FIRST TAKE | “Max Strus took Dallas fans to HELL” – Stephen A. gloats Cavaliers stunning Mavericks

FIRST TAKE | “Max Strus took Dallas fans to HELL” – Stephen A. gloats Cavaliers stunning Mavericks

And he laid it in with 2.6 to go CS out of timeout SCU into mle back to Max half court shot good good he h it K’s win do you believe this this place is going crazy Max Str I don’t believe it absolute Heartbreak City good day what’s going on everyone

Welcome into First Take on this Wednesday and of course because it’s Wednesday you know your guy Christopher madg Russo in the building got a little tan t feel good and I got and I got the big guy here today in studio with a nice spring Blazer yeah he looks good today

Got a nice white tie looks sharp sharp looks sharp wind horse of course you know he’s got the tie on for USA you listen he does he hair’s on point per usual looking handsome he listen to me I want you to fix your tie just a little

Bit there Wy but you’re wearing a tie it’s a nice yellow tie you look nice look I should have gone to pre-show approval meeting sorry I’m very proud I’m very proud I see you’ve upgraded my brother looks nice I love it I love it we got the spring colors going we’re

Like that all right we got a lot to get into so let’s do it and we’re going to start with the NBA Max stru 59 foot shot at the buzzer lifts the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Dallas Mavericks stru heave As Time expired his fifth made three-pointer in the final 4 minutes

Gave Cleveland a wild 121 119 win over Dallas the memorable shot was the second longest game winning buzzer beater in the three-point era Stephen A onreal it was I I got to give credit what credit is do I mean streu who was I mean there was an AP out for him in the

Playoffs last year when he was playing for Miami you couldn’t find him couldn’t find him I mean they they still looking for him in South Beach couldn’t find him anywhere so that was certainly problematic no doubt about that but in the end he’s going to Cleveland he’s

Looked pretty good uh you know they look great and I got to give credit what credit is do we all know what a huge Donovan Mitchell fan I am My Hope Is that they’ll struggle they’ll lose and ultimately he’ll one out to come to the New York Knicks that’s my game plan for

Donovan Mitchell because that’s where he should have been to begin with and don’t get me started with that but in the end here’s the bottom line Cleveland looks like a Bonafide threat within the Eastern Conference with everyone but Boston you could say Boston as well because obviously uh you know Cleveland

They get hot they can beat anybody I’m still not sold I still believe if the New York Knicks come back healthy and that’s a huge if the New York Knicks can take them just like they did last year but it doesn’t take away from what I’m seeing right now credit where credit is

Due to the Cleveland Cavaliers and that was obviously a big- Time Performance in the fourth quarter by Max stru and clearly that was a big shot made five threes you’re right about him he was a disappearing act in the postseason listen I don’t necessarily leaving them

In a short series I don’t know if they get an off offense they got overmatched by the Knicks last year they didn’t do anything Mitchell played poorly now if you look at the big picture they’re they’re the two seed right now and they get a nice little lead over Milwaukee

Stevie so and briyan so as a result they will be in a spot where they get home court through the first couple of rounds of the postseason and Cleveland Milwaukee let’s say Nick Celtics not knowing embid those very well could be your sem final so the two seed to me is

Important because you don’t have to deal with the Celtics into the NBA two order three seed the two order three SE either one but you know you want the twos then you’re the home court against the bucks so they have a chance to get that but I don’t necessarily believe in them

Offensively in a short Series in a big spot that’s where I feel with Cleveland go ahead Wendy yeah yeah so I think this game actually made me worry about the Cavs a little bit and impressed me with the Mavericks but I’ll get to that in a second because there’s no way we can

Start today without talking about three crazy things about this fourth quarter which probably will be one of the craziest fourth quarters as I say fourth quarter I mean last seven minutes because I’m going to tell you seven minutes to play it’s a tie game two excellent teams tie game for the next

Three minutes on the clock the first thing I I watched was Luca and Kyrie killing the Cavs clinical surgical offense destroying one of the best defenses in the League they were playing good defense and they were giving up points and in three minutes on the road Dallas takes a 10-point lead just puts

Them in the ground very impressive then maxu hits four three-pointers in like a minute and a half of game time I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that like we’re talking like Tracy McGrady level hot streak there that was before the 60-footer he hit four threes in a minute

And a half to save the Cavs in this game this game was over okay and then the third thing which is amazing everybody was out of timeouts with 9 seconds left the the Mavericks inbound the ball and run a brilliant play Luca donic shows incredible Poise which will be lost to

The history and memory of the play he makes to get the Mavericks the lead the Cavs have no guards in the game Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland their two All-Star level uh ball handling guards are on the bench because JB bicker staff wanted size on the court which is one of

The Cav’s issues that’s not for right now so he’s now got two seconds and they need to get a miracle shot off and they’re two guys that they have on the team that could maybe catch the ball do two dribbles and make a long shot are

Sitting on the bench this is a terrible situation I mean what’s the chances of the Cavs winning here it’s like 1,000th of 1% um with those two guards on the bench so but I will say this the Cavs did have a play called and it was the oldfashioned doggy you’ve seen it before

It’s the hook and ladder it’s the Val play Bryce Drew except for instead of throwing at three quarters they threw it one quarter and it’s just a basic hooking ladder and it’s a one in 100 shot and so to see those three things all play out in that last seven minutes

Absolutely jaw-dropping NBA basketball game 100% good point I mean remember no timeouts so they couldn’t get the Bard half court there at the end they no Cleveland timeouts couldn’t time this show we proud ourselves on being fair so I have to be fair Wendy brings up Dallas

This brother Kyrie Irving have you been watching him well I had a big game last night got a big ofation spectacular spectacular I mean he he looks magical on the basketball court I’m just telling you and we all know what Luca looks like Tim legler props to him has been talking

About the Dallas Mavericks for weeks I’m paying attention now because they look absolutely Unstoppable when you see Kyrie Irving and Luca clicking and by the way Tim Hardway Jr is nothing to sneeze at either it’s special to watch it really is absolutely let’s dive in a

Little deeper go macro here guys tell me this do you view the Cavs or Mavs as sleeper teams in their respective conference essay I I I view Dallas that way yes I do I think that Dallas and you could say a sleeper but think think about it this way we think about size

And we know they acquired some size Molly uh you know prior to the to the trading deadline uh with gaffy and others and we love I love Derek Lively personally I really love what I and I just think that Jason kid I think he’s a sensational coach so I give credit what

Credit is do in that regard but when I think about the rest of the Western Conference as tough as it is Minnesota Oklahoma City that’s youth there Dallas could take advantage of that especially with people as great as Luca and Kyrie Denver is a different animal because of their size experience and now

Championship pedigree but the Lakers they can’t shoot like that you can take them the Clippers they’ve been up and down as of late they look like they could be had just like they can take anybody and so that’s up in the air Phoenix struggles in the fourth quarter

Struggles with leadership in the fourth quarter which is why Kevin Durant was being a little bit Petty when he kept talking about leadership leadership leadership when he was being asked about it sort of you know just just throwing shade at the media whatever but they’ve had a problem in the fourth quarter

They’ll have to get that together and we don’t know about the status of Bradley Beal in terms of his up and down roller coaster ride as it pertains to his health Dallas is formidable they can score on anybody and they are they’ve got not one but two showstoppers I

Believe they’re a sleeper Cleveland I’m not sold on yet I believe in Donovan Mitchell I really really do I believe in Darius Garland to a lesser degree everybody else to me is suspect am I supposed to believe and get caught up in last night and think that that’s going

To be the max truce that we see come playoff time I’m not sold on that a Jared Allen who can play a 15 and 10 guy but is he G to show up come playoff time I don’t know about that and so I don’t think when I talk about the sleepers I’d

Look at Dallas as being being more so of a formidable answer to that question than the Cleveland Cavaliers well you know I watched a lot of the Pelican game last night against the Knicks and I understand the Knicks are all banged up you can’t down you can’t you got you

Can’t look at the game from a standpoint of big win sure but the Pelicans got a lot of players I mean they got two big offensive players that kid Murphy can shoot mallum didn’t even play they can play some defense that they have to the Travis Kelce look alike and vasal Lunes

Let’s throw him in there too and I’ll let Wendy take over his he is the Travis Kelsey look like brother look exactly no it was Han said their parents together and we got to we got to investigate that tree they look like unb unbelievable how they look Al I’ll let

Wendy I’ll let Wendy handle it from here the NBA in the west is fascinating because the the ninth in the the the Warriors and the Lakers they’re going to be in a playing game they’re going to be in a playing spot against Curry and Lebron in that situation that’s very

Risky and I can’t separate Pelicans Thunder Timberwolves and Mavericks I don’t think any of the four is going to win a conference but I think any of the four can be very very dangerous I think it’s Clippers Denver in the conference final so I can but I can’t separate

Those middle four in which I would put their uh Wendy I put the Mavericks right in the mix there with the Pelicans Thunder and U and Timberwolves so Kyrie came back from his injury nine games ago they are seven- two in those games and I’m going to give

Them an aster exra last night cuz they deserve to win that game last night it goes down as a loss great job but I’m not even talking about that in those nine games since Kyrie came back Luca donic is averaging 34 points nine and a half rebounds n and a half assists he’s

Basically averaging a 34 Point triple double alongside Kyrie the trades that they made by the way Kyrie in this stretch guys he’s averaging 275 and five he’s putting up Mass numbers across the board Plus the trades gave them size Stephen A mentioned that twice it’s so important in the Western Conference

Because you’re either going to need size to go up against the big teams like Denver like Minnesota uh or you’re going to need siid to go up against the teams that want to play small and overwhelm them like Golden State and uh and and Phoenix so the way that they were able

To add size and the way these two guys are playing extremely impressive but I want to talk about the Cavs real quick they are three and three in their last six games they should be two and four okay they hit the shot great Victory they problem is is that their best

Players when they’re on their on the court they don’t play their best basketball and the Evan Moy has been back from his own injury for 13 games the Cavs have won 10 of them that sounds awesome they’re great the problem is in nine of those games he’s been negative

In plus minus because when he’s on the court they can’t spread the floor when Max stru was making all those threes last night he was essentially playing Power Forward because JB bicker staff took Evan Mobley off the court and it’s not a commentary on Evan Mobley it’s a

Commentary on they need the floor spread for Donovan Mitchell and I and I don’t want to ruin your morning Stephen A but I I don’t know if the Donovan Mitchell Nicks thing is really still a possibility I guess it is because he can be a free agent in a year that’s what

I’m think I don’t know how Donovan feels I don’t know how he feels but I got to imagine as a kid from New York who wanted to play for the Knicks in 2022 that’s where he wanted to get traded that’s not an insult to Cleveland I’m from Cleveland I’m not insulting it he

Wanted to be a Nick he’s got to be looking at what Jaylen Brunson Has For foree Speech For spee foreign an ally an ally has deated our mid Lan Tower is under attack an ally deated our Middle Lane Tower is under attack our drag Lan Tower is under attack an enemy enemis Sista midd Tower attack Lane Tower is under attack our Middle Lane Tower is under attack our Dragon Lane Tower is under Attack our Dragon Lane Tower is under attack your team has destroyed a tower enam Tower your team desty Tower en your team destroyed a tower teamy Tower Al Al Foree our Slayer Lan Tower is has deated yeah that’s Tower an enemy def your tower has destroyed your team has destroyed a tower your tower has tower Tower Towery enemy an ally has defeated spee spee

FIRST TAKE | “Max Strus took Dallas fans to HELL” – Stephen A. gloats Cavaliers stunning Mavericks