Speaker 1: This brow, this crowd of fowl.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Chase Down Podcast, part of the Caves
Speaker 2: Media family. I'm your host, Justin Rohan. The Chase Doown
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Speaker 2: dot com Slash Calves. The Cleveland Cavaliers were unable to
Speaker 2: capitalize on their success in Game three, suffering a blowout
Speaker 2: loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: Joining me today is my co host that also just
Speaker 2: can't seem to get right during this playoff journey, Carter Rodriguez. Carter,
Speaker 2: how are you feeling, buddy?
Speaker 3: Not good?
Speaker 4: Uh, voices in rough shape. Turns out, when your son
Speaker 4: coughs into your mouth for a straight week, chances of
Speaker 4: you getting sick are pretty good.
Speaker 2: That sounds about right. I really wanted to blame you
Speaker 2: for getting me sick, but ultimately I wasn't. I didn't
Speaker 2: get sick from you because I got COVID for the
Speaker 2: first time, you know, two weeks ago or a week ago.
Speaker 2: Whenever that was and you didn't have it, so I
Speaker 2: couldn't blame you. That was a little disappointing. Speaking of disappointing,
Speaker 2: I would say that Game four for the Cleveland Cavaliers
Speaker 2: is probably the most disappointing result that we've had from
Speaker 2: this group when it comes to playoff performances. We've heard
Speaker 2: a lot after their Game three win about how they
Speaker 2: have to treat every single game like a Game seven,
Speaker 2: that there was going to be an appropriate amount of intensity,
Speaker 2: and I don't think, you know, listening to Kenny Atkinson,
Speaker 2: listening to the player's post game, I don't think anybody
Speaker 2: was happy with their effort.
Speaker 3: I think when you have a game that goes.
Speaker 2: That poorly, it's a failure top to bottom, right from
Speaker 2: the first man to the fifteenth man to the coaching staff.
Speaker 2: They did not come out with the necessary intensity and
Speaker 2: have now put themselves in a serious hole when it
Speaker 2: comes to the series.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's.
Speaker 4: You know, it's just a litany of problems. I'm not
Speaker 4: ready to say most disappointing game of the era of
Speaker 4: the era. Actually, okay, I think I was. I was
Speaker 4: so mad Game five against the Knicks when it just
Speaker 4: came out. It was just the same game again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, I think what we're going to
Speaker 2: see is does history repeat themselves?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: They are they able to come out in game five
Speaker 2: regardless of who's available and put forward a better effort,
Speaker 2: because to me, the result wasn't you know the disappointing thing.
Speaker 2: I know, when we were talking before the game, I
Speaker 2: didn't have a great feeling about Game four. I I
Speaker 2: just kind of had a feeling that Indiana was going
Speaker 2: to come out with some counterpunches. I was worried about,
Speaker 2: you know, how guys were going to respond physically to
Speaker 2: attempting to play through game three. But what we got
Speaker 2: in game four I don't think has anything to do
Speaker 2: with injuries. Like you might say, cumulively, they were a
Speaker 2: little more tired because of the energy they've had to
Speaker 2: expend themselves. But we have seen better effort from this
Speaker 2: team in every game this series. All three games, the
Speaker 2: first three games of the series, the Calves won the
Speaker 2: battle on the boards, they won the points in the paints,
Speaker 2: second chance opportunities. You know, there was physicality. I think
Speaker 2: India had the physicality advantage on the perimeter.
Speaker 3: So far in this series. But the Calves were.
Speaker 2: Really killing them on the inside, and that flipped in
Speaker 2: Game four. I thought, you know, defensive intensity dropped off
Speaker 2: to where we saw basically in that first half of
Speaker 2: Game one, where the Calves just didn't look ready for
Speaker 2: the series. I thought the rotations defensively were poor. There
Speaker 2: really wasn't a whole lot that you could hang your
Speaker 2: hat on in this game. And you know, it's one
Speaker 2: of those spots where you know it, as I said,
Speaker 2: it's a failure from the top down, and you know,
Speaker 2: because of the situation that they've put themselves in losing
Speaker 2: those first two games at home all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: what typically in the playoff series would be a successful
Speaker 2: weekend where you go and you get one of those
Speaker 2: road games as the team with home court advantage. Typically
Speaker 2: that is a successful three to four kind of swing
Speaker 2: through a playoff series. But because of the you know,
Speaker 2: the hole that they put themselves in to start this series,
Speaker 2: you did not have the margin for error, You did
Speaker 2: not have the room to have a result like this
Speaker 2: on you know the scorecard.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's I mean, that's why you don't lose games
Speaker 4: one and two at home, yep, in a series. I mean,
Speaker 4: they have the rare advantage of you know, potentially being
Speaker 4: able to play to the last three at home. You know, normally,
Speaker 4: when you're down three to one, it's you know, it's
Speaker 4: like twenty sixteen where you had to you know, win
Speaker 4: a Game seven on the road. But honestly, bro, I'm
Speaker 4: not even thinking about game six is or Game seven's
Speaker 4: right now.
Speaker 3: It's all about five. I just I just want to.
Speaker 4: See them show up with some some some pride, some
Speaker 4: attention to detail, and like I you know, I've been
Speaker 4: thinking a lot about this series and like, well, obviously,
Speaker 4: you know, if it, if it goes the way it's trending,
Speaker 4: we'll do a more proper eulogy. But I am disappointed
Speaker 4: right now about how the team's lack of I guess,
Speaker 4: readiness for for the things that are getting thrown at them. Uh,
Speaker 4: you know, I I just don't. I don't feel like
Speaker 4: they've been a terribly you know, mentally resilient team in
Speaker 4: this series, which I think I'm pretty disappointed by, just
Speaker 4: because I thought that was what I was so impressed
Speaker 4: with all year. You know, they didn't seem ready for that,
Speaker 4: for that Pacers offense to start, and weren't able to
Speaker 4: really ever get their feet under them in Game one.
Speaker 4: In this game, it's like it almost looked like the
Speaker 4: players were like, wait, they're going to adjust to Ari zone.
Speaker 4: So I just feel like they haven't been sharp and
Speaker 4: all the while, they've probably on balance outplayed Indie over
Speaker 4: the course of the series, you know, minute by minute.
Speaker 4: But it's just is kind of immaterial when you when
Speaker 4: you get to the results, and I think a lot
Speaker 4: of it comes to lack of attention to detail and
Speaker 4: lack of focus and lack of sharpness. You know. I
Speaker 4: was so impressed in Game three with how they were
Speaker 4: flashing to beat the press, with how they were when
Speaker 4: they got across half court. They were pushing and turning
Speaker 4: the corner and getting runs to the to the to
Speaker 4: get to the rim. You know, they just had none
Speaker 4: of that in this game. I mean, they would they
Speaker 4: would get across that they'd spend seven point nine nine
Speaker 4: seconds to get across half court, and then they'd stop
Speaker 4: and survey, and it's like, well, that's that's exactly what
Speaker 4: the press wants you to do. Yeah, you know, And
Speaker 4: I think that's where I'm I was really disappointed by
Speaker 4: that game. Was the degree to which the Calves seeded
Speaker 4: every part of the game to what Indy wanted to
Speaker 4: do and what INDI wanted to happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like they haven't stuck with their identity
Speaker 2: so far in this series. And you know, obviously, when
Speaker 2: you have turmoil in terms of who's available and to
Speaker 2: what degree that they are available, you know they're in
Speaker 2: the lineup, but they're not there physically. That's going to
Speaker 2: have an impact. But I don't think it justifies what
Speaker 2: we saw in Game four, because we saw them, with
Speaker 2: the guys that were available for Game four, come out
Speaker 2: with a much better effort. Right, Like you said, the
Speaker 2: aggressiveness in beating that press, how they would come to
Speaker 2: the ball, how you know they would fight through it
Speaker 2: and make sure that they were maintaining tempo, not allowing
Speaker 2: Indy to dictate the terms of engagement with their perimeter pressure.
Speaker 2: We saw that in Game three, just like in Game one.
Speaker 2: I'm actually going to disagree with you a little bit.
Speaker 2: I thought they did find their footing in Game one.
Speaker 2: They ultimately took the lead, they just weren't able to
Speaker 2: kind of hang on to that, and obviously Mobile and
Speaker 2: Hunter are getting hurt in the fourth had something to
Speaker 2: do with that, but I think what we saw in
Speaker 2: game one was more understandable. Right, You're coming off a
Speaker 2: laugher of a series where you didn't have to play
Speaker 2: with intensity and you get punched in the mouth by
Speaker 2: a team that did play, you know, in some tough
Speaker 2: games in the first round. That disappointing, but it's understandable.
Speaker 2: What we saw in game four is almost reverting back
Speaker 2: to where they were to start the series. And when
Speaker 2: you have the experience, when you've had the reps of
Speaker 2: playing against this team, you know what their strengths and
Speaker 2: weaknesses are at that point. That's what made it so
Speaker 2: disappointing to me. And you know, I just I don't
Speaker 2: like the fact that, you know, we're in a situation
Speaker 2: where what they needed to do are things that we've seen.
Speaker 2: It just seemed like it got lost in the shuffle
Speaker 2: and for gone, and just like Game one was understandable,
Speaker 2: you know, frustrating, but understandable. This type of result happens
Speaker 2: in playoff series. You had, you know, game six of
Speaker 2: the first round in twenty eighteen with lebron you lost
Speaker 2: by thirty five to Indiana. Game two of the twenty
Speaker 2: sixteen finals in Golden State, you lost by thirty three.
Speaker 2: Every time one of these, you know, thirty to forty
Speaker 2: point losses, even though you.
Speaker 3: Know time got it down to twenty.
Speaker 2: Anytime you have one of these games, it always feels like, oh,
Speaker 2: we don't belong in the series. It always feels bad.
Speaker 2: But again, if you win game two, it feels like
Speaker 2: this is a successful weekend.
Speaker 3: That's you know.
Speaker 2: We can sit here and we say flush that down.
Speaker 2: We break down the game the same way we're doing now,
Speaker 2: saying you know what happened, Why did they let go
Speaker 2: of the rope? Why was there not the attention to
Speaker 2: detail and the focus. But because of the situation that
Speaker 2: they've put themselves in, you know, this stings so much more.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, And I do think there is something. I
Speaker 4: think part of the reason I was so apoplectic after
Speaker 4: Game two. Privately, I pulled I pulled it together for
Speaker 4: the pod, even though it was a sad boy.
Speaker 3: Right, I was so.
Speaker 4: I was so distraught because I know what a kitchen
Speaker 4: sink game looks like, and the Calves had to play
Speaker 4: two in a row just to get the gate the
Speaker 4: series to one two because they blew one of their
Speaker 4: kitchen sink games.
Speaker 3: And I think that hanged and and I do think there.
Speaker 4: Was something to that where you know, everyone can say
Speaker 4: from a distance and like, I don't know if this
Speaker 4: sounds excusey or not, people will, I'm sure tell me.
Speaker 4: But we can say play with desperation. You know, they
Speaker 4: said in the post game after Game three, we didn't
Speaker 4: do anything.
Speaker 3: We got to play with desperation.
Speaker 4: I do think the brained is led up a little bit,
Speaker 4: you know. I mean that's why no one's ever come
Speaker 4: back from three to zero, you know, and three to
Speaker 4: one is so rare because it's hard to play desperate
Speaker 4: night after night after night after night. You know, eventually
Speaker 4: your brain chemistry does want to revert to something calmer,
Speaker 4: you know, it wants to find it's you know, if
Speaker 4: desperation is one side of the the you know, the
Speaker 4: mental spectrum, your brain wants equilibrium.
Speaker 3: It wants to to chill, you know.
Speaker 4: And you could tell that that was what the Cavs
Speaker 4: were doing, you know, they were, uh you know some
Speaker 4: of these pocket passes to Jared Allen where Nimhart is
Speaker 4: just able to dig down against the drop and blow
Speaker 4: up the pass, like that's just Donovan running a set.
Speaker 4: Like it's like it's January, you know, not the level
Speaker 4: of force that you need them to play with. I'm
Speaker 4: not trying to go with Donovan. He's been amazing in
Speaker 4: the series. It's just a collective example of like what
Speaker 4: desperation play looks like and what it doesn't. And like
Speaker 4: I've seen a lot of people griping about the physicality
Speaker 4: from Indy. I'm just not going to be one of them,
Speaker 4: you know. I mean there's stuff that annoys me. You know,
Speaker 4: I'm glad Mathern got tossed.
Speaker 3: It is the whole thing in a game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which again was exactly what I said after Game three.
Speaker 2: If you're going to be the guy that does dirty plays,
Speaker 2: you can't also be the guy that flops.
Speaker 4: Yeah, sorry, but sorry, but uh you know, so, like
Speaker 4: there's stuff I don't like about it, but like I'm sorry, guys,
Speaker 4: we want a championship. Pull and grab and bump and
Speaker 4: bruising yep, people who preferred to play a finesse game
Speaker 4: and run around off off pin downs and stuff, and
Speaker 4: like you can't Cav's got twenty first half free throw attempts.
Speaker 4: You know, they the refs were calling stuff and I
Speaker 4: don't think that is a I think that's the thing
Speaker 4: you got to be able to overcome as an offense
Speaker 4: if you ever want to be worth anything in this league. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and we have seen the Calves continue to have that problem,
Speaker 4: you know, when they're really really focused, when they're really
Speaker 4: really locked in, when they're really really optimized, everyone's healthy,
Speaker 4: everyone's doing a good we've seen them be able to
Speaker 4: beat up that kind of pressure turn it against them.
Speaker 4: You know, they did that to Miami in the first
Speaker 4: round and you know Game of the Year against Okay. See,
Speaker 4: they did that to Okay.
Speaker 3: See. They've done it by times in this series. Yes,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 4: They Brandon in the chat was like, where's the one
Speaker 4: eighteen offensive rating? I was promised. I was like, it's
Speaker 4: like one seventeen or it was for through three games,
Speaker 4: you know. But it's the consistency. It's doing it under duress,
Speaker 4: it's doing it every play, and they just haven't been
Speaker 4: able to muster that kind of effort against that kind
Speaker 4: of pressure.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And the interesting thing, you know, people are going to
Speaker 2: overreact to some aspects of this game, right Like I
Speaker 2: would say, through seven games of the playoffs, the Calves
Speaker 2: largely own the interior. They've owned the glass. They own
Speaker 2: the point paints in the paint points in the pain.
Speaker 2: Jared Allen has been fantastic. He was terrible in Game four,
Speaker 2: Like and in a lot of ways, I sometimes feel
Speaker 2: like Jared's the Canarian the coal mine in terms of
Speaker 2: the Caves overall health. Right Like when Game four against Miami,
Speaker 2: when Jared gets that steal and the breakaway to start
Speaker 2: the game, we say, Okay, well, yeah, they're they're locked.
Speaker 3: In that this is going to be easy win for
Speaker 3: the Calves.
Speaker 2: When he struggles like this, it's almost like he gets
Speaker 2: overwhelmed with the situation where there's so many breakdowns defensively
Speaker 2: and you know, just doesn't have the same impact. I'm
Speaker 2: not going to kill Jared for it because he has
Speaker 2: been exactly what we've needed throughout the playoffs prior to
Speaker 2: this game. I'm not going to kill Donovan for having
Speaker 2: a bad first half because you know, as you said,
Speaker 2: it was consecutive kitchen sink games. I was thrilled with
Speaker 2: their effort in game two and how hard they played shorthanded.
Speaker 2: I was thrilled with what they did in game three.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to forget that because Game four was
Speaker 2: so frustrating but you know, they weren't able to sustain.
Speaker 2: And I think there's something to what you're saying about,
Speaker 2: you know, trying to maintain that desperation in all of
Speaker 2: these matchups. But I do want to get your thoughts
Speaker 2: on the pressure on the perimeter, because we've seen them
Speaker 2: beat it at times in this series. We've seen them
Speaker 2: struggle with it at times in the regular season. We've
Speaker 2: seen them excel against it at times in the regular season.
Speaker 2: What do you think it is that makes it so
Speaker 2: difficult for them to sustain? Is it that they have
Speaker 2: to play with such an elevated level of focus and effort,
Speaker 2: and you know, just to make up for the fact
Speaker 2: that they do have a smaller backcourt. What do you
Speaker 2: think it is that makes it so that something that
Speaker 2: we know that they're capable of doing versus these teams,
Speaker 2: they aren't able to reliably do it at the level
Speaker 2: we want to see.
Speaker 4: Well, I guess you just got to look to you know,
Speaker 4: what the difference was when they have done it. Typically
Speaker 4: it's involved a Darius Garland who can Yeah, he's just
Speaker 4: fallen over running right now. You know, his feet just
Speaker 4: cannot paying through a calf issue. Uh, you know, Hunter
Speaker 4: can't grip the ball with his right hand. He's shot
Speaker 4: put in his jumpers right now, you know so?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 4: And then Ty who was kind of your change of pace,
Speaker 4: Like he was kind of your i'll hit you back option.
Speaker 4: If you're gonna ride me, you're at least going to
Speaker 4: get an elbow to your gut on the on the way.
Speaker 4: Uh as I turned the corner like Ty can't play
Speaker 4: right now?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 4: So you know you have all these different all the
Speaker 4: all the you know, usual suspects you'd look to for
Speaker 4: press breaking aren't there right now or in pressure breaking.
Speaker 4: And then also frankly, I got to go at.
Speaker 3: The team a little bit. So those are those are
Speaker 3: my nice, nice excuses. Uh.
Speaker 4: Evan Mobley's usage rate has dropped five percent in the postseason.
Speaker 3: What a I mean?
Speaker 4: This was your stick the entire offseason, which is, if
Speaker 4: you're going to have a small backcourt, you need to
Speaker 4: have front court initiation to be a release valve. And
Speaker 4: they're not doing it. I'm sorry. You can be as
Speaker 4: nice like nim Hard Anie Smith can be as good
Speaker 4: as they want on defense, They're getting away with Thomas
Speaker 4: Bryant minutes comfortably. I know, really, where's the I'm where's
Speaker 4: the team that bullied kalel Ware off the floor.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing.
Speaker 2: I'm really glad you brought this up because it's exactly
Speaker 2: what I have in mind.
Speaker 3: Right, Like I.
Speaker 2: Think, on the one hand of the coin, that is
Speaker 2: something that they need to focus on. Right, Like I
Speaker 2: think from an off season preparation standpoint, Donovan, I'm going
Speaker 2: to cut some slack because you know, he's been playing
Speaker 2: through the angle. He's been playing through the cap basically
Speaker 2: that whole cot.
Speaker 4: And he's been a killer. He's the only one who's
Speaker 4: turned in the corner right now, right, I'm.
Speaker 2: Going to cut him some slack there. I understand what's
Speaker 2: going on with with Darius. I actually think he's on
Speaker 2: a pretty decent job of turning the corner considering he's
Speaker 2: playing with one tire. But at the same time, I
Speaker 2: think that there is some physical maturity that he needs
Speaker 2: to continue to do. I think the same thing goes
Speaker 2: for Evan Mobley. I think this team needs to get
Speaker 2: a little more physical on the perimeter. But what I
Speaker 2: will say is you understand that you have to maintain
Speaker 2: a level of focus and aggressiveness on the perimeter to
Speaker 2: counteract what teams are able to do from a length standpoint.
Speaker 2: One of the ways you can do that is involving
Speaker 2: your bigs. And I know we've disagreed at times in
Speaker 2: the past when it comes to Jared being like, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, he's kind of a function of the overall offense,
Speaker 2: You're not really running place for him. You can run
Speaker 2: place for Jared. He is, you know, someone that's going
Speaker 2: to make smart decisions in the short role. I think
Speaker 2: we saw in the Miami series, as you said, when
Speaker 2: we were attacking kellel Ware, that is something that you
Speaker 2: can go to. And I think that has to be
Speaker 2: on both the guards and the coaching staff of making
Speaker 2: sure Evan Mobley and Jared Allen are being used, that
Speaker 2: they are being counted on at times to break the pressure.
Speaker 2: Even when you're talking about the full court press. What
Speaker 2: is the intention of having Evan Mobley bring the ball
Speaker 2: up so many times throughout the regular season if that
Speaker 2: isn't a wrinkle that you are throwing to break the press. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Nie Smith and Emhard are going to be pressuring the
Speaker 2: guards as they're bringing it up and trying to make
Speaker 2: you use as much of the shot clock as possible.
Speaker 2: Are they going to do the same thing. If it's
Speaker 2: Evan Mobley available as an outlets, Pascal Siakam'm going to
Speaker 2: start covering him, you know, ninety four feet.
Speaker 3: I don't believe so, or at the very I guess
Speaker 3: if he wants to try, at the.
Speaker 2: Very least, I would like to find out, right, Like,
Speaker 2: I think that that is something that you can go
Speaker 2: to in these spots. And as much as as much
Speaker 2: as I think the overall situation we're in in this
Speaker 2: series has to do with the injuries, right, Like, I
Speaker 2: don't think you lose those games at home if you're
Speaker 2: fully healthy, right, I think even if DeAndre Hunter and
Speaker 2: Evan Mobley don't get hurt in the fourth quarter of
Speaker 2: Game one, I think you win that game. If lane
Speaker 2: violations get called properly, you win game two. That's all
Speaker 2: very frustrating, but the margins shouldn't have been that thin.
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, as much as the overall
Speaker 2: situation I believe has a lot to do with the injuries,
Speaker 2: what happened in Game four didn't and because it was
Speaker 2: things that it had looked like they had solved at
Speaker 2: already in this series that they kind of backtracked and
Speaker 2: backslid in like that's that to me is what makes
Speaker 2: it very frustrating. And I think that's the type of
Speaker 2: stuff that's going to lead to some macro takeaways and
Speaker 2: reflection when you look back at whenever this playoff run ends.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: they're just not playing well enough to make me feel
Speaker 4: like you can just point to the injuries and like,
Speaker 4: I think the injuries trim their margin for error for sure,
Speaker 4: but like this is a team at the beginning of
Speaker 4: the series. Uh, we kind of said to each other,
Speaker 4: I don't know if we said on the pod, We're like,
Speaker 4: if Darius doesn't play, it's going to be hard, but
Speaker 4: we we can still win this series. We should, you know,
Speaker 4: maybe I don't know if we said should, but I
Speaker 4: think we both kind of felt like they they had
Speaker 4: a really good shot to but like not playing like this,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 2: Games showed how much of a margin for there was,
Speaker 2: Like in these a very very good team. The Cavs
Speaker 2: didn't shoot thirty percent in any of the first three
Speaker 2: games of the series, and they had chances to win
Speaker 2: every single one of these games, even you know, without
Speaker 2: Evan Mobley missing two of your top three players missing,
Speaker 2: you know, DeAndre Hunter, who's been essential, but Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 2: playing through you know, all the lower body ailments he has,
Speaker 2: it has shown their margin for error, like they should
Speaker 2: be a team that can you know, survive some you know,
Speaker 2: postseason injuries and be able to be conservative with the management,
Speaker 2: which you know, I think we were hoping that they
Speaker 2: would be conservative when it came to Darius, but I
Speaker 2: think it's very clear that no, it's like.
Speaker 4: No, it's just one of those things that didn't get better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's one of those things that it took a
Speaker 2: lot to get it to the point where he could
Speaker 2: even you know, tough through it. And I'm not going
Speaker 2: to question his toughness that the guy that played twenty
Speaker 2: two minutes in the second half of a game with
Speaker 2: a broken jaw on a mouthful of blood. He was
Speaker 2: playing down you know, the stretch of the season through
Speaker 2: this toe almen, Like, I'm not going to be questioning that,
Speaker 2: but you know, I do think even limited right, Like,
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that we've loved about
Speaker 2: Darius is getting Evan mobilely involved. And we want to
Speaker 2: see if you're playing through injuries and you're you're not
Speaker 2: at one hundred percent. Can you find the counters? Can
Speaker 2: you do what Donovan's done, which is, hey, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm unfortunately every time that we've been in the playoffs
Speaker 2: with Donovan pretty much he's dealing with some sort of
Speaker 2: lower body ailmens and the three pointer hasn't really been there.
Speaker 2: But he's found ways to be so effective. He's managed to,
Speaker 2: you know, get that rim press. Sure, and you know,
Speaker 2: I think that's part of the growth and maturity process.
Speaker 2: But from a Darius standpoint, the two man game with
Speaker 2: him and Evan Mobley like that got them to you know,
Speaker 2: a forty eight win pace before Donovan even got here
Speaker 2: when the two of them were playing right like, that
Speaker 2: is something that you can rely on.
Speaker 3: That is one of the most.
Speaker 2: Effective two man combinations of the last few years. Not
Speaker 2: utilizing Evan Mobley enough is really disappointing because at the
Speaker 2: very least I'd like to go down with the ship
Speaker 2: trying that right, Like, we understand how important that is
Speaker 2: for the future of this team and the future.
Speaker 3: Of this group.
Speaker 2: At least get those reps in right, Let's try to
Speaker 2: salvage this situation by doing that well.
Speaker 4: And there's just like a little bit of like and
Speaker 4: I think one of the most disappointing things about the
Speaker 4: last game was like they completely just stop trying to
Speaker 4: run anything for anybody, right, I mean, it was just like,
Speaker 4: barely get the ball over half court, run a half
Speaker 4: a pick and roll, and try a Midtie. It's like,
Speaker 4: you know, like, hell, I don't care. Try a couple
Speaker 4: Evan post ups. He's gotten way better on the posts.
Speaker 4: He can get a switch yep and and try to
Speaker 4: mash that and get to on the ball. You know,
Speaker 4: like a lot is correctly noted about this team's three
Speaker 4: point shooting falling off a cliff in this series. But
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna play the variance game here because not
Speaker 4: only I mean I haven't checked the wide open numbers.
Speaker 3: I can look that for these.
Speaker 4: Since game one, but I would argue that even their
Speaker 4: wide open ones aren't easy right now because they're taking
Speaker 4: so much effort to get to them. You know, Donovan
Speaker 4: missed one where he had to do like a very
Speaker 4: violent step back in game four. It's like, none of
Speaker 4: these threes are in balance and rhythm. No one gets
Speaker 4: catch and shoot threes except Max, and it's just like
Speaker 4: your process is just not leading to a shod diet
Speaker 4: that's worth putting your name one.
Speaker 2: They're down to fifteen wide open threes per game. They're
Speaker 2: shooting twenty seven percent on those. But again, like that
Speaker 2: is such a far drop off from what we saw
Speaker 2: in the regular season when it came to this team, right, Like,
Speaker 2: they were a team that was in the regular season
Speaker 2: they got twenty five wide open threes per game. When
Speaker 2: they would play Indiana for the season, they got over twenty, right,
Speaker 2: And sure that twenty seven percent is going to be
Speaker 2: part of this.
Speaker 4: Milwaukee get against them, That's what I want to know,
Speaker 4: because I felt like they were getting an open three
Speaker 4: whenever they wanted. And I know Yannis is great and
Speaker 4: we don't have a Yanis, but we have ways to
Speaker 4: make defenses break. And that's like, again, turn the freaking
Speaker 4: corner man.
Speaker 3: Like Milwaukee got seventeen.
Speaker 4: Like that Milwaukee team should not be generating more open
Speaker 4: threes than us. And I'll bet they hit more of
Speaker 4: them too, because they were open in rhythm, comfort types
Speaker 4: of shots.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean I guess some of this, maybe I am
Speaker 4: playing the result a little and maybe it's hard like
Speaker 4: we maybe they should be shooting better but I'm also
Speaker 4: watching the game, and I'm watching Donovan uh you know empty.
Speaker 4: You know, like if you have like a big stamina
Speaker 4: meter for the for the game that reflects how tired
Speaker 4: you are, but you have like a possession by possession
Speaker 4: exertion meter. I feel like every Cavs three, they're they've
Speaker 4: expended their.
Speaker 3: Per play exertion.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so even if they get open, they're freaking having
Speaker 4: a you know, you know, get get get set up,
Speaker 4: really really think about getting a clean shot off.
Speaker 3: It's just not easy.
Speaker 4: And then you watch Indie and you know, it's just
Speaker 4: a parade of mostly rhythm threes. So I don't know
Speaker 4: what side I'm more disappointed in the defensive side or
Speaker 4: the offensive side.
Speaker 3: Right now? I lean offense.
Speaker 4: I do too, because I've I've always felt that's the problem,
Speaker 4: and I think it is fueling Indiana's perimeter game and
Speaker 4: transition game. You know how many miles turner trailer threes
Speaker 4: has he gotten in this series, just because Indi is
Speaker 4: just constantly in motion. But it just goes back to
Speaker 4: the detail thing. Sorry, I'm just getting a little ranty,
Speaker 4: but like they you know, the floor balance isn't even good,
Speaker 4: you know, like I just I'm not seeing them do
Speaker 4: enough right for a team that I thought was ready
Speaker 4: to go compete for a championship, And like it's not over.
Speaker 4: They can absolutely clean this stuff up. They might not
Speaker 4: win the series even if they clean it up, by
Speaker 4: the way, because the margins are so thin now, But
Speaker 4: like that's what I.
Speaker 3: Want to see, you know.
Speaker 4: I felt like I really watched them give a give
Speaker 4: a god's honest effort in Boston, completely outgunned by the end.
Speaker 3: I want to see the same thing. Yeah, totally agree.
Speaker 2: I think it's clear that they're not putting themselves in
Speaker 2: their position to do the best work, which is something
Speaker 2: that zoom Ai Companion would never allow to happen for us,
Speaker 2: because only you can do your best work, Carder, zoom
Speaker 2: Ai Companion can help you do the rest automatically taking notes,
Speaker 2: answering meeting questions, and helping you respond to your coworker
Speaker 2: bailable no additional cost. Of the eligible paid plans were
Speaker 2: happy with Zuomi Companion. I think, you know, the effort
Speaker 2: and focus is the biggest thing for me because this
Speaker 2: lost things a little bit less, just because I can
Speaker 2: see the situation that we're in physically right, Like even
Speaker 2: if they came back to win the series. We talked
Speaker 2: about this on the last podcast, Like, I think the
Speaker 2: ceiling for what this playoff run can be is capped
Speaker 2: by the health situation.
Speaker 3: That we're in.
Speaker 2: And now we've can add Donovan Mitchell to that list.
Speaker 2: He's listed is questionable for the next game. For Game five,
Speaker 2: I will likely be a game time decision. You know,
Speaker 2: look like a reaggravation of the ankle seems to be
Speaker 2: the reporting I did see. Brian Windhors was mentioning, Hey,
Speaker 2: you know he has been playing through a calf. All
Speaker 2: of that's connected as you know, someone that is currently
Speaker 2: going through a setback. When it comes to my rehabit,
Speaker 2: it just leads to me being incredibly you know, paranoid
Speaker 2: when it comes to anything calf related. But I definitely
Speaker 2: trust the Cavs trainers and medical staff when it comes
Speaker 2: to that. But we'll see what his availability is. But
Speaker 2: I would say, you know, even if Donovan is enabled
Speaker 2: to play, I think this team is able to put
Speaker 2: up a good enough effort to win Game five. I
Speaker 2: think that they can accept.
Speaker 3: At home man and they won sixty four.
Speaker 2: Games, and you know, I think once again, the effort
Speaker 2: and how it occurs is the biggest thing. I could
Speaker 2: have been okay with a Game four loss. I could
Speaker 2: have been okay with that exact type of scenario if
Speaker 2: the rest of the series had felt differently, right, Like,
Speaker 2: we understand that there's going to be lowel losses in
Speaker 2: either direction of the playoffs, and sometimes you know, you
Speaker 2: you lose the battle and you come back to.
Speaker 3: Win the war.
Speaker 2: Both of those instances that I mentioned before, where you know,
Speaker 2: with Lebron led teams, the Calves lost by thirty to
Speaker 2: forty points in the playoffs, they came back and they
Speaker 2: won the series, whether it was the twenty sixteen finals
Speaker 2: or Game seven against Indiana in the first round. So
Speaker 2: it doesn't have to be a death sentence. But for me,
Speaker 2: what I really want to see is Caves to feel
Speaker 2: like the Calves, and if they go down in game five, six, seven,
Speaker 2: whatever the case may be, with an honest effort where
Speaker 2: it feels like the Calves, I'm going to feel better
Speaker 2: about that.
Speaker 4: And I yeah, there's no shame in losing to an
Speaker 4: indie team that after like a ten and sixteen start
Speaker 4: with bananas.
Speaker 3: The rest of the way.
Speaker 4: That is, you know that I was you know had
Speaker 4: appropriate fear of there's no shame in losing to them
Speaker 4: when with the injury text you have around him, I
Speaker 4: think that you just crossed that threshold when you're not
Speaker 4: playing your style of basketball, when you're you know, even
Speaker 4: like stuff like Tai Jerome just having a nightmare series
Speaker 4: like that sucks, right, Like I'm not but I'm not
Speaker 4: sitting here mad at Ti Jerome. I'm bummed. I'm sure
Speaker 4: Ty is bummed that he's having the series he's having,
Speaker 4: especially after the first round he had against Miami, where
Speaker 4: you think, okay, everything you thought, yeah, and uh, you know,
Speaker 4: so I'm sure he's bummed. But I there's a reason
Speaker 4: we're not on here decrying that Tai Jerome is letting
Speaker 4: the team down, because like one, that's not interesting analysis
Speaker 4: and you know, only serves to make yourself feel good
Speaker 4: holding someone accountable or whatever, and I hate that, which we're.
Speaker 3: Going to get a lot of that this SAW season.
Speaker 4: I'm sure, yeah, yeah, But like I the reason we're
Speaker 4: not doing is because like that's just like a guy
Speaker 4: having a bad performance, and that is understandable. It's not
Speaker 4: personally acceptable, I'm sure to him, but like it's not
Speaker 4: indicative of a team losing who they are, you know,
Speaker 4: and like so much of what's gone on in the series.
Speaker 3: In these pockets of pain.
Speaker 4: Game four n understanding, which was just a you know,
Speaker 4: the whole factory of pain. But like these pockets of
Speaker 4: pain where they're losing these games, is that it's them
Speaker 4: losing themselves, not playing the way that we know they're
Speaker 4: capable of playing. And it's like, well, guys, like I
Speaker 4: guess you know there's a bit of reaping sewing going on.
Speaker 4: You know, you don't play your style against a good
Speaker 4: team who never ever doesn't play their style, you know,
Speaker 4: Like I do think if they lose this series, there
Speaker 4: should be some soul searching, not just about what this
Speaker 4: roster is capable of, but like they should look across
Speaker 4: the aisle and be like, why do they never lose
Speaker 4: who they are? Given that Game three, where the Calves
Speaker 4: had a great game plan, controlled the game the whole
Speaker 4: way through. In the fourth quarter, there were the Pacers
Speaker 4: doing there.
Speaker 2: Felt several pushes from them, right like the Calves were
Speaker 2: able to answer back. But even though they had those stretches,
Speaker 2: they did get back to you know, who they are
Speaker 2: and what their style of play is.
Speaker 3: I think you're right.
Speaker 2: I think that's going to be one of the macro
Speaker 2: takeaways because even though you know you.
Speaker 3: Can ascribe a lot of what's.
Speaker 2: Happened to the injuries, that losing you know, your identity
Speaker 2: and your style of play is something that honestly, if
Speaker 2: the Cavs were fully healthy, it probably could overcome in
Speaker 2: this individual series. They probably would overcome in this individual series,
Speaker 2: but it would show up later in the playoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's going to show up, you know, against the Boston
Speaker 2: or against an OKC. And if we want to hold
Speaker 2: ourselves to that championship standard, in if that's what this
Speaker 2: team is going to continue to build towards, that is
Speaker 2: usable data. That is a macro takeaway that you can
Speaker 2: take from the series. And I don't I you know,
Speaker 2: the people that doubted the Cavs coming into this, I
Speaker 2: don't expect them, Like it would be absolute lunacy for
Speaker 2: me to expect them to look at this result and say, Okay,
Speaker 2: well I'm going to approach this with nuance. No, they're
Speaker 2: going to go to their priors, right Like, when you
Speaker 2: have played as well as the Calves have played this
Speaker 2: season and you earn those expectations for yourself. You know,
Speaker 2: people are going to have opinions. If you come up
Speaker 2: short of expectations, you are going to receive backlash. I
Speaker 2: think that this team is more than capable of handling that.
Speaker 2: But I do think, you know, you have to find
Speaker 2: those nuggets of truth or is you like to say,
Speaker 2: what lessons do you want to learn from this situation?
Speaker 3: And I think that.
Speaker 2: Type of identity aspect of this is something that requires analysis.
Speaker 2: It requires them to reflect upon it, and you know,
Speaker 2: applied properly, can be something that ends up being a
Speaker 2: difference maker. When you talk about this team's evolution to
Speaker 2: try to become, you know, a championship team.
Speaker 4: It most importantly has nothing to do with injuries, correct,
Speaker 4: because injuries are always going to muddy your analysis. They're complicated.
Speaker 4: You know, we get yelled at a lot. We're getting
Speaker 4: yelled at in the YouTube chat right this very second
Speaker 4: for talking too much about injuries, which I think is
Speaker 4: funny because I think we're barely talking about them.
Speaker 3: I think we're talking about why they don't matter. And
Speaker 3: for the most part, yea.
Speaker 4: If anything, Yeah, But like at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: I see when when things do get muddy in any
Speaker 4: scientific experiment, which every basketball season for your team is
Speaker 4: an experiment. You look at the controls, you look at
Speaker 4: the the things that aren't going to be variable, and
Speaker 4: you know there's a reason, even without Halliburton in the
Speaker 4: Conference finals last year, that Indy was making Austin sweaty.
Speaker 3: And I just think they.
Speaker 4: Need to whatever road it is, they have to find it,
Speaker 4: whether it's going to be this series, whether it's the
Speaker 4: off season, whether it's.
Speaker 3: In a different era of the team.
Speaker 2: Like your ultimate goal, your ultimate goal should be an
Speaker 2: identity and a style of play that is magic you
Speaker 2: can impose correct and that you can impose.
Speaker 4: You know, I've one of my favorite models for team
Speaker 4: building that I've brought up a lot is the Grit
Speaker 4: and grind and Grizzlies, who never won a title, who
Speaker 4: had plenty of series they lost, you know, every year
Speaker 4: they always lost someone or to someone. But you knew
Speaker 4: that going into this series. And you can even look
Speaker 4: at the magic right now in that way, like the
Speaker 4: magic got.
Speaker 3: You know what a magic series feel like?
Speaker 4: They got comfortably dispatched in five games and Boston hated
Speaker 4: every second of it. Yep, Like that's what I want,
Speaker 4: That's what I want my.
Speaker 3: Team to be. That's what I want my team to do.
Speaker 4: And I'm not saying go be the Orlando Magic, be
Speaker 4: the Calves, but like, you've got to be the Calves
Speaker 4: all the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I think a big part of that, you know,
Speaker 2: goes back to what we were saying before about involving
Speaker 2: the bigs and particularly involving Evan Mobley. We know how
Speaker 2: important he has to be to the Cavs success, and
Speaker 2: I feel like when we've been in some of these
Speaker 2: games where you know they've kind of lost the sense
Speaker 2: of who they are, it's not because Mobley's out there struggling.
Speaker 2: And I think there were times in Game four where
Speaker 2: it seemed like, Okay, they know what he's trying to do,
Speaker 2: and they were taking away some of his counters. They
Speaker 2: did a good job of him individually, but never really
Speaker 2: feels like you don't get the five of twenty Evan
Speaker 2: Mobley game right where it's all right, we're trying to
Speaker 2: go down with the ship and he's just not able
Speaker 2: to deliver.
Speaker 4: What's the most field goal attempts Evan's taken in the
Speaker 4: playoffs so.
Speaker 3: Far fourteen thirteen.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I'm good at guessing getting back to you know,
Speaker 2: your good and grind example. I think an even more
Speaker 2: relatable example for Kavs fans the twenty sixteen Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 2: You looked at that twenty fifteen Finals, and people said,
Speaker 2: look how they were able to muddy things up against
Speaker 2: the Warriors.
Speaker 3: They need to play.
Speaker 2: You know, you would get the need to bench Kyrie,
Speaker 2: You need a bench, Kevin Love.
Speaker 3: You need to muddy up the series.
Speaker 2: You got to slow things down, you got to make
Speaker 2: the Warriors uncomfortable, you got to beat them up. And
Speaker 2: the Cavs said, that's not our identity. Yes, that worked
Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen out of desperation. That was how we
Speaker 2: were able to make a series of it, but that's
Speaker 2: not how we play. And the top four highest paced
Speaker 2: games of the twenty sixteen Finals were all Cavs wins
Speaker 2: because they played their style. They weren't afraid that their
Speaker 2: style played into what the Warriors typically like to do.
Speaker 2: They played to their identity, and I think finding that
Speaker 2: identity is one of the most important things for the Cavs.
Speaker 3: And you know, I.
Speaker 2: Think we've talked a lot about the players and where
Speaker 2: they came up shortly in this game, but I do
Speaker 2: think beyond them, you know, understanding what needs to change
Speaker 2: for Game five, executing the way that we've seen in
Speaker 2: previous games of this series. I do think some of
Speaker 2: this it has to fall in the coaching staff as well.
Speaker 2: I thought Indiana came out, they had a plan of
Speaker 2: attack for the three to two zone, and the cast
Speaker 2: stayed in you know, they stayed in looks that made
Speaker 2: Indiana feel comfortable offensively. Far too frequently in this game.
Speaker 2: They were able to, you know, get those deep corner
Speaker 2: shots and attack the zone from there. You know, I
Speaker 2: think three two zone and zone in general is something
Speaker 2: that you can throw at Indy. I think it has
Speaker 2: to be for a possession or two, right Like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we're playing man to man boom for one or two
Speaker 2: possessions in a row. We're throwing zone, then we're going
Speaker 2: back to man. We're going to sawt switch here, We're
Speaker 2: going to fight through screens here, We're going to throw
Speaker 2: a variety of looks, which honestly we saw against you know,
Speaker 2: the Miami Heat and Tyler Hero they were throwing a
Speaker 2: variety of defensive looks at them. They stayed in the
Speaker 2: same looks far too consistently. And I think that that
Speaker 2: allowed Indy to just play their game, as he said, uninhibited.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the the you know, and it's not that just necessarily.
Speaker 4: I'm like, you're not allowed to play three two zone anymore,
Speaker 4: you know. Nate Duncan made some really good observations in
Speaker 4: the game on Twitter about how, you know, Evan needs
Speaker 4: to just when he gets screened at the top, he
Speaker 4: just needs to stick with the roller because that role
Speaker 4: is just too unprotected, especially if Jarrett isn't out there.
Speaker 4: So like, you know, but when you do that, then
Speaker 4: you open up the pull up game. You know, now
Speaker 4: you're just getting screened uninhibited because the help can't get
Speaker 4: up there in time. So it's like it just felt
Speaker 4: like not only did they stick in the three two zone,
Speaker 4: they stuck with the same three two zone principles for
Speaker 4: too long, you're right, and it's like they have a
Speaker 4: solve for the way you're guarding this. You have to
Speaker 4: tweak it or show something different every now and again,
Speaker 4: even within the three to two yep, And they just
Speaker 4: kind of hung and said, well, let's see. I mean,
Speaker 4: Indy has so many wide open layups duck ins with
Speaker 4: where a big rolls or cuts to the rim baseline
Speaker 4: and catches it with ridiculously deep position.
Speaker 3: And gets the easiest and ones of their career.
Speaker 4: Like, I mean, the there was just such a systematic
Speaker 4: opening and then the execution was poor too, you know,
Speaker 4: and like I mean, you can maybe get away with
Speaker 4: one with the Calves defensive talent, you can't get away
Speaker 4: with both.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Now that was that sucked.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And the thing is right, like Indy's going to
Speaker 2: make you uncomfortable. Indy doesn't have the level of defensive
Speaker 2: personnel that the Calves have, right, Like, even if you
Speaker 2: look at playoff defensive rating, the Calves do have a
Speaker 2: better defensive rating for the playoffs. But what Indied does
Speaker 2: is they rush your decision making. You have to be
Speaker 2: sharp at all times. And I think one of the
Speaker 2: things that the Cavs have had defensively, like the form
Speaker 2: the most part, the defense is held up regular season playoffs,
Speaker 2: they've been a good defense. This is the first series
Speaker 2: where I feel like they've lost control defensively at times.
Speaker 2: But I think what we've seen from the Caves is
Speaker 2: they do a good job contesting.
Speaker 3: The rim.
Speaker 2: Protection has always been fantastic. They're able to stay in
Speaker 2: their shell defense and you know, put forward a you know,
Speaker 2: a defense that's good enough to go out there and win,
Speaker 2: and often a you know, a top five, top ten defense.
Speaker 2: But they don't make teams uncomfortable often enough. They will
Speaker 2: stay kind of in those base looks and they don't
Speaker 2: rush your decision making. They don't make things more difficult
Speaker 2: for you in those ways. They trust what they are
Speaker 2: able to do, right, like Max Strus getting in the
Speaker 2: jersey of Tyre's Halliburn fighting through screens.
Speaker 3: You love to see that.
Speaker 2: Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, what they're able to do
Speaker 2: on the back line defensively like that is all really
Speaker 2: important stuff. But they aren't able to create havoc when
Speaker 2: it comes to their defense unless it's you know, Evan
Speaker 2: mobilely grabbing a block out of the air and starting
Speaker 2: a fast break as a result of it.
Speaker 4: It's kind of the Isaaco Couro problem in Mac in
Speaker 4: whatever the opposite, you know, sound positional defense that doesn't
Speaker 4: do enough to bother the shot before the shot, right,
Speaker 4: And I think you know that that's another one of
Speaker 4: those things I'm going to have you know, my eye
Speaker 4: on when it comes to the offseason, right, because there's
Speaker 4: going to be limitations in terms of what this team
Speaker 4: can do as a second apron team.
Speaker 2: You're it's tinkering on the margins, but understanding that it's okay,
Speaker 2: how can we make enough of a change to our
Speaker 2: style of play without dramatic shakeups? Like how how how
Speaker 2: can we do things both internally and on the margins,
Speaker 2: you know, from a roster construction standpoint, to modify our
Speaker 2: style of play so that we are able to be
Speaker 2: a little bit more bothersome, because when you had that
Speaker 2: level of backline defense in theory, you should be able
Speaker 2: to do a little bit more gambling. You should be
Speaker 2: able to blitz a little bit, blitz and recover and
Speaker 2: make teams uncomfortable defensively. And that's that's one of those
Speaker 2: things that I'm going to have an eye on.
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure, me too. Game five, do you make
Speaker 4: any rotational changes?
Speaker 3: I don't think you can.
Speaker 2: Like, you know, you can say, all right, well, should
Speaker 2: Craig port a junior play instead of tie? No, I like,
Speaker 2: There's been times where I've liked to I'd like to
Speaker 2: see Craig. I like the minutes that he had. I
Speaker 2: thought that was one of the issues with Game two
Speaker 2: is I would have liked to have seen him get
Speaker 2: a second shift. I like his athleticism out there. You
Speaker 2: can say Javonte Green for energy and things like that,
Speaker 2: but I think you just kind of have to go
Speaker 2: with the guys that you have. Obviously, some of that
Speaker 2: is going to be dependent on the availability of Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 2: If he's not able to play, your inevitably going to
Speaker 2: have some changes to the rotation. I if I was
Speaker 2: to suggest a wild card in that kind of instance
Speaker 2: where you have to have a major kind of you know,
Speaker 2: you have to replace a major contributor in Donald Mitchell,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't hate throwing out Jalen Tyson just for a physicality,
Speaker 2: second chance opportunities, and because this might have to be
Speaker 2: one of those guys that you rely on the future to,
Speaker 2: you know, change how you feel on the perimeter.
Speaker 3: You know, just from a physicality standpoint.
Speaker 4: I might be playing Jalen over Dean or Isaac and
Speaker 4: just give it a shot. That's yeah, That's That's what
Speaker 4: I'm saying, is you know if yeah, well you said
Speaker 4: if Donovan doesn't play, I'm saying maybe even if he does, okay,
Speaker 4: because at this point Isaac's just not in the right
Speaker 4: let me. Yeah, that's kind of what I'm suggesting. Not
Speaker 4: a long shift. I'm talking eight to ten minutes total,
Speaker 4: but that is paired with you know, it's a two
Speaker 4: parter because I think I'm playing Evan and Jarrett forty
Speaker 4: minutes plus, yeah, and saying, uh, you know, we're going
Speaker 4: down with If I'm going down with two bigs, I'm
Speaker 4: going down playing guys who can you know, change the
Speaker 4: physicality game in our favor a little bit, get us
Speaker 4: extra possessions in the former rebounds, a little bit of
Speaker 4: extra shooting from the wing in Jalen, especially since I
Speaker 4: don't trust DeAndre to be able to shoot yeah right now.
Speaker 4: But like, you know, these are a little bit of
Speaker 4: you know, some of the playing a rookie who wasn't
Speaker 4: in your rotation all year in a deciding playoff game
Speaker 4: like is indicative of what the state of the back
Speaker 4: end of the Cavs rotation right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Where the real answer is.
Speaker 4: Ty has to play well, Darius has to play well,
Speaker 4: Jared has to play well, Evan has to play well.
Speaker 3: And if they do that, if they ever.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, uh and you know, but I if they can't,
Speaker 4: then I need I need someone who's gonna try stuff
Speaker 4: and maybe mess up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and uh and uh, and I'll go with Jalen
Speaker 3: doing that. I I I completely agree.
Speaker 2: I think I think, you know, the Jalen Tyson conversation
Speaker 2: is one that we're going to be having this offseason
Speaker 2: because it will.
Speaker 4: Be I I don't even know if it's a conversation.
Speaker 4: I just think he's gonna he needs to get the
Speaker 4: he needs to get there.
Speaker 3: You need him to get no.
Speaker 2: But I mean, you know, opening up that opportunity is
Speaker 2: going to take, you know, some changes because they have
Speaker 2: so much depth, right, So I think that he is
Speaker 2: someone that brings some of that physicality, some of that
Speaker 2: edge on the perimeter. And I like, I honestly, I
Speaker 2: love what Max has been for for the Cavs. I
Speaker 2: think he you know, when you look back at that
Speaker 2: sign trade, this is basically the best case scenario. I
Speaker 2: think he is better as he's been a member of
Speaker 2: the Calves. I think he has been probably our most
Speaker 2: consistent player in the playoffs. You know now that that
Speaker 2: Jared has had that kind of one dud game, I
Speaker 2: would have given Jared the nod prior to that, but
Speaker 2: I think Max is running with that ground right now.
Speaker 3: I like what DeAndre has given the Calves.
Speaker 2: I'm cunning him a ton of slack because he's so
Speaker 2: he can can't grip the ball right now, Like I'm
Speaker 2: gonna cut him slack in that scenario. But I really
Speaker 2: like how he is fit with this team. It's about
Speaker 2: going beyond those six right and reflecting on Okay, well things.
Speaker 3: Went wrong for ty Jerome. What does that mean? Right?
Speaker 2: You know, Isaac Okor, I think we're going to have
Speaker 2: some conversations about him. Dean Wade, We're not going to
Speaker 2: have some conversations about him. But when you have promising,
Speaker 2: you know, young players like a Jalen Tyson and to
Speaker 2: some extent, Craig Porter Jr. It forces you to have
Speaker 2: these conversations from a team building standpoint. So we'll see
Speaker 2: what the availability is for Game five. You know, when
Speaker 2: it comes to Donovan Mitchell, as much as I want
Speaker 2: to go out and win this game and extend the series,
Speaker 2: you got to do what's best for the long term
Speaker 2: health there.
Speaker 3: So we'll see what his availability is. I'm sure he
Speaker 3: will be fighting to give it a go.
Speaker 2: But I'm not disappointed with his effort at all in
Speaker 2: these playoffs I think he is, you know, laid it
Speaker 2: all on the line, and that's exactly what I hope
Speaker 2: from the overall team.
Speaker 4: In game five, absolutely, man, come on, let's extend this thing. Sure,
Speaker 4: I don't want to see these dudes go out at home.
Speaker 3: No, so totally agree.
Speaker 2: Let's let's defend a home court and see, you know
Speaker 2: how much further we can extend it from there, one
Speaker 2: game at a time. Big thanks to everyone that tuned
Speaker 2: in live on YouTube. Carter, thank you for you know,
Speaker 2: struggling through that voice. I appreciate it. I can't believe
Speaker 2: this has happened again for you in the playoffs, but
Speaker 2: I love you, buddy, I love you. Get all our
Speaker 2: listeners as well. We appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Guys.
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Speaker 2: do appreciate it. Make sure you guys are staying safe
Speaker 2: out there. Until next time, Don Gast