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