April 27, 2025 • 42 mins
Justin and Carter breakdown the Cavs dominant Game 3 performance over the Miami Heat. What it means to see the team win offensively in so many different ways through three games, the health of Darius Garland and other takeaways from the series.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This crowd rises to speak.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
What Carlos slammed it out? Left wing free ball perfect?
Then he left block the shot at the rim?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
How with the left hand and of fowl. Welcome to
the Chase Doown Podcast, part of the Caves Media family.
I'm your host, Justin Browan. The Chase Doown is presented
by Fubo, the official streaming partner of the Calves. Watch
over three hundred and fifty channels of live sports and TV,
including FanDuel Sports Network without cable. There's no cost and
no commitment. Try for free at FuboTV dot com Slash Calves.
(00:33):
The Cleveland Cavaliers take a commanding three to zero win
over the Miami Heat, handing Miami their largest playoff loss
in franchise history. A lot of fun to see the
Calves step up and get that win on the road.
And joining me today is my co host Carter Rodriguez. Carter,
how you doing, buddy brother?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Uh? That was fun.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It was a game that I felt really good about
going into. Then you find out Darius is out. See
you have kind of a layer of angst. Maybe not
about the series, certainly not. I didn't have angst about
the series, but you know, angst about oh Man good
buying me steel one and then prolong things and things
(01:16):
get harder and you know, you open up your risk
and like they just killed them, dude, Like they absolutely
just destroyed their will h to play basketball over the
course of the game.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It was just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
They It feels like to me that instead of sitting
and resting on their laurels knowing that we're up to
oh and just having the game plan of well, let's
just keep doing what we're doing, it felt like they
did exactly what you asked them to do in the
last podcast, which is anything they weren't doing, start doing it,
(02:02):
start fixing everything. You know, do you not get enough
rim pressure. How's how's six Jared Allen like first half dunks?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Basically you know, you're maybe not letting the you're letting.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
The the shaky ball handlers on Miami, you know, off
the hook. How's like eight first quarter turnovers? Just felt
like they kind of had everything solved. Yeah, it's you know,
getting Jared Allen involved. Obviously part of that is going
to be Darius Garland was in the lineup. I think
Darius is averaging like twenty four points per game. You're
(02:39):
going to need to generate those points somewhere else, right,
And I had wanted to see that more. I thought that,
you know, Miami didn't have the personnel to really take
away both Evan Mobley and Jared.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Allen attack in the basket. Carter, how many how many
attempts do you think the Cavs averaged at home versus
Miami in the restricted area per game?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh gosh, let's see here. They took eighty six attempts tonight.
I want to say twenty.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Okay, So at home, the Calves averaged ten attempts per game.
In the restricted area tonight against Miami they took thirty seven.
They shot seventy eight percent on those looks, and obviously
Jared Allen was a big part of that. But the
Calves were getting to the rim and not kicking it
out to open shooters. They got plenty of threes, don't
(03:31):
get me wrong, but they were very focused in their
attack of getting to the basket. Obviously, you know Tyer Rome,
Don Mitchell got to the basket. A whole bunch of
guys were doing a great job attacking, and I thought
the aggressiveness of the Bigs was a major story here.
How the Cavs attacked was a little different than in
(03:51):
games one and two. In games one and two you
saw a lot of kind of those double drag actions,
and there were still some of that in game three,
but I actually thought there was less of that. There's
a little more two man game, a little more all right.
We already have an advantage in terms of who Tyler
heroes guarding. We can score on him in isolation. He's
on DeAndre Hunter. We're gonna let Dre go to you know,
(04:13):
go to work on him.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
A lot of good post ups for Dray good good,
good Amo for the post up agenda for DeAndre Hunter.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Sorry to interrupt, No, no, it's okay.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
You know, Miami is so focused on the Cavs stars,
they forgot about Dre and he had a terrific game here.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
It was.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It was really really fun. And I think, you know,
anytime throughout this season where the Calves get a signature
win or they have one of these moments where you
know they've struggled in the past playing in Miami, they
struggled on the road. We saw them after two dominant
performances against Orlando in Games one and two, really fall
(04:51):
apart and open that series right back up in Game three.
Anytime the Calves do something that deviates from expectations or
their history, I just reflect back on would we have
expected this last year? Could we have won in this way?
And to have a game where Donovan Mitchell scores thirteen
points on four to fourteen shooting, only has one assists,
(05:14):
and the Calves blow out Miami in the way that
they did without Darius Garland even in the lineup. That
is one of the most encouraging things I've seen from
this offense all season. Because this Miami team, they're flawed,
but that is a very good defensive roster.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Bro.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
There's no disrespect here. But I was sitting there. I
had to watch a lot of this game in the
car we had. We had a little road trip to
a kid's birthday party we had to take, So I
just had the air pods in phone this far from
my face, you know, just mainlining Calves basketball, and I
was sitting there with them up, you know, thirty points,
(05:49):
just thinking, Really, wasn't that long ago where I was like,
can Colin Darius get us to forty plus wins? It's
not that long ago where you're really wondering whether they
can even be a decent team.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And this this your.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
You know, your your third best player on the season
is unavailable and not you know, it's not like a
you know, two uber stars and then the third is
just a guy like Darius has been instrumental, especially offensively
for what this team has done all year. Yeah, he
goes out and everyone is just there to step up.
(06:37):
The roster depth is unbelievable. They didn't even have that
bananas of a shooting game. You know, they made fifteen
threes and forty attempts, like that's about an average shooting
night for them, and yet they continue to just put
up these mondo offensive performances. And it's just it's so
(07:00):
rewarding to see it come to fruition like this.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I know it's only the first round, but it does
feel great.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
It does feel good, right because you're just gives you
another level of confidence. Right, we said, coming in, can
the Cavs have a dominant series? Can you know they
prove some of the doubters wrong?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Right?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
We assume that Miami was going to go out and
they were going to get a game in this series,
or felt that they had a good chance to and
the Cavs would actually have to go out and earn it.
You know, you look at a lot of the serious predictions.
Usually everyone had the Cavs, but it was five six
games for them to be as dominant as they've been
offensively throughout this series. I think is incredibly encouraging because
(07:44):
they've done it in a variety of ways. And I
think that this game in particular was a true kind
of litmus test for is this offense different than it's
been in the past, Because you know, I think you
saw from Donovan Mitchell his shots didn't fall. I don't
feel like he ever got overly passive as a result
(08:04):
of it, but he was making the right play out there.
Like I thought, he kept the ball moving. I thought,
you know, he was contributing on defense. He hit some
big shots and wasn't afraid to take the shots. But
he trusted everybody around him to do their part, even
without Darius.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Being in the lineup.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
You know, the the secondary playmaking that we've talked about
all year and in the past when when the cast
would have playoff failings, we'd say, man, there really isn't
There's not that secondary playmaking here, like Darius and Donovan
are facing a ton of pressure up front, and Mobile
doesn't seem ready to break it. Well, now you got
Max Strus who's able to run, you know, beautiful pick
(08:42):
and roll games. That two man game with Jared Allen
felt almost disrespectful where they were passing cl tropics type
of stuff that was truly something and and Max had
some disrespectful moments in that game. But Ty Jerome is
able to run that stuff. I think, you know, Merrill
keeps the ball moving. Everybody from up and down the
roster knows what they are supposed to be doing offensively,
(09:06):
and they really do have four or five guys that
can initiate at any time. And I just think it
is such a healthy offense that really, you know, as
good as Miami is defensively, and not only were they
a top ten defense in the regular season, they were
very good defense in the half court. That hasn't bothered
(09:27):
the Calves. The game has slown down in the playoffs.
We're not getting those easy transition buckets, but we are
able to generate quality looks throughout it.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And even when the.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Calves have gone down early in these last two games,
I feel like the shot quality has been very good,
and that's probably why those games have normalized very quickly
within the first quarter.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, I mean they're better and they're showing it, and
like Miami can put up the facade of competition in
these games, but they have not been able to make
any sustained efforts towards being in the Calves Ballpark. In
our discord, someone did like an analysis of like the
(10:07):
the biggest sweeps of all time, like in terms of
point differential, and if the Calves held this pace, they'd
have the fifth most dominant sweep by point differential in
the history of the sport.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And it just does feel that way.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You know, they have a plus twenty more than a
plus twenty net rating through these three games, and you know,
the offense is really I think the story here, and
like I understand why the national media isn't paying a
lot of attention to the series. Frankly, it's almost a
compliment to the Calves that everyone is just like, yeah,
(10:42):
they're killing them. It's fine, you know, and moving on
to other series that have more like wider implications than this.
But like, I do think it's important to note the
Calves had the best offense in the NBA with a
one and twenty one offensive rating in the regular season.
Game one, they put up a one thirty seven point five.
(11:04):
Game two they put up a one to twenty eight
point seven. Game three a one thirty six point three.
And to your point, what's so cool about that is
they did it three different ways. You know, this wasn't
they have a thing that they just spam that Miami
(11:25):
is uniquely unsuited to deal with. You know, It's not
like a yokicch against the Lakers thing where it's like, yeah,
they're gonna run two man with Murray and get a
good look. Every time the Cavs won Game one, they
mustered that offensive rating. Game one through elite guard play,
pull up shooting and finishing, Game two the barrage of
(11:46):
three point shot making, you know again eleven and a
quarter a playoff record. And then Game three it was
through uh, through pick and roll play, through through really
really smart semi transition attacks, it was through post ups.
It was through you know, and super democratized. I mean,
(12:09):
they put up one hundred and twenty four points. Jared
Allen led them in scoring with twenty two. Yeah, so
I just think not only has the offense held up.
All I really wanted was to see a good offensive
rating at the end of the series, and I feel
like they've exceeded even what I asked for here, which
is I was hoping that it would drop a couple
(12:31):
points but still be really, really good while everyone else
has dropped a commensurate amount of points. I was expecting
a lot better in five different ways over the course
of three games. I mean, how could you not feel encouraged,
right and you know they're shooting forty three percent from
three so far in the playoffs. That's going to come down. Like,
(12:54):
I still think that there's some room for regression here,
but when you have an offensive rating of over one thirty,
a lot of room for regression while still being elite,
right like that, that's not something I'm too concerned about
and talked about on the last podcast how I felt
our offense was due for regression and their offense was
due for regression. I felt like the defense has been terrific.
(13:17):
Honestly through three games. The only time that there was
really that lapse was the Game two fourth quarter where
the Cavs kind of felt like they had put the
game away. But if you look through the first two games,
Mimy was actually shooting sixty percent on tightly contested two
point field goals, like that was a number that was
going to come down. And you look at this game overall,
(13:40):
they shot thirty eight percent on twos period. Forget just
the tightly contested ones, like there was that regression that
was due to happen at some point to them. Offensively,
I felt like Tyler Herro was hitting a lot of
tough shots. They were circulating, you know, the matchup data
in terms of who's kind of had their way with
who throughout the series, and Max Struce defending Tyler Hero
(14:02):
was one of those kind of aberrations that was out
there that I think he was shooting about sixty percent
on strus. Strews did a terrific job on him defensively.
I thought, you know, every time Tyler was coming off
the pick and roll, Struce was either fighting through it
and showing body. I thought that the help was there
in a timely manner really disrupted his rhythm and if
(14:23):
those first couple contested shots don't go down, the confidence
is going to start to shift a little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
And I thought Max did a really really good job
on him defensively. It really held his own and then
obviously had you know, a pretty dominant game by role
player standards.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
The other way, Yeah, Max has been phenomenal in this series.
He played thirty one minutes tonight, by far the most
he's played, and he's kind of ramped up. Game one,
I think Tye stole a bunch of his minutes and
he lands at twenty one. Game two he gets up
to twenty six, and the game three, obvious gets up
(15:00):
to thirty one. And man, I mean the shooting has
just been phenomenal. He's eleven of twenty two from three
so far. Like that's exactly the kind of volume you
want to see in his minutes. And obviously the accuracy
doesn't hurt either. The defense has been great. He's averaging
(15:23):
four assists and four rebounds, so he's giving a lot
of toughness, a lot of smarts, a lot of supplementary playmaking.
When Miami does over index, he's hitting the tough threes.
You know, he had a couple when things were still
a little choppy early in that game where he just
was like perfectly guarded and hit it anyway, and like
(15:46):
that is exactly what you wanted out of the box
with the Max Streets experience. I thought he was perfectly
fine in the playoffs last year, even though his numbers
weren't great. You know, I thought it was one of
those things where his impact to the game against Orlando
and Boston exceeded his you know, his point production. But
(16:09):
boys at nice to have both, like where he is
like just giving you everything, you know, I mean, what
a sequence for him where Wiggins blows by, Jerome is
getting ready to yam at and Struce gets there, goes
straight up completely stemies him at the rim. And poor
(16:31):
Wiggins has had a few of those this series where
he thought he had a runway and did not, but
you know, completely stemies him at the rim, comes down,
just fills the exact perfect gap, gets a wide open
three and hits it, and basically, I mean the game
was over. It was real over after that one. And like,
as two card carrying Max Struce fans, I feel like
(16:55):
it's been a very satisfying series against Miami, especially with
how many people in Miami we're in our year saying
now he's not a playoff riser, Be careful, be careful, right,
not a playoff player. It's like, well, sure, it looks
like this time, huh, guys.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
And not only that, you know, the playoff trash talk
started before game one where Bam was basically saying, we
don't give an f about Max Struce right, like there
was disrespect me and thrown that way. And you know,
I agree with you. I think Max played better than
he shot in last year's playoffs. But it's nice to see,
you know that overall game be there. And not only
(17:33):
was he great, the UVA Cavaliers were terrific coming in
off the bench, but the Cavs to go on in
eighteen oh run you know in the first quarter where
where Donovan doesn't even score a point within it, that's
that's special stuff. Like they really really played terrific tonight.
And I thought it was interesting too, because with no
Darius Garland in the lineup, Kenny had a few options
(17:57):
right that he could go to. I was interested to
see where he'd go. Is he going to go defense first?
Is he going to play size opted for shooting and spacing,
We're putting Sam Maryly in there that lineup.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And then quickly decided not to opt for that. The
rest of the game.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, yeah, the starting lineup was outscore thirteen to nineteen.
In the game, they had a fifty nine offensive rating,
which you know, the shooting didn't really work out, was missed. Yeah,
I agree with that. It's but you know, I found
it interesting that after starting with Sam, Kenny did go
larger kind of throughout the afternoon. He opted to kind
(18:37):
of move Dean Wade up above Isaco Korro in the
rotation of this one, and we really saw quite a
few large lineups. The best lineup that we had in
terms of production only played two minutes and thirty seconds,
but it was that ty Max, Hunter, Wade and Allen
lineup that outscored Miami ten nothing in those two and
a half minutes. So the Cavs had a lot of
(18:57):
size out there, and I think that's what made it
easier for them to exploit some of those individual matchups
one on one defensively without you know, really doing some
of the probing and as much work as they had
in the past to hunt out guys like Tyler hero
Duncan Robinson and some of the other guys that have
struggled really to keep up defensively when they are trying
(19:19):
on the defensive end.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yeah, I mean, it is hard I will say this,
Miami played an awful game. They were not sharp, They
played relatively listless. You know, I'm not sure I've seen
a team throw away so many passes as I did
in that first quarter for Miami as the game was
(19:43):
getting away from them. You know, Bam out of Bio
had six turnovers. It's very rare a guy a sinner
even gets the ball enough to have six turnovers.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
A lot of weird miscommunication ones too, where he was
throwing to where he thought a guy was going to
be and they just weren't there anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So, like I'm trying to like figure out exactly how
much to like weigh some of the rotation stuff. I
guess is why I'm saying that, Because like, they did
play so bad, and in the first quarter, the Cavs
started out getting great wide open looks at Donnie and Sam.
I think got three wide open like no one within
(20:19):
ten feet of them threes and clanked all three of them,
you know. So, but I do think it's interesting that
in and it goes to show for anyone who's worried
about Kenny being overly orthodox or like overly locked in
on any individual player that the game where Kenny rewards
(20:40):
Sam for playing really well in games one and two
with a starting spot, is the ends up being the
game he plays the least minutes in of the series.
He played twenty one to twenty and then in this
game nineteen, so like, it just goes to show like,
and of course with one less you know, healthy player
in the rotation, but Terry's missing, So even you know
(21:03):
you're going to apply a modifier on that nineteen, it
just goes to show like he's just going to play
the guys who make the most sense for what's working
against them. And I do think that size was really valuable.
I think the biggest rotational change was Dean Wade got
a lot of run in this game. Yeah he didn't
score at all, but boy was he locking up. Yeah,
(21:26):
absolutely shut off heroes water a couple of times, moved
the ball pretty well, rebounded pretty well.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
What do you think of his minutes? I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
I thought he played really well defensively, and it's a
little bit it reminded me of Game one with Sam Merrill,
where Miami just like looks at him and goes, well,
we can attack him. Felt like they were trying to
attack Dean, you know, we don't do that. I would
definitely not recommend doing so. You know, he is a
really really solid defensive player and I like going bigger,
(21:57):
right like that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
That's kind of been one.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Of the things that we've discussed since the DeAndre Hunter
trade of Hey, we actually had this option to play
a little bit bigger, and it just always feels better
when you're the team that's kind of bullying.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
The Cavs once again, you know, won the hustle battle,
they won the offensive rebound battle. It really felt like
they were taking it to Miami. I love how they
attacked the rim mobile, you know, hanging on the rim
over top of bam at a bio like all of
that felt so good. But you know, I think what
Kenny's done has been merit based to your point, right,
(22:32):
like what lineups are working, which guys have it going,
Which combinations on any given night are giving me my
best look? Right, Like, he's really letting guys go out
there play with comfort, and if they perform, he's going
to give them the space to work. He's going to
give them that ability to do their best work, just
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(22:53):
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I thought Wade was very good.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I will say the only I haven't had a lot
of rotational quibbles with Kenny. Only Tom I was like,
I don't love this is when he and Ocoro were
sharing the floor. I just think in a playoff setting,
there's just not enough like quick trigger on the floor
if you do that, especially because you're going to be
playing him next to you know. I want to say
(23:32):
it was Jarrett at the five, so not a guy
who's gonna do a lot of self creation himself or
frankly shoot for more than four or five feet away
from the hoop. Like I thought that was the only time.
I was like, Okay, they need just a little more juice.
And I think Donovan in those minutes actually kind of
bailed them out with a couple of tough buckets, kind
of kept them at bay. Plus, I mean they were
(23:56):
just guarding so well. I mean the data is not
available yet, but the number I'm actually the stat I'm
most interested to check was how many attempts Miami got
off with zero.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
To four seconds left on the shot clock.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Because it felt like two out of every three possessions,
like they were just trying to kick the bam in
the corner for a contested three with like three seconds left.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
It was nuts, really really impressive performance. And you know,
you talk about the rotations, little things that Kenny Atkinson
has done throughout the series. It's such an odd series
to evaluate because I don't feel like, you know, Eric
Spolstve is having a bad coaching series, Like I think
(24:45):
he's made adjustments that make sense. I think the guys
that have been, you know, out there makes sense. Duncan
Robinson was really good in Game one, Games two and three.
He can't really get on the court, but the Calves
have attacked him far too my he doesn't do enough
to justify being out there.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
He's pulled Alex Berks from the rotation.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Like Jared Weiss by the Way of the Athletic brought
up a really good point that one of the things
Mobley has done so well. You know, he's talking about
how you know, Mobley really has been cementing his defensive
Player of the Year in these last couple of games,
and he mentioned that so much of what Mobley does
is prevent the shot from happening, so he doesn't even
(25:25):
need to contest them. And like the Duncan Robinson dribble
handoff game, he is just all over that, you know,
he without giving up too much ground. And I know
it sounds a little silly to be like, oh, look
at how well the Calves are doing holding off a
bench player on the Heat, but like Robinson's whole job
(25:48):
is to turn games, yep, by hitting three threes in
you know, two minutes, and the fact he just isn't
even getting the show. He got one attempt up in
eighteen minutes. Like you want to talk about a thing
that's like very damning for their offensive health. One attempt
for the guy who like on this heat team, where
(26:10):
like with this kind of offensive output just shows you
he can't get free, he can't get the kind of
looks that he you know, it's not like he's a
shy shooter.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yeah, he's he's a fire drill player, right like when
he's coming off screens, bam, Anebio sets terrific screens. He's
one of the best dribble handoff guys in the league.
Usually you get a scramble. In Game one, there was
actually a scramble every time Duncan was getting the ball.
He wasn't always able to get a shot off, but
he was at least able to generate an advantage, get
(26:43):
the Cavs defense into rotation, and create opportunities for other guys.
That wasn't happening in games two and three. And you know,
I I don't think we're going to see a better
movement shooter in the playoffs. Like no disrespect to Sam
Hauser and some of the guys that Austin runs similar
actions too, but they don't run those actions as quickly
(27:04):
as Duncan Robinson does. They don't get the shots off
as quickly as Duncan Robinson does. I think that it
is important data to have of how the Calves are
defending those types of actions. I think Boston is going
to be a very different type of test, right, Like
we see what they do. They try to generate screens,
then they attack the Calves in isolation. They're going to
try to attack Darius. They're going to try to attack Donovan, right,
(27:26):
not because they're poor shooters, but because they're shorter, Like
that's what it is. But you know with Miami, when
the Calves attack, it's not, Hey, we're getting a shorter
Tyler Hero here and we're shooting over them. They're getting
by Hero, they're getting by Robinson. Those guys look confused
out there, they are out of position. They're able to
(27:47):
generate these quality looks at the rim. And you know,
I was beginning to say before, I don't feel like
supposed being out coached, and I don't feel like Kenny
is doing anything revolutionary from an adjustment and standpoint. The
initial game plan is just so good for the Calves.
They've cleaned up little things, right, Like, I think the
(28:08):
defensive communications got better. I think the way that they're
attacking the rim, they're finding some of that low hanging
fruit and working to improve on what they're already doing.
But there just hasn't been that need to really adjust
because what they are doing is so damn good. We
have a team here that even without Darius in the lineup,
probably six guys that were playing today would start on Miami.
(28:30):
That that disadvantage really ends up showing up here.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Yeah, I think that number might be low. I think
there might be more guys. I mean this this Miami.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Let's run through it.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Let's let's run through it here mobile us, I said
without Darius, I.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Said without Darius.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
So certainly four of the five starters tonight would start
for them. I think it is very very possible Ty
Jerome would start for them. I mean they're starting Davion
Mitchell right now. I think it is certain that DeAndre
Hunter would start for them. Yes, and uh, that's six. Yeah,
(29:15):
there you go, that's six. I was I was, well,
I didn't realize you weren't counting. There is so but
but even yeah, even a guy like Dean Wade could
be getting minutes if they wanted to like bench their
rookie center, who is having a really hard time in
this series. Like, I don't know if there's a I'm
sure I wonder at if at the end of the series,
(29:37):
Evan is going to turn to kalel where and be like,
been there, bro, I remember what it's like to be
a kid in a in a playoff series. It's hard
because he's just he can't you know. They just tortured
that poor kid. With empty side pick and rolls over
and over and over again, and Jarrett's spacing on the
role was just always perfect in a way that allowed,
(30:02):
you know, allowed a clean pocket pass and too much
ground for where to have to cover. It felt mean
spirited often over the course of this one.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I like it, man, That's that's what I want, right
like it. I want to be relentless with how we
attack teams. I want this team to continue to show
how great they were in the regular season. This is
exactly what I wanted to see in the series. This
is exactly what I was hoping when we were doing
the series preview. I wanted Miami because I thought it
was the toughest test outside of Orlando. But you know,
(30:37):
the Orlando test doesn't have to do with basketball, it's
can you survive without you know, losing limbs. I thought
Miami schematically was going to test them the most. I
thought that was the best defense available, you know, out
of the three teams. Once Orlando was out of the mix,
I thought it was the best coach. I thought that
was the best defensive player. Like Bamane Bios, You're the
(30:58):
best defensive.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Player you will see in the playoff. At least in.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Terms of big men. I think BAM's the best big
men there. I wanted to see the Calves come out,
want to make a statement in the series and make one.
That's when I picked the sweep at the start. I
felt like this team was capable of doing it and
that they were going to go out and try to
make that statement, and for them to do it in
the way that they have. For them to do it
(31:22):
tonight without Darius, I think we are seeing more data
that is going to filter through my confirmation bias and
tell me that this team is ready to contend for
a championship.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
I think the only thing that you know, leaving this
game that you go the only thing you can really
not feel good about is that Darius didn't play right.
The rosy glasses kind of mentality is they felt like
they had the series in control, and you know, I
(31:56):
didn't think it was worth you know, being a little
rich ski with a with only one day off, you know,
on Monday game coming up. But I think he would
have played if he felt good enough to play, and
especially after some extracurriculars in the press room heading into
this one.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
So I just let's.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Actually, let's let's go there, angsty boy, what were your
thoughts on on Darius, you know, kind of pointing out
the obvious in terms of how the Cabs had been
attacking Miami.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I thought it was like a little out of pocket. Okay,
it's not done. You don't normally hear that, Like, you
don't normally hear it, So like it's at least it's
a it's a story for our reason, right, I mean,
people are normally you don't put a player's name, you know,
in that conversation. You know, However, practice the day before
(32:49):
had basically been like you know, obviously there's certain players
were targeting, like certain certain guys we want to go,
like he was cracking a smile, But you're right, you
normally don't put a player's name on it there. Yeah,
So like, but like I don't know, this is where
I'm not going to adjudicate it because I don't know
(33:11):
what these guys are saying to each other out there.
Like maybe Hero told Darius he was trash at the
end of the game too, And you know, Hero said.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
They did have some words at the end of game two.
Then they were annoyed with each other. And do I
like it? Yes. Do I think it's fun? Yes? Do?
I like the hero shot back at Darius.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And was like, you know, he doesn't play any defense either,
which you know not true, But you know, do I
like that?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Yes? Do?
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I like that the Cavs are talking with their chest
out a little bit and not just the nice young
men we know them to be.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
I think it's all good.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I think it's all fine, And like, if this game
showed us anything, it's that like the Miami Heat are
not motivation away from competing in this series, Like they're
not bulletin board material away from competing in the series.
They're not on the re the same level. So that's why,
(34:12):
Like I didn't leave it worried.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I didn't feel like.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Well, why would you try to make them mad? Just
win quietly like whatever. You know, I'm not on the court.
I don't know what these dudes are saying to each other.
I do know that Darius I've never heard him do
that before. Yeah, so I'm going to assume it was earned,
because Darius doesn't have a track record of talking like that.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, it's you know, my initial response had some angst
to it. I was like, oh no, Like I like,
let's not poke the bear I've send there. I'm like,
you know, if Miami wins Game three, you're going to
have that back and forth.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
But you know, I.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Don't mind it, man Like. Here's the thing, whether you're
talking about being a contender, whether you're talking about, you know,
putting a spotlight on yourself, you're going to get proportional
praise and you're going to get proportional criticism. Right Like
you're you are welcoming that all. And I don't want
this team to fly under the damn radar, man Like,
(35:10):
I want this team to be a contender. I want
this team to be a contender with their chest. That
means that when you have a poor game, you're going
If you have a poor game and you lose, you're
going to face criticism. Donovan, you know he didn't shoot
well in this game, He'll that'll go under the radar
because the Caves had a great game and they got
the win. I am okay with Darius putting a spotlight
(35:31):
on himself. Obviously, you know he wasn't able to play
in this game. That's going to lead to jokes. People
are going to get their comments off.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
It's all part of it.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Man.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
If you feel like you want to put some extra
expectations on yourself, go ahead, because you know what, Like
I feel like this is a year that this the
Caves can go out and win a championship. I don't
want to fly under the radar and do that. I
want the smoke. I wanted the you know, the toughest
matchup in the first round. I want Boston to be
fully healthy in the conference finals. I want the toughest
(36:00):
matchup in the second round. I want this team to
be tested. If this team goes out and they pass
all of those tests and they win a championship, guess
what I want. I want another championship. I want to
keep contending. I want this window to stay open. I
want the pressure. I want the highs and the lows.
So if they want to do that, go right ahead.
It's just part of the game. Like people are going
(36:20):
to get their jokes off, you know. With Darius not
playing today, that's I don't I think the joke stopped
at thirty seven points.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
I think they did too.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I guess to take it to put a button on
the Darius stuff, you know, I guess my question is
like if if he's still a little sore. Do you
play him game four or do you in and try
to just close out the series knowing that, knowing for
a fact that Indiana Milwaukee is at least going five.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yeah, I'd be tempted to just thinking to the end
of the regular season. When he first had this toe
issue pop up, he missed one game with it, came
back after and I believe that's when he went nuts
against either Chicago or New York when one of those
two games, it was the New York one that he
(37:15):
went nuts after missing a game with the toe. So
I'm sure if he's healthy enough to play, he'll want
to play. Who knows, maybe he even wanted to play tonight.
I would err on the side of caution, just because
toes are something that can linger for so long and
you want to get that right. And one of the
benefits of winning a series in four US you get
(37:37):
some time off. So if you're able to give him
that extended time off, maybe you do it. But if
the medical staff feels like, hey, like this isn't in
a point where we're concerned, we feel like it's good
to go go.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Right on ahead.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
If I had to guess his reaction after game two
probably had something to do with what was said on
the court, and it probably had to do with frustration that,
you know, he reinjured the toe and was limping so
hard to end the game, right, Like, that's that's a
frustrating thing. This is the first time he's missed a
playoff game with with the Cavs, so I'd err on
the side of caution. It's the one of the benefits
(38:13):
of being up three to zero. But I'm perfectly comfortable
with trusting the medical staff because they've been very trustworthy
all season long.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Yeah, I'll tell you what we are many things. We
are not doctors. But with that said, like I am
if they if there is a preference to letting him
just sit and trying to close out this series with
everyone else, Like if you don't, if you didn't think
they could do it without Darius going into today, you
(38:43):
should definitely change your mind, because they absolutely can beat
this Heat team down a key player or even two.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, And I think.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
This team has been so consistent in what they're prioritizing
through this run, you know, through this season, and uh,
I gotta say I'll be surprised to see him to
go in Game four but I'll be very pleasantly surprised
because that means because to me, if we see him play,
(39:18):
then he feels pretty darn good.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Yeah, and you know, hopefully if he does play, he
looks very good, right, Like he's been terrific so far
in the series. So I guess we'll see there. I
just want to put them away in four, no matter
who's out there.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
A sleep would be satisfying.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
But I think I'm at the point now where I'm
not going to get worked up if they lose Game
four because they've they've you know, because I my definition
of the gentleman's sweep is when the first three lose
the fourth and then win the fifth.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
And I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
I was going to mention that we we talked about
that a little bit in Cleveland. It's you go go ahead,
go with you Ranta about Boston being called that last year.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Yeah, just anyone, any series winning in five is not
an automatic gentleman's sweep. A gentleman's sweep is you've swept
them a cave one three in a row, and then
you allow them to have one for posterity because you
are a gentleman. And then you then you take care
of business in game five at home, you know, get
(40:22):
get yourself one more game of home revenue at the gate,
you know, but that is a gentleman's sweep, is not
just any series in five. But I guess my point is,
as long I don't actually care, what happens in Game
four will not affect the way I feel about the
team heading into round two, round three, round four, whatever
it is, unless someone gets hurt or something.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Yeah, so I want to see a wrap up. You know,
anytime you're out there on the court, something can happen.
So let's take care of business. I expect Donovan to
bounce back from what happened in Game three. The Cavs,
you know, they slayed a lot of demons here. We
saw them not play well in Game three against Orlando
after having a lead. They haven't played well in afternoon
(41:06):
games all season. They've struggled in Miami historically over the years.
All of those things were checked off and they found
a way to win in dominant fashion here. So that
was an incredibly encouraging game. You know that Miami's going
to play with a lot of pride and they're going
to try to prevent a sweep in game four. But
I feel pretty good about the cast chances of going
(41:28):
out there and taking care of business, ending their season
and giving themselves some time off. And as you mentioned,
we know that Milwaukee, Indiana's already going five. Boston lost
to Orlando. You look around the NBA, okay, see very well.
Could have lost the last two games. You know, they
were down twenty nine before Dork took out Jaw. They
almost lost even without Jaw tonight. It's you can't take
(41:53):
any of these matchups for granted. You know, any team
can beat anyone in any given game, and playoff tensity
is a different animal. So with the Cavs to be
so dominant through three games, I think is a really
really great sign. But big thanks to everyone tuning in
live on YouTube. We really appreciate you guys. Make sure
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(42:15):
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next time joking
This crowd rises to speak.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
What Carlos slammed it out? Left wing free ball perfect?
Then he left block the shot at the rim?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
How with the left hand and of fowl. Welcome to
the Chase Doown Podcast, part of the Caves Media family.
I'm your host, Justin Browan. The Chase Doown is presented
by Fubo, the official streaming partner of the Calves. Watch
over three hundred and fifty channels of live sports and TV,
including FanDuel Sports Network without cable. There's no cost and
no commitment. Try for free at FuboTV dot com Slash Calves.
(00:33):
The Cleveland Cavaliers take a commanding three to zero win
over the Miami Heat, handing Miami their largest playoff loss
in franchise history. A lot of fun to see the
Calves step up and get that win on the road.
And joining me today is my co host Carter Rodriguez. Carter,
how you doing, buddy brother?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Uh? That was fun.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It was a game that I felt really good about
going into. Then you find out Darius is out. See
you have kind of a layer of angst. Maybe not
about the series, certainly not. I didn't have angst about
the series, but you know, angst about oh Man good
buying me steel one and then prolong things and things
(01:16):
get harder and you know, you open up your risk
and like they just killed them, dude, Like they absolutely
just destroyed their will h to play basketball over the
course of the game.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It was just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
They It feels like to me that instead of sitting
and resting on their laurels knowing that we're up to
oh and just having the game plan of well, let's
just keep doing what we're doing, it felt like they
did exactly what you asked them to do in the
last podcast, which is anything they weren't doing, start doing it,
(02:02):
start fixing everything. You know, do you not get enough
rim pressure. How's how's six Jared Allen like first half dunks?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Basically you know, you're maybe not letting the you're letting.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
The the shaky ball handlers on Miami, you know, off
the hook. How's like eight first quarter turnovers? Just felt
like they kind of had everything solved. Yeah, it's you know,
getting Jared Allen involved. Obviously part of that is going
to be Darius Garland was in the lineup. I think
Darius is averaging like twenty four points per game. You're
(02:39):
going to need to generate those points somewhere else, right,
And I had wanted to see that more. I thought that,
you know, Miami didn't have the personnel to really take
away both Evan Mobley and Jared.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Allen attack in the basket. Carter, how many how many
attempts do you think the Cavs averaged at home versus
Miami in the restricted area per game?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Oh gosh, let's see here. They took eighty six attempts tonight.
I want to say twenty.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Okay, So at home, the Calves averaged ten attempts per game.
In the restricted area tonight against Miami they took thirty seven.
They shot seventy eight percent on those looks, and obviously
Jared Allen was a big part of that. But the
Calves were getting to the rim and not kicking it
out to open shooters. They got plenty of threes, don't
(03:31):
get me wrong, but they were very focused in their
attack of getting to the basket. Obviously, you know Tyer Rome,
Don Mitchell got to the basket. A whole bunch of
guys were doing a great job attacking, and I thought
the aggressiveness of the Bigs was a major story here.
How the Cavs attacked was a little different than in
(03:51):
games one and two. In games one and two you
saw a lot of kind of those double drag actions,
and there were still some of that in game three,
but I actually thought there was less of that. There's
a little more two man game, a little more all right.
We already have an advantage in terms of who Tyler
heroes guarding. We can score on him in isolation. He's
on DeAndre Hunter. We're gonna let Dre go to you know,
(04:13):
go to work on him.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
A lot of good post ups for Dray good good,
good Amo for the post up agenda for DeAndre Hunter.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Sorry to interrupt, No, no, it's okay.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
You know, Miami is so focused on the Cavs stars,
they forgot about Dre and he had a terrific game here.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
It was.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
It was really really fun. And I think, you know,
anytime throughout this season where the Calves get a signature
win or they have one of these moments where you
know they've struggled in the past playing in Miami, they
struggled on the road. We saw them after two dominant
performances against Orlando in Games one and two, really fall
(04:51):
apart and open that series right back up in Game three.
Anytime the Calves do something that deviates from expectations or
their history, I just reflect back on would we have
expected this last year? Could we have won in this way?
And to have a game where Donovan Mitchell scores thirteen
points on four to fourteen shooting, only has one assists,
(05:14):
and the Calves blow out Miami in the way that
they did without Darius Garland even in the lineup. That
is one of the most encouraging things I've seen from
this offense all season. Because this Miami team, they're flawed,
but that is a very good defensive roster.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Bro.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
There's no disrespect here. But I was sitting there. I
had to watch a lot of this game in the
car we had. We had a little road trip to
a kid's birthday party we had to take, So I
just had the air pods in phone this far from
my face, you know, just mainlining Calves basketball, and I
was sitting there with them up, you know, thirty points,
(05:49):
just thinking, Really, wasn't that long ago where I was like,
can Colin Darius get us to forty plus wins? It's
not that long ago where you're really wondering whether they
can even be a decent team.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And this this your.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
You know, your your third best player on the season
is unavailable and not you know, it's not like a
you know, two uber stars and then the third is
just a guy like Darius has been instrumental, especially offensively
for what this team has done all year. Yeah, he
goes out and everyone is just there to step up.
(06:37):
The roster depth is unbelievable. They didn't even have that
bananas of a shooting game. You know, they made fifteen
threes and forty attempts, like that's about an average shooting
night for them, and yet they continue to just put
up these mondo offensive performances. And it's just it's so
(07:00):
rewarding to see it come to fruition like this.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I know it's only the first round, but it does
feel great.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
It does feel good, right because you're just gives you
another level of confidence. Right, we said, coming in, can
the Cavs have a dominant series? Can you know they
prove some of the doubters wrong?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Right?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
We assume that Miami was going to go out and
they were going to get a game in this series,
or felt that they had a good chance to and
the Cavs would actually have to go out and earn it.
You know, you look at a lot of the serious predictions.
Usually everyone had the Cavs, but it was five six
games for them to be as dominant as they've been
offensively throughout this series. I think is incredibly encouraging because
(07:44):
they've done it in a variety of ways. And I
think that this game in particular was a true kind
of litmus test for is this offense different than it's
been in the past, Because you know, I think you
saw from Donovan Mitchell his shots didn't fall. I don't
feel like he ever got overly passive as a result
(08:04):
of it, but he was making the right play out there.
Like I thought, he kept the ball moving. I thought,
you know, he was contributing on defense. He hit some
big shots and wasn't afraid to take the shots. But
he trusted everybody around him to do their part, even
without Darius.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Being in the lineup.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
You know, the the secondary playmaking that we've talked about
all year and in the past when when the cast
would have playoff failings, we'd say, man, there really isn't
There's not that secondary playmaking here, like Darius and Donovan
are facing a ton of pressure up front, and Mobile
doesn't seem ready to break it. Well, now you got
Max Strus who's able to run, you know, beautiful pick
(08:42):
and roll games. That two man game with Jared Allen
felt almost disrespectful where they were passing cl tropics type
of stuff that was truly something and and Max had
some disrespectful moments in that game. But Ty Jerome is
able to run that stuff. I think, you know, Merrill
keeps the ball moving. Everybody from up and down the
roster knows what they are supposed to be doing offensively,
(09:06):
and they really do have four or five guys that
can initiate at any time. And I just think it
is such a healthy offense that really, you know, as
good as Miami is defensively, and not only were they
a top ten defense in the regular season, they were
very good defense in the half court. That hasn't bothered
(09:27):
the Calves. The game has slown down in the playoffs.
We're not getting those easy transition buckets, but we are
able to generate quality looks throughout it.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And even when the.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Calves have gone down early in these last two games,
I feel like the shot quality has been very good,
and that's probably why those games have normalized very quickly
within the first quarter.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, I mean they're better and they're showing it, and
like Miami can put up the facade of competition in
these games, but they have not been able to make
any sustained efforts towards being in the Calves Ballpark. In
our discord, someone did like an analysis of like the
(10:07):
the biggest sweeps of all time, like in terms of
point differential, and if the Calves held this pace, they'd
have the fifth most dominant sweep by point differential in
the history of the sport.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
And it just does feel that way.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You know, they have a plus twenty more than a
plus twenty net rating through these three games, and you know,
the offense is really I think the story here, and
like I understand why the national media isn't paying a
lot of attention to the series. Frankly, it's almost a
compliment to the Calves that everyone is just like, yeah,
(10:42):
they're killing them. It's fine, you know, and moving on
to other series that have more like wider implications than this.
But like, I do think it's important to note the
Calves had the best offense in the NBA with a
one and twenty one offensive rating in the regular season.
Game one, they put up a one thirty seven point five.
(11:04):
Game two they put up a one to twenty eight
point seven. Game three a one thirty six point three.
And to your point, what's so cool about that is
they did it three different ways. You know, this wasn't
they have a thing that they just spam that Miami
(11:25):
is uniquely unsuited to deal with. You know, It's not
like a yokicch against the Lakers thing where it's like, yeah,
they're gonna run two man with Murray and get a
good look. Every time the Cavs won Game one, they
mustered that offensive rating. Game one through elite guard play,
pull up shooting and finishing, Game two the barrage of
(11:46):
three point shot making, you know again eleven and a
quarter a playoff record. And then Game three it was
through uh, through pick and roll play, through through really
really smart semi transition attacks, it was through post ups.
It was through you know, and super democratized. I mean,
(12:09):
they put up one hundred and twenty four points. Jared
Allen led them in scoring with twenty two. Yeah, so
I just think not only has the offense held up.
All I really wanted was to see a good offensive
rating at the end of the series, and I feel
like they've exceeded even what I asked for here, which
is I was hoping that it would drop a couple
(12:31):
points but still be really, really good while everyone else
has dropped a commensurate amount of points. I was expecting
a lot better in five different ways over the course
of three games. I mean, how could you not feel encouraged,
right and you know they're shooting forty three percent from
three so far in the playoffs. That's going to come down. Like,
(12:54):
I still think that there's some room for regression here,
but when you have an offensive rating of over one thirty,
a lot of room for regression while still being elite,
right like that, that's not something I'm too concerned about
and talked about on the last podcast how I felt
our offense was due for regression and their offense was
due for regression. I felt like the defense has been terrific.
(13:17):
Honestly through three games. The only time that there was
really that lapse was the Game two fourth quarter where
the Cavs kind of felt like they had put the
game away. But if you look through the first two games,
Mimy was actually shooting sixty percent on tightly contested two
point field goals, like that was a number that was
going to come down. And you look at this game overall,
(13:40):
they shot thirty eight percent on twos period. Forget just
the tightly contested ones, like there was that regression that
was due to happen at some point to them. Offensively,
I felt like Tyler Herro was hitting a lot of
tough shots. They were circulating, you know, the matchup data
in terms of who's kind of had their way with
who throughout the series, and Max Struce defending Tyler Hero
(14:02):
was one of those kind of aberrations that was out
there that I think he was shooting about sixty percent
on strus. Strews did a terrific job on him defensively.
I thought, you know, every time Tyler was coming off
the pick and roll, Struce was either fighting through it
and showing body. I thought that the help was there
in a timely manner really disrupted his rhythm and if
(14:23):
those first couple contested shots don't go down, the confidence
is going to start to shift a little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
And I thought Max did a really really good job
on him defensively. It really held his own and then
obviously had you know, a pretty dominant game by role
player standards.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
The other way, Yeah, Max has been phenomenal in this series.
He played thirty one minutes tonight, by far the most
he's played, and he's kind of ramped up. Game one,
I think Tye stole a bunch of his minutes and
he lands at twenty one. Game two he gets up
to twenty six, and the game three, obvious gets up
(15:00):
to thirty one. And man, I mean the shooting has
just been phenomenal. He's eleven of twenty two from three
so far. Like that's exactly the kind of volume you
want to see in his minutes. And obviously the accuracy
doesn't hurt either. The defense has been great. He's averaging
(15:23):
four assists and four rebounds, so he's giving a lot
of toughness, a lot of smarts, a lot of supplementary playmaking.
When Miami does over index, he's hitting the tough threes.
You know, he had a couple when things were still
a little choppy early in that game where he just
was like perfectly guarded and hit it anyway, and like
(15:46):
that is exactly what you wanted out of the box
with the Max Streets experience. I thought he was perfectly
fine in the playoffs last year, even though his numbers
weren't great. You know, I thought it was one of
those things where his impact to the game against Orlando
and Boston exceeded his you know, his point production. But
(16:09):
boys at nice to have both, like where he is
like just giving you everything, you know, I mean, what
a sequence for him where Wiggins blows by, Jerome is
getting ready to yam at and Struce gets there, goes
straight up completely stemies him at the rim. And poor
(16:31):
Wiggins has had a few of those this series where
he thought he had a runway and did not, but
you know, completely stemies him at the rim, comes down,
just fills the exact perfect gap, gets a wide open
three and hits it, and basically, I mean the game
was over. It was real over after that one. And like,
as two card carrying Max Struce fans, I feel like
(16:55):
it's been a very satisfying series against Miami, especially with
how many people in Miami we're in our year saying
now he's not a playoff riser, Be careful, be careful, right,
not a playoff player. It's like, well, sure, it looks
like this time, huh, guys.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
And not only that, you know, the playoff trash talk
started before game one where Bam was basically saying, we
don't give an f about Max Struce right, like there
was disrespect me and thrown that way. And you know,
I agree with you. I think Max played better than
he shot in last year's playoffs. But it's nice to see,
you know that overall game be there. And not only
(17:33):
was he great, the UVA Cavaliers were terrific coming in
off the bench, but the Cavs to go on in
eighteen oh run you know in the first quarter where
where Donovan doesn't even score a point within it, that's
that's special stuff. Like they really really played terrific tonight.
And I thought it was interesting too, because with no
Darius Garland in the lineup, Kenny had a few options
(17:57):
right that he could go to. I was interested to
see where he'd go. Is he going to go defense first?
Is he going to play size opted for shooting and spacing,
We're putting Sam Maryly in there that lineup.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
And then quickly decided not to opt for that. The
rest of the game.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah, yeah, the starting lineup was outscore thirteen to nineteen.
In the game, they had a fifty nine offensive rating,
which you know, the shooting didn't really work out, was missed. Yeah,
I agree with that. It's but you know, I found
it interesting that after starting with Sam, Kenny did go
larger kind of throughout the afternoon. He opted to kind
(18:37):
of move Dean Wade up above Isaco Korro in the
rotation of this one, and we really saw quite a
few large lineups. The best lineup that we had in
terms of production only played two minutes and thirty seconds,
but it was that ty Max, Hunter, Wade and Allen
lineup that outscored Miami ten nothing in those two and
a half minutes. So the Cavs had a lot of
(18:57):
size out there, and I think that's what made it
easier for them to exploit some of those individual matchups
one on one defensively without you know, really doing some
of the probing and as much work as they had
in the past to hunt out guys like Tyler hero
Duncan Robinson and some of the other guys that have
struggled really to keep up defensively when they are trying
(19:19):
on the defensive end.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Yeah, I mean, it is hard I will say this,
Miami played an awful game. They were not sharp, They
played relatively listless. You know, I'm not sure I've seen
a team throw away so many passes as I did
in that first quarter for Miami as the game was
(19:43):
getting away from them. You know, Bam out of Bio
had six turnovers. It's very rare a guy a sinner
even gets the ball enough to have six turnovers.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
A lot of weird miscommunication ones too, where he was
throwing to where he thought a guy was going to
be and they just weren't there anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So, like I'm trying to like figure out exactly how
much to like weigh some of the rotation stuff. I
guess is why I'm saying that, Because like, they did
play so bad, and in the first quarter, the Cavs
started out getting great wide open looks at Donnie and Sam.
I think got three wide open like no one within
(20:19):
ten feet of them threes and clanked all three of them,
you know. So, but I do think it's interesting that
in and it goes to show for anyone who's worried
about Kenny being overly orthodox or like overly locked in
on any individual player that the game where Kenny rewards
(20:40):
Sam for playing really well in games one and two
with a starting spot, is the ends up being the
game he plays the least minutes in of the series.
He played twenty one to twenty and then in this
game nineteen, so like, it just goes to show like,
and of course with one less you know, healthy player
in the rotation, but Terry's missing, So even you know
(21:03):
you're going to apply a modifier on that nineteen, it
just goes to show like he's just going to play
the guys who make the most sense for what's working
against them. And I do think that size was really valuable.
I think the biggest rotational change was Dean Wade got
a lot of run in this game. Yeah he didn't
score at all, but boy was he locking up. Yeah,
(21:26):
absolutely shut off heroes water a couple of times, moved
the ball pretty well, rebounded pretty well.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
What do you think of his minutes? I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
I thought he played really well defensively, and it's a
little bit it reminded me of Game one with Sam Merrill,
where Miami just like looks at him and goes, well,
we can attack him. Felt like they were trying to
attack Dean, you know, we don't do that. I would
definitely not recommend doing so. You know, he is a
really really solid defensive player and I like going bigger,
(21:57):
right like that.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
That's kind of been one.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Of the things that we've discussed since the DeAndre Hunter
trade of Hey, we actually had this option to play
a little bit bigger, and it just always feels better
when you're the team that's kind of bullying.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
The Cavs once again, you know, won the hustle battle,
they won the offensive rebound battle. It really felt like
they were taking it to Miami. I love how they
attacked the rim mobile, you know, hanging on the rim
over top of bam at a bio like all of
that felt so good. But you know, I think what
Kenny's done has been merit based to your point, right,
(22:32):
like what lineups are working, which guys have it going,
Which combinations on any given night are giving me my
best look? Right, Like, he's really letting guys go out
there play with comfort, and if they perform, he's going
to give them the space to work. He's going to
give them that ability to do their best work, just
like zoom Ai Companion helps us. Because only you can
(22:53):
do your best work carder. Zoom Ai Companion can help
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I thought Wade was very good.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I will say the only I haven't had a lot
of rotational quibbles with Kenny. Only Tom I was like,
I don't love this is when he and Ocoro were
sharing the floor. I just think in a playoff setting,
there's just not enough like quick trigger on the floor
if you do that, especially because you're going to be
playing him next to you know. I want to say
(23:32):
it was Jarrett at the five, so not a guy
who's gonna do a lot of self creation himself or
frankly shoot for more than four or five feet away
from the hoop. Like I thought that was the only time.
I was like, Okay, they need just a little more juice.
And I think Donovan in those minutes actually kind of
bailed them out with a couple of tough buckets, kind
of kept them at bay. Plus, I mean they were
(23:56):
just guarding so well. I mean the data is not
available yet, but the number I'm actually the stat I'm
most interested to check was how many attempts Miami got
off with zero.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
To four seconds left on the shot clock.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Because it felt like two out of every three possessions,
like they were just trying to kick the bam in
the corner for a contested three with like three seconds left.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
It was nuts, really really impressive performance. And you know,
you talk about the rotations, little things that Kenny Atkinson
has done throughout the series. It's such an odd series
to evaluate because I don't feel like, you know, Eric
Spolstve is having a bad coaching series, Like I think
(24:45):
he's made adjustments that make sense. I think the guys
that have been, you know, out there makes sense. Duncan
Robinson was really good in Game one, Games two and three.
He can't really get on the court, but the Calves
have attacked him far too my he doesn't do enough
to justify being out there.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
He's pulled Alex Berks from the rotation.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Like Jared Weiss by the Way of the Athletic brought
up a really good point that one of the things
Mobley has done so well. You know, he's talking about
how you know, Mobley really has been cementing his defensive
Player of the Year in these last couple of games,
and he mentioned that so much of what Mobley does
is prevent the shot from happening, so he doesn't even
(25:25):
need to contest them. And like the Duncan Robinson dribble
handoff game, he is just all over that, you know,
he without giving up too much ground. And I know
it sounds a little silly to be like, oh, look
at how well the Calves are doing holding off a
bench player on the Heat, but like Robinson's whole job
(25:48):
is to turn games, yep, by hitting three threes in
you know, two minutes, and the fact he just isn't
even getting the show. He got one attempt up in
eighteen minutes. Like you want to talk about a thing
that's like very damning for their offensive health. One attempt
for the guy who like on this heat team, where
(26:10):
like with this kind of offensive output just shows you
he can't get free, he can't get the kind of
looks that he you know, it's not like he's a
shy shooter.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yeah, he's he's a fire drill player, right like when
he's coming off screens, bam, Anebio sets terrific screens. He's
one of the best dribble handoff guys in the league.
Usually you get a scramble. In Game one, there was
actually a scramble every time Duncan was getting the ball.
He wasn't always able to get a shot off, but
he was at least able to generate an advantage, get
(26:43):
the Cavs defense into rotation, and create opportunities for other guys.
That wasn't happening in games two and three. And you know,
I I don't think we're going to see a better
movement shooter in the playoffs. Like no disrespect to Sam
Hauser and some of the guys that Austin runs similar
actions too, but they don't run those actions as quickly
(27:04):
as Duncan Robinson does. They don't get the shots off
as quickly as Duncan Robinson does. I think that it
is important data to have of how the Calves are
defending those types of actions. I think Boston is going
to be a very different type of test, right, Like
we see what they do. They try to generate screens,
then they attack the Calves in isolation. They're going to
try to attack Darius. They're going to try to attack Donovan, right,
(27:26):
not because they're poor shooters, but because they're shorter, Like
that's what it is. But you know with Miami, when
the Calves attack, it's not, Hey, we're getting a shorter
Tyler Hero here and we're shooting over them. They're getting
by Hero, they're getting by Robinson. Those guys look confused
out there, they are out of position. They're able to
(27:47):
generate these quality looks at the rim. And you know,
I was beginning to say before, I don't feel like
supposed being out coached, and I don't feel like Kenny
is doing anything revolutionary from an adjustment and standpoint. The
initial game plan is just so good for the Calves.
They've cleaned up little things, right, Like, I think the
(28:08):
defensive communications got better. I think the way that they're
attacking the rim, they're finding some of that low hanging
fruit and working to improve on what they're already doing.
But there just hasn't been that need to really adjust
because what they are doing is so damn good. We
have a team here that even without Darius in the lineup,
probably six guys that were playing today would start on Miami.
(28:30):
That that disadvantage really ends up showing up here.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Yeah, I think that number might be low. I think
there might be more guys. I mean this this Miami.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Let's run through it.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Let's let's run through it here mobile us, I said
without Darius, I.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Said without Darius.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
So certainly four of the five starters tonight would start
for them. I think it is very very possible Ty
Jerome would start for them. I mean they're starting Davion
Mitchell right now. I think it is certain that DeAndre
Hunter would start for them. Yes, and uh, that's six. Yeah,
(29:15):
there you go, that's six. I was I was, well,
I didn't realize you weren't counting. There is so but
but even yeah, even a guy like Dean Wade could
be getting minutes if they wanted to like bench their
rookie center, who is having a really hard time in
this series. Like, I don't know if there's a I'm
sure I wonder at if at the end of the series,
(29:37):
Evan is going to turn to kalel where and be like,
been there, bro, I remember what it's like to be
a kid in a in a playoff series. It's hard
because he's just he can't you know. They just tortured
that poor kid. With empty side pick and rolls over
and over and over again, and Jarrett's spacing on the
role was just always perfect in a way that allowed,
(30:02):
you know, allowed a clean pocket pass and too much
ground for where to have to cover. It felt mean
spirited often over the course of this one.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I like it, man, That's that's what I want, right
like it. I want to be relentless with how we
attack teams. I want this team to continue to show
how great they were in the regular season. This is
exactly what I wanted to see in the series. This
is exactly what I was hoping when we were doing
the series preview. I wanted Miami because I thought it
was the toughest test outside of Orlando. But you know,
(30:37):
the Orlando test doesn't have to do with basketball, it's
can you survive without you know, losing limbs. I thought
Miami schematically was going to test them the most. I
thought that was the best defense available, you know, out
of the three teams. Once Orlando was out of the mix,
I thought it was the best coach. I thought that
was the best defensive player. Like Bamane Bios, You're the
(30:58):
best defensive.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Player you will see in the playoff. At least in.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Terms of big men. I think BAM's the best big
men there. I wanted to see the Calves come out,
want to make a statement in the series and make one.
That's when I picked the sweep at the start. I
felt like this team was capable of doing it and
that they were going to go out and try to
make that statement, and for them to do it in
the way that they have. For them to do it
(31:22):
tonight without Darius, I think we are seeing more data
that is going to filter through my confirmation bias and
tell me that this team is ready to contend for
a championship.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
I think the only thing that you know, leaving this
game that you go the only thing you can really
not feel good about is that Darius didn't play right.
The rosy glasses kind of mentality is they felt like
they had the series in control, and you know, I
(31:56):
didn't think it was worth you know, being a little
rich ski with a with only one day off, you know,
on Monday game coming up. But I think he would
have played if he felt good enough to play, and
especially after some extracurriculars in the press room heading into
this one.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
So I just let's.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Actually, let's let's go there, angsty boy, what were your
thoughts on on Darius, you know, kind of pointing out
the obvious in terms of how the Cabs had been
attacking Miami.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I thought it was like a little out of pocket. Okay,
it's not done. You don't normally hear that, Like, you
don't normally hear it, So like it's at least it's
a it's a story for our reason, right, I mean,
people are normally you don't put a player's name, you know,
in that conversation. You know, However, practice the day before
(32:49):
had basically been like you know, obviously there's certain players
were targeting, like certain certain guys we want to go,
like he was cracking a smile, But you're right, you
normally don't put a player's name on it there. Yeah,
So like, but like I don't know, this is where
I'm not going to adjudicate it because I don't know
(33:11):
what these guys are saying to each other out there.
Like maybe Hero told Darius he was trash at the
end of the game too, And you know, Hero said.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
They did have some words at the end of game two.
Then they were annoyed with each other. And do I
like it? Yes. Do I think it's fun? Yes? Do?
I like the hero shot back at Darius.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And was like, you know, he doesn't play any defense either,
which you know not true, But you know, do I
like that?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Yes? Do?
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I like that the Cavs are talking with their chest
out a little bit and not just the nice young
men we know them to be.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
I think it's all good.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I think it's all fine, And like, if this game
showed us anything, it's that like the Miami Heat are
not motivation away from competing in this series, Like they're
not bulletin board material away from competing in the series.
They're not on the re the same level. So that's why,
(34:12):
Like I didn't leave it worried.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
I didn't feel like.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Well, why would you try to make them mad? Just
win quietly like whatever. You know, I'm not on the court.
I don't know what these dudes are saying to each other.
I do know that Darius I've never heard him do
that before. Yeah, so I'm going to assume it was earned,
because Darius doesn't have a track record of talking like that.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Yeah, it's you know, my initial response had some angst
to it. I was like, oh no, Like I like,
let's not poke the bear I've send there. I'm like,
you know, if Miami wins Game three, you're going to
have that back and forth.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
But you know, I.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Don't mind it, man Like. Here's the thing, whether you're
talking about being a contender, whether you're talking about, you know,
putting a spotlight on yourself, you're going to get proportional
praise and you're going to get proportional criticism. Right Like
you're you are welcoming that all. And I don't want
this team to fly under the damn radar, man Like,
(35:10):
I want this team to be a contender. I want
this team to be a contender with their chest. That
means that when you have a poor game, you're going
If you have a poor game and you lose, you're
going to face criticism. Donovan, you know he didn't shoot
well in this game, He'll that'll go under the radar
because the Caves had a great game and they got
the win. I am okay with Darius putting a spotlight
(35:31):
on himself. Obviously, you know he wasn't able to play
in this game. That's going to lead to jokes. People
are going to get their comments off.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
It's all part of it.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Man.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
If you feel like you want to put some extra
expectations on yourself, go ahead, because you know what, Like
I feel like this is a year that this the
Caves can go out and win a championship. I don't
want to fly under the radar and do that. I
want the smoke. I wanted the you know, the toughest
matchup in the first round. I want Boston to be
fully healthy in the conference finals. I want the toughest
(36:00):
matchup in the second round. I want this team to
be tested. If this team goes out and they pass
all of those tests and they win a championship, guess
what I want. I want another championship. I want to
keep contending. I want this window to stay open. I
want the pressure. I want the highs and the lows.
So if they want to do that, go right ahead.
It's just part of the game. Like people are going
(36:20):
to get their jokes off, you know. With Darius not
playing today, that's I don't I think the joke stopped
at thirty seven points.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
I think they did too.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I guess to take it to put a button on
the Darius stuff, you know, I guess my question is
like if if he's still a little sore. Do you
play him game four or do you in and try
to just close out the series knowing that, knowing for
a fact that Indiana Milwaukee is at least going five.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yeah, I'd be tempted to just thinking to the end
of the regular season. When he first had this toe
issue pop up, he missed one game with it, came
back after and I believe that's when he went nuts
against either Chicago or New York when one of those
two games, it was the New York one that he
(37:15):
went nuts after missing a game with the toe. So
I'm sure if he's healthy enough to play, he'll want
to play. Who knows, maybe he even wanted to play tonight.
I would err on the side of caution, just because
toes are something that can linger for so long and
you want to get that right. And one of the
benefits of winning a series in four US you get
(37:37):
some time off. So if you're able to give him
that extended time off, maybe you do it. But if
the medical staff feels like, hey, like this isn't in
a point where we're concerned, we feel like it's good
to go go.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Right on ahead.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
If I had to guess his reaction after game two
probably had something to do with what was said on
the court, and it probably had to do with frustration that,
you know, he reinjured the toe and was limping so
hard to end the game, right, Like, that's that's a
frustrating thing. This is the first time he's missed a
playoff game with with the Cavs, so I'd err on
the side of caution. It's the one of the benefits
(38:13):
of being up three to zero. But I'm perfectly comfortable
with trusting the medical staff because they've been very trustworthy
all season long.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Yeah, I'll tell you what we are many things. We
are not doctors. But with that said, like I am
if they if there is a preference to letting him
just sit and trying to close out this series with
everyone else, Like if you don't, if you didn't think
they could do it without Darius going into today, you
(38:43):
should definitely change your mind, because they absolutely can beat
this Heat team down a key player or even two.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, And I think.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
This team has been so consistent in what they're prioritizing
through this run, you know, through this season, and uh,
I gotta say I'll be surprised to see him to
go in Game four but I'll be very pleasantly surprised
because that means because to me, if we see him play,
(39:18):
then he feels pretty darn good.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Yeah, and you know, hopefully if he does play, he
looks very good, right, Like he's been terrific so far
in the series. So I guess we'll see there. I
just want to put them away in four, no matter
who's out there.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
A sleep would be satisfying.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
But I think I'm at the point now where I'm
not going to get worked up if they lose Game
four because they've they've you know, because I my definition
of the gentleman's sweep is when the first three lose
the fourth and then win the fifth.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
And I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
I was going to mention that we we talked about
that a little bit in Cleveland. It's you go go ahead,
go with you Ranta about Boston being called that last year.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Yeah, just anyone, any series winning in five is not
an automatic gentleman's sweep. A gentleman's sweep is you've swept
them a cave one three in a row, and then
you allow them to have one for posterity because you
are a gentleman. And then you then you take care
of business in game five at home, you know, get
(40:22):
get yourself one more game of home revenue at the gate,
you know, but that is a gentleman's sweep, is not
just any series in five. But I guess my point is,
as long I don't actually care, what happens in Game
four will not affect the way I feel about the
team heading into round two, round three, round four, whatever
it is, unless someone gets hurt or something.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Yeah, so I want to see a wrap up. You know,
anytime you're out there on the court, something can happen.
So let's take care of business. I expect Donovan to
bounce back from what happened in Game three. The Cavs,
you know, they slayed a lot of demons here. We
saw them not play well in Game three against Orlando
after having a lead. They haven't played well in afternoon
(41:06):
games all season. They've struggled in Miami historically over the years.
All of those things were checked off and they found
a way to win in dominant fashion here. So that
was an incredibly encouraging game. You know that Miami's going
to play with a lot of pride and they're going
to try to prevent a sweep in game four. But
I feel pretty good about the cast chances of going
(41:28):
out there and taking care of business, ending their season
and giving themselves some time off. And as you mentioned,
we know that Milwaukee, Indiana's already going five. Boston lost
to Orlando. You look around the NBA, okay, see very well.
Could have lost the last two games. You know, they
were down twenty nine before Dork took out Jaw. They
almost lost even without Jaw tonight. It's you can't take
(41:53):
any of these matchups for granted. You know, any team
can beat anyone in any given game, and playoff tensity
is a different animal. So with the Cavs to be
so dominant through three games, I think is a really
really great sign. But 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 here
you know when we're going live. You're listening via podcast
(42:15):
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