Speaker 1: This crowd rises to its being what Carl slamming it
Speaker 1: out car left wing free ball perfect?
Speaker 2: Then he blocked the shot at the rim.
Speaker 1: How with the left.
Speaker 2: Hand head of foul.
Speaker 3: Welcome to Chasetown Podcast, part of the CAZ Media family.
Speaker 3: I'm your host Justin Rohwan. The Chasetown is presented by Fubo,
Speaker 3: the official streaming partner of the Calves. Watch over three
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty channels of live sports and TV, including
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Speaker 3: Try for free at FuboTV dot com slash CAZ if
Speaker 3: you can hear it in my voice. The Cleveland Cavaliers
Speaker 3: have lost their series to the Indiana Pacers in five games.
Speaker 3: The game was close, they had a lead, Indiana made
Speaker 3: their push took a lead. The Cavs had a chance
Speaker 3: to tie it up near the end of the game,
Speaker 3: but ultimately came up short. The season is over. It
Speaker 3: stings and joining me today to discuss it as my
Speaker 3: co host, Carter Rodriguez.
Speaker 1: Carter, Hey, nobuddy, you know I'm feeling melancholy. You spend
Speaker 1: a lot of time investing into into this team, you know, Uh, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I always think about the thing I said to No
Speaker 1: I'm on this very podcast, our dear friend Jeff Nomena,
Speaker 1: that if our significant others had a hobby that left
Speaker 1: them this down, we would think they were out of
Speaker 1: their minds. And uh, you know, that's just that's just
Speaker 1: that's just how I feel right now. I feel sad,
Speaker 1: Feel frustrated that, you know, they were banged up again
Speaker 1: and you really saw that, Feel disappointed that all the
Speaker 1: things that I was worried about them kind of came
Speaker 1: back to bite. Feel stupid. We're kind of for believing,
Speaker 1: you know, like you have all those kind of feelings
Speaker 1: going through your brain. Yeah, yeah, just because like I really,
Speaker 1: you know, it's hard one for me to get to
Speaker 1: the point where I'm like, I think we might be
Speaker 1: able to win a title this year, you know, like
Speaker 1: that I take my time getting to that opinion. And
Speaker 1: not that I was ever. I mean, I wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: pick us in the next round if it was us
Speaker 1: versus the Celtics, which you know that's its own thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah, you just I feel like you kind of
Speaker 1: are going through the feelings right now, and it's it's sad.
Speaker 1: I'm just sad Man.
Speaker 3: It definitely stings, and you know, one of the things
Speaker 3: I was reflecting on, you know, it's always tough when
Speaker 3: we go post game, you know, even if it's a win,
Speaker 3: to collect your thoughts and you know, kind of have
Speaker 3: that same level of preparedness we do with the other podcast.
Speaker 3: But one of the things I was kind of reflecting
Speaker 3: on is, you know, we've been doing this podcast since
Speaker 3: twenty seventeen. This is the first time that you and
Speaker 3: I have done a podcast where the Cavs didn't go
Speaker 3: as far as we thought that they would at the
Speaker 3: start of a season. You know, in twenty seventeen and eighteen,
Speaker 3: we thought they'd make the finals. After Lebron left, we
Speaker 3: didn't say that this team was going to be a
Speaker 3: team that could make the playoffs or the postseason. You know,
Speaker 3: in those following years, I think we kept the expectations
Speaker 3: realistic and found things to care about during that time.
Speaker 3: And you know, looking back at the last few years, yes,
Speaker 3: our expectations would grow within the season when this team
Speaker 3: would overachieve, you know, particularly that first year with Donald
Speaker 3: Mitchell where we said, okay, you know our goal for
Speaker 3: the season was to you know, make the playoffs, potentially
Speaker 3: get home court, but now we feel like we can
Speaker 3: actually win around So they've come up short of kind
Speaker 3: of those escalated expectations that we've had.
Speaker 2: But this is the.
Speaker 3: First time where we came into a season saying we
Speaker 3: think that this is a team that's going to make
Speaker 3: the conference finals. Anything less than that is going to
Speaker 3: be a failure. And I think, you know, all the
Speaker 3: contacts aside, I think that that's what the season was
Speaker 3: ultimately right, Like the regular season was success, It's why
Speaker 3: I compartmentalize the two. But they failed to come up
Speaker 3: to the level of their postseason goals. And I agree
Speaker 3: with what Kenny Atkinson said before this game. I think
Speaker 3: it was exactly the same kind of thing that we
Speaker 3: were trying to say on the last podcast, which is
Speaker 3: injuries were obviously a factor, but I think they had
Speaker 3: enough to win this series. I think if this team
Speaker 3: was fully healthy, it would have been It probably would
Speaker 3: have been enough to cover up some of the bad
Speaker 3: habits that we saw in this series. I think some
Speaker 3: of the issues that we've seen from the Cavs, I
Speaker 3: think they would have been able to out talent a
Speaker 3: lot of that, and I think it would have changed
Speaker 3: the complexion of the series. You know, you could sit
Speaker 3: here and say, well, you know, the calls go differently
Speaker 3: in game two. If the last two minutes is called properly,
Speaker 3: you know you're in a two to two situation and
Speaker 3: you feel better about it. I think they had enough
Speaker 3: to win this series with who is available in the
Speaker 3: state that they were available. It just reduced their margin
Speaker 3: of error down to a level where some of the
Speaker 3: mental mistakes, some of you know, those demon in some
Speaker 3: of the issues that they've had in the past, came
Speaker 3: bubbling up to the surface and it wasn't problems that
Speaker 3: they could just out talent and overcome that way. So
Speaker 3: I think that in some ways that makes this a
Speaker 3: more informative series than it otherwise would have been, and
Speaker 3: I think there is a lot of lessons to learn from.
Speaker 3: This doesn't make it any easier, though, Like I understand
Speaker 3: how people react in this situation, right like people are
Speaker 3: going to lash out. You know, I look at some
Speaker 3: prominent voices that have been vocal about the calves, and
Speaker 3: I could have told you what their takeaway from this
Speaker 3: game was going to be before the game even occurred,
Speaker 3: before the series even occurred. If the Calves came up
Speaker 3: short of expectations, like everyone's going to default to their priors,
Speaker 3: and you know, my instinct is to not lash out
Speaker 3: the team. It's to lash out at the people that
Speaker 3: I disagree with. But none of that's healthy, right We're
Speaker 3: all looking to redirect our anger and our frustration in
Speaker 3: some other direction, and you know it's not healthy. But
Speaker 3: I empathize with the fans, right, Like, this was a
Speaker 3: lot of fun. This team gave you a lot of
Speaker 3: reasons to believe and coming up short just things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and I really do think a lot
Speaker 1: of uh not to go like full armchair psychologists here.
Speaker 1: I do think a lot of the mad on the
Speaker 1: timeline right now is finley disguised sad, you know, I think,
Speaker 1: and I think that's always sometimes I.
Speaker 2: Just wish very closely related.
Speaker 1: I just wish fans could kind of know, like a
Speaker 1: little bit better, like what their feelings are, and like,
Speaker 1: you know, I think I and you know, that's just
Speaker 1: part of it. And it's not like I didn't get
Speaker 1: pissy during this series myself. You know, there's so many
Speaker 1: things that I kind of keep going back to in
Speaker 1: terms of what this team needs to take away and
Speaker 1: I just think it's again, it's getting dragged into someone
Speaker 1: else's style. Yeah, and I don't I'm not sure what
Speaker 1: the answer is there, dude, especially with and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, we have all off season to talk about
Speaker 1: the changes that gain and cannot be made. But like,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know how you get past you know,
Speaker 1: you start the third quarter so crisp, so sharp, and
Speaker 1: then you just stop playing basketball. Yeah, you know. And
Speaker 1: I know Indiana like cranked the pressure up, but I mean,
Speaker 1: and I know that Darius could not move and it
Speaker 1: got worse and worse over the course of the game
Speaker 1: in a way that was really really hard to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know.
Speaker 1: That Donovan got you know, I either stepped on or
Speaker 1: need a knee or something like that on that three
Speaker 1: and and he had a he couldn't move that whole
Speaker 1: quarter either. But it was the lack of commitment to anything.
Speaker 1: You know, we have Max left wing Iso layup on
Speaker 1: Andrew nimhard like like you know, not to go full
Speaker 1: Patrick Ewing here, but like did you practice that shot?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Like is that what part of our offense has been
Speaker 1: Max struce isoing against the best defender on the other
Speaker 1: team's team against his set defense, Like that wasn't part
Speaker 1: of this team's brand or identity all year. It wasn't
Speaker 1: even their identity to have Donovan or Darius Iso against
Speaker 1: the other team's best player on offense all year. So
Speaker 1: like you can't even just tell me, like, well, those
Speaker 1: guys are hurting. Someone's got to do it, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: I just think their stylistic resilience is the number one
Speaker 1: thing that like I thought I saw signs against Miami
Speaker 1: that they were going to be able to do it,
Speaker 1: And I just think the takeaway here is at Miami
Speaker 1: was just disastrously bad and not even close to being
Speaker 1: a playoff team, And we didn't learn anything from that series.
Speaker 1: You know, I thought we learned a couple of things
Speaker 1: we didn't And until they can answer that stylistic imprint question,
Speaker 1: I just, you know, I just don't know if there's
Speaker 1: a lot of value in looking at any one individual
Speaker 1: blame focal point. You know, Jarrett's gonna catch a lot
Speaker 1: of hell all summer because he had two really you know,
Speaker 1: non bad games, non impactful games to close the series
Speaker 1: the season, while guys like Thomas Bryant are feasting. But
Speaker 1: like you know, We've always said that, like kind of
Speaker 1: a Canarian the coal mine situation with this team and
Speaker 1: you know a team you know, and I go back
Speaker 1: to the Swiss Watch analogy I've made a bunch of times.
Speaker 1: You know, one grain of sand just takes the second
Speaker 1: best offense in the history of the sport in the
Speaker 1: regular season two, Max Strus isowing Andrew Nimhart on the
Speaker 1: wing with like eighteen seconds left on the shot clock. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and like I just I wish I knew the answer
Speaker 1: to that, but I don't right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think the un fun answer because it's
Speaker 3: kind of boring and it doesn't really say a whole
Speaker 3: lot is when it comes to, you know, ability to
Speaker 3: maintain style of play, to impose your will and all that. Like,
Speaker 3: I think that's something that they're either going to figure
Speaker 3: out or they're not. Like it's ultimately going to be
Speaker 3: something that through the experience, through you know, this failure,
Speaker 3: through their time together, that they eventually figure that out
Speaker 3: or it's going to be the reason why this team
Speaker 3: doesn't win a championship And doesn't you know, get as
Speaker 3: far in the postseason as we want them to write,
Speaker 3: they are going to underachieve in the postseason until that
Speaker 3: aspect of things is figured out. And that was one
Speaker 3: of the things that Kenny Atkinson talked about post game.
Speaker 3: You know, he said that what they need to get
Speaker 3: over is that mental part of the game. He said
Speaker 3: that the next jump, the next leap that we have
Speaker 3: to make is that mental strength. And you know, I
Speaker 3: think some of that comes down to chemistry and continuity, right, Like,
Speaker 3: that's one of the things of you know, when core
Speaker 3: members of a team get to play together for an
Speaker 3: extended period of time, you know, you can have those
Speaker 3: hiccups along the way, but usually when you kind of
Speaker 3: iron that out and you get to that level where
Speaker 3: it's second nature, where you know where everyone's going to be,
Speaker 3: you recognize when someone hasn't gone enough touches for an
Speaker 3: extended period of time and do the right things to
Speaker 3: continue to impose your style of play. Like usually that's
Speaker 3: the kind of thing that takes time, right, Like, I
Speaker 3: think back to you know, Yokichen, Jamal Murray, those guys
Speaker 3: took seven years together, but before they won a championship.
Speaker 3: You know, uh, Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, you know,
Speaker 3: both of them were kind of born on third base
Speaker 3: to some extent being drafted to an Eastern Conference final team.
Speaker 3: But even with that, you know, it took them six
Speaker 3: years to get over the hump. That doesn't mean it's
Speaker 3: going to happen for this team, but I think that
Speaker 3: that is in fact the next step. Right, Like we
Speaker 3: you are able to bank on some you know, physical
Speaker 3: maturity and development, particularly when it comes to guys like
Speaker 3: Darius Garland and Evan Mobley who aren't in their primes yet.
Speaker 3: But I think as a collective, they need to get
Speaker 3: over that hump. And that's one of the things, honestly,
Speaker 3: before we continue on with the Cavs, we need to
Speaker 3: credit the Indiana Pacers for that. They really did impose
Speaker 3: their style of play. They imposed you know, you felt
Speaker 3: like it was an Indiana Pacers game out there.
Speaker 1: And you know in every playoff series of the of
Speaker 1: the Halliburton era, they've done this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they know who they are as a team. They
Speaker 3: stick with that style of play. Even if you get
Speaker 3: them out of that style of play for five six minutes,
Speaker 3: they are going to revert back to it. Right, Like
Speaker 3: it's water finding its level right anytime the the you know,
Speaker 3: the the boat gets rocked, that water is going to
Speaker 3: level out and they are going to be playing Indiana
Speaker 3: Pacers basketball. And like I said, even with all the injuries,
Speaker 3: I think the Cavs had enough, and the way that
Speaker 3: the Indiana Pacers played ensured that it wasn't enough, and
Speaker 3: they need to be credited for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I just I'm sorry. I don't think
Speaker 1: this Indie team is more talented. I think they have
Speaker 1: players who are very talented. I think this was a
Speaker 1: tough matchup for the Cavs because of all the there
Speaker 1: you know, all their pressure they put on you at
Speaker 1: the point of attack defensively, because of their five out.
Speaker 3: Offense, which I think was a big part of the
Speaker 3: whole Jared thing, to be honest. And when we've seen
Speaker 3: him struggle, it's when a team's going five out and
Speaker 3: he's been nasa to switch and guard point guards and
Speaker 3: be taken away from the basket. Usually that's when you
Speaker 3: start to see, oh the rebounds dropped. Well, he's also
Speaker 3: standing out of three point line for a lot of
Speaker 3: the game.
Speaker 1: Yep. But like you know, I mean, Thomas Bryant killed
Speaker 1: them in this series. Obi Topping killed them in the series.
Speaker 1: Calves didn't have any of that you know, and I
Speaker 1: don't think that's because INDI's bench or deep or mid
Speaker 1: you know, middle class of their rotation are so much
Speaker 1: more talented than the Calves. I think it's like the
Speaker 1: inverse of the canary in the coal mine. Like Indiana
Speaker 1: Pacer basketball does what the Calves Calves basketball did in
Speaker 1: the regular season, which is makes things easy. Think about
Speaker 1: how many times we said over the regular season about
Speaker 1: you know, Okoro having good stretches, Wait, having good stretches,
Speaker 1: you know, Jerome going nuts, and and you know what
Speaker 1: did I say over and over and over again. I said,
Speaker 1: It's easy to play Calves basketball right now. It's not
Speaker 1: hard to be a Cleveland Cavalier. And sure looked hard
Speaker 1: in the series, and for the Pacers it just felt
Speaker 1: you know, Obi Toppins getting to do Doctor j scooped
Speaker 1: layups and hell right now amazing. And you know, everyone
Speaker 1: up and down just seemed so comfortable in what their
Speaker 1: job was for so much of the series. And I
Speaker 1: do think that should be a real like wake up
Speaker 1: call for this team, because again it's not you know,
Speaker 1: I think even me and you are going to look
Speaker 1: at this and go, we need more, we need better
Speaker 1: and it's a natural reaction. But it's like just play better.
Speaker 1: Like sometimes it's that simple. I don't think the Calves
Speaker 1: played more than one. You know, how many good quarters
Speaker 1: of basketball did the Calves play in this series? Not enough?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, uh, you know how committed were they to
Speaker 1: who they were? Not enough? And like that is where
Speaker 1: I just kind of like stall out in trying to
Speaker 1: figure out where to go because it's like, you had
Speaker 1: enough talent, you had the coach of the year, you
Speaker 1: didn't have health, which sucks, but like you didn't play
Speaker 1: well yep. And some of that is just like shooting.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm i They're gonna be under thirty percent
Speaker 1: on wide open threes for the series.
Speaker 2: Yeah, without a doubt.
Speaker 3: You know, it was at twenty prior to this game.
Speaker 3: I can almost guarantee you that that went down tonight.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So and so like I don't know, man, Like
Speaker 1: I don't know what you do with uh we we
Speaker 1: are a team of good shooters that can't shoot in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Like some of this stuff is just you know,
Speaker 1: we're at the hard problem to solve portion you know,
Speaker 1: of the of the of the team life cycle, it's
Speaker 1: not really that hard. To be in a rebuild, you
Speaker 1: take swings on young players, you you try to find
Speaker 1: an identity. It's hard to get out of a rebuild,
Speaker 1: but the choice that individual choices are easy. You take on.
Speaker 1: You win as many trades as you can get, as
Speaker 1: you can win. You leverage your position as a team
Speaker 1: that's not a competitive contender to find all these incremental moves.
Speaker 1: But like, we're at the stage where I'm like, I
Speaker 1: don't know what you're supposed to do. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't see the structural change because I really do think
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, and I'm it's the
Speaker 1: least satisfying thing for a podcaster who has to talk
Speaker 1: all summer to say, which is I think they just
Speaker 1: need to play better. Yeah, and and until they do,
Speaker 1: I just I don't know where to go with that. Yeah.
Speaker 3: It comes down to channeling that experience challenge, you know,
Speaker 3: finding the mental toughness within this failure, within what happened
Speaker 3: this season, you know, the self reflection and doing what.
Speaker 2: Needs to be done.
Speaker 3: And that's not something that's easy to talk about, right,
Speaker 3: Like you could sit here and say, oh, look look
Speaker 3: how they shot from the free throw line. They need
Speaker 3: to shoot five thousand free throws a day, and that's what's.
Speaker 2: Going to do it.
Speaker 3: Like, you know, you can kind of say that stuff
Speaker 3: to make yourself feel better, but it really, as Kenny said,
Speaker 3: it comes down to that mental aspect of the game.
Speaker 3: It comes down to getting over that hump to to
Speaker 3: find ways to be more resilient where you know, injuries
Speaker 3: aren't taking them out to the same extent that they are.
Speaker 3: And you know, some of this is bad luck, right, Like,
Speaker 3: it sucks that it all hit. At the same time,
Speaker 3: it sucks that, you know, you look at what the
Speaker 3: Indiana Pacers were able to do physically. This is different
Speaker 3: than the last couple of years. You know, like people
Speaker 3: just see the word physicality, they're like, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: same Calves, blah blah blah. This is completely different. Four
Speaker 3: out of five games in this series, the Calves absolutely
Speaker 3: dominant dominated Indy on the offensive glass and points in
Speaker 3: the paint. That's that's what the issue was for the
Speaker 3: most part. Yeah, that's what the Calves issue was in
Speaker 3: some of these past series, right Like that's where they
Speaker 3: got beat up by the Knicks. That's you know, that
Speaker 3: was the discussion against the Orlando Magic Boston that wasn't
Speaker 3: the case because it was you know, it was just
Speaker 3: you know gang, yeah, like, you know, that's not what
Speaker 3: it's been. This was completely different. Indy was giving you
Speaker 3: pressure and physicality on the perimeter. They recognized that the
Speaker 3: Calves guards were limited. Mitchell was playing through you know,
Speaker 3: that ankle and calf. Throughout this entire series, he's been
Speaker 3: dealing with it. You know, it's some form of something,
Speaker 3: you know, since the beginning of March. So we're at
Speaker 3: two and a half months now of you know, Mitchell
Speaker 3: struggling uh physically and and finding ways to be effective.
Speaker 3: But between Mitchell being limited, between Darius being limited, and
Speaker 3: Ty just not being able to turn the corner, versus
Speaker 3: that pressure at all, it completely changed the complexion of
Speaker 3: the Calves offense. And you know, one of the ways
Speaker 3: to break that is playing through the bigs. That's what
Speaker 3: we talked about on the last podcast. That's how the
Speaker 3: Cavs started this game. To their credit, they were using
Speaker 3: Evan Mobley and Jared Allen as the roleman and not
Speaker 3: only were they scoring individually, it was generating clean looks.
Speaker 3: But Indy started taking that away. They started cheating off
Speaker 3: of Mitchell and Garland, at times they were treating them
Speaker 3: like Isaac Okoro out there, where they were basically daring
Speaker 3: them to shoot because everything that those guys were thrown
Speaker 3: up was coming up short. And you know, that's one
Speaker 3: of those things where you know, I can sit here
Speaker 3: and I still think that there were ways to get
Speaker 3: the Bigs involved. I think you could have continued to
Speaker 3: find ways to get them the ball downhill. I think
Speaker 3: they went away from it. I would have liked to
Speaker 3: see them try and fail more than they did with
Speaker 3: what ind was doing, you know, defensively. But at the
Speaker 3: same time, a big part of this equation is they
Speaker 3: were able to cheat off two of the most dynamic
Speaker 3: guards in the NBA, one of the best backcourts in
Speaker 3: the NBA. And you know Darius is out there shooting,
Speaker 3: what did he shoot? Four sixteen, Mitchell eight of twenty five.
Speaker 3: Neither of them could hit from three. That's going to
Speaker 3: mess up your spacing. I'm sorry, it just is. That's
Speaker 3: going to be part of the equation here. So I
Speaker 3: still think that what they did going away from the
Speaker 3: bigs is alarming. You know, last year or you know,
Speaker 3: coming into training camp, Kenny apparently had you know, a
Speaker 3: reduced shot clock where they were playing with an eighteen
Speaker 3: second shot clock, and training camp to make sure that
Speaker 3: they were getting to their sets quicker, that they played
Speaker 3: with pace and tempo. The rule this year going into
Speaker 3: training camp is nobody gets to take a shot until
Speaker 3: Evan Mobley's touched the basketball at least once. That should
Speaker 3: be the training camp philosophy. But I do think when
Speaker 3: you are diagnosing what went wrong here, the limited physical
Speaker 3: state that Donnald Mitchell and Darius Garland were in has
Speaker 3: to be part of the equation if you're going to
Speaker 3: have an honest conversation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and sure that's all true, and yes, Indy was
Speaker 1: able to dig harder on these on these roles for
Speaker 1: Evan and Jarrett. But I think that's where I'm the
Speaker 1: most disappointed, because you mentioned, you know, this isn't the
Speaker 1: physicality problems of two years ago. They are winning at
Speaker 1: the points the paying battle in this series. They are
Speaker 1: getting to the line in this series. They are getting
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds in the series. But it's almost more painful
Speaker 1: to know that against New York it wasn't really an
Speaker 1: option to go to the biggs because neither of those
Speaker 1: guys were ready to help. And against Indy, they kind
Speaker 1: of just didn't try. I'm sorry, I just don't think
Speaker 1: they tried enough. They and you know, Evan finishes this
Speaker 1: postseason never attempting more than thirteen shots in a game
Speaker 1: across the nine games. And when I say they don't try,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they didn't, you know, in those literal
Speaker 1: since they tried. Yeah, but they only tried one way.
Speaker 1: They only tried running pick and roll and handoffs, and
Speaker 1: those are the things that are the easiest to cheat
Speaker 1: off of because especially with limited mobility guards, because you
Speaker 1: can just grab them on the way around and you know,
Speaker 1: and blow up the play. Where are clear out post ups?
Speaker 1: Where are inverted pick and rolls? Where are big, big
Speaker 1: pick and rolls? Did they run a single Mobile Allen
Speaker 1: pick and roll in this series? No shot? Did they
Speaker 1: ever just clear out and let Mobley get a post
Speaker 1: touch against Pascal Siakam, who he consistently drew fouls on,
Speaker 1: consistently was able to attack and draw help. Like like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can call out that that they were cheating off
Speaker 1: of Mobile and Daria or I'm sorry, Donovan and Darius,
Speaker 1: and they were, but the Cabs kind of let them
Speaker 1: have it their way. Where they got to cheat off
Speaker 1: of them and the Cabs weren't even getting a parade
Speaker 1: of wide open threes. Like like the offense wasn't healthy
Speaker 1: in this series at the end of the day. Yep,
Speaker 1: it just wasn't. And and that's not a shooting variance
Speaker 1: problem if they were trying all these different ways to
Speaker 1: draw the help and you know, uh and Aaron Nesmith
Speaker 1: had to help from the weak side corner to crash
Speaker 1: down on an Evan Mobley post up and we got
Speaker 1: them in rotation that way. I can kind of live
Speaker 1: that way, pick and roll and dribble handoffing Tyrese Halliburton,
Speaker 1: who was really pretty excellent defensively, I thought in this series,
Speaker 1: you know, stayed connected, leveraged his size, got key shot
Speaker 1: blocks when it mattered, Like it just felt like hitting
Speaker 1: your head against the brick wall brick wall. And you
Speaker 1: don't get to do that strategy when Darius and Donovan
Speaker 1: can't play the way they want to and Tis Rome's
Speaker 1: having the worst you know, five games of his career,
Speaker 1: so like that is I think That's where I'm frustrated,
Speaker 1: and like when I'm looking at like the tactics of
Speaker 1: what you know, what they can do. That's better than
Speaker 1: just play better. It's like, hey, you're you've got to
Speaker 1: change your attack. You've got to change the way you're
Speaker 1: going to do this. You know, there were so many
Speaker 1: plays where even when they got a switch and it
Speaker 1: was Nie Smith on Evan and Evan was like had
Speaker 1: a foot in the paint, they didn't even look about
Speaker 1: it at an entry pass, you know, like and until
Speaker 1: they do that kind of stuff. Like the whole freaking
Speaker 1: point of the Evan Mobley experience this season was to
Speaker 1: diversify your game in a way that made not this happen.
Speaker 2: To make an offense more playoff proof.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like you could have used Tarry Easen the way
Speaker 1: that Evan was used in this series. Like, and that's
Speaker 1: and that I think is probably what I will leave
Speaker 1: as my like, Like, I mean, my biggest disappointment is
Speaker 1: that they lost the way they lost, but like at
Speaker 1: a tactical level, my biggest disappointment is the usage of Evan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, honestly, that that was the thought that I hadn't
Speaker 3: really got to Like, I like the way that you
Speaker 3: described it there right where you know, it's different than
Speaker 3: the past because there were tools left in the tool
Speaker 3: belt that were unused, right, and it's just crazy to
Speaker 3: have tools at your disposal and not use it, Which
Speaker 3: is why I take advantage of zoom Ai Companion. Because
Speaker 3: only you can do your best work, zoom Ai Companion
Speaker 3: can help you do the rest, like automatically taking notes,
Speaker 3: answering meeting questions, and helping you respond to your coworker.
Speaker 3: Available at no additional cost with eligible paid plans. Were
Speaker 3: happy with zoom Ai Companion. I do say, like, I
Speaker 3: don't want it to get lost. You know, the effort
Speaker 3: that they gave in this game overall, like I thought,
Speaker 3: they lost control obviously in the third quarter. That was
Speaker 3: very frustrating. It was frustrating to see that lead evaporate.
Speaker 3: I appreciate the fact that they did continue to fight
Speaker 3: and you know, have a chance to tie it up
Speaker 3: near the end. You know, obviously Mitchell missing those three
Speaker 3: free throws was a killer, particularly after you know he
Speaker 3: hit the three right, like, you know, all of that
Speaker 3: stuff's a killer. But when you see you know, Mitchell
Speaker 3: limping out there, but still, like you said before, when
Speaker 3: he'd get knocked down, he'd bounce right back up. When
Speaker 3: you see Darius Garland limping, you know, the other games,
Speaker 3: it took a little while for him to be limping.
Speaker 3: This one he started like it was very clear that,
Speaker 3: you know, he was in a lot of pain. I
Speaker 3: was actually really surprised that, despite the fact that, you know,
Speaker 3: he was on a bum wheel the entire time, he
Speaker 3: moved well laterally defensively, Like it wasn't like I'm saving
Speaker 3: myself for the offensive end. I'm just going to give
Speaker 3: you a burst on that end. I felt like the
Speaker 3: effort on the defensive end was more consistent, right, Like
Speaker 3: he was staying in front of Andrew Nemhart, you know,
Speaker 3: drawing that offensive foul because Nemhart couldn't turn the corner
Speaker 3: on him and pushed him with the arm right he
Speaker 3: was competing in those switches and the mismatches. I didn't
Speaker 3: feel like that was something that Indie ever really exploited
Speaker 3: when he.
Speaker 2: Was out there.
Speaker 3: So I got to give him credit, you know, for
Speaker 3: competing the way he did. I got to give him
Speaker 3: and Donovan a lot of credit for how they competed,
Speaker 3: because you know, you can't sit here and say, hey,
Speaker 3: you know, whatever you are able to give the team,
Speaker 3: go out and do it and then be upset that
Speaker 3: it doesn't look the way that you wanted to look.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think Donovan leaves this run, you know.
Speaker 1: I I think last year everyone left Donovan's run being
Speaker 1: like that's that guy. Yeah, And I think me and
Speaker 1: you were like, I mean, he is, but I didn't
Speaker 1: love the way we got there. Yeah.
Speaker 3: It was in a healthy offensive ecosystem, like he was
Speaker 3: doing everything he could to to you know, drag the team,
Speaker 3: but you know it, it was tough.
Speaker 1: I think this year I was just purely pretty darn
Speaker 1: impressed by him. He was the only one who consistently
Speaker 1: made Indiana react to him in this series and like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he does hold you know. I I think he takes
Speaker 1: some accountability for Evan not getting the ball, you know,
Speaker 1: as much as I would have liked to see and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But just overall, his physicality is you know,
Speaker 1: a series where he can't shoot and he just responds
Speaker 1: by getting, you know, to the lion like fifteen times
Speaker 1: a game. I didn't know if he had that kind
Speaker 1: of series in him, yeah, you know, and really hard
Speaker 1: earned rim attacks over and over and over again. And
Speaker 1: so I do think Donovan kind of comes out of
Speaker 1: this feeling, you know, smelling the best, despite obviously the
Speaker 1: way the way it ends.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 3: I've been really really impressed with him, you know, all
Speaker 3: all season long. I think, you know, the sacrifice that
Speaker 3: he's shown has been incredibly impressive. I thought, you know,
Speaker 3: there were times where you know, you can have your gripes.
Speaker 3: I felt like off ball defense was not that it
Speaker 3: wasn't his strongest series on that end of the court,
Speaker 3: but it's hard to complain when you know that the
Speaker 3: guy he's dealing with lower body ailments, whether you know
Speaker 3: it's the ankle, the calf, everything's been you know, bothering him,
Speaker 3: and you know, I think one of the things that
Speaker 3: I was happy that Kenny addressed in the post game issue,
Speaker 3: I think it was Joe Barden then asked him the
Speaker 3: question basically about, you know, the team having their minutes
Speaker 3: managed all season, was conditioning a factor? Were were they
Speaker 3: in kind of the playoff shape that you wanted? And
Speaker 3: I think it has more to do like we couldn't
Speaker 3: even really see if this team was capable of a
Speaker 3: minute ramp up in the playoffs just because they were,
Speaker 3: you know, playing hurt for the competitive games. It's not
Speaker 3: like you're going to play the guys forty minutes against
Speaker 3: Miami when you're up forty points, So that's just kind
Speaker 3: of a you know, there's.
Speaker 2: No point in that.
Speaker 3: But Kenny did say, you know what we had heard
Speaker 3: that you know, there was a plan to ramp up
Speaker 3: minutes after the All Star break, but you know, between
Speaker 3: this grilling schedule that they had some of the nagging
Speaker 3: injuries that you know, Donovan was dealing with at the time,
Speaker 3: and the fact that a lot of their wins there
Speaker 3: were up twenty and you know, twenty thirty points made
Speaker 3: it harder for them to do the ramp up. He said,
Speaker 3: we only kind of did an okay job of that,
Speaker 3: and I think that's going to be one of the
Speaker 3: things they need to reflect on. Remember, I said at
Speaker 3: the start of the season, when they were managing the
Speaker 3: minutes and the minutes were so damn low, I said,
Speaker 3: you know, one of the things that came to mind
Speaker 3: was concern about how that used to affect the Milwaukee Bucks,
Speaker 3: where Budenholzer would manage the minutes and you could tell
Speaker 3: that Giannis would get tired in the playoffs. I don't
Speaker 3: know how much of a factor that was in this,
Speaker 3: but I think when you're doing that self reflecting and assessing,
Speaker 3: you have to ask, is there something we can do
Speaker 3: to put ourselves in a better position physically for when
Speaker 3: it comes to the playoffs, Because.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't freaking know. I just don't know, you know,
Speaker 1: Like Darius, it's turf toe, yeah, you know, like that's
Speaker 1: that's Evan lands On, Miles Turner's ankle, you know, Donovan
Speaker 1: just Donovan is like I mean, every injury Donovan's ever
Speaker 1: had is a heavy usage injury.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's like, I just don't know if you can
Speaker 1: cook up a better game plan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and like and like this is the first time
Speaker 3: Darius has got hurt in the playoffs, right, Like last
Speaker 3: year it's the after effects of the jaw issue and
Speaker 3: you know, everything he was dealing with the family and
Speaker 3: stuff like that. So like, I I understand what you're saying,
Speaker 3: Like some of this stuff is fluke that you can't control, right, Like,
Speaker 3: you know, things certain I just don't.
Speaker 1: Think I'm gonna go back to just like be better,
Speaker 1: like don't get guessed, Like, don't get beat up, don't
Speaker 1: get hit first every time, Diversify your offensive game plan
Speaker 1: in a way that allows you to not require Evan
Speaker 1: or require Donovan to try to brush off Andrew Neimhard
Speaker 1: nine straight screens in a row every possession, like they're
Speaker 1: tired because they're playing a tiring style that has them
Speaker 1: on the back foot. Like yeah, Indy, I didn't see
Speaker 1: Indy tired. And it's not because Haliburton played forty three
Speaker 1: minutes a game. Andy didn't look tired because they one
Speaker 1: are used to play like this in terms of what
Speaker 1: they're doing on the on the court, and because they
Speaker 1: dictated the freaking terms yea they play. It's tiring to
Speaker 1: get to be dragged around by someone and try to disconnect.
Speaker 3: I would absolutely love to try to turn Tyrese Haliburn
Speaker 3: into a score inside the three point line. Would run
Speaker 3: him off that damn three point line, turn him into
Speaker 3: a score. Has he ever beat a team that way?
Speaker 3: It's always you know, finding guys as a distributor and
Speaker 3: that step back to going to his left, like he is.
Speaker 2: Able to shoot that from forty feet. It's what he does.
Speaker 3: Uh, didn't make them uncomfortable, but you know, when it
Speaker 3: comes to you know, better physical being prepared for the
Speaker 3: physicality of the playoffs and being in you know, peak
Speaker 3: shape at that time. You're right, Like you the issues
Speaker 3: that Donovan has had has been high usage type stuff, right,
Speaker 3: Like it's it's a bit of a consistent trend for him.
Speaker 3: He's when he comes to the playoffs, he's usually dealing
Speaker 3: with something with his lower body. You know, I think
Speaker 3: the Knick series was the only time it wasn't at
Speaker 3: that time it was I believe a broken finger on
Speaker 3: his left hand. But you look at the last four
Speaker 3: years of him in the playoffs, you know, including the
Speaker 3: year prior to coming to Cleveland. What do you think
Speaker 3: he's shooting from three carter and I think this has
Speaker 3: solely to do with lower body wear and tearor he's
Speaker 3: shooting thirty percent, he is eighty of two point fifty nine. Like, yep,
Speaker 3: that's it's been a consistent thing for him. And you know,
Speaker 3: to his credit, he has found ways to be that dude,
Speaker 3: to be someone that you know, has a historic streak
Speaker 3: of game one storing, you know, thirty points that that
Speaker 3: past Michael Jordan. He has been that dude. I'm very,
Speaker 3: very happy with the effort that we got from him
Speaker 3: in these playoffs. But this all comes back to you.
Speaker 3: We're sitting here trying to win a championship with a
Speaker 3: team that doesn't have a certified top five type talent.
Speaker 3: That means we need to get every guy that was,
Speaker 3: you know, an All Star in all NBA consideration this year,
Speaker 3: namely our top three to all be maximized as much
Speaker 3: as possible. And I think when we've seen with Donovan
Speaker 3: is that to maximize him, you got to make sure
Speaker 3: that you are managing his load so he's able to
Speaker 3: be that knockout punch, not somebody that's pulling the cart
Speaker 3: up hill the whole time. And I think, as you said,
Speaker 3: that comes down to making sure that Evan Mobley is
Speaker 3: involved in taking a load off these guys. That means,
Speaker 3: you know, Darius has to play a major part in this,
Speaker 3: because we have seen when Donovan's trying to make up
Speaker 3: for the absence of Darius Garland, things usually go poorly
Speaker 3: for him physically, whether that was that twelve and four
Speaker 3: stretch that they had last year where he missed the
Speaker 3: entire post All Star break stretch, or you know, playing
Speaker 3: through these first two games against Indiana without Darius, like
Speaker 3: it takes a toll on him. And you know, whether
Speaker 3: that's Darius and Evan or just you know, better backup
Speaker 3: point guard play. I think all of that needs to
Speaker 3: be taken into consideration when we look at this afseason.
Speaker 1: To your point, I mean, when did the Cavs offense
Speaker 1: look at best in this series? I would argue it's
Speaker 1: when Donovan got catch and shoot three point attempts yep,
Speaker 1: you know. And when did his jumper look the best
Speaker 1: when he got catch and shoot three point attempts? You know.
Speaker 1: Some of that as Darius just not being there, Ty
Speaker 1: not be in there. Some of it is the stylistic stuff,
Speaker 1: not going to Evan, not using the muscles you trained
Speaker 1: up all year. Some of its indies awesome. I think
Speaker 1: they're going to make the finals.
Speaker 3: I think they're they're better than the next like the
Speaker 3: Knicks are advancing primarily because of you.
Speaker 2: Know that injury.
Speaker 1: I'm well, I wouldn't say that they were going to
Speaker 1: win that game and go up three to one, and
Speaker 1: you have to give them a lot of credit. They're
Speaker 1: better than I thought they. I thought they had no
Speaker 1: shot in that series. And yes I'm.
Speaker 2: Wrong, again more to do with Boston than them, but
Speaker 2: it might.
Speaker 1: But you still got to give him. I mean, talk
Speaker 1: about a spot to give credit. But like in terms
Speaker 1: of giving credit to the Pacers. It's funny I left
Speaker 1: that Knick series feeling like this Calves team has a
Speaker 1: lot of soul searching to do and a lot of
Speaker 1: like structural improvements to make really more the latter than
Speaker 1: the former. Everyone else wanted soul searching. I just wanted
Speaker 1: a roster that made sense. You wanted a supporting cast
Speaker 1: that you know. But I didn't leave that series thinking
Speaker 1: about the ways I thought the Calves needed to emulate
Speaker 1: the New York Knicks. I'm leaving this series thinking about
Speaker 1: ways that the Caves should be emulating the Indiana Pacers.
Speaker 1: I agree, surely, And I don't think there's a nicer
Speaker 1: thing I can say to the Indiana Pacers than that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're more than the sum of their parts, like
Speaker 3: quite a bit more. What they are able to do
Speaker 3: defensively with the personnel they have is impressive. Their defense
Speaker 3: is better than their personnel. I would argue even their
Speaker 3: offense is better than their personnel. Right, Like, guys that
Speaker 3: are so so shooters are really putting in a position
Speaker 3: to succeed. We need to get to there because I
Speaker 3: think that this team is capable of doing that. I
Speaker 3: think any team is capable of doing that. But I
Speaker 3: don't think that they were more than there's some of
Speaker 3: the parts. I think they had really really awesome parts.
Speaker 3: And when things were going easy in the regular season
Speaker 3: that came through. They had a ton of depth. They
Speaker 3: had a ton of top end talent. Right basically our
Speaker 3: pre series diagnosis against the series in the Miami Heat,
Speaker 3: why did I pick a sweep? Well, because the Cavs
Speaker 3: probably have at least the best two players in the series,
Speaker 3: maybe three, and the Heat's bench is going up against
Speaker 3: the two of the top three six Men of the
Speaker 3: Year candidates. We had the advantage in the starting lineup
Speaker 3: and we had the advantage on the bench, and that's
Speaker 3: exactly what we saw in that series. We can't be
Speaker 3: in a position where we are less than are some
Speaker 3: of our parts, because when you're trying to win a
Speaker 3: championship without a bona fide top five player, you need
Speaker 3: to be that. When you saw the Detroit Piston win
Speaker 3: and beat the Lakers, that's how they did it. When
Speaker 3: when you you know, even I don't want to say
Speaker 3: the Toronto Raptors, that's too weird, and you know people
Speaker 3: love to credit why, so I won't go there. But
Speaker 3: when when you have seen teams like this historically go
Speaker 3: out and win, they are more than some of their parts.
Speaker 3: And that's one of the things that the cast need
Speaker 3: to get to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh man, I'm sad. Uh you know, it's just uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the one thing everyone's gonna roll their eyes at,
Speaker 1: you know, pontificating Carter doing his thing that he always does.
Speaker 1: But like I will say that this is why you
Speaker 1: can't be a results based sports fan. You just can't
Speaker 1: because it's too painful. Like I feel a lot of
Speaker 1: pain right now, but at least I had fun the
Speaker 1: whole way, you know, and I found the whole thing.
Speaker 3: I don't think the people that were miserable the whole
Speaker 3: way being like do it in the playoffs are less
Speaker 3: miserable now. I think they're probably just as angry as
Speaker 3: they would be if they had some fun this year.
Speaker 1: And and frankly, I actually don't think there was that
Speaker 1: much of that this year. I think most people just
Speaker 1: it was such a fun ride that even the cynics
Speaker 1: and the skeptics got on board or just shut the
Speaker 1: hell up, you know, you know, And I would say
Speaker 1: it's a healthy split, honestly. But and now, and I
Speaker 1: think some of those folks there, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people's reaction like shit, dude. My reaction just at
Speaker 1: the beginning of this podcast was like, I feel stupid
Speaker 1: for believing, you know, but like I do think it's
Speaker 1: a really bad impulse to let take root because like,
Speaker 1: the fun is the believing. The fun is the excitement.
Speaker 1: Like I don't like like, I'm not on the court,
Speaker 1: I'm not a coach, I'm not a I'm not a
Speaker 1: front office member. The only thing that's fun about this
Speaker 1: is the fun is the is the belief is the
Speaker 1: journey and uh.
Speaker 3: And there's nothing more satisfying than a team you care
Speaker 3: about overcoming things and growing, right, like seeing the journey,
Speaker 3: see going through.
Speaker 2: The issues, Like that's that's what it's.
Speaker 1: About for me.
Speaker 3: And they might not overcome this, right, like the inability
Speaker 3: to become more than some of their parts in this setting,
Speaker 3: to impose their style of play upon the opponent and
Speaker 3: dictate the terms of engagement. That might ultimately be what
Speaker 3: though it holds them back, But I I care about
Speaker 3: the problem solving. I care about them trying to overcome that.
Speaker 3: And I'm Carter. I gotta be honest. I'm ready to
Speaker 3: run through a wall again because I just saw Donald
Speaker 3: Mitchell's quote postgame.
Speaker 2: Have you seen it yet?
Speaker 1: I did? You can you can pare phrase that if
Speaker 1: you'd like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said, y'all are going to write us off,
Speaker 3: but we'll be back, and hell y, I Donnie, Hell yeah.
Speaker 1: That's the energy you want to see at the end
Speaker 1: of the day. I do really think that these guys
Speaker 1: do believe in each other, do have that kind of camaraderie,
Speaker 1: and like that is the last that The other big
Speaker 1: challenge at this point is is the is maintaining collective
Speaker 1: belief because these guys it's over. This era will be
Speaker 1: over the second these guys don't think they can do it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, we've seen so many good teams, really really
Speaker 1: quality competitive teams that just the second they lost it.
Speaker 1: And it's not an individual belief. I think all these
Speaker 1: guys are always gon Yeah. NBA players are wired like psychos. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're all going to believe in themselves individually. But if
Speaker 1: they lose belief in the journey, well then you might
Speaker 1: as well just start over. Yeah, because you know that's
Speaker 1: the only thing I'm not ever gonna that's the only
Speaker 1: time it's not going to be fun for me is
Speaker 1: watching a team that doesn't believe in itself anymore. So,
Speaker 1: like that Donovan quote is important for me as a
Speaker 1: fan going through this experience.
Speaker 3: I completely agree, And you know, I think this team
Speaker 3: has a lot of reasons to still believe.
Speaker 2: You know, the one thing that we have.
Speaker 3: Consistently heard is, you know, this team will go as
Speaker 3: far as Evan Mobley is willing to take us or
Speaker 3: able to take us. I do think reflecting on this
Speaker 3: series and reflecting back on the whole year, I think
Speaker 3: this wasn't just something that changed in the playoffs where hey,
Speaker 3: you know, we kind of neglected Evan for stretches of
Speaker 3: the game. We could have continued to feed him. We
Speaker 3: could have used that to, you know, overcome pressure that
Speaker 3: teams are throwing at us. I think there were times
Speaker 3: throughout this entire season where Evin kind of would go
Speaker 3: on the back burner. He would have great quarters, we
Speaker 3: didn't consistently feed him. That was a habit from the
Speaker 3: regular season that carried forward to the playoffs. I think
Speaker 3: we need to put our money where our mouth is
Speaker 3: when it comes to that, where you know, even if
Speaker 3: it costs regular season games, which we said that last
Speaker 3: year where we're like, we gotta let Evan explore the space,
Speaker 3: and you know, his improvement needs to matter even if
Speaker 3: it costs you some regular season games. We said that
Speaker 3: going into last year and they won sixty four. So
Speaker 3: I don't think that Evan Mobiley, you know, being a
Speaker 3: larger focal point and that sustained point of emphasis is
Speaker 3: something that's going to make this team worse. I do
Speaker 3: think it actually needs to be a sustained point of emphasis.
Speaker 3: I think we have not gone out, as I said
Speaker 3: on the last podcast, we haven't had a five to
Speaker 3: twenty Evan Mobley game where you know, we just continue
Speaker 3: to try to feed them and it just didn't work out.
Speaker 3: That has never occurred. And I think in the regular
Speaker 3: season you were able to get away with going away
Speaker 3: from Evan Mobley because Darius and Donovan were so damn good,
Speaker 3: because Ty was so damn good, because you know, DeAndre
Speaker 3: Hunter was coming in and giving you a lot off
Speaker 3: the bench. You were able to get away with that
Speaker 3: because this team had so many options. But when it
Speaker 3: comes to the playoffs, your star players matter more than ever,
Speaker 3: and Evan Mobley needs to be a sustained important part
Speaker 3: of that equation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're you're absolutely right. Man, sucks. Sucks to lose.
Speaker 1: But you know, before we sign off, I do think
Speaker 1: we should just get get around to thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: to wait wait wait, wait, you got thank you.
Speaker 3: I do have one more thing I want to touch on. Okay,
Speaker 3: I do think it actually is really important and if
Speaker 3: we're going to be emotional and vulnerable here, but let's
Speaker 3: just go through it all because what happened with Jason
Speaker 3: Tatum absolutely sucks. I think it is terrible for the NBA,
Speaker 3: and as a Cavs fan that wanted to see this
Speaker 3: team tested against the healthy Celtics. I want a healthy
Speaker 3: Calves versus healthy Celtics. It looks like we're not going
Speaker 3: to get that opportunity. It bums me the hell out
Speaker 3: seeing him, you know, on the ground, yelling, knowing that
Speaker 3: the injury itself not that painful, but the emotion that
Speaker 3: you go through in that spot, it's just absolutely terrible.
Speaker 3: I feel for Celtics fans, you know, I enjoy beating them.
Speaker 3: I want to see Boston fail, but I don't want
Speaker 3: to see it like that. It really really sucks, and
Speaker 3: that's going to be something that changes the calculus of
Speaker 3: this offseason, right, like when we're evaluating how the Caves
Speaker 3: stack up against the East, Jason Tatum not being on
Speaker 3: Boston next year is going to be a big part
Speaker 3: of it, and it's going to change their team building.
Speaker 3: It It just sucks, man, I I feel sick. You know,
Speaker 3: We've been talking about how the NBA needs to market
Speaker 3: it's the younger stars and continue to push that next generation.
Speaker 3: As you know, the Lebron staff all kind of age out,
Speaker 3: and Tatum was going to be a big part of that.
Speaker 3: Even if it was someone that I was rooting against.
Speaker 1: I absolutely hate it.
Speaker 3: And it's unfortunately it's going to be relevant to the
Speaker 3: Kavs off season, Like I think it is something that
Speaker 3: that's going to have to be part of the calculus here.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, it's obviously a bumber. You hope you know
Speaker 1: he comes back right, just you know, it's just not
Speaker 1: what you want to see at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: But you're right, it's going to be a factor in
Speaker 1: how I mean, it's a landscape changer for the for
Speaker 1: the NBA. One of those kinds of injuries. So can
Speaker 1: I get to some thank you real quick? Yes?
Speaker 2: I just wanted to to talk about that.
Speaker 1: Uhh, just big thanks to our listeners for the over
Speaker 1: the course of the season. It's been a blast. Thanks
Speaker 1: to those folks, especially those that hang on the YouTube
Speaker 1: chat with us, you know almost you know, twice a week.
Speaker 1: Uh and and hang out with us. Thank you to
Speaker 1: uh Do the Calves for all their support and taking
Speaker 1: good care of us. Matt Old Brenna. You guys are
Speaker 1: just heroes. Thanks to our boy Conrad who helps us
Speaker 1: out with some social content at the end of the
Speaker 1: year getting some clips put out and uh and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: just thank you and then thank you to you, buddy.
Speaker 2: I just.
Speaker 1: I'm a sad, sad boy tonight, but doing this thing
Speaker 1: is always really special with you and I really appreciate
Speaker 1: our friendship and uh that you know the podcast training't
Speaker 1: gonna stop anytime soon.
Speaker 3: Hell yeah, buddy, obviously I echo your sentiments. Nothing wearing
Speaker 3: to do it would be possible without our listeners. Everyone
Speaker 3: that you know supports us that shares the podcast.
Speaker 2: You know, word of mouth.
Speaker 3: Is still one of the most effective ways to help
Speaker 3: support us. And we really do appreciate you guys and
Speaker 3: obviously the team you know at the Cavs. I really
Speaker 3: really cherish the fact that we haven't had to change
Speaker 3: the podcast. We can sit here and we can be critical,
Speaker 3: we can wear our hearts on our sleeves. We can
Speaker 3: be you know, the Homers that we are, while still
Speaker 3: making an effort to give you guys real analysis, right Like,
Speaker 3: I think it's a really really special thing that we're
Speaker 3: able to do, and it's exactly what was promised, And honestly,
Speaker 3: it makes me want to be a better fan. It
Speaker 3: makes me want to be a better analyst, right like.
Speaker 3: It makes me want to attack this offseason and try
Speaker 3: to become better as a podcaster and you know, further
Speaker 3: my understanding of the game. And I don't think that
Speaker 3: I would have that same drive if we weren't supported
Speaker 3: the way that we are, both our listeners and the
Speaker 3: people that you know root for us out there, as
Speaker 3: well as the team itself.
Speaker 2: So we it's.
Speaker 3: Crazy that we're saying that it still remains a very
Speaker 3: surreal partnership, but I definitely think, you know, it's it's
Speaker 3: really really meaningful to us, so big big thanks to
Speaker 3: everybody that supports us in so many different ways, and
Speaker 3: we will be doing our normal off season tradition of
Speaker 3: taking a week off after going live after all of
Speaker 3: these games, or at least recapping all of these games.
Speaker 1: Hard.
Speaker 3: I know you got some travel ahead of you this weekend, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, across your fingers gang. On Tuesday, I'm going to
Speaker 1: New York see if I win an Emmy.
Speaker 3: Hopefully, by the time we are doing this podcast again,
Speaker 3: you are doing it with an Emmy rooting for you, buddy.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna get a little floating shelf back there.
Speaker 2: You know, you have to.
Speaker 1: You have to.
Speaker 3: Any any sports podcaster that has an Emmy has to
Speaker 3: put in the background.
Speaker 2: It's even if it's not related to the podcast.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I had to write an acceptance speech. Isn't that crazy.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna win, It's fine, but but yeah, cross
Speaker 1: your fingers gang.
Speaker 3: In case we do, we are going to be rooting
Speaker 3: for you, buddy. And then you know, yeah, as I said,
Speaker 3: we will take next week off, we will come back
Speaker 3: kind of do our recap of the season. I'm sure
Speaker 3: at that time, you know, the team will have spoken,
Speaker 3: Kobe will have spoken it, and we'll have some stuff
Speaker 3: to talk about and we'll start tackling this off season. Man,
Speaker 3: I'm obviously a little excited. I'm I'm ready to get
Speaker 3: hurt again. Sea Bear season starts on Friday, so I
Speaker 3: will be tapping into that. But yeah, this obviously sucks.
Speaker 3: You don't want to see this season end this way.
Speaker 3: But this isn't the end. This isn't the end of
Speaker 3: the cast, This isn't the end of this group, this
Speaker 3: isn't the end of the podcast. We are going to
Speaker 3: come back better next year. I firmly believe that. Oh yeah,
Speaker 3: rather big thanks again to everyone that supports us. If
Speaker 3: you're watching live on YouTube, make sure you guys like
Speaker 3: and subscribe. Click that notification bell so you know one
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Speaker 3: you choose the support us, we really do appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Make sure you guys are staying safe out there until
Speaker 3: next time. Yo. Get