April 29, 2025 • 51 mins
Justin and Carter breakdown the Cavs completing the most lopsided playoff series win in NBA history. Discussing how the story of the series truly came down to the depth of the Cavaliers, despite the top end talent all having a strong series. Plus what it could mean for the team as they advance in the playoffs.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This crowd rises to speaking what Carl slammed it out
car left wing, free ball, perfect pop, then he left
lock the shot at the rim, pow with the left hand.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And of foul.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Welcome to Chase Doown Podcast, part of the Caves media family.
I'm your host Justin Rohan. The Chase Doown is presented
by Fubo, the official streaming partner of the Calves. Watch
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Slash Calves. The Cleveland Cavaliers have completed the most dominant
(00:36):
light lopsided series in NBA history, beating the Miami Heat
by a combined one hundred and twenty two points through
four games. My prediction was correct. The Calves wanted to
come out and make a statement. They did it, and
they swept the Miami Heat. Joining me today is my
co host, Carter Rodriguez. Carter, how you doing, buddy?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Oh, it's a cavalis It was like a forty eight
minute cavalanche. These boys went up sixty in Game four
on the road. I mean, what an unbelievable stretch of
games in Miami. A dominance, I'm not sure. I mean,
(01:17):
we've literally, I guess never seen you know, with them
setting the record for the most dominant sweep in the
history of the sport. And it just kind of goes
to show you how ready this team was to answer
questions to knock down the dominoes put in front of them.
No one's gonna mistake this Heat team for a juggernaut.
(01:39):
But like, this was the ninth best defense in the NBA,
and I believe they were seventh best after the All
Star break, and I mean hot knife feugh butter one
hundred and thirty, one hundred and thirty seven offensive rating
for the series, like.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Come on, which is an NBA record for best offensive
rating in a series.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Right when.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
One of the things that we asked coming into the
series that we wanted to learn is can the Cavs
offense finally translate to the postseason? Can they have you know,
a strong offensive series. I believe you wanted to see
one eighteen, am I correct?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, I was hoping. I was like, I'll settle for
one sixteen. You know know what you did, Carter?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You sold them a little short, you sold short the hardest, working,
best condition, most professional, unselfish, toughest, meanest, nastiest team in
the playoffs?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
How dare you do that? It couldn't possibly be me.
You must be thinking to someone else justin I want
to open by asking you this because we were going
into our serious preview and I asked you if anything
in the first round could change your opinion about this team,
(02:56):
like not like out of Series two series, because I
think both of us felt like they could win the
title coming into that series. But I kind of asked, like,
can they do anything to kind of make you feel
differently about them after that that ridiculousness.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Do you remember what my answer was at the time.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I don't remind me.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
My answer was, no, they can't do anything to change
what my opinion is, my level of confidence going moving forward,
because I was going to give them the benefit of
the doubt, right, Like I said, going into this series,
my brain says five because Miami always finds a way
to get a game in a series. But my heart
is telling me four because what we've seen this season
(03:43):
from the Cleveland Cavaliers is when they have something to
play for, when they have an edge to them, they
go out and accomplish it, whether it is the historic
regular season they had, whether it was getting three of
them to the All Star Game, that seemed to be,
you know, a real thing that they wanted to accomplish.
Evan Mobley winning Defensive Player of the Year, donnod Mitchell
(04:03):
is going to be All NBA. I think Evan's definitely
going to make All NBA as well. These guys, when
they have a chip on their shoulder, we've seen another
gear from them. And I think after the All Star break,
with the one seed already locked up with a brutal
travel schedule, we just didn't see the same kind of
focus calves and I really felt with a week off
(04:25):
with something to prove, with guys like Darius Garland saying, hey,
we know what the perception is, we know what we
have to do to change it. We want to go
out and change it, I just felt like they were
going to, you know, come out and make a statement.
And you look at this series. Man Game one, twenty
one point, League Game two, nineteen point, League Game three,
forty point, League Game four, sixty point lead. We said
(04:48):
after Game two that that was probably Miami's best shot.
We felt that the shot making from Miami was unsustainable.
They were not getting good looks. I think coming off
to elimination games that they won, they were playing with
a lot of confidence. Their best was not enough, and
I think after they had that, starting Game three, the
(05:09):
Cavs came out without Donovan Mitchell and had an eighteen
oh run to basically, you know, start to put that
game away and put it out of reach where once
again they were going to need to attempt another large comeback.
You know, I don't want to say it about professionals,
but it really it felt like, you know, their confidence
kind of fell apart at that point, and you know,
(05:30):
it just felt like they were out of the series,
like they did not believe that they could compete. And
once you reach that point where you no longer believe
that you can actually contend and compete within a series,
you're going to let go of the rope and things
are going to unravel fast.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah. And I don't think it's always about effort. It's
about like how hard your brain is working to solve
the problem. You know. I just think, like to your point,
Miami kind of very quickly came to the same conclusion
that much of the viewing public game two, which is
that we can't solve this problem. We don't have the juice,
(06:07):
we don't have the ball handlers, we don't have the shooting,
we don't have the physicality, you know, and like, you know,
a couple of those things are such Miami heat staples that, yeah,
it's jarring like but like I do think as bad
as the Heat were in these last two games, like
(06:31):
you have to give the credit to the Cavs for
taking it the way.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
They did, I've never seen a Spo team give up.
And it really felt that way. And Spo had this
comment after Game three, and no, I've never heard him
sound as dejected. He said, clearly a very disappointing day. Look,
our guys really want this. It probably looks like our
guys don't. But I know what our last six weeks
have been and like to fight and scratch and claw
(06:56):
to get this. We laid an egg today. Big part
of it was Cleveland became an avalanche going in the
other direction. Sometimes when you care, there's a level of
discouragement that fed into that avalanche. That's what we all
feel the spirited about. I think that's I don't want
to laugh at that man like, that's that's vulnerable, that's real.
And I think one of the things we've seen in
these playoffs is a bit of a shift in the NBA,
(07:18):
where in the past, I think teams when we saw
the best player in a series, we almost always gave
that team an edge. I think from just the way
rosters were constructed, that player always would come out on top,
or very frequently would come out on top. And now
with modern team building, with the level of talent that
(07:39):
is around the league, that isn't the differentiating factor anymore.
Man Like Giannis is out there having a phenomenal series
against Indiana and he's fighting like to the death to
get a game off these guys Lebron and Luca, you know,
a perfect example of top end tallent not necessarily being enough.
And then you come to this Miami heats where the
(08:00):
Cows not only have the top end talent, we have
the five through eight, you know, five through ten level
of talent to just relentlessly come after you minute after minute.
After the starters got pulled in the third quarter, Miami
kept their starters out there. A lot of key players
were still playing. Our bench extended that lead. It's incredibly impressive.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, it's you know, I've been saying it for a
couple of years, kind of starting to see the narrative
kind of kind of flip nationally in analyzing the league.
You know, I forget who wrote the article that you know,
is this a week link league now? Where you're just
as good as your worst piece that you play, and
(08:50):
you're looking up and down the playoffs. You're seeing Lakers
not make a sub yesterday in the second half literally
played the same five guys twenty four straight minutes. You're
watching the Knicks get five bench points against Detroit, even
in a game they won. You know, it just feels
(09:14):
so precarious for those teams in a way that it
doesn't for the Cavs. Yeah. And that's not to say
the Cabs bench won't struggle at different points over the playoffs, Like.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It might be different guys that we rely on, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
But like the holistic reliance and the difference between these
top heavy teams and the teams you can play nine
or ten guys and feel really good about that, it
does feel like it matters. You know, Minnesota has a
bunch of dudes they really really trust, and it doesn't
have to be ten. But like it's like having a
(09:55):
really strong upper middle class of your roster where it's
not just guys who can survive out there for four
minutes where you're just kind of crossing your fingers, but
guys who, when they're on, can really help. I mean,
this is I've said it before, but this is where
I was so wrong about Boston last year was I
thought they had six good players and you know, eight
(10:17):
or nine guys that they really couldn't count on. It
turned out Sam Houser hits in a major way, Prichard
hits in a major way, Cornett hits in a major way,
and all of a sudden, they're, you know, not only
as they're starting five unbelievable, they're an eight or nine
deep team with guys that can kill you. And like,
I don't know, you look at that Indiana Milwaukee series
(10:40):
and like his proofs in the pudding in terms of
who you can rely on to consistently carry you through
a series, I feel like the teams with depth are
the ones that are really showing out in this playoffs.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Here is the best way that I can summarize that depth.
There are two teams that have a double digit net
rating in the playoffs Cavs and the Thunder. The Thunders
was nineteen for their series win against the Grizzlies. Not
a single Cleveland Cavalier had a net rating below twelve
when they were on court, so dominant every single guy
(11:14):
up and down the rotation. But it gets more wild
than that. The Cav's net rating with Donovan off the
floor was thirty points better. They're net rating with Darius
off the court was thirty one points better. Their net
rating with Evan off the court was thirty eight points better.
So keep that in mind. Those guys, like you know,
sometimes you see negative on off splits. Every single one
(11:35):
of these guys had an on court net rating of
over twelve. That means you are smoking them when you
are out there on the court. The Cavs three best players,
they managed to dominate this series when they were not
in the game. That is something, man like. That is something,
And it's not like they didn't do their part. Darius Garland,
I'll play Tyler hero in his minutes, Evan Mobley, I'll
(11:56):
play bam Adebayo. Donovan Mitchell one cold shooting game, but
you saw him close out Game two. He was phenomenal
in this series. I thought he played with a lot
of composure. He said after the game, you know, he
doesn't worry about rest versus rust kind of thing, because
he feels great. He said, it's the best he's felt
in the playoffs, and he will take all the rest
(12:18):
he can get. This Cavs team earned the rest that
they got, but what we have seen throughout the season
is they have put themselves in a position to capitalize
on this rest because throughout eighty two games they knew
they could trust guys five through ten on this roster
and even if he need be, Hey, we can throw
in a Jalen Tyson, we don't care Craig Porter Junior
(12:40):
can play. We know that these guys can give us
good minutes. We can play these guys at Madison Square
Garden in a game where where Donovan Mitchell is out
and go out and win. There is just such a
high level of trust and confidence, and I think that
translates to how they play, how connected they play on
both ends of the court.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
It's also just such a testament to the front office
that you know, I still think is you know, one
of the occupational hazards of Kenny getting all this love
is that I feel like the front office isn't maybe
getting as many flowers as they deserve this season because
(13:20):
three years ago they traded for Donovan and the consensus
agreement is that was their all in move, no more
chips to cash, and and we kind of figured that,
you know, just logically, that this was a team that
(13:43):
was going to have to be really really really good
at the top four. And if those four guys were
great and meshed well together, they would be great. If
those guys weren't great, they it was going to be
uphill sludding, you know. And the fact that they've just like,
not only are they great and great together and able
(14:08):
to kind of raise, you know, raise the ceiling of
the team, it also just hasn't mattered if they have
been good, Like, like, they have so much depth, so
much insulation. You know, you trade two bench players and
Keris and Niang and a couple swaps of swaps, and
(14:29):
go get DeAndre Hunter, who was phenomenal in games three
and four. You pick up Ty Jerome off the scrap heap,
he loses an entire season, comes in third and six
Manut of the Year voting. You you've Dean Wade an
undrafted free agent, you know, just so Sam merrill A,
(14:49):
you know, a twenty six, twenty seven year old guy
you signed to your G League team, and then he
earned his way to the main roster like every even
Isaac o Kora, who was you know, the most traditional
path in you know, being a high pedigree pick, like
the roster is just padded out with every possible way
(15:09):
to add talent, you know, max in free agency. They
have such phenomenal depth, and all of it was earned
and and really worked for by this front office. And
they just deserve so much credit for that. Yeah, they
really do.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Even hey, Ricky Rubio, you know, unfortunately gets hurt. Were
what we believe in this team. We're going to flip
him with a first round pick to get Kris Lavert right,
and Carris gave them a lot of really good minutes.
You sign him to an extension. But then, hey, you know,
we we invested in Tidrome. This is someone that we've
wanted to bring into the locker room for a very
long time. It has been a perfect fit, and that
(15:48):
has afforded us the flexibility to go out and flip
you know, Karris Lavert and George Niang who was having
a great season for DeAndre Hunter right, developing Jeddi Osmond
and Lamar Stevens, both of them playing real minutes on
a fifty win team, which I think people forget and
using that as you know, sign and trade bait to
get Maxters right, Like, I think it goes beyond just
(16:08):
who they brought in, but the little kind of you know,
turning a paper clip into a house through you know,
seven thousand trades that Kobe Altman had to do to
really build a deep roster that can have sustained success
after really emptying the cupboard to give an honest effort
with Lebron James right and trying to contend as much
(16:29):
as possible in that four your windows. So I think
they deserve a ton of credit. I think we have
seen this team, whether the storm be in a position
where they could rest guys, and obviously that seems to
be the case with Darius Garland will knock on wood
and hope that it isn't something that lingers into the
Indiana series. But they've really really put themselves in a
(16:52):
great position and to be in a spot where you know,
you lose Darius, who's averaging twenty four points per game
in this series. I'm terrific two way basketball, and oh
now we can just kind of cycle in DeAndre Hunter,
who is a twenty point per game scorer in Atlanta.
He's gonna, you know, play alongside Ty Jerome, Evan Mobley,
(17:14):
Jared Allen, Donod Mitchell. We still have, you know, so
much top end scoring talent that unbelievable. I can't believe
we are in this good of a position because I
we always talk about the compromises you have to make
in roster building and team building. The Calves are in
a hell of a position and all of these guys
are at least locked up for the short term here.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, they are so so good again, I said after
Game three, now that the sweep is complete, I mean,
you know, and one thing I kind of chickened out
at the beginning of the SPoD because I kind of asked, you,
you know, could anything the way they play change the
way you feel about them? Yeah? I mean I feel different.
(18:00):
I do feel different. I feel stronger about this team.
I feel stronger than if they had done what okay
see did, which was start off dominant, which, by the way,
the Cavs did too, but you know, start off o
mega dominant and then kind of tail off with a
couple close ones in Miami. If that's what they had done,
(18:20):
I'd be like, Okay, proud of them, but like you know,
and sweeps are hard. You don't you never, you know,
turn your nose up at any playoff win, But like, okay,
we'll see how the next series goes. I do feel
like the offense was so forceful, it was so dominant,
it was so frankly unbothered by anything Spolstra did. Zone
(18:48):
didn't work, down shift didn't work, switch more didn't work,
Trap in and blitz the ball handler didn't work. Fight
over and keep Davion Mitchell connected, so you couldn't get
advantageous switches didn't work. I don't think Miami did one
thing that late that worked for more than three minutes
(19:10):
at a time. In this series, not a single tactic
worked because of the offensive flexibility, the scheme versatility of
this team, the talent level of this team, the shot making,
the creativeness of their of the way that they attack
the passing. Just an absolute dominant offensive performance in every
(19:33):
single game.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
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Speaker 1 (19:40):
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Speaker 1 (19:58):
Oh my god, six in the first half is that
TJ McConnell.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
That is a Calves franchise playoff record. Six steals in
the first half. It's a record for a game. And
Jared did it in the first half. I thought he
really set the tone honestly when he got that steal
at the start of the game, when when full course
I did too, I was like, oh, yeah, they're focused.
Jared's locked in again. You know here, we're in a
(20:26):
very very good position.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
And and conversely, the degree to which Miami was like
told me it was over.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
It's one thing when you know Donovan goes coast to
coast for dunk, but when Jared Allen's just picking your
pocket and you know, bringing out the Statue of Liberty, which, hey,
it looked a lot cooler than when he tried to
do the Lebron dunk, So so points to him, big,
big shout out to him. I thought he had a
phenomenal series. This is two years in a row that
I thought he's been fantastic in the playoffs. You know,
(20:57):
people will linger on that Nix and forget this man
who was averaging you know, seventeen and fourteen. I believe
against Orlando before the broken rip. He is someone that
has come out and really made an impact in these
series and the one that we're going to need to
continue to rely on. I understand that Jared is more
than happy fighting for offensive rebounds, doing the dirty work,
(21:20):
hustle plays, getting the steals. I still think back to
that steal he had in Game two, which pretty much
sealed the game, like that was one of the biggest
plays of this entire series and has put them once
again in a position to capitalize on the rest that
they've afforded themselves here. So Jared, I know he's content with,
you know, getting the scraps and cleaning up on that,
(21:42):
but I just feel like he is such a talented finisher.
He is such a skilled offensive player that we're going
to need to continue to make sure that we are
keeping him involved offensively, because I think the most dynamic
version of this Cavs team is never relying too heavily
on you know, one or two players to you know,
do the heavy lifting here. When we have you know, three,
(22:05):
four five guys all cooking, that's when we really played
the best Cats basketball.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Jared Allen against the Miami Heat in four games, scores
fifty seven points, twenty one of twenty seven from the field,
fifteen of fifteen from the free throw line, forty one rebounds,
thirteen of them on the offensive end, uh so average
about three offensive rebounds a game a little bit more,
(22:31):
had ten steals like and was a plus seventy six.
I believe he led the team in plus minus. Nope,
I did it plus eighty eight, which is hilarious. You know,
just the consummate professional to your point, Like, I just
think he has been one of their most reliable players
(22:53):
so far and over these last two years in the
in the postseason, he really has settled into what he
needs to do for this team. I think his defensive
rebounding is super laudable, you know, because that is not
a strength of this team. And you know, Evan didn't
(23:14):
board great in this series. You know, he was doing
a lot of wrestling with Bam or getting switched on
the perimeter, and like, especially if Evan isn't having a
dominant rebounding series, the impetus on Jarrett to do that
goes way way way up. And he was just tough
as nails. Yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
He really like heilloutware. I feel for him, but he
at the.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Beginning of the series, I said, this is going to
be a welcome to the NBA, buddy, Like you think
you are a big, springy, rim protecting, dunking big man,
Like there's levels of this game, young blood, and like
that's exactly what Jarrett showed.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I just think he has matured so much of a player.
He has rounded out his game in so many ways,
and it really really shows, like the touch he has,
like sometimes when he's taking off far from the basket
and he just puts that little spin on it where
you know it's basically hitting the backboard below the rim
but still popping up and going perfectly in. Like that's
(24:18):
not an easy thing to do when you are playing
against rangey, lengthy defenders, and you know, I think we're
going to kind of make the assumption here that next
round is going to be against the Indiana Pacers. I
think they have played much better basketball than the Milwaukee
Bucks for the majority of the season. Honestly, it's ever since,
(24:39):
you know, they turned things around. I think that's been
the better team. And then, of course, unfortunately there was
the Damian Lillard injury, which was just absolutely heartbreaking. You know,
that's somebody that we've measured CALVS guards against for basically
my entire time watching basketball. And while I've always been
on the other side of a lot of game arguments,
(25:00):
that's someone that have a lot of respect for, and
you know, that was just terrible to see. But you know,
there's been a lot of talk about how Indiana, you know,
turn their defense around and post All Star Break kind
of what they've done. Indiana's defense post All Star Break
was one eleven point five, Miami's post All Star Break
one eleven point six. You're talking about equivalent defenses there.
(25:22):
Even in net rating, I think people forget like Miami
was seventh and net rating after the All Star Break
they were a plus three Indy plus five point six,
So it's not like you're talking about a massive gap
in terms of level of play. I will say the
ceiling is a million times higher for Indiana.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah, they haven't done. I have a couple of things
I want to hit on from this series before we
pivot in. Okay, is that cool?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah? Go for it.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Ty Jerome at nineteen assists to two turnovers in his
four games.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Like he goes ten of twenty from three to forty
two from the field, eleven of thirteen from the line.
What an like. I think both of us felt like
this was gonna be a fine thing for Tie. Like,
I don't think we went into this being like Ty
might have a hard time with playoff pressure. But I
(26:20):
feel like he exceeded even my expectations in the sense
that he completely dominated some of these games, even without
Darius on the floor.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Yeah, he was big and doing what he did all season.
Right when when Donno miss's time, Ty has stepped up,
when Darius missus time, Ty has stepped up, and they've
done a terrific job all season long managing his minutes.
You know, it's one of the things that Kenny talked about,
which is basically, hey, a lot of these guys coming
in off the bench are almost on a minute restriction
(26:49):
because we want them to be healthy. We want to
see them being able to contribute and be at their
best in the playoffs. And Tye is absolutely built for
these moments. I mean, obviously, the shooting in this series
is going to regress. That was nuts. We shot forty
four percent for a series like next.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
From the line and by the way, remember how frustrated
we were getting post All Star Break with this team's
free throw shooting not a problem in this series.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Man seventy seven of one to seventy five from three
in a four game series, Like, that's a lot of
threes to get up in four games, and that's a
lot of makes to have, you know, ty Jerome hitting
that half court shot like at that point, Like, you know,
there are bad shooting elect games, and Miami had a
bad shooting lex series. But I think even with all
(27:38):
of that, when you're talking about a one twenty two
point margin and the fact that they probably shot a
little over their skis, particularly in those first two games,
like this just wasn't particularly close, and you know, the
the Indiana Ranta was going on was actually a little
more about Hey, Like I understand that Miami was the
ten seed, but if you're talking about posts All Star
(28:00):
break Indiana and you know the challenge that they are
going to bring, you also have to give credit to
what Miami had done down the stretch of this season
after you know, resolving that Jimmy Butler situation. So I
think the Cavs acquitted themselves incredibly well. DeAndre Hunter, I
think deserves a ton of credit, going all four in
game one, the rest of the series, sixteen of twenty
(28:22):
nine and eight of thirteen from three.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Like, yeah, felt you felt him, You felt his impact,
you felt you know, I felt like when he got
to the team and they were on that crazy run,
he so often was the straw that broke the camel's back,
him and Tie, and like that is the fun of
having this two of those guys off the bench, you
know the fact that they can change the rhythm of
(28:47):
the game and also be part of the pylon. Mm hmm,
because like it's happened both ways where he's come in
kept them that second quarter or that first shift in
Game two, sorry, where he hit a couple threes, just
to kind of get them in motion after a pretty
sloggy first six to seven minutes of that game. So
(29:10):
he can kind of get you out of the rup,
but he can also take you over the top and
take a game from like semi competitive to over in
very very short order. I thought this was one of
his I think this was one of his very best
games as a cavalier. Dominant on both ends of the floor. Man,
(29:30):
they're so good. So what would you guess?
Speaker 3 (29:35):
I'm going to tell you what the on court net
ratings were for Donovan in these games in Miami in particular,
So Evan was plus thirty when he was on court
in terms of net rating. Donovan was plus thirty six
for on court net rating. What would you guess? Ti
Jerome and DeAndre Hunters were at for the two games
in Miami plus forty. So Ti Jerome had a plus
(30:00):
seventy three net rating for the games in Miami and
DeAndre Hunter had a plus sixty net rating.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Oh my god, that's absurd. A blood bath.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Yeah, Jared was up there too. Jared was a plus
sixty his minutes and you know, one of the big
kind of tactical shifts as this series went to Miami.
You know, Kenny did a really good job changing up
the defensive coverages. We talked about how they applied full
court pressure, and you know, one of the reasons why
I just never agreed with the whole Hey, the Caves
(30:36):
are peaking too soon conversations of the regular season is
you can't say that a team is peaking when the
stars are playing the lowest minutes of their career and
you know you're basically playing a base rotation every single game. No,
the Cavs had another gear to go to. They had
defensive wrinkles that we didn't see in the regular season.
(30:57):
We still have the option to shorten up the road,
you know. It just it didn't make any damn sense
to me. And I'm losing my train of thought. I'll
be honest, I'm losing my train of thought. I was
going to bring that home to pick it right back,
all right, thank you?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Now, there there's so many fun stats coming out of
these two games in Miami. Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley
led the Cavaliers in minutes per game in these last
two games at twenty seven point three. Good lord, Like,
that's the thing, bro. Not only are they gonna get
(31:34):
like a week of rest, like from just not playing
basketball for the last you know. They played Game two
in Cleveland on Wednesday, the twenty third, and Donovan has
played fifty four minutes and probably won't play another minute
till Saturday or sun Well, we know, won't play another
(31:55):
minute until Saturday the third or Sunday the fourth. Like
you cannot buy better rest than that.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yeah, yeah, it's you know, they're in a really really
good position obviously. I think that's gonna be a big
benefit for Darius, who didn't you know, play in either
game in Miami.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
He's really that's really the only thing that you leave
this series being like, man, uh, you just hope it
gets better. You know, tos are messy. It's hard to
get off of them, uh you know, because you kind
of use them for just standing and existing, so it's
really hard to rest them. But and you just kind
(32:39):
of especially a guy who starts and stops and is
a balance based player like and on the left foot,
like that's kind of your your set foot for for
you know, jump shots and things like that. So I'm
not me, I'm a lefty, but you know, but yeah,
I mean you need it. You need that tell you
need it to be working like and I will say
and if you're can we move into some pacers talk
(33:01):
real quick?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
And I remembered, I remembered my train of thought. I
was going to I was going to land the plane.
So the one of the adjustments that Kenny did make
was Dean passed Isaac in the rotation. And you know,
in tonight's game, Isaac didn't play, and nobody really played
outside the top eight until about the five minute mark
(33:22):
in the third quarter. It really seemed like Kenny tightened
up the rotation even though they were up by so much.
He was out for blood in this game. And I
thought it was really interesting because one of the kind
of the trickle down effects of not playing Isaac and
Dean moving up in the rotation is you're a whole
lot bigger. This is one of the things that we
had talked about a lot. And when I'm looking at,
(33:43):
you know, those net ratings, I don't think it's a
coincidence that right at the top, are you know, TI,
DeAndre and Jared, Because that lineup of DeAndre Hunter, Dean Wade,
and Jared Allen or Evan Mobley really with either of
those guys, and that is so much size, that is
so much length. Defensively, I really like that. I think
(34:06):
that might be an adjustment that's here to stay. Ind
he plays with a lot of athleticism. They have a
lot of length, and when you are able to combat
that with a lot of length yourself, I think that
that's the way I lean.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Now.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
The interesting thing here is with Darius not in the lineup,
that meant that Sam Marrol wasn't playing any small forward
right like he was primarily playing as a shooting guard.
He was playing alongside Ty Jerome. That allowed the Calves
to go a whole lot bigger. So it's not just
a question about you know, moving Isaac down the rotation
to you know, the ninth or tenth man spot. Is
(34:40):
Kenny going to go with that larger look and what
implications does it have for everyone else in the rotation
because you know, Darius, Donovan and Tie are going to
be playing.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Well, especially I remember we talked about it a little
bit in like the weeks leading into the playoffs, talking
through the rotation, talking through some of our concerns with
Sam having to play minutes at the three and because
of you know, Tie and Tie's emergence, and we kind
of said, like you might have to pick between one
(35:11):
or the other when things get tough, you know, and
the teams start beating you up and you know, exposing
that that size disadvantage. And like I gotta say, like
I thought Sam was great and this now, and I
think he can play verse Indy.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
I I think you can play him at small Ford
versus Indy. I'm not shortening the rotation. I'm not going
down to eight guys. Like I'm not suggesting, Hey, the
eight we played tonight, We're just going to swap Darius
in for Sam kind of thing. I would still like
to be.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Playing nine and ten against Indiana, and I think we will.
But what I was going to say is that I
don't think that we can't. Like there's no world in
which I see Tie not being a member of this
rotation until they lose, like literally till they're out of
the playoffs. No, because I just feel like he's earned it,
you know, you earn these kind of like he's at
(36:06):
a point where it would have to be like a
total disaster of a series for me to even consider
cutting his minutes, because he's earned that equity.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, Honestly, when we talk about the I guess the
top seven. Like if you're talking about the core for
Max Strus, Tijerome and DeAndre Hunter, those guys have equity
for me unavailable. If they go out and they shoot
for twenty, I don't care, man, Like I one, I
trust these guys to be doing other things out there,
(36:37):
and hey, like maybe maybe it just wasn't off shooting
game like like Donovan had in Game three. That stuff happens.
I trust those top seven, and I'm riding with those guys.
To me, the question goes beyond that, right, Like if
Kenny is going to pare down in any game in
you know, the semifinals or the Eastern Conference finals, if
the Gays are able to make it there, I'm interested
(36:59):
to see who the eight or nine are. I think
that's kind of more my de note here and just
kind of the circumstances that allowed them to do that.
But I still keep coming back to I really like
when the Cavs play big. I think they have the
option to do so in the staggered lineups. I think
it helps them on the both ends of the glass.
(37:21):
I think it helps them play physically. You saw DeAndre
playing at small forward, capitalizing on mismatches man like, he's
able to put his back to the basket and score
on guys. He's able to take advantage of his size.
He gets to the free throw line because they can't
handle him at that size at the small forward position.
Those are advantages he doesn't necessarily have when he's playing
at power forward. So that's one of those things that
(37:44):
I want to keep an eye on because if you're
asking me, what is the optimized version of this team
when we're putting our absolute best foot forward because we're
trying to beat a Boston, we're trying to be in
an OKC, we're trying to win a championship here. The
larger lineups when we are staggered are are what sticks
in my head as the best foot forward for the
(38:06):
Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Yeah, what's the only time we will through this series? Mean,
you turn to each other and went, I don't know
about this lineup. It was, you know, when they were
playing Samo the three and I was I got the
four in Game two. I just think you're kind of
giving away what makes you so special is being big
and skilled and athletic and switchable. And you know, so
(38:33):
much has been made of this team's You know, so
much conversation has been made about this team's identity and
whether it works, whether it is too much of a
zag from the standard, which again talk about feeling validated.
You know, you got Houston running a double big, You've.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Got Miami drafted kill ware to okay see.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Ye okay see is playing too big Like so many
teams are now playing two bigs, which goes to show
you that maybe old Justin and Carter had some good ideas.
But you know, I just think that at the end
of the day, I'm always gonna like when this team
leans into what makes them special and what makes them unique,
(39:19):
because I think that's their superpower. You know, you never
want to run away from your superpower. So I'm excited
to see how they match up in the next series.
I do think it could be a little bit assuming
it's going to be Indy. That series isn't over yet,
but assuming it is, I do think it could be
a bit of a shock to the system. I think
it can go sick is going to be a huge jump.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Yes, I think it can go six. I think, you know,
the same way that going into the series, I thought
four or five based on how serious the Cavs are,
how they're able to execute, do they have a cold
shooting night. Those kind of factors, to me, are the
difference between five and six. Obviously, you know, if Darius
misses extended time in that series and then has to
(40:03):
come in midway through, you know, not really able to
do conditioning with a toe injury, I think that could
put them in a really difficult spot. So we'll wait
for updates on that. But I think, you know, if
once again having a week off benefits this team a lot.
They're able to get practices and they're able to prep,
and they come out with a necessary seriousness, I think
(40:25):
it would be a five or six game series. I
have a lot of respect for Indiana. They got some
good wins. They pushed teams, they don't quit. But I
think what you said about the Cavs leaning into what
makes them special is kind of like the final takeaway
that I want to have from this Miami series, which
is we wanted to see the offense translate to the postseason.
(40:46):
We saw that it was the greatest offensive rating in
a series in NBA history. We wanted to see Evan
Mobley rise to the occasion against maam Adebayo. He had
a quiet first game. I thought he outplayed him the
rest of the series. I thought he was the most
impactful defensive. I thought he was terrific offensively. He had
that drive in poster dunk in this game that moved me.
(41:08):
I'm still rattled by it. I thought Evan was absolutely terrific.
But the other thing that we said going into the
series is will they impose their style of play on Miami.
Eric Spolster is one of the best at adjustments, getting
you out of your comfort zone, getting you to play
Miami Heat basketball. That's how they beat Boston and Boston
last year, even without Jimmy Butler. They dragged Boston into
(41:31):
their style of game. They took them out of their
comfort zone. They got them no longer playing Celtics basketball.
The Cavs played Cleveland Cavalier basketball for four straight games,
and they crushed the spirit of the Miami Heat because
they couldn't do anything to change the way that they
were playing. Now, you have to build upon that. You
have laid a foundation here in the first round. You
are making the semifinals for the second consecutive year. That's
(41:56):
a hell of an accomplishment, but you have bigger goals.
Can you build up on that foundation and continue to
reach higher levels and continue to have more success against
tougher competition. I'm so damn excited to see what this
team's going to do next round.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, me too. And I really do think they showed
exactly who we thought they were, or maybe even who
we wanted them to be.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
I think, like who I believe they could be. That's
that's the way I will frame.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
That, and it is as encouraging as a first round
series against you know, a ten seed can be. All
that stuff matters. I do think there's going to be
a bit of a shock to the system when they
go play a team with more options, more levers to pull,
mismatched killers, you know.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Frankly a higher IQ ball handler. Miami doesn't really have
a true point guard Tyler Hero, you know, he did
his best, but Harry's Halliburn's a basketball savant, Like he's
going to find open shooters and they have a lot,
a lot of very willing shooters out there, right.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
They have multiple on seventy two percent of their field
goals in this series against Milwaukee, and like I and
but you know, as much as I'll say the Calves
are going to have a wake up, I think Indiana
is going to have a wake up because you're not
attacking Brook Lopez and Kevin Porter Junior in Bobby Portis,
(43:23):
guys who cannot move with you, cannot understand the game
at the level of you, like Calves can match that
kind of stuff. And I do think for both teams.
I wouldn't and we're going to dive into this. We're
gonna do a more thorough preview once that series wrap.
But like I think for both teams we're going to
(43:43):
see a healthy offensive drop off because of the ways
that the other team is capable of challenging them in
ways their first round opponent was not. And of course,
of course the Calves eventually there's gonna have a drop off.
You're not gonna put up one thirty six for all
(44:04):
the way to the finals. But like, I just think
both teams have a lot of interesting levers to pull.
I'm actually really geeked if it's Indiana. I think they
are the best test of any of the second round
teams Andy, Milwaukee, Detroit, New York. Like you know of
anyone that other than Boston that could have been played
(44:26):
by the Calves. I think Indy is the toughest matchup
for them, and I think, like you know, if I
felt like my ceiling raised after this first round dominant
series against Miami, if they go out and dominate Indy,
then I'm going off the rails with this hype because
(44:47):
I you know, you said you think Indy can take
it six. I think they can take it seven. I
will not be picking that. But like I have so
much respect for Brick Carlisle, I have so much respect
for their point of his hack defenders. I have so
much respect for Pascal Siakam, who is the guy who
our guys have trouble with, and it is a real
(45:10):
blender in the post that can really muck up a
switch heavy scheme because you cannot switch your guards onto him.
You know, I was hanging in a playback room with
the Dunker Spot boys and Steve was getting really frustrated
with Bam for not asserting in the post demanding the
ball against mismatches not gonna happen with Pascal Siakam. Ye like,
(45:36):
he will make sure he gets the ball. He will
spin mote, move you into hell and he will get
a bucket or a foul and you know, the machine
gets going from there. So, like, I think they present
a ton of really good challenges for us. I'm really
really excited about how they confront those. I think if
they win a hard fought series, I won't think any
(45:56):
less of them. But if they dominate Indy, well, I'm honestly, dude,
I'll probably pick them against Boston.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
I mean, I'm going to pick them against Boston because
I'm me. I'm just going to do that. But I
think you know, your point about it's going to be
a wake up call for them really rings true for me.
Like you look at post All Star Break where Indiana
made their run, like their neck and neck in terms
of net rating with the Milwaukee Bucks in the Miami Heat.
(46:25):
The gap between the Indiana Pacers net rating on the
season and the Miami Heat, the gap between India and
Cleveland's is four and a half times larger than the
gap between Indiana and Miami. When you're talking about level
of competition, and of course you know Milwaukee was right
there along those guys. The Cavs are going to have
(46:46):
to play like it though, Like they are going to
have to play at their absolute best. We saw Indiana
RaSE a large lead with tyres Helbern out of the
game and ultimately win. Right Like, no lead is going
to be safe against Indiana going to take forty eight
minutes of focus. And what I hope is that the
lesson we learned in game two and applied to games
(47:06):
three and four, where we kept our foot on the
gas and said, hey, if we just play hard, if
we don't take the last twelve minutes off and we
play hard, we are going to have more time off
as a result of that. If they take that lesson
and apply it to the Pacers series and execute the
way that we know that they're capable of, like you said,
(47:27):
it's going to turn a lot of skeptics into believers
because that is an indie team that has been playing
at a high, high level. Any closing thoughts before we
wrap this one up, Buddy, just.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
Again, just really grateful for this team. I just think
they're it's a really special group, a group that is
deserving of our affection, you know, at the end of
the day, like they're just you don't get to see
this that often, and and the fact that they're dis likable,
(48:04):
you know, the fact that that after a thump your
chest dominant two games, the first thing Donovan Mitchell does
in his postgame interview with Dennis Scott is sending love
to Kevin love after after you know, I lost the family.
Like that is such a likable, root for able team. Yeah,
(48:29):
and they're all like that and like, you know sometimes
that kind of stuff is press clipping stuff. Yeah, but
like when we go to the office and we go
talk to the people who work with this team. You know,
we're not there every day, but when we do go there,
everyone is like, these dudes are awesome, Like like up
(48:49):
and down the roster, you know, these dudes are awesome.
I asked Sam Merrill, like, hey, you know a lot
of teams that have a weird season, they come back,
the whole team gets brought back. It's and it becomes
immediately clear Nope, that team was done.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
You know.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
You think of those Lob City Clippers teams that were
like hung around a year too long and you could
tell it was just miserable wedding. And I was like, Sam,
why didn't that happen to you? And he goes, because
we're all really good dudes, like and like you just can't.
You can't understate how important it is both to the
(49:28):
team's structural success and what it is to root for them.
Speaker 3 (49:33):
You know, I'm not taking any of this for granted,
because when twenty eighteen came to a close, we never
knew if we were going to get a team this
good again. We never we were hoping, you know, for
a team that could make a conference finals like that.
That was kind of the goal, like, hey, can we
be the grind and grind Grizzlies, And we got a
team that can legitimately, you know, contend for a championship.
(49:54):
And windows are never as large as you think they are.
You know, good times never lasts as long as you
think they're going to. You have to live in the
moment and you have to appreciate every single thing for
what it is. And you know, when you're coming off
a historic season, you get a historic playoff series. You
have so much fun in the playoffs, which is usually
(50:16):
the time where you know, I'm I'm losing my mind
and adding to this wonderful collection of gray hairs that
I have. You know, it's it's a really, really special thing,
and I truly appreciate it. I truly appreciate everyone that's
you know, been along on the ride with us. Big
thanks to everyone tuning in live on YouTube. We really
appreciate you guys. Make sure you like and subscribe. Click
that notification bell so you know when we're going live.
(50:38):
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Speaker 2 (50:52):
Until next time, kaya
Speaker 1 (51:13):
Sta
This crowd rises to speaking what Carl slammed it out
car left wing, free ball, perfect pop, then he left
lock the shot at the rim, pow with the left hand.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
And of foul.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Welcome to Chase Doown Podcast, part of the Caves media family.
I'm your host Justin Rohan. The Chase Doown is presented
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Slash Calves. The Cleveland Cavaliers have completed the most dominant
(00:36):
light lopsided series in NBA history, beating the Miami Heat
by a combined one hundred and twenty two points through
four games. My prediction was correct. The Calves wanted to
come out and make a statement. They did it, and
they swept the Miami Heat. Joining me today is my
co host, Carter Rodriguez. Carter, how you doing, buddy?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Oh, it's a cavalis It was like a forty eight
minute cavalanche. These boys went up sixty in Game four
on the road. I mean, what an unbelievable stretch of
games in Miami. A dominance, I'm not sure. I mean,
(01:17):
we've literally, I guess never seen you know, with them
setting the record for the most dominant sweep in the
history of the sport. And it just kind of goes
to show you how ready this team was to answer
questions to knock down the dominoes put in front of them.
No one's gonna mistake this Heat team for a juggernaut.
(01:39):
But like, this was the ninth best defense in the NBA,
and I believe they were seventh best after the All
Star break, and I mean hot knife feugh butter one
hundred and thirty, one hundred and thirty seven offensive rating
for the series, like.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
Come on, which is an NBA record for best offensive
rating in a series.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Right when.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
One of the things that we asked coming into the
series that we wanted to learn is can the Cavs
offense finally translate to the postseason? Can they have you know,
a strong offensive series. I believe you wanted to see
one eighteen, am I correct?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, I was hoping. I was like, I'll settle for
one sixteen. You know know what you did, Carter?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You sold them a little short, you sold short the hardest, working,
best condition, most professional, unselfish, toughest, meanest, nastiest team in
the playoffs?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
How dare you do that? It couldn't possibly be me.
You must be thinking to someone else justin I want
to open by asking you this because we were going
into our serious preview and I asked you if anything
in the first round could change your opinion about this team,
(02:56):
like not like out of Series two series, because I
think both of us felt like they could win the
title coming into that series. But I kind of asked, like,
can they do anything to kind of make you feel
differently about them after that that ridiculousness.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Do you remember what my answer was at the time.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I don't remind me.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
My answer was, no, they can't do anything to change
what my opinion is, my level of confidence going moving forward,
because I was going to give them the benefit of
the doubt, right, Like I said, going into this series,
my brain says five because Miami always finds a way
to get a game in a series. But my heart
is telling me four because what we've seen this season
(03:43):
from the Cleveland Cavaliers is when they have something to
play for, when they have an edge to them, they
go out and accomplish it, whether it is the historic
regular season they had, whether it was getting three of
them to the All Star Game, that seemed to be,
you know, a real thing that they wanted to accomplish.
Evan Mobley winning Defensive Player of the Year, donnod Mitchell
(04:03):
is going to be All NBA. I think Evan's definitely
going to make All NBA as well. These guys, when
they have a chip on their shoulder, we've seen another
gear from them. And I think after the All Star break,
with the one seed already locked up with a brutal
travel schedule, we just didn't see the same kind of
focus calves and I really felt with a week off
(04:25):
with something to prove, with guys like Darius Garland saying, hey,
we know what the perception is, we know what we
have to do to change it. We want to go
out and change it, I just felt like they were
going to, you know, come out and make a statement.
And you look at this series. Man Game one, twenty
one point, League Game two, nineteen point, League Game three,
forty point, League Game four, sixty point lead. We said
(04:48):
after Game two that that was probably Miami's best shot.
We felt that the shot making from Miami was unsustainable.
They were not getting good looks. I think coming off
to elimination games that they won, they were playing with
a lot of confidence. Their best was not enough, and
I think after they had that, starting Game three, the
(05:09):
Cavs came out without Donovan Mitchell and had an eighteen
oh run to basically, you know, start to put that
game away and put it out of reach where once
again they were going to need to attempt another large comeback.
You know, I don't want to say it about professionals,
but it really it felt like, you know, their confidence
kind of fell apart at that point, and you know,
(05:30):
it just felt like they were out of the series,
like they did not believe that they could compete. And
once you reach that point where you no longer believe
that you can actually contend and compete within a series,
you're going to let go of the rope and things
are going to unravel fast.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah. And I don't think it's always about effort. It's
about like how hard your brain is working to solve
the problem. You know. I just think, like to your point,
Miami kind of very quickly came to the same conclusion
that much of the viewing public game two, which is
that we can't solve this problem. We don't have the juice,
(06:07):
we don't have the ball handlers, we don't have the shooting,
we don't have the physicality, you know, and like, you know,
a couple of those things are such Miami heat staples that, yeah,
it's jarring like but like I do think as bad
as the Heat were in these last two games, like
(06:31):
you have to give the credit to the Cavs for
taking it the way.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
They did, I've never seen a Spo team give up.
And it really felt that way. And Spo had this
comment after Game three, and no, I've never heard him
sound as dejected. He said, clearly a very disappointing day. Look,
our guys really want this. It probably looks like our
guys don't. But I know what our last six weeks
have been and like to fight and scratch and claw
(06:56):
to get this. We laid an egg today. Big part
of it was Cleveland became an avalanche going in the
other direction. Sometimes when you care, there's a level of
discouragement that fed into that avalanche. That's what we all
feel the spirited about. I think that's I don't want
to laugh at that man like, that's that's vulnerable, that's real.
And I think one of the things we've seen in
these playoffs is a bit of a shift in the NBA,
(07:18):
where in the past, I think teams when we saw
the best player in a series, we almost always gave
that team an edge. I think from just the way
rosters were constructed, that player always would come out on top,
or very frequently would come out on top. And now
with modern team building, with the level of talent that
(07:39):
is around the league, that isn't the differentiating factor anymore.
Man Like Giannis is out there having a phenomenal series
against Indiana and he's fighting like to the death to
get a game off these guys Lebron and Luca, you know,
a perfect example of top end tallent not necessarily being enough.
And then you come to this Miami heats where the
(08:00):
Cows not only have the top end talent, we have
the five through eight, you know, five through ten level
of talent to just relentlessly come after you minute after minute.
After the starters got pulled in the third quarter, Miami
kept their starters out there. A lot of key players
were still playing. Our bench extended that lead. It's incredibly impressive.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, it's you know, I've been saying it for a
couple of years, kind of starting to see the narrative
kind of kind of flip nationally in analyzing the league.
You know, I forget who wrote the article that you know,
is this a week link league now? Where you're just
as good as your worst piece that you play, and
(08:50):
you're looking up and down the playoffs. You're seeing Lakers
not make a sub yesterday in the second half literally
played the same five guys twenty four straight minutes. You're
watching the Knicks get five bench points against Detroit, even
in a game they won. You know, it just feels
(09:14):
so precarious for those teams in a way that it
doesn't for the Cavs. Yeah. And that's not to say
the Cabs bench won't struggle at different points over the playoffs, Like.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It might be different guys that we rely on, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
But like the holistic reliance and the difference between these
top heavy teams and the teams you can play nine
or ten guys and feel really good about that, it
does feel like it matters. You know, Minnesota has a
bunch of dudes they really really trust, and it doesn't
have to be ten. But like it's like having a
(09:55):
really strong upper middle class of your roster where it's
not just guys who can survive out there for four
minutes where you're just kind of crossing your fingers, but
guys who, when they're on, can really help. I mean,
this is I've said it before, but this is where
I was so wrong about Boston last year was I
thought they had six good players and you know, eight
(10:17):
or nine guys that they really couldn't count on. It
turned out Sam Houser hits in a major way, Prichard
hits in a major way, Cornett hits in a major way,
and all of a sudden, they're, you know, not only
as they're starting five unbelievable, they're an eight or nine
deep team with guys that can kill you. And like,
I don't know, you look at that Indiana Milwaukee series
(10:40):
and like his proofs in the pudding in terms of
who you can rely on to consistently carry you through
a series, I feel like the teams with depth are
the ones that are really showing out in this playoffs.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Here is the best way that I can summarize that depth.
There are two teams that have a double digit net
rating in the playoffs Cavs and the Thunder. The Thunders
was nineteen for their series win against the Grizzlies. Not
a single Cleveland Cavalier had a net rating below twelve
when they were on court, so dominant every single guy
(11:14):
up and down the rotation. But it gets more wild
than that. The Cav's net rating with Donovan off the
floor was thirty points better. They're net rating with Darius
off the court was thirty one points better. Their net
rating with Evan off the court was thirty eight points better.
So keep that in mind. Those guys, like you know,
sometimes you see negative on off splits. Every single one
(11:35):
of these guys had an on court net rating of
over twelve. That means you are smoking them when you
are out there on the court. The Cavs three best players,
they managed to dominate this series when they were not
in the game. That is something, man like. That is something,
And it's not like they didn't do their part. Darius Garland,
I'll play Tyler hero in his minutes, Evan Mobley, I'll
(11:56):
play bam Adebayo. Donovan Mitchell one cold shooting game, but
you saw him close out Game two. He was phenomenal
in this series. I thought he played with a lot
of composure. He said after the game, you know, he
doesn't worry about rest versus rust kind of thing, because
he feels great. He said, it's the best he's felt
in the playoffs, and he will take all the rest
(12:18):
he can get. This Cavs team earned the rest that
they got, but what we have seen throughout the season
is they have put themselves in a position to capitalize
on this rest because throughout eighty two games they knew
they could trust guys five through ten on this roster
and even if he need be, Hey, we can throw
in a Jalen Tyson, we don't care Craig Porter Junior
(12:40):
can play. We know that these guys can give us
good minutes. We can play these guys at Madison Square
Garden in a game where where Donovan Mitchell is out
and go out and win. There is just such a
high level of trust and confidence, and I think that
translates to how they play, how connected they play on
both ends of the court.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
It's also just such a testament to the front office
that you know, I still think is you know, one
of the occupational hazards of Kenny getting all this love
is that I feel like the front office isn't maybe
getting as many flowers as they deserve this season because
(13:20):
three years ago they traded for Donovan and the consensus
agreement is that was their all in move, no more
chips to cash, and and we kind of figured that,
you know, just logically, that this was a team that
(13:43):
was going to have to be really really really good
at the top four. And if those four guys were
great and meshed well together, they would be great. If
those guys weren't great, they it was going to be
uphill sludding, you know. And the fact that they've just like,
not only are they great and great together and able
(14:08):
to kind of raise, you know, raise the ceiling of
the team, it also just hasn't mattered if they have
been good, Like, like, they have so much depth, so
much insulation. You know, you trade two bench players and
Keris and Niang and a couple swaps of swaps, and
(14:29):
go get DeAndre Hunter, who was phenomenal in games three
and four. You pick up Ty Jerome off the scrap heap,
he loses an entire season, comes in third and six
Manut of the Year voting. You you've Dean Wade an
undrafted free agent, you know, just so Sam merrill A,
(14:49):
you know, a twenty six, twenty seven year old guy
you signed to your G League team, and then he
earned his way to the main roster like every even
Isaac o Kora, who was you know, the most traditional
path in you know, being a high pedigree pick, like
the roster is just padded out with every possible way
(15:09):
to add talent, you know, max in free agency. They
have such phenomenal depth, and all of it was earned
and and really worked for by this front office. And
they just deserve so much credit for that. Yeah, they
really do.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Even hey, Ricky Rubio, you know, unfortunately gets hurt. Were
what we believe in this team. We're going to flip
him with a first round pick to get Kris Lavert right,
and Carris gave them a lot of really good minutes.
You sign him to an extension. But then, hey, you know,
we we invested in Tidrome. This is someone that we've
wanted to bring into the locker room for a very
long time. It has been a perfect fit, and that
(15:48):
has afforded us the flexibility to go out and flip
you know, Karris Lavert and George Niang who was having
a great season for DeAndre Hunter right, developing Jeddi Osmond
and Lamar Stevens, both of them playing real minutes on
a fifty win team, which I think people forget and
using that as you know, sign and trade bait to
get Maxters right, Like, I think it goes beyond just
(16:08):
who they brought in, but the little kind of you know,
turning a paper clip into a house through you know,
seven thousand trades that Kobe Altman had to do to
really build a deep roster that can have sustained success
after really emptying the cupboard to give an honest effort
with Lebron James right and trying to contend as much
(16:29):
as possible in that four your windows. So I think
they deserve a ton of credit. I think we have
seen this team, whether the storm be in a position
where they could rest guys, and obviously that seems to
be the case with Darius Garland will knock on wood
and hope that it isn't something that lingers into the
Indiana series. But they've really really put themselves in a
(16:52):
great position and to be in a spot where you know,
you lose Darius, who's averaging twenty four points per game
in this series. I'm terrific two way basketball, and oh
now we can just kind of cycle in DeAndre Hunter,
who is a twenty point per game scorer in Atlanta.
He's gonna, you know, play alongside Ty Jerome, Evan Mobley,
(17:14):
Jared Allen, Donod Mitchell. We still have, you know, so
much top end scoring talent that unbelievable. I can't believe
we are in this good of a position because I
we always talk about the compromises you have to make
in roster building and team building. The Calves are in
a hell of a position and all of these guys
are at least locked up for the short term here.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, they are so so good again, I said after
Game three, now that the sweep is complete, I mean,
you know, and one thing I kind of chickened out
at the beginning of the SPoD because I kind of asked, you,
you know, could anything the way they play change the
way you feel about them? Yeah? I mean I feel different.
(18:00):
I do feel different. I feel stronger about this team.
I feel stronger than if they had done what okay
see did, which was start off dominant, which, by the way,
the Cavs did too, but you know, start off o
mega dominant and then kind of tail off with a
couple close ones in Miami. If that's what they had done,
(18:20):
I'd be like, Okay, proud of them, but like you know,
and sweeps are hard. You don't you never, you know,
turn your nose up at any playoff win, But like, okay,
we'll see how the next series goes. I do feel
like the offense was so forceful, it was so dominant,
it was so frankly unbothered by anything Spolstra did. Zone
(18:48):
didn't work, down shift didn't work, switch more didn't work,
Trap in and blitz the ball handler didn't work. Fight
over and keep Davion Mitchell connected, so you couldn't get
advantageous switches didn't work. I don't think Miami did one
thing that late that worked for more than three minutes
(19:10):
at a time. In this series, not a single tactic
worked because of the offensive flexibility, the scheme versatility of
this team, the talent level of this team, the shot making,
the creativeness of their of the way that they attack
the passing. Just an absolute dominant offensive performance in every
(19:33):
single game.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Man, That's that's a lot of good points, and I'm
just so grateful that I have a tool like Zoomei
Companion to help keep.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Track of that.
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Speaker 1 (19:58):
Oh my god, six in the first half is that
TJ McConnell.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
That is a Calves franchise playoff record. Six steals in
the first half. It's a record for a game. And
Jared did it in the first half. I thought he
really set the tone honestly when he got that steal
at the start of the game, when when full course
I did too, I was like, oh, yeah, they're focused.
Jared's locked in again. You know here, we're in a
(20:26):
very very good position.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
And and conversely, the degree to which Miami was like
told me it was over.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
It's one thing when you know Donovan goes coast to
coast for dunk, but when Jared Allen's just picking your
pocket and you know, bringing out the Statue of Liberty, which, hey,
it looked a lot cooler than when he tried to
do the Lebron dunk, So so points to him, big,
big shout out to him. I thought he had a
phenomenal series. This is two years in a row that
I thought he's been fantastic in the playoffs. You know,
(20:57):
people will linger on that Nix and forget this man
who was averaging you know, seventeen and fourteen. I believe
against Orlando before the broken rip. He is someone that
has come out and really made an impact in these
series and the one that we're going to need to
continue to rely on. I understand that Jared is more
than happy fighting for offensive rebounds, doing the dirty work,
(21:20):
hustle plays, getting the steals. I still think back to
that steal he had in Game two, which pretty much
sealed the game, like that was one of the biggest
plays of this entire series and has put them once
again in a position to capitalize on the rest that
they've afforded themselves here. So Jared, I know he's content with,
you know, getting the scraps and cleaning up on that,
(21:42):
but I just feel like he is such a talented finisher.
He is such a skilled offensive player that we're going
to need to continue to make sure that we are
keeping him involved offensively, because I think the most dynamic
version of this Cavs team is never relying too heavily
on you know, one or two players to you know,
do the heavy lifting here. When we have you know, three,
(22:05):
four five guys all cooking, that's when we really played
the best Cats basketball.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Jared Allen against the Miami Heat in four games, scores
fifty seven points, twenty one of twenty seven from the field,
fifteen of fifteen from the free throw line, forty one rebounds,
thirteen of them on the offensive end, uh so average
about three offensive rebounds a game a little bit more,
(22:31):
had ten steals like and was a plus seventy six.
I believe he led the team in plus minus. Nope,
I did it plus eighty eight, which is hilarious. You know,
just the consummate professional to your point, Like, I just
think he has been one of their most reliable players
(22:53):
so far and over these last two years in the
in the postseason, he really has settled into what he
needs to do for this team. I think his defensive
rebounding is super laudable, you know, because that is not
a strength of this team. And you know, Evan didn't
(23:14):
board great in this series. You know, he was doing
a lot of wrestling with Bam or getting switched on
the perimeter, and like, especially if Evan isn't having a
dominant rebounding series, the impetus on Jarrett to do that
goes way way way up. And he was just tough
as nails. Yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
He really like heilloutware. I feel for him, but he
at the.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Beginning of the series, I said, this is going to
be a welcome to the NBA, buddy, Like you think
you are a big, springy, rim protecting, dunking big man,
Like there's levels of this game, young blood, and like
that's exactly what Jarrett showed.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I just think he has matured so much of a player.
He has rounded out his game in so many ways,
and it really really shows, like the touch he has,
like sometimes when he's taking off far from the basket
and he just puts that little spin on it where
you know it's basically hitting the backboard below the rim
but still popping up and going perfectly in. Like that's
(24:18):
not an easy thing to do when you are playing
against rangey, lengthy defenders, and you know, I think we're
going to kind of make the assumption here that next
round is going to be against the Indiana Pacers. I
think they have played much better basketball than the Milwaukee
Bucks for the majority of the season. Honestly, it's ever since,
(24:39):
you know, they turned things around. I think that's been
the better team. And then, of course, unfortunately there was
the Damian Lillard injury, which was just absolutely heartbreaking. You know,
that's somebody that we've measured CALVS guards against for basically
my entire time watching basketball. And while I've always been
on the other side of a lot of game arguments,
(25:00):
that's someone that have a lot of respect for, and
you know, that was just terrible to see. But you know,
there's been a lot of talk about how Indiana, you know,
turn their defense around and post All Star Break kind
of what they've done. Indiana's defense post All Star Break
was one eleven point five, Miami's post All Star Break
one eleven point six. You're talking about equivalent defenses there.
(25:22):
Even in net rating, I think people forget like Miami
was seventh and net rating after the All Star Break
they were a plus three Indy plus five point six,
So it's not like you're talking about a massive gap
in terms of level of play. I will say the
ceiling is a million times higher for Indiana.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah, they haven't done. I have a couple of things
I want to hit on from this series before we
pivot in. Okay, is that cool?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah? Go for it.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Ty Jerome at nineteen assists to two turnovers in his
four games.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Like he goes ten of twenty from three to forty
two from the field, eleven of thirteen from the line.
What an like. I think both of us felt like
this was gonna be a fine thing for Tie. Like,
I don't think we went into this being like Ty
might have a hard time with playoff pressure. But I
(26:20):
feel like he exceeded even my expectations in the sense
that he completely dominated some of these games, even without
Darius on the floor.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Yeah, he was big and doing what he did all season.
Right when when Donno miss's time, Ty has stepped up,
when Darius missus time, Ty has stepped up, and they've
done a terrific job all season long managing his minutes.
You know, it's one of the things that Kenny talked about,
which is basically, hey, a lot of these guys coming
in off the bench are almost on a minute restriction
(26:49):
because we want them to be healthy. We want to
see them being able to contribute and be at their
best in the playoffs. And Tye is absolutely built for
these moments. I mean, obviously, the shooting in this series
is going to regress. That was nuts. We shot forty
four percent for a series like next.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
From the line and by the way, remember how frustrated
we were getting post All Star Break with this team's
free throw shooting not a problem in this series.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Man seventy seven of one to seventy five from three
in a four game series, Like, that's a lot of
threes to get up in four games, and that's a
lot of makes to have, you know, ty Jerome hitting
that half court shot like at that point, Like, you know,
there are bad shooting elect games, and Miami had a
bad shooting lex series. But I think even with all
(27:38):
of that, when you're talking about a one twenty two
point margin and the fact that they probably shot a
little over their skis, particularly in those first two games,
like this just wasn't particularly close, and you know, the
the Indiana Ranta was going on was actually a little
more about Hey, Like I understand that Miami was the
ten seed, but if you're talking about posts All Star
(28:00):
break Indiana and you know the challenge that they are
going to bring, you also have to give credit to
what Miami had done down the stretch of this season
after you know, resolving that Jimmy Butler situation. So I
think the Cavs acquitted themselves incredibly well. DeAndre Hunter, I
think deserves a ton of credit, going all four in
game one, the rest of the series, sixteen of twenty
(28:22):
nine and eight of thirteen from three.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Like, yeah, felt you felt him, You felt his impact,
you felt you know, I felt like when he got
to the team and they were on that crazy run,
he so often was the straw that broke the camel's back,
him and Tie, and like that is the fun of
having this two of those guys off the bench, you
know the fact that they can change the rhythm of
(28:47):
the game and also be part of the pylon. Mm hmm,
because like it's happened both ways where he's come in
kept them that second quarter or that first shift in
Game two, sorry, where he hit a couple threes, just
to kind of get them in motion after a pretty
sloggy first six to seven minutes of that game. So
(29:10):
he can kind of get you out of the rup,
but he can also take you over the top and
take a game from like semi competitive to over in
very very short order. I thought this was one of
his I think this was one of his very best
games as a cavalier. Dominant on both ends of the floor. Man,
(29:30):
they're so good. So what would you guess?
Speaker 3 (29:35):
I'm going to tell you what the on court net
ratings were for Donovan in these games in Miami in particular,
So Evan was plus thirty when he was on court
in terms of net rating. Donovan was plus thirty six
for on court net rating. What would you guess? Ti
Jerome and DeAndre Hunters were at for the two games
in Miami plus forty. So Ti Jerome had a plus
(30:00):
seventy three net rating for the games in Miami and
DeAndre Hunter had a plus sixty net rating.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Oh my god, that's absurd. A blood bath.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
Yeah, Jared was up there too. Jared was a plus
sixty his minutes and you know, one of the big
kind of tactical shifts as this series went to Miami.
You know, Kenny did a really good job changing up
the defensive coverages. We talked about how they applied full
court pressure, and you know, one of the reasons why
I just never agreed with the whole Hey, the Caves
(30:36):
are peaking too soon conversations of the regular season is
you can't say that a team is peaking when the
stars are playing the lowest minutes of their career and
you know you're basically playing a base rotation every single game. No,
the Cavs had another gear to go to. They had
defensive wrinkles that we didn't see in the regular season.
(30:57):
We still have the option to shorten up the road,
you know. It just it didn't make any damn sense
to me. And I'm losing my train of thought. I'll
be honest, I'm losing my train of thought. I was
going to bring that home to pick it right back,
all right, thank you?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Now, there there's so many fun stats coming out of
these two games in Miami. Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley
led the Cavaliers in minutes per game in these last
two games at twenty seven point three. Good lord, Like,
that's the thing, bro. Not only are they gonna get
(31:34):
like a week of rest, like from just not playing
basketball for the last you know. They played Game two
in Cleveland on Wednesday, the twenty third, and Donovan has
played fifty four minutes and probably won't play another minute
till Saturday or sun Well, we know, won't play another
(31:55):
minute until Saturday the third or Sunday the fourth. Like
you cannot buy better rest than that.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yeah, yeah, it's you know, they're in a really really
good position obviously. I think that's gonna be a big
benefit for Darius, who didn't you know, play in either
game in Miami.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
He's really that's really the only thing that you leave
this series being like, man, uh, you just hope it
gets better. You know, tos are messy. It's hard to
get off of them, uh you know, because you kind
of use them for just standing and existing, so it's
really hard to rest them. But and you just kind
(32:39):
of especially a guy who starts and stops and is
a balance based player like and on the left foot,
like that's kind of your your set foot for for
you know, jump shots and things like that. So I'm
not me, I'm a lefty, but you know, but yeah,
I mean you need it. You need that tell you
need it to be working like and I will say
and if you're can we move into some pacers talk
(33:01):
real quick?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
And I remembered, I remembered my train of thought. I
was going to I was going to land the plane.
So the one of the adjustments that Kenny did make
was Dean passed Isaac in the rotation. And you know,
in tonight's game, Isaac didn't play, and nobody really played
outside the top eight until about the five minute mark
(33:22):
in the third quarter. It really seemed like Kenny tightened
up the rotation even though they were up by so much.
He was out for blood in this game. And I
thought it was really interesting because one of the kind
of the trickle down effects of not playing Isaac and
Dean moving up in the rotation is you're a whole
lot bigger. This is one of the things that we
had talked about a lot. And when I'm looking at,
(33:43):
you know, those net ratings, I don't think it's a
coincidence that right at the top, are you know, TI,
DeAndre and Jared, Because that lineup of DeAndre Hunter, Dean Wade,
and Jared Allen or Evan Mobley really with either of
those guys, and that is so much size, that is
so much length. Defensively, I really like that. I think
(34:06):
that might be an adjustment that's here to stay. Ind
he plays with a lot of athleticism. They have a
lot of length, and when you are able to combat
that with a lot of length yourself, I think that
that's the way I lean.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
Now.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
The interesting thing here is with Darius not in the lineup,
that meant that Sam Marrol wasn't playing any small forward
right like he was primarily playing as a shooting guard.
He was playing alongside Ty Jerome. That allowed the Calves
to go a whole lot bigger. So it's not just
a question about you know, moving Isaac down the rotation
to you know, the ninth or tenth man spot. Is
(34:40):
Kenny going to go with that larger look and what
implications does it have for everyone else in the rotation
because you know, Darius, Donovan and Tie are going to
be playing.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Well, especially I remember we talked about it a little
bit in like the weeks leading into the playoffs, talking
through the rotation, talking through some of our concerns with
Sam having to play minutes at the three and because
of you know, Tie and Tie's emergence, and we kind
of said, like you might have to pick between one
(35:11):
or the other when things get tough, you know, and
the teams start beating you up and you know, exposing
that that size disadvantage. And like I gotta say, like
I thought Sam was great and this now, and I
think he can play verse Indy.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
I I think you can play him at small Ford
versus Indy. I'm not shortening the rotation. I'm not going
down to eight guys. Like I'm not suggesting, Hey, the
eight we played tonight, We're just going to swap Darius
in for Sam kind of thing. I would still like
to be.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Playing nine and ten against Indiana, and I think we will.
But what I was going to say is that I
don't think that we can't. Like there's no world in
which I see Tie not being a member of this
rotation until they lose, like literally till they're out of
the playoffs. No, because I just feel like he's earned it,
you know, you earn these kind of like he's at
(36:06):
a point where it would have to be like a
total disaster of a series for me to even consider
cutting his minutes, because he's earned that equity.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, Honestly, when we talk about the I guess the
top seven. Like if you're talking about the core for
Max Strus, Tijerome and DeAndre Hunter, those guys have equity
for me unavailable. If they go out and they shoot
for twenty, I don't care, man, Like I one, I
trust these guys to be doing other things out there,
(36:37):
and hey, like maybe maybe it just wasn't off shooting
game like like Donovan had in Game three. That stuff happens.
I trust those top seven, and I'm riding with those guys.
To me, the question goes beyond that, right, Like if
Kenny is going to pare down in any game in
you know, the semifinals or the Eastern Conference finals, if
the Gays are able to make it there, I'm interested
(36:59):
to see who the eight or nine are. I think
that's kind of more my de note here and just
kind of the circumstances that allowed them to do that.
But I still keep coming back to I really like
when the Cavs play big. I think they have the
option to do so in the staggered lineups. I think
it helps them on the both ends of the glass.
(37:21):
I think it helps them play physically. You saw DeAndre
playing at small forward, capitalizing on mismatches man like, he's
able to put his back to the basket and score
on guys. He's able to take advantage of his size.
He gets to the free throw line because they can't
handle him at that size at the small forward position.
Those are advantages he doesn't necessarily have when he's playing
at power forward. So that's one of those things that
(37:44):
I want to keep an eye on because if you're
asking me, what is the optimized version of this team
when we're putting our absolute best foot forward because we're
trying to beat a Boston, we're trying to be in
an OKC, we're trying to win a championship here. The
larger lineups when we are staggered are are what sticks
in my head as the best foot forward for the
(38:06):
Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Yeah, what's the only time we will through this series? Mean,
you turn to each other and went, I don't know
about this lineup. It was, you know, when they were
playing Samo the three and I was I got the
four in Game two. I just think you're kind of
giving away what makes you so special is being big
and skilled and athletic and switchable. And you know, so
(38:33):
much has been made of this team's You know, so
much conversation has been made about this team's identity and
whether it works, whether it is too much of a
zag from the standard, which again talk about feeling validated.
You know, you got Houston running a double big, You've.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Got Miami drafted kill ware to okay see.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Ye okay see is playing too big Like so many
teams are now playing two bigs, which goes to show
you that maybe old Justin and Carter had some good ideas.
But you know, I just think that at the end
of the day, I'm always gonna like when this team
leans into what makes them special and what makes them unique,
(39:19):
because I think that's their superpower. You know, you never
want to run away from your superpower. So I'm excited
to see how they match up in the next series.
I do think it could be a little bit assuming
it's going to be Indy. That series isn't over yet,
but assuming it is, I do think it could be
a bit of a shock to the system. I think
it can go sick is going to be a huge jump.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
Yes, I think it can go six. I think, you know,
the same way that going into the series, I thought
four or five based on how serious the Cavs are,
how they're able to execute, do they have a cold
shooting night. Those kind of factors, to me, are the
difference between five and six. Obviously, you know, if Darius
misses extended time in that series and then has to
(40:03):
come in midway through, you know, not really able to
do conditioning with a toe injury, I think that could
put them in a really difficult spot. So we'll wait
for updates on that. But I think, you know, if
once again having a week off benefits this team a lot.
They're able to get practices and they're able to prep,
and they come out with a necessary seriousness, I think
(40:25):
it would be a five or six game series. I
have a lot of respect for Indiana. They got some
good wins. They pushed teams, they don't quit. But I
think what you said about the Cavs leaning into what
makes them special is kind of like the final takeaway
that I want to have from this Miami series, which
is we wanted to see the offense translate to the postseason.
(40:46):
We saw that it was the greatest offensive rating in
a series in NBA history. We wanted to see Evan
Mobley rise to the occasion against maam Adebayo. He had
a quiet first game. I thought he outplayed him the
rest of the series. I thought he was the most
impactful defensive. I thought he was terrific offensively. He had
that drive in poster dunk in this game that moved me.
(41:08):
I'm still rattled by it. I thought Evan was absolutely terrific.
But the other thing that we said going into the
series is will they impose their style of play on Miami.
Eric Spolster is one of the best at adjustments, getting
you out of your comfort zone, getting you to play
Miami Heat basketball. That's how they beat Boston and Boston
last year, even without Jimmy Butler. They dragged Boston into
(41:31):
their style of game. They took them out of their
comfort zone. They got them no longer playing Celtics basketball.
The Cavs played Cleveland Cavalier basketball for four straight games,
and they crushed the spirit of the Miami Heat because
they couldn't do anything to change the way that they
were playing. Now, you have to build upon that. You
have laid a foundation here in the first round. You
are making the semifinals for the second consecutive year. That's
(41:56):
a hell of an accomplishment, but you have bigger goals.
Can you build up on that foundation and continue to
reach higher levels and continue to have more success against
tougher competition. I'm so damn excited to see what this
team's going to do next round.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yeah, me too. And I really do think they showed
exactly who we thought they were, or maybe even who
we wanted them to be.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
I think, like who I believe they could be. That's
that's the way I will frame.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
That, and it is as encouraging as a first round
series against you know, a ten seed can be. All
that stuff matters. I do think there's going to be
a bit of a shock to the system when they
go play a team with more options, more levers to pull,
mismatched killers, you know.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Frankly a higher IQ ball handler. Miami doesn't really have
a true point guard Tyler Hero, you know, he did
his best, but Harry's Halliburn's a basketball savant, Like he's
going to find open shooters and they have a lot,
a lot of very willing shooters out there, right.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
They have multiple on seventy two percent of their field
goals in this series against Milwaukee, and like I and
but you know, as much as I'll say the Calves
are going to have a wake up, I think Indiana
is going to have a wake up because you're not
attacking Brook Lopez and Kevin Porter Junior in Bobby Portis,
(43:23):
guys who cannot move with you, cannot understand the game
at the level of you, like Calves can match that
kind of stuff. And I do think for both teams.
I wouldn't and we're going to dive into this. We're
gonna do a more thorough preview once that series wrap.
But like I think for both teams we're going to
(43:43):
see a healthy offensive drop off because of the ways
that the other team is capable of challenging them in
ways their first round opponent was not. And of course,
of course the Calves eventually there's gonna have a drop off.
You're not gonna put up one thirty six for all
(44:04):
the way to the finals. But like, I just think
both teams have a lot of interesting levers to pull.
I'm actually really geeked if it's Indiana. I think they
are the best test of any of the second round
teams Andy, Milwaukee, Detroit, New York. Like you know of
anyone that other than Boston that could have been played
(44:26):
by the Calves. I think Indy is the toughest matchup
for them, and I think, like you know, if I
felt like my ceiling raised after this first round dominant
series against Miami, if they go out and dominate Indy,
then I'm going off the rails with this hype because
(44:47):
I you know, you said you think Indy can take
it six. I think they can take it seven. I
will not be picking that. But like I have so
much respect for Brick Carlisle, I have so much respect
for their point of his hack defenders. I have so
much respect for Pascal Siakam, who is the guy who
our guys have trouble with, and it is a real
(45:10):
blender in the post that can really muck up a
switch heavy scheme because you cannot switch your guards onto him.
You know, I was hanging in a playback room with
the Dunker Spot boys and Steve was getting really frustrated
with Bam for not asserting in the post demanding the
ball against mismatches not gonna happen with Pascal Siakam. Ye like,
(45:36):
he will make sure he gets the ball. He will
spin mote, move you into hell and he will get
a bucket or a foul and you know, the machine
gets going from there. So, like, I think they present
a ton of really good challenges for us. I'm really
really excited about how they confront those. I think if
they win a hard fought series, I won't think any
(45:56):
less of them. But if they dominate Indy, well, I'm honestly, dude,
I'll probably pick them against Boston.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
I mean, I'm going to pick them against Boston because
I'm me. I'm just going to do that. But I
think you know, your point about it's going to be
a wake up call for them really rings true for me.
Like you look at post All Star Break where Indiana
made their run, like their neck and neck in terms
of net rating with the Milwaukee Bucks in the Miami Heat.
(46:25):
The gap between the Indiana Pacers net rating on the
season and the Miami Heat, the gap between India and
Cleveland's is four and a half times larger than the
gap between Indiana and Miami. When you're talking about level
of competition, and of course you know Milwaukee was right
there along those guys. The Cavs are going to have
(46:46):
to play like it though, Like they are going to
have to play at their absolute best. We saw Indiana
RaSE a large lead with tyres Helbern out of the
game and ultimately win. Right Like, no lead is going
to be safe against Indiana going to take forty eight
minutes of focus. And what I hope is that the
lesson we learned in game two and applied to games
(47:06):
three and four, where we kept our foot on the
gas and said, hey, if we just play hard, if
we don't take the last twelve minutes off and we
play hard, we are going to have more time off
as a result of that. If they take that lesson
and apply it to the Pacers series and execute the
way that we know that they're capable of, like you said,
(47:27):
it's going to turn a lot of skeptics into believers
because that is an indie team that has been playing
at a high, high level. Any closing thoughts before we
wrap this one up, Buddy, just.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
Again, just really grateful for this team. I just think
they're it's a really special group, a group that is
deserving of our affection, you know, at the end of
the day, like they're just you don't get to see
this that often, and and the fact that they're dis likable,
(48:04):
you know, the fact that that after a thump your
chest dominant two games, the first thing Donovan Mitchell does
in his postgame interview with Dennis Scott is sending love
to Kevin love after after you know, I lost the family.
Like that is such a likable, root for able team. Yeah,
(48:29):
and they're all like that and like, you know sometimes
that kind of stuff is press clipping stuff. Yeah, but
like when we go to the office and we go
talk to the people who work with this team. You know,
we're not there every day, but when we do go there,
everyone is like, these dudes are awesome, Like like up
(48:49):
and down the roster, you know, these dudes are awesome.
I asked Sam Merrill, like, hey, you know a lot
of teams that have a weird season, they come back,
the whole team gets brought back. It's and it becomes
immediately clear Nope, that team was done.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
You know.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
You think of those Lob City Clippers teams that were
like hung around a year too long and you could
tell it was just miserable wedding. And I was like, Sam,
why didn't that happen to you? And he goes, because
we're all really good dudes, like and like you just can't.
You can't understate how important it is both to the
(49:28):
team's structural success and what it is to root for them.
Speaker 3 (49:33):
You know, I'm not taking any of this for granted,
because when twenty eighteen came to a close, we never
knew if we were going to get a team this
good again. We never we were hoping, you know, for
a team that could make a conference finals like that.
That was kind of the goal, like, hey, can we
be the grind and grind Grizzlies, And we got a
team that can legitimately, you know, contend for a championship.
(49:54):
And windows are never as large as you think they are.
You know, good times never lasts as long as you
think they're going to. You have to live in the
moment and you have to appreciate every single thing for
what it is. And you know, when you're coming off
a historic season, you get a historic playoff series. You
have so much fun in the playoffs, which is usually
(50:16):
the time where you know, I'm I'm losing my mind
and adding to this wonderful collection of gray hairs that
I have. You know, it's it's a really, really special thing,
and I truly appreciate it. I truly appreciate everyone that's
you know, been along on the ride with us. Big
thanks to everyone tuning in live on YouTube. We really
appreciate you guys. Make sure you like and subscribe. Click
that notification bell so you know when we're going live.
(50:38):
If you're listening via podcast and you want to support us,
leave us a rating the review, subscribe unsubscribed, resubscribe and
help cook those books you want to be part of.
To Chase Down as exclusive discord Chat Sydney screenshots or
view to Chase Down pototgmail dot com. However, you just
support us, we really do appreciate it. Sure you guys
are staying safe out there.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Until next time, kaya
Speaker 1 (51:13):
Sta
Hosts And Creators
Carter Rodriguez
Justin Rowan
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