Cavs' Road Test and Choosing Between Pistons or Magic

0:00Now, from a fan's perspective, I think I'm expecting seven from a basketball mind and watching this series through and through. I think that it could be over in six. And the reason I say that is we're seeing something new from Evan Mowgli as the series goes on. His aggressiveness on all fans. So I think it's a very welcome sight for Kenny Ackerton and the Cavaliers. And also Donna Mitchell just didn't play well last night. He had 19 points. He struggled to really get going in that first half against Toronto. They were really flocking to him defensively. And to see some of those other guys step up around him. He's a welcome sight to the Cavs. But Donna Mitchell, he didn't have his best performance. And I think that we're going to see him really walk and have his dust game in the series in game six. Brad Siegel of clutch points joining us in the previous segment, giving us his take on the cams Raptor series. Do you expect it to be wrapped up in six games? Yeah, I am. Yeah, I'm not even really thinking twice about it. I think Friday night's going to be the last night. And I thought Brad just kind of hedged his bet there, didn't he? A little bit. That was waffling like you wouldn't believe. That was, I think fans think it's going to go game seven. I think more game six, I just, I, you punched the Raptors in the mouth.

1:03You did what you had to do. The point has been proven and you should take game six. And I'm not really thinking about game seven. I am. Yeah, sure. I think the Cavs should win tomorrow, but I don't think they will. I don't think you can predict them to do something they haven't done yet in the playoffs, which is play well enough to take that game on the road. I would do a one game burger bet if you're open to it. No. Okay. No. I want to see what the confidence was at. Yeah. But I do think like I expect this to go seven games, I still expect the Cavs to win. And maybe there's a Cavalanch in game seven and it's not even that close. But yeah, I think, I think the Cavs proved last night they can win a basketball game in the last four minutes of a game when it's at home. Now you get to do it on the road. I think they unlocked something in the fourth quarter and understanding the basically they just had to attack the inside, something they were scared to do for four games and three quarters worth of basketball. And so I'm thinking that's going to be a big thing.

2:04And then also I don't even know that Ingram is going to be on the court. They obviously are without quickly the entire series like like there's started to get injured. And even like even the Scotty Barnes injury last night, like there's there's starting the raptors are starting to get beaten up a little bit here and they're running out of reserves. And by the way, I think that's a fair rebuttal even without Ingram for the second half of that game. The raptors kept it really close. Now they did it by having a lot of really ridiculous shots that they're not going to make. Well, I don't know they're not going to make because the next game is in Toronto. I just look at it and it's like, I hope you're right. I hope you're right that the Cavs have figured out, hey, they have no recourse when we attack them in the middle, but they didn't do that in the two previous games. And by the way, they did attack the raptors and the paint early in the series in Cleveland. It's just once you get on the road, this team, when they don't have the home crowd behind them, I think they need to prove that to us. I think was like booing of the home crowd in the third quarter that maybe got them energized enough to be like, oh, this is going sideways.

3:05I don't know about that. I'm trying to figure out the suggestion, but the suggestion is they haven't won a road playoff game and they fall apart when momentum's going the other way and the road, the road crowd is going crazy. I think Toronto is a tough place to play, by the way. So I'm not trying to, but no, they haven't, they haven't proven they can win on the road yet in the playoffs is currently constructed. And I do need to see that and you're probably not going to get because it is on the road. You're probably not going to get a great Dennis Schroeder night. You're probably not going to get, you know, your role players probably aren't going to be as good as they were last night. It's fair. It's going to take Donovan being really, really good. It's going to take James Hardin, maybe getting under that seven turnover threshold for a game. If he could, that'd be nice, but yeah, I mean, I, I, this is a prove it game for me. I think we're back with this because I don't think they fully figured out each other because I don't think Kenny feels like he's got a great feel of this yet. Every game becomes a prove it game. You proved something last night, but you proved it at home now you got to prove it on the

4:07road. Raptors having a 12 point lead with nine minutes left in the third quarter and blowing that is the type of thing that I think could just be the final punch. I hope you're right. I hope tomorrow is just how I see it. Easy pickings. You weren't here yesterday, but I was so calm all throughout the day yesterday about that game. I did not have any concerns. And it's funny to think about it because during the game, I know a lot of people got their blood pressure up real high watching that game. And there was just a part of me that was like, I just don't think Toronto is very good. I've never really thought Toronto is very good. And there's so many parts about this Cavs team that should just be significantly better. And the things when Toronto starts to score the way that they did, they can't maintain it. And so like, I mean, the ball is obviously in the Cavs court. If they lose the game, it'll just because they shot themselves in the foot once again. And I just think we're past that. Yeah, that's that's the part though. Like that right there, I've never been afraid of Toronto. Like I respect their, their, their length and athleticism. I respect that they do have some really nice athletes. Like I, there's, there's some things I respect about them, but as a playoff team, and

5:09not really. Like I, even, even what Scotty Barnes has done in these playoffs, like, isn't these play some nice basketball? He really has. Yeah, him and RJ Barrett him great. But like, Scotty Barnes, I went into the series thinking he'd never be more than a three out of team. And now I, I legitimately think to myself, this is a, not only could be a two, there are people that are after watching the series are like, maybe he's a one one day. Yeah, I don't know that I believe that. I think the Cavs have let the Raptors be in the series. And I think it's the Cavs versus the Cavs in game six, and I definitely, I think there's reason to be confident coming out of this game, but I don't have certainty on it. And so like it's funny, like I, and we're going to get to Brett Seagull's answer on pistons or magic in the next round, but like, every, until I see them consistently get out of their own way with things, right, turnovers on offense, just consistently be physical in the paint, especially when you've got the advantage there, like the, having confidence of playing with each other in certain lineups, Kenny Atkinson, with those two, those two things

6:10even just mentioned right there, like the part of why that game went the Cavs way is because they finally flipped it in their favor, where at least with the flipped it where it became even like points in the paint matched up at 48 a piece last night, turnovers were matched at 14 a piece like in games four and three, we watched them just kind of just cough up those two metrics to the Raptors and not even look back, but she have to do it again. And then you have to do it again, and it's like this is a big fact finding mission for the Cavs, but the Cavs have to prove to us that you can trust them in more than a four minute sample size at the end of a game now. And again, doing it on the road, like your path to an NBA finals this year, the idea that you're just going to win the home games and then we'll just forfeit the road games that's not, you've got to lose a home game. That's just that it's going to happen. And so you're going to have to take at least one road game in this, and certainly in this next year, I mean, if they make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, there's a way that we look back on this series and think to themselves, it was almost like a perfect first round matchup for the Cavs. In the sense that you watch them get punched in the mouth, and then you watch the Cavs deliver

7:13another punch back. And it kind of it showed some of the flaws and it showed some of the worries. And it also gave the Cavs that urgency of like you can't just sit around a weight all day either, right? There's been a lot that will be good about this series if they do in fact get to the Eastern Conference Finals. So we did just have Brett Siegel on and obviously the magic have the three two series lead over the pistons. But again, game six is tomorrow night, just like the Cavs Raptors game six is tomorrow night. And so JP asked him, you know, who should Cavs fans rather the Cavs face in the next round? I'd probably say the pistons and the reason I say that is because the way that the magic have kind of broken them down in that series and really exposed them as being a one man team that ties with Cade Cunningham, you could withstand him scoring 30, 35 points and everybody else is being contained. And when you look at the Cavs and the personnel that they have, they're able to match up with guys like a Sarthoms and Tobias Harris given their size and now for this isn't that the Cavs have on the bench. So I think that that would be the more favorable matchup, especially because it's a magic win that series as the eight seed.

8:16Again, you're looking at another scenario where a team is playing with house money, they have nothing to lose and they got plenty of stars on that roster of Ben Carro, Wagner, if he's healthy with his calf injury, and then also Desmond Bade playing at a high level. So I definitely think that the pistons would be the easier matchup, but there's really no easy matchups in the playoffs. It's just really based on momentum and how you scheme the team at hand. So it's interesting. I'd said I would rather have avoided the magic in the first round series because they've had more success against the Cavs in the playoffs than I care to see again. And I think they've gotten better since the last time these two teams have faced off because Desmond Bade is a really nice addition. Better the playoffs. The regular season ended in such a disastrous way for them. It really did, but it's interesting. Like I think the pistons have enough to expose the there's I think the magic have enough to expose the pistons. And I think I think the magic have enough physicality still to expose the Cavs as well. Yeah, I'd rather face the pistons in the next round as well.

9:17I'm I'm more face the magic and I get that's not going to be a popular answer. It's very close for me though, like because I can see both sides of it. I just the part that worries me. Dorin is not going to be as bad as he was in this series against the Cavs. He just won't be that I mean, he is that's an all star that was 18 and 10 that is just completely disappeared for the pistons. Yeah, I don't think he's a postseason player. I do. I just don't think he's going to completely disappear the way he is. And so real quick, I when I say postseason player, because I want to explain that, I think if he has to be your second best offensive player, he is going to disappear like this. I think that's always been the flawed premise of the Detroit pistons. I think the magic have a lot of size. And so that's why it's just taking him out of this. And they've put a lot of emphasis on it. And so like there's just something to that plus also, I don't really want to give Kate Gunningham even more time to get the recovery going the way that he has like he's looked phenomenal in this series. We talk about turnovers though. He's turning the ball over at a higher rate than James Harden is right now. I think a lot of that is coming off the collapsed lung. So like there's, there's a part of me that still fears that combo more than I fear what the Bancaro Bancaro is right now, even though I would, I don't think there's a

10:18person alive that would say the Bancaro Bancaro isn't a better combo. I think Kate Gunningham has gotten to be a little overrated. That's, that's an opinion. He's a really, really, really nice battle. It's not my opinion, but that's an opinion. I don't think he's a top 10 player in the NBA. Okay. Then I think I think that's your call. I think a fair amount of teams have allowed him. And I think most teams are just going to allow hits the old LeBron thing. I'm just going to allow him to score as many points as he wants because the part of him that you have to stop is the facilitator. And I think again, that's a reason why I think the magic of had some success in this series on top of Kate getting, you know, coming off the collapse lung and everything. But I think Palo Bancaro at this point is underrated. I think Desmond Bain is underrated. And I think you add that size, that, that playmaking ability, which they now have enough of with that physicality. And that's going to be a real thing that calves have to answer for in a way. They just have never answered for in the playoffs. I mean, Bancaro is the same guy he was two years ago. That's the

11:19problem I had with Bancaro. He was really good two years ago. No, but he's, he's almost got like the Evan Mobley complex where it's like they, they had a really good year too. And then everyone's like, all right, he's ascending. And then it's like, all right, he's stayed at the same rate for now three years. And it's like, you're going to have to see more out of them. I just, I 228. It's easier for me. Yeah. No, yeah, yeah. So then so again, it's the same thing he was two years ago. Like that's, that's not bad. No, it's not bad. It's just I think everyone thought he was going to take this next level ascension to himself. And he was going to put himself up there with the the SGA's and all these other guys. And he's just, he's not there. He's 228 and five. At 23, which you got Hardin. Hardin was in the series so far. 23, six and five. And we said that was bad for some reason. So like, the numbers are, you know, I'm glad we both agree that those are good numbers to have. Yeah. How many turnovers for Paulo? You see the point card? I'm sorry, I forgot about that. We'll have that fight later. Two one six. I want to know. I think I've just done with it. I want to have it. Oh, I want to have it. Yeah. I just gets me angry. I guess you've had your, your, your, yeah, you've kind of burned a little hotter than than I have. And now I want

12:23to burn hot. Well, we just, I'm happy we agree that 23, six and five is a good number. I like, I like that we're not averaging seven turnovers again. I like that we're agreeing.