over one and two against Indiana was purely iNeST
Speaker 2: to start this podcast. But you know, from a squashing
Speaker 2: narrative standpoint and changing perception standpoint, getting to play the
Speaker 2: next would be amazing. I would absolutely love that. I
Speaker 2: would welcome it. I want to. I think that the
Speaker 2: Cavs are considerably better. I think they are much much
Speaker 2: better prepared for all to talk about, you know what
Speaker 2: the core did and didn't do in that series. You
Speaker 2: gotta remember, man, there was a lot of Ricky Rubio,
Speaker 2: there was a lot of Danny Green Like. It's the
Speaker 2: situation that they were put in from a depth standpoint
Speaker 2: was not ideal. And this is just such a better team.
Speaker 2: Now this next team doesn't resemble that team. But people
Speaker 2: still have concerns. They still have, you know, demons and
Speaker 2: doubts as a result of that series. And I would
Speaker 2: love to put that to bed. So if that's the
Speaker 2: way it plays out, whether it's you know, them manufacturing
Speaker 2: that situation or just you know, how it happens to
Speaker 2: play out, I'll welcome that. I'll welcome any team in
Speaker 2: the Eastern Conference. Man. Like you're a contender, you got
Speaker 2: to have confidence that you're going to beat every single
Speaker 2: team in the league if you execute. And I think
Speaker 2: that's where we're at. I think the Calves have the
Speaker 2: top end talent to win a championship. I think they
Speaker 2: have the supporting cast to win a championship. It's about
Speaker 2: are they able to execute at a consistently high enough level.
Speaker 2: To win all four rounds of the playoffs, and when
Speaker 2: they don't have it, are they able to snap back
Speaker 2: into it? Do they? You know, do you fall behind
Speaker 2: by a bit because you give up an eight ozher
Speaker 2: run or a sixteen to zero run, right? Like, I
Speaker 2: think your ability to adjust on the fly and understanding
Speaker 2: that it is a game of runs, and you know,
Speaker 2: momentum does have a factor and there are going to
Speaker 2: be quarters and stretches that don't go your way. That
Speaker 2: to me is going to be what ultimately defines success
Speaker 2: for the Calves. I think they have enough and that
Speaker 2: means I'm not scared of a single damn team. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't even think it's about being scared at this point.
Speaker 1: I do think it's an interesting question of you know,
Speaker 1: by almost every metric, the Knicks are a better team
Speaker 1: than the Pacers right now. You know, the post All
Speaker 1: Star break numbers are pretty for New York. They're fourteen
Speaker 1: and twelve post All Star Break. But you know, Bronson's
Speaker 1: missed fourteen games in that stretch, you know, and he
Speaker 1: is unquestionably their offensive engine. So like, to some extent,
Speaker 1: you got to throw those numbers out. I mean, they're
Speaker 1: down to twenty second offensively in that stretch with they
Speaker 1: won twelve offensive rating. But we know that a healthy
Speaker 1: Bronson does meaningfully change their offensive ceiling. But with that said,
Speaker 1: I just think it's a better matchup for the Caps
Speaker 1: this next team. You know, I think I'd rather you know,
Speaker 1: like you could eat. Yes, I really want to beat
Speaker 1: the Knicks. I think from a from a a quieting demon,
Speaker 1: you know, writing the narrative kind of thing, it would
Speaker 1: feel really really good. But I just think from a
Speaker 1: basketball perspective, the stuff that makes the Knicks really good
Speaker 1: are the stuff that the Calves are really well equipped
Speaker 1: to deal with. And the stuff that the Knicks are
Speaker 1: really well equipped deal with isn't really what the Calves do, like, right,
Speaker 1: you know, like they the Calves can switch almost every action,
Speaker 1: and they can keep two bigs on the floor to
Speaker 1: pass off Cat and avoid him killing you on post ups.
Speaker 1: He is not a movement shooter, so you know, you're
Speaker 1: always able to close out on him with length, so
Speaker 1: he very rarely has gotten up a lot of threes
Speaker 1: against US. Bronson has not had his most efficient offensive
Speaker 1: outings against US. Their offensive rebounding is much less devastating
Speaker 1: than it was two years ago. Because of some of
Speaker 1: these personnel changes. Macal Bridge is a guy that the
Speaker 1: Cavs have been very comfortable just letting Darius Garland guard,
Speaker 1: and they're not. And it's not the same kind of
Speaker 1: comfort as it is when they put Darius and let
Speaker 1: him switch on to Jason Tatum, where that's a thing
Speaker 1: they live with to try to avoid other pain. I
Speaker 1: think they're just kind of fine with Darius or Donovan
Speaker 1: guarding a guy who was traded for five first round picks.
Speaker 1: So I think that the matchup is just better and
Speaker 1: I would rather I you know, I want this team
Speaker 1: to be tested. I think they would be favored against
Speaker 1: every team in the league or in the East, except
Speaker 1: for the Boston Celtics. They will not be favored in
Speaker 1: that series. Yeah, but you know, I just think the
Speaker 1: matchup is better against the Knicks. And I go back
Speaker 1: to that Pacers team, and obviously, like tonight, it's not
Speaker 1: the most banner representation of like why they would be
Speaker 1: scary or challenging. But I do think the Pacers or
Speaker 1: the Knicks could beat the Calves. I wouldn't say it's likely.
Speaker 1: I think the Calves should be heavy favorites, but I
Speaker 1: don't think the Calves have earned that kind of no
Speaker 1: shot a fifty win team can beat US equity yet
Speaker 1: in the postseason. Yeah, and I see, you know, much
Speaker 1: like when we were doing that nixt preview two years ago,
Speaker 1: and we've talked about a lot where I was really
Speaker 1: confident I picked Calves in five, but we did see it.
Speaker 1: We did say, if X, Y and Z happened, if
Speaker 1: the things that the Knicks are really really good at
Speaker 1: that the Calves aren't that good at kind of come
Speaker 1: to pass, this could get this could get upside down quick.
Speaker 1: And I do feel that way about the Pacers in
Speaker 1: the sense of Nie Smith, nim Hard McConnell. The ball
Speaker 1: pressure is relentless. They are allowed to play very, very physically.
Speaker 1: They've been a top ten defense since the since the
Speaker 1: after the All Star Break. They do get out and run.
Speaker 2: They do.
Speaker 1: You have guys who can you know, mash switches. You know, Siakam,
Speaker 1: you can't switch on as easily as some of these
Speaker 1: other post players. You know, if he gets Darius ar
Speaker 1: Donovan on him, the spin cycle will begin and he
Speaker 1: will draw fouls. He will get up shots even if
Speaker 1: he misses he'll get second efforts because he's a good
Speaker 1: second jumper and normally the guy guarding him is backpedaling
Speaker 1: five feet because they got an ailbow to the chest. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I just think they have enough stuff
Speaker 1: that makes the Calves that the Calves don't like dealing with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And also like I think they just are going
Speaker 2: to challenge the Calves defense more. Like I understand that
Speaker 2: the Knicks are the better offensive team. They've been a
Speaker 2: terrific offensive team all season, but it's really coming from
Speaker 2: a shallow number of sources, right, Like it's mainly been
Speaker 2: the bruns and cat pick and roll, pick and pop
Speaker 2: two man game, and we've seen with Brunson out, you know,
Speaker 2: the cal Bridges has played a lot better because he's
Speaker 2: actually managed to have some touches and Og has had
Speaker 2: these stretches where you know, he's playing the best basketball
Speaker 2: of his career. I don't know if that's going to
Speaker 2: continue to be the case with Jalen Brunson back. They
Speaker 2: don't have a lot of guys that initiate offense where
Speaker 2: Indiana really does. They do have a lot of guys
Speaker 2: that can initiate at a variety of positions and I
Speaker 2: just think the Knicks, their offensive approach makes them predictable
Speaker 2: versus the highest level teams, and I think that is
Speaker 2: ultimately why they haven't won a game against the Cavs,
Speaker 2: Celtics or Thunder.
Speaker 1: You know, they don't break your brain. They might break
Speaker 1: your spirit with shot making and second efforts and things
Speaker 1: like that, but they don't break your brain.
Speaker 2: And the funny thing is, like, you know, we talk
Speaker 2: about how many guys are able to put pressure on
Speaker 2: your defense, and you know, Jalen Brunson's obviously phenomenal. He's
Speaker 2: an All NBA talent. He's able to, you know, be
Speaker 2: a very very dynamic guard. But it's just interesting and
Speaker 2: it goes to show you just kind of the difference
Speaker 2: offensive systems and overall playmaking can make. Because when I
Speaker 2: think about the Boston Celtics, Drew Holliday is not really
Speaker 2: going to cook you on the offensive end of the floor.
Speaker 2: Derek White is capable of cooking you with shots, but
Speaker 2: usually you know, that's within the rhythm of the offense.
Speaker 2: They're kicking it out to him. He's hitting a shot,
Speaker 2: or he's hitting pull ups and transition that sort of thing.
Speaker 2: He's not going to test you in the way that
Speaker 2: a Jalen Brunson or Damian Lillard are. But because they
Speaker 2: have five guys that are able to initiate, and they're
Speaker 2: all such smart passers and you know they're able to
Speaker 2: be dynamic in that way, they can test you a
Speaker 2: whole lot more. Whereas you know the Knicks, it really
Speaker 2: is Jalen Brunson initiating. And it's it's funny because we're
Speaker 2: going to see how Kenny Atkinson handles the playoffs. I
Speaker 2: think it's important to remember he's coached five playoff games.
Speaker 2: He's got a one in four record in the playoffs. Like,
Speaker 2: I have a lot of faith in Kenny Atkinson, but
Speaker 2: we don't have a big sample side of how he's
Speaker 2: going to approach the playoffs. But when I'm looking at
Speaker 2: you know, these potential matchups Indian New York, I'm like,
Speaker 2: that's a series where I think Isaaca Coral would be
Speaker 2: really helpful. I think, you know that point of attack
Speaker 2: defense is really going to matter. Isacle Coral against the
Speaker 2: Boston Celtics. There's just not as much value throwing him
Speaker 2: on a Drew Holiday or Derek White. I still think
Speaker 2: you know that there's a lot of ways that he
Speaker 2: can impact the game, and I want to see him play.
Speaker 2: But that's not something where I say that's an Isaacle
Speaker 2: Coral series. We want to get crazy and look ahead
Speaker 2: to the thunder. Yeah, I want Isaacle Coral making Shay work.
Speaker 2: You know you're not going to stop him, but please
Speaker 2: go go make him work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's yeah there. It's going to be interesting seeing
Speaker 1: how orthodox he is, how much the lessons he's taken
Speaker 1: from playing from coaching for Steve Curry and Tyleru, two
Speaker 1: dudes who have unbelievably different philosophies, yep, in terms of
Speaker 1: how they how they coach in the playoffs, in terms
Speaker 1: of how they use their rotations. It's uh. I do
Speaker 1: think that's going to be a big learning And you know,
Speaker 1: the nice thing is it hasn't against the Knicks. At least,
Speaker 1: it hasn't been a situation where it's like, if we
Speaker 1: don't play Okoro heavy minutes, we can't get stopped, you know, right,
Speaker 1: That's the nice thing about that. Predictability of where the
Speaker 1: Knicks offense is pretty much every lineup has worked really
Speaker 1: really well. I just pulled up the Knicks minutes leaders
Speaker 1: per game against the Calves in their top eight because
Speaker 1: as we know, they only play eight guys. Who do
Speaker 1: you think has the best plus minus for the next OG?
Speaker 1: It's Jalen Brownson at minus eight point five a game.
Speaker 1: You know, Like there is no one who played regular
Speaker 1: minutes against this Cavs team that like did really really
Speaker 1: well in their minutes, you know, which I think isive
Speaker 1: of that, Like, you know, they got one, they got
Speaker 1: one fastball, you know, they got in and if it's
Speaker 1: like a role as Chapman back in the day, like
Speaker 1: if if you could turn on it, you were going
Speaker 1: to hit that thing out of the park, and he
Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of other choices, you know, And
Speaker 1: like I think, I just I don't know, I like
Speaker 1: that Knicks matchup. I like what it might mean. I
Speaker 1: might want it more than is appropriate, you know, And
Speaker 1: it's coloring some of my some of my analysis here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you know, but I just think if we didn't
Speaker 1: see the Knicks struggle as much as they did against
Speaker 1: every good team they played, then I would feel a
Speaker 1: little different or maybe a little less sure that that
Speaker 1: was the matchup I wanted. But I just think they're
Speaker 1: at They're just really really good at beating up teams
Speaker 1: that aren't as talented as them, and then when they
Speaker 1: play a team that is at their talent level or higher,
Speaker 1: it's just it gets really hard for them. Stylistically, I'm
Speaker 1: wrestling with myself a little bit because I'm trying to
Speaker 1: be honest and say, Okay, like if we did split
Speaker 1: the season series against the Knicks, and you know, they
Speaker 1: did challenge them this series or this season, would I
Speaker 1: still want them as badly?
Speaker 2: Would I still be, you know, talking like I am?
Speaker 2: And I want to say yes, I don't know if
Speaker 2: that's true, but I want to beat this team man,
Speaker 2: like I Well, if I feel I feel about you know,
Speaker 2: any team that you know we've been put up against,
Speaker 2: whether it's uh, you know on preseason contender charts, whether
Speaker 2: it's hey, you know the Magic are on a better
Speaker 2: trajectory than the Calves, you know, any any slander that
Speaker 2: I've heard, any comparisons. I'm like Evan Mobley and Scottie
Speaker 2: Barnes where I have taken that match up personally ever
Speaker 2: since that loss, I I want to go out there.
Speaker 2: I want to smoke them. I want to make a statement.
Speaker 2: I want every single I want all the smoke I
Speaker 2: want every single matchup that people have compared us to.
Speaker 2: I want the Cavs to prove every single doubt or wrong.
Speaker 2: So that's my mentality. But you're probably right that if
Speaker 2: they haven't hadn't handled the Knicks as handedly as they
Speaker 2: have this season, maybe you know, I'm at ninety percent
Speaker 2: of where I am right now, but.
Speaker 1: I think it really is more reflective of how the
Speaker 1: Knicks have performed against other good teams. You know, it's
Speaker 1: not just it's not a three game sample that we're
Speaker 1: analyzing here, it's a ten, twelve game sample. It's a
Speaker 1: fifteen game sample against you know, the top third, you know,
Speaker 1: thirty percent of the league where it's just been not
Speaker 1: you know, it's been uphill sled. There's a reason they'rekno
Speaker 1: going to cross the fifty three win threshold, and it's
Speaker 1: because they haven't won enough of these. You know, they've
Speaker 1: beaten up on the dregs, they've looked really really get
Speaker 1: against the dregs, and then you know, when it came
Speaker 1: to playing the the you know, the cream of the crop,
Speaker 1: it just hasn't been great.
Speaker 2: I will say, man, to that point, there's only three
Speaker 2: teams in the Eastern conference that have winning records against
Speaker 2: winning teams. The Cavs are twenty seven and ten, Austin
Speaker 2: is twenty four and thirteen, and India is nineteen and seventeen.
Speaker 2: The next fifteen and twenty two, Milwaukee's fifteen and twenty one,
Speaker 2: Detroit is twelve and twenty five, Orlando's eleven and twenty five. Geez,
Speaker 2: like Atlanta, Atlanta has been better than some of these
Speaker 2: teams against winning teams. Like, yeah, we know, yeah, good,
Speaker 2: good point. Yeah, you know what, give me them, give
Speaker 2: me them first round now, I want them. Thank you
Speaker 2: for reminding me.
Speaker 1: Give me Carris and George.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for reminding me of what that noon
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving Dame did to my mental health. There. Yeah, give
Speaker 2: me them in the first round. I want the Atlanta.
Speaker 2: I've already decided. Yeah, it's gonna be a fun playoff.
Speaker 1: You know, there's just a lot of uh, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of interesting matchups up and down. I do think
Speaker 1: some cannery in terms of how the standings play out
Speaker 1: for that three four I'm gonna keep my eye on it.
Speaker 1: You know, we should watch that game closely tomorrow night
Speaker 1: and see, you know, how hard are the Knicks trying
Speaker 1: to win this.
Speaker 2: You know, I mean Brunson and Kap play twenty nine
Speaker 2: minutes tonight. That's the equivalent of Jared Allen playing fifteen
Speaker 2: and getting pulled when you like translate that to Tibbs minutes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it kind of is, you know, Like I mean
Speaker 1: Brescio's jew it is still clocking it at forty plus.
Speaker 1: So uh yeah, and obviously Brunston's coming off an injury.
Speaker 1: And yes, so there's there's some I had a joke.
Speaker 2: I needed to make I was going to skew reality,
Speaker 2: however I needed.
Speaker 1: To Yeah, there's some obvious caveats here, but yeah, they
Speaker 1: have they have a lot of uh, you know, we're
Speaker 1: gonna really get a good chance to see with that
Speaker 1: second round series, Like I really think it would be
Speaker 1: fun to play the Knicks. How you feeling, brother, We're
Speaker 1: almost there. You know, our next podcast will be after
Speaker 1: the regular season is over.
Speaker 2: I'm feeling really good. I'm feeling really really confident. You're right,
Speaker 2: we don't have enough of track record to say, yeah,
Speaker 2: like we're certainly going to beat you know, fifty win
Speaker 2: teams and stuff like that. I understand that point intellectually,
Speaker 2: but I also feel like we have seen this team.
Speaker 2: As much as we talk about how growth is in linear,
Speaker 2: this has been so damn linear. We went from plan
Speaker 2: to the first round to the second round. I really
Speaker 2: feel like this team has everything that we need to have.
Speaker 2: And you know what, Honestly, if you're someone as a fan,
Speaker 2: the way you consume sports and the way that your
Speaker 2: fandom like manifests that you're like, I need to see
Speaker 2: a team prove it before I trust it. I respect that.
Speaker 2: You know. I'm not going to sit here and tell
Speaker 2: anyone how to cano sports, But for me, I feel
Speaker 2: like everything is in place for this team to be great,
Speaker 2: and I'm not going to handle them with kid gloves.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to soften expectations at this point because
Speaker 2: last couple of years I had big regular season expectations,
Speaker 2: but I kept saying they don't have enough playoff experience
Speaker 2: to make a run. What did I say before Game
Speaker 2: one of this season? This is the first year that
Speaker 2: I feel this team has a legitimate chance to walk
Speaker 2: away with an NBA championship at the end of the season.
Speaker 2: My confidence and I said, what are we going to
Speaker 2: learn in this year? Whether it's a five percent chance
Speaker 2: or greater I think it's a lot greater now, and
Speaker 2: I'm going to what's the percentage you'd put on it.
Speaker 2: I'd give us a forty percent chance against Boston. I
Speaker 2: think if you play that series ten times, we win
Speaker 2: four of them. Okay, see, I would give it as
Speaker 2: a true toss up, So I don't not.
Speaker 1: Have twenty percent if you were going to do some
Speaker 1: very fast math sure to get through it all.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's put it that. That's probably where I'm at.
Speaker 2: But like for me, rather than I'm going to hold
Speaker 2: back my expectations until they've proven it, I think they've
Speaker 2: given me enough that I am going to expect this
Speaker 2: team to be great until I see otherwise. And you
Speaker 2: know that doesn't mean one like, I'm not sitting here
Speaker 2: saying guaranteeing a championship or anything like that. But I
Speaker 2: do feel incredibly confident that they can challenge any team,
Speaker 2: and that if they do lose, I think it's going
Speaker 2: to be because it was a great series and you know,
Speaker 2: whoever the other team was just out executed them. I
Speaker 2: just don't think that's happening in the first two rounds. Man. Like,
Speaker 2: I think that this team is ready.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's also I mean, I'm furiously knocking on
Speaker 1: wood right now, but it really is shaping up to
Speaker 1: be the first time in this Cavaliers era other than
Speaker 1: those play in games three years ago where the team
Speaker 1: mostly looked like they were you know, they weren't. They
Speaker 1: weren't dealing with Darius, who like, you know, I remember
Speaker 1: at that Magic game we went to Game one the
Speaker 1: first time he got really whacked. He immediately went to
Speaker 1: the bench and had to get a heating pad on
Speaker 1: how to get the wedge, and we're like, ah, you know,
Speaker 1: and Donovan didn't score twenty for like a month going
Speaker 1: in because you know, his knee wasn't right. And then
Speaker 1: you know, obviously no one could have foreseen Jared's rib
Speaker 1: getting broken, so like that's his own thing. But like,
Speaker 1: I feel like this is the best physical shape the
Speaker 1: team's been in going into the postseason in this Cavaliers era,
Speaker 1: and that's very exciting, you know, I mean, there really
Speaker 1: aren't is not a lot of room for to your
Speaker 1: point about kid gloves, not a lot of room for excuses.
Speaker 1: You know, they're either going to meet the moment or
Speaker 1: they're not.
Speaker 2: Yep, totally agree, and you know that whether it's fair
Speaker 2: or not. When you're this good and expectations are this high,
Speaker 2: you know that there's consequences for every step along the way, right, Like,
Speaker 2: as much as we believe that this is a team
Speaker 2: with a long a large window and a long runway,
Speaker 2: Like you think back to the heatles man, Like how
Speaker 2: many times was the blueprint on the line there? Like
Speaker 2: that's just the nature of these really good teams. And
Speaker 2: that doesn't necessarily mean coming up short results in a
Speaker 2: massive shakeup, But there is a lot of pressure there.
Speaker 2: There is you know, the Cavs blueprint has survived a
Speaker 2: lot of a lot of this kind of stress and
Speaker 2: and so like to your when when you're eventually yeah,
Speaker 2: when you're this good, from an front office standpoint, you
Speaker 2: owe it to the roster that you've assembled to always
Speaker 2: be looking at Okay, how are are we maximizing this?
Speaker 2: Are we taking advantage of every single opportunity? I think
Speaker 2: they've done a great job of that. Man, It's it's
Speaker 2: going to be a lot of fun. This is I'm
Speaker 2: really really excited for for this playoff run. And you
Speaker 2: know what it I'm happy everything played out the way
Speaker 2: that it did. You know, I think them getting stress
Speaker 2: tested in the way that they did the last couple
Speaker 2: of playoff series. I think it, you know, revealed some shortcomings,
Speaker 2: revealed where they needed to improve internally and all that.
Speaker 2: It kind of would be fun man to have, you know,
Speaker 2: just kind of a laugher of a series like we
Speaker 2: used to have back in the day. I want to
Speaker 2: see that in the first round.
Speaker 1: We get to have that, though, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know if.
Speaker 2: We get to have that, But you know what, I'm
Speaker 2: looking forward to playing a playoff series against a team
Speaker 2: that's not a top three defense like I think we've like, well,
Speaker 2: the years ago, they they were all right, uh, you're
Speaker 2: you're you're correct, though I don't think they were top three.
Speaker 1: But no, they weren't even close.
Speaker 2: Damn it. You know that weakens my point. Don't weaken
Speaker 2: my point. They were nineteenth. Spiritually, where were they in
Speaker 2: April the last post All Star break? Let's see if
Speaker 2: we can save you.
Speaker 1: Middle of the par they were eighteen, so winging a miss.
Speaker 2: You know what. Spiritually they felt like a good defense.
Speaker 2: You know it.
Speaker 1: You by the way, the Orlando Magic are the second
Speaker 1: best defense in the NBA, so we very well might
Speaker 1: play them. You know what, maybe we will maybe we
Speaker 1: will way we blew them out by forty in Orlando.
Speaker 1: We we can still be great offensively there. But yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, it would be nice to play not
Speaker 1: a good defense.
Speaker 2: And I'm going to stick with that point, even though
Speaker 2: you have thoroughly disproved it. Think thank you, brother.
Speaker 1: I take no pleasure in doing these things to you.
Speaker 2: You know what, We're accountable to ourselves, We're accountable to
Speaker 2: each other, and we're accountable or our audience. And I
Speaker 2: think that's what makes us a fun show. Big thanks
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