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Donovan Mitchell says he’s starting to feel more like himself | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast



Donovan Mitchell says he’s starting to feel more like himself | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

On today’s show Donovan Mitchell says he’s starting to feel more like himself is he right how will we know that he’s actually on the way back to being himself we’ll discuss that in more on to he’s locked on Cavs you are locked on Cavs your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

All right Donovan Mitchell is where we have to start Evan this is lock on Cavs I’m Chris Manning that’s Evan damal thanks again to Jake Stevens as always after the Cavs played the Suns which we’ll talk about in segment two he spoke about how he’s starting to feel more and

More like himself these quotes are via cleveland.com um and they’ve been repeated elsewhere as well but uh he says quote it’s not just going to happen overnight for me and as much as it sucks I have to be patient I was happy with how I came out in the second half and

How I felt continue building on that it wasn’t perfect obviously but we’re at our best when I’m aggressive and continuing to get downhill saw and spurts just trying to get back into my flow end quote he also discussed how there’s nothing there’s nothing quote crazy end quote wrong nothing

Structurally wrong nothing to be concerned about and that to me the the big one I’m not going to make things worse by doing what I am doing so Evan when Don Mitchell says that he says he started to feel more like himself do you believe him are there signs to you that

That’s true or not true and what would it look like for him to actually look something more like himself by the time the playoffs start um the best way for him to look more like himself when the playoffs actually be again is obviously

Like we we ran a poll or I ran a poll rather the other day of like we cuz you and I had this discussion of like what percentage Donovan Mitchell was at and the overwheling consensus was from just people who replied and tuned into the show like they they think he’s at 60%

Capacity this was before the uh game against um Phoenix but regardless like yeah I think 55 50 55 60 65% somewhere in that range makes sense for Mitchell and if he’s as close to 100% as possible it makes your life a lot easier of course but um I think more importantly um it

Just overall uh just makes things easier but like based off of the comments I think it makes sense and just the way he played too kind of makes sense too um like he he was kind of lacking a little bit of that burst earlier in the season

But you notice like he had a little bit of of oom in his game against the Suns and I think just the fact that this this was his first like 20 point scoring effort or 20 plus he broke the 20 point margins for the first time since the Cavs beat the Mavs

Since God knows when how long ago that was but like I think that certainly is indicative of just like how serious this knee injury is and also just like how it is really sapping from his actual game and what he’s able to provide to the Cavs on a nightly basis and you know

Yeah it’s just a welcome sight to have him back and kind of fully in the fold like that I guess I just I if fully in the if this is like fully in the not fully in the fold but he’s getting back in it felt more closer to who and what Donovan

Mitchell was as a player before he had the knee injury and comparatively to like what he has been dealing with and what I’ve just seen from watching him play like it feels it feels like he’s making progress I guess I should say yeah there was like urgency in what he

Was doing and maybe that’s just because they got their butts kicked in the first half and there’s a sense of like self pride and like self- ownership and accountability within him that he’s like yeah I don’t want to like go out and get punked like this like maybe there’s it

It could just be as simple as that the quote again I said this but the the quote to me that sck side is I’m not going to make things worse by doing what I’m doing let’s just like assume that’s true that means it’s like he’s never

Going to be fully right that’s like kind of like a tcid ignition that he’s probably not going to be right I think we kind of have assumed that to some degree I also just there has to be like a part of him that is believing what

He’s saying and I think that’s why like he says it but I I don’t know if we’re GNA I don’t know like if he like I don’t know if he’s going to play both games this weekend I would guess probably not no even go further to say like he’s not

Going to do anything to compromise himself I also just don’t think like he’s it may not even be like rting him on a backto back of the five games the Cavs have left like if his knee doesn’t feel good the Cavs just shut him down and just don’t play him that night like

They they’re at that kind of level I’d say yeah and I think the problem there is then you have five games left you play Saturday you play Sunday so let’s say he’s not going to let’s say he doesn’t play Sunday right he gets to enjoy the LA night life and with without

Repercussions of playing on Sunday not that that’s why he would sit but like it’s a joke next week play he gets two days off he would have three days off before they play Wednesday and then he would play Friday the 12th against the Pacers and then Sunday the the 14th

Against the Hornets those last three games all at home all at Rocket mortgage Fieldhouse that’s a pretty light schedule to end the year but is it also enough time for him to actually feel like himself then because then you go from April 14th and the Cavs would either play on

The 20th or they would play on the 21st depending on on how this the scheduling goes for the first day the weekend of the playoffs so he would have then either six days or a full week before he would would play again and then maybe like and we don’t

Know where the scheduling is like what the standings are going to look like by April 14th maybe like it doesn’t make sense to play anyone that day and his last game is April 12th so like how what is what is the balance of him playing and getting into a rhythm which I think

Is necessary versus like caring for like what is the balance and how do you actually walk that type rope that’s that’s a massive question and I don’t think you like anyone exactly can answer from the outside or even he could actually answer until we see how it goes

Yeah and I think that’s just kind of the way you have to approach it and tackle it looking at this is yeah you want to prioritize these remaining regular season wins as often as you can just because it is so tight at 3 four and I’d even say five and I I think

Realistically speaking the lowest the Cavs may go is for but who knows how the regular season the remainder of it shakes out like the Knicks are dealing with the blow of losing Julius Randle for the season so it’s always tough even if Randall hasn’t been out there as of late but um

That’s neither here nor there to be frank it’s just can you find that delicate Balancing Act where you’re thinking like okay we are equipped enough we are able enough cuz the the Cavs frankly are reeling on both ends of the floor like they aren’t good right

Now but like can they afford to let Mitchell get those ENC Court reps to kind of test his knee feel at his body and see like okay I physically feel a little bit better than I did before um and can I keep just kind of building

This slowly but surely momentum so I can be more impactful not in these regular season games with the five left that they have but when the playoffs actually start no regardless of who they end up playing in the first round like I think that is just the priority and that’s

Also something he made explicitely clear he’s like yeah the focus now is just me getting healthy for the playoffs the the seating part of it will also just Bing if you look at or like if you look at playoffstatus.com you look at their their calculations Cavs are

Still the the odds on favor to be the three seed in the East like they are going to somewhat fall like not I don’t want to say backwards but they’re going to like tiptoe sideways perhaps into being the three seed they are currently half a

Game up on the magic who are now the odds on favorite to be the four seed the Knicks are the odds on favorite to be the five seed so Cavs Nicks is like relatively still in play if if that’s the way this goes um and then we can all

Smash our head the wall so yeah and then with Orlando that their their last six games are this they get they play the Hornets on Friday Friday when the Cavs are off they have one more game the Cavs they have a game in hand uh they they

Play the the Bulls on Sunday then they play the Rockets they play the Bucks they play the Sixers and they play the Buc again in the regular season finale it’s possible that they get to the regular season finale and they the Bucks just like don’t have anything to play

For but they’re only like a game and a half up on the Cavs and um they maybe just like need the games like I there’s a there’s a chance that all of these teams are all still competing for something the Knicks by comparison have the Bulls the buck the Bulls again the

Celtics really good Brooklyn and then the Bulls so they also have six games left versus five for Cleveland this is going to come down of the wire and like you might also just like want Mitchell for as many of those games as you can get is the thing if you’re saying we

Want to be the three seed and even if the three like you’re just saying we want the highest seed possible whether that gets us Indiana or gets us Miami I think you want that right like I think that is that is kind of do you want

Miami no I’m saying you want the three seed I think you rather just have the three seed yeah misunderstood you you can’t yeah you can’t finagle any of this like you at this point and just considering what the East is considering the Celtics are further ahead of the two seed than the

One seed in the in the west is ahead of like a team outside the plane and that’s just what the East is this year um you can’t finagle this it’s two jam-packed you’re not good enough to finalist I think you just want to get the three

Seed say okay we’re not on the same side of the bracket as the as the Celtics I don’t know how healthy Donovan Mitchell is going to be but at least now like our path to maybe just like pulling something off here is clearer than it would have been if we’d like second

Round it’s like all right we’re just going to get stomped in five games even if yeah it’s a little bit more clear than as he said getting stomped and maybe the Bucks just because they’re an odd team um I had recently said they’re playing well under do rivers it it

Appears that they are not because that grizzli loss is certainly stinging um but ah yeah avoiding the Celtics is your cleanest path to getting as far as possible into the Eastern Conference Finals which you know all things considered with how top cury this Cavs team has been and we will talk about

This more when we just talk about the latest back toback the Cavs went through like yeah if you get to the ECF like that is two thumbs up like this team is much better off than I thought they were heading into the playoffs but um that’s like five steps ahead also

Yeah five steps ahead like you got to focus on the first round uh and depending on who you draw it makes it a lot more palatable I would say if you’re the Cavs you ideally don’t want to draw the Knicks but if you do boy howdy buckle up that is going to

Be quite the time um just to kind of get your feet wet and heading into the postseason the second year in a row yeah also just like all this to bring this home in terms of Donovan Mitchell he could just like twist his knee and it’s

Like all right well that was fun well that’s that was cynical um but yeah that definitely could happen no but it’s but it’s it’s not cynical it’s realistic to yeah it’s reality like it’s it would stin I think it’s just but you hope that’s not the case knock on wood

But um but we shall see what happens next I guess I mean yeah that’s really can’t say but also just like to my point I think it’s going to be game by game like he very well could not play either game against LA and the Lakers are playing very good ball as of

Late and I think think the Clippers just at least on paper always had the ability to be the best team in the arena any night um and you just yeah take it on a game by- game approach like you have to kind of maybe assume in game plan like

We may not have Donovan for this matchup you just kind of roll with that M that thought process in every single game I I would assume or think after this we’re going to discuss Cavs Jazz the game they won and Cav Suns uh again they look pretty bad in and

Lost so that’s coming up right now on locked on Cavs today’s episode of Locked on Cavs is brought to you by Robin Hood did you know that even if you have a 401k for retirement you can still have an IRA Robin Hood has the only Ira that gives

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Conditions Robin Hood Ira accounts are available to us customers in good standing and Robin Hood Financial LLC member sipc is a registered broker dealer all right coming back in Cavs beat the Jazz lose to the Suns so beat the bad team lost to the maybe good team team that’s not really consistent we’re

Going to look at what actually stood out in those two games Evan I’ll start I think it’s obvious like we were talking before the show and you’re like that’s you have kind of the obvious one but well I wouldn’t say obvious think because the Jazz game is one of

The weirdest games I’ve seen a player who I generally think of as being pretty good play I don’t understand how in a game where Donovan Mitchell did not play that he took what like five shots I don’t understand six shots excuse me a whole whopping six shots I don’t

Understand like what he was doing I don’t understand like how any of that what’s going on like I it doesn’t make sense and he just felt like he wasn’t even on the floor even though he had like eight assists it’s just like I I don’t understand how you take six

Shots like that’s weird that’s like that’s like deferring to the game Flow in a drastic amount and then you know he plays 40 minutes basically against the Suns he takes 17 shots didn’t look particularly good the decision making for him of late if there’s anything you

Can say that at least has gotten back to a good place where this is a turnover ratio looks good for the most part it’s like not it’s a lot of seven eight n 10 assist games and like two three turnover games that’s great but then he’s either not making

Shots or he’s not taking shots and I just I I just remain confounded by Darius Garland and what you you how you can’t really know what you’re going to get from him on a night toight basis right now it just remains bizarre to me that we ended up here with him you still

Feel uh as critical as me taking Jared all over him really killing it today all right Jake three two one so do you feel is comfortable in me taking or taking not taking Garland Over Allen in our playoff no no this reinforces my logic because like you

Need like you need shock creators need guys to run the offense and like be like a highest paid player on your team lead like secondary one a Creator like that has always kind of been the vision here and then it’s just like can you is that

Like is he just like the odds of him just showing up round one day one of the playoffs and being the guy you need him to be it’s it gets Slimmer every game and it just it’s it’s bizarre I like I can make sense of like a bunch of

Different things on this team and say okay even if like there’s a slight dip for Jared Allen like they could overcome it I I think if you getting this Darius Garland you’re DOA like you’re it’s just like what are we doing here like it it’s not as drastic as the Mitchell injury

Situation in terms of like what it would mean but you just need another person to dribble and take shots and function and he just isn’t like even functioning in the way you need him to do right now and that that’s terrifies me not just for

Now but like is this just like what does this mean for him going forward I have no idea yeah going forward I don’t really know what the calculus is going to be with Garland but as an aside I was I wanted to let you cook after I heard you

Uh leaving the train leaving the station but this is kind of the overarching theme for both games in this backback cuz like Garland was just kind of unremarkable in both of them like you said the assist numbers I guess are encouraging at least he’s getting other teammates involved and yeah the Jazz

Game overall was really weird and I think in just in the sense that there was no Mitchell this is a horrific bad Jazz team like Colin ston probably drank like seven Red Bulls and into and drank like a ton of coffee like Matthew delova at halftime anticipation of this matchup

And it just felt like the Jazz just aren’t a good team and the Cavs took care of business against a bad team as they do or have done all season long but I I think if the Cavs didn’t have Carris Levert kind of just find a groove

Or Sam Merill just become a flamethrower Off the Bench or George and yangang just really connecting a lot of shots or even the the big to Big passing or just Evan Moy being very very consistently just dominant on both ends of the floor all throughout the game

Like if you didn’t have that yeah this Garland game would be a lot easier to pick apart because it’ be like the biggest takeaway especially if they had lost to the Jazz like oh well Darius what are you doing this is the franchise guard you’re not really doing anything

And it’s just been odd ever since he’s come back from injury um this time around like he’s just it’s been a really clunky and awkward fit and you can attribute a lot of things going on off the court or on the court like are there

What’s going on but like I I just don’t fully understand it like is he quiet quitting on the team right now or something like is he frustrated something internally that nobody knows about who knows but he has not been great and he has not lived up to the

Standard of what people have expected of him whether it’s just people who cover this team fans or the organization itself and I I think that’s just disheartening because you’re hoping at this juncture like maybe weightwise he’s not where he needs to be at um but like physically speaking he has enough game

Reps and just minutes on the floor to say like he is back in his element a little bit more compared to where he was before he broke his jaw surgery and or before he broke his jaw and had surgery but it’s just been very frustrating to

Watch him play and again like I think it kind of and once you break down the nitty-gritty and the brass tax of be like yeah he was bad against the Jazz but it to me me like that was my a little bit of my takeaway but I think it

Was for both of these games but like in at least against the Jazz like you had Levert you had Mo you had Allen you had Yang and you had Merill like really step up for the Cavs to like make Garland’s just bless just kind of go a little bit

Unnoticed versus like how he performed against the Suns I did you this kind of season like I obviously you can’t predict jaw breaking it’s the weirdest season like over all it’s just very hard to evaluate what this Cav schem is or could have been because we just don’t have a clear idea just

Because of injuries and everything I the whole season’s been weird he is like the weirdest of I don’t even know if it’s like an iniga it’s just like it’s it’s it’s just like you’re caught in like a Purgatory loop with him almost right like it’s just

Like like what do we do like he’s mentally checked out and going through the motions like I don’t know like I can’t did did you feel like there were times the other night where he wasn’t passing to Mitchell when like he proba Mitchell’s like calling for the ball cuz

It kind of like looks like I certainly eving against the Sun’s Game more so like L more like him Mitchell screaming at Caris LeVert not to drive to the basket and then Levert ignored him and drove to the basket but like yeah there were moments where like Mitchell was

Telling these guys like hey wake up and get in your spot and like it just feels like the Cavs are like a I guess the only comparison I can like aply think of is like they are a team that has won the championship they know what it takes to

Go far in the playoffs and they’re just like you know what these last few games of the season are BS let’s just try and get these reps so we don’t stay Rusty but we’re not trying to get hurt but like the Cavs haven’t earned any of that stuff they

Have to kind of prove and wash off the stin of last year and yeah like that that Mitchell stuff I I was wondering if one of us would bring it up but I’m glad you did like they yeah like it just feels like there’s some disconnect

Forming somewhere and I I just can’t put my finger on it I have no idea like what the source is of like okay who is the issue here is it and I’m not trying to project but like is it is it somebody else on the

Team is it Darius is it the coaching is there something happening off the court that we’re just not privy to nor is it like our business because Darius is a private person as well it can have we can respect that privacy but like just some isn’t adding up for me and like

When you brought this up like it just like again like further reaffirmed the fact that like yeah I’d rather have Allen than Garland right now because like Garland yeah on paper gives you everything you need but like he is not giving it to the Cavs at all since he’s

Come back from the shw surgery like he’s just been kind of BL yeah yeah and like I I want to just say again like that pick at him at two was not like I think I would rather have him it is he is going to dictate the outcome of this in

A more important way that’s completely fair I I agree like there’s going to be probably a moment in a playoff game where it could be a momentum swinger or even possibly like a game-winning scenario and like you’re going to have to put the ball in Darius Garland’s

Hands and ask him to do it and like that gives me pause right now just based on what I’ve seen lately yeah all right after the break we ran a little long Evan after the break you’re going to give me your too it’s a good talking point though see like I hit

Sometimes you hit the single and you get a they someone messes up and you get a triple out of it I almost swore that would all right after this Cleveland Guardians you hit a bloop and somehow you won the segment so there you go that’s right baby we’re back we’re

Guardians are so back all right after this Evan’s going to give us what he saw the last two games we’ll each give one thing we’re looking forward to from the Cavs weekend in Los Angeles today’s episode is brought to you by Fire TV Fire TV is your destination for sports from live games

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Armada and go find your next big adventure shop nissanusa.com all right Evan what’s your thing from the last two games what what was your number one thing uh the defense has been bad um for context coming out of the All-Star break the Cavs are 25th in

Defensive rating I know it’s not like a catch all stat but it is a good indication of where they’re at um they’re allowing 115 points 115.5 points excuse me per 100 possessions and like it it doesn’t get much better there like a lot of it is just the lack of

Three-point defense I think that has really been hamstringing the Cavs um and it’s just been really tough to watch I think it really became indicative against the Nuggets which was you know before this back toback but even against the Suns like the the the Phoenix just got red hot from the

Perimeter a lot of it was Devon Booker then Kevin Durant killing them quietly all throughout the game but like the Cavs with two bigs on the floor are and for all the credit we give Evan Moy like he can’t be where all at once in the perimeter and on the interior

Like you need that secondary help you need some of that just like assist if you can but like it’s really a tricky formula and something just kind of stood out to me like the Jazz made it dicey in the third quarter where like Utah kind

Of went on a bit of a run and I’m like this cast team is kind of asleep with the wheel defensively and for a team that’s just not as good as they should be offensively right now and I think injuries do play a big part in that

Um the Cavs aren’t able to lean on a backbone or core Iden any of defense like I just don’t know what to expect from this team on a nightly basis that’s that’s just kind of my takea away from this latest back toback especially against Phoenix where they got torched on the

Perimeter yeah I I I’m I’m concerned like it’s straight up just like The Vibes are not Immaculate as they were at points in January or pretty much all of last season yeah I think the last time uh was talking about this with with front of the program Jackson flick

Andrew uh the Cavs in lineup with Mo and Allen on the floor teams are shooting like over 40% from three against them the Cavs on the the Cavs on the Year this this is um in terms of defensive fre in terms of three-point makes percentage Cavs on the year are

Not are are uh they’re close to League average in terms of what they’re giving up 3 37.5% Lake put it’s like the Lakers Brooklyn San Antonio Charlotte Toronto Atlanta Memphis Sacramento and Utah are the teams below them like so you’re like you’re not in a there’s not like a team

In your category that is close to you and then if you look at just percentage of Threes that you give up from three Cavs are like also giving up um like they’re they’re a little that’s that’s with slightly below average three-point rate against them on the

Season I see I got I got the numbers in front of me because I did right about this last night um I’ll just read the paragraph for btim since Cleveland reconvene to begin the second half of their 2023 24 campaign they’ve been 25th in defensive rating allowing 115.5

Points per 100 possessions as I noted their 20th and allowed field goal percentage allowing their opponents to convert on 47.6% of their attempts on the floor more worrying worryingly the Cavs are allowing the third most three-point attempts against them in the same span with opponents connecting on

39.2% of their attempts be on the arc they’re the third worst their defense the NBA like that’s not great Bob like even if you had like Isaac aoro and Dean Wade out there like I don’t think you’re slowing down the Suns of the Nuggets like this like there’s just

Again some something is not passing the smell test on top of what I’m seeing out there like defensively they’re kind of getting cooked and know their net rating is I think it’s like negative4 point something now just be based on their offensive rating um like that fourpoint to fivepoint Gap

Um is pretty significant for a team that just just not good right now on either end of the floor it is just awkward weird times for the Cavs and it’s kind of done all right this weekend two games in LA Lakers first Lakers the worst of those two teams but

They have this guy named LeBron James they have this other guy named Anthony Davis both very good they play a very greatting slow style I think that’s possibly like the Le less watchable of the two games just based on how the Lakers play and how the Cavs are playing

Right now the Clippers on the other hand will not be on the second night of a back toback when the Cavs are that gives the Clippers a huge advantage in on top of being at home uh the Clippers maybe are not playing at their peak in the way

They were earlier this season yeah speaking of bad vibes that is not a good vibes basketball team raid okay but yeah but here’s the here’s the difference here’s the very subtle difference not even subtle it’s just like they have tyou who’s this to me the second best

Coach in the NBA maybe the third best coach in the NBA and they have Kawhi Leonard who’s better than any I was just mostly poking fun at um Paul George asking about James hard and he’s like I’m not the coach don’t ask yeah so the the Clippers are a team

I keep eyes on just because one their new branding is going to be so good but to like if they keep PG-13 this team will I don’t want to say be a consistent title threat but they always just be like a team that is built to go far especially because like you

Said tyou is a proven playoff winner and if he is fully healthy heading into the postseason the Mavericks might be a tough draw in round one but like they are an annoying team but like yeah the Lakers aren’t great as you had noted they play a lot slower they are a grittier

Team just at this juncture but they have won like eight of their last nine if I remember correctly um and so another they eight- two in their last 10 they’ve won three in a row and you know they are a good home team and like LeBron just is

LeBron James he’s going to show out and put on a show against his former team so so which which which game are you more anticipating both frankly but I think the Clippers one just because I think the Lakers one will be a bit of a Beatdown and just

Because of the the grimness and the toughness of that matchup like how can the Cavs survive that and be a little standup straight against a Clippers team that’s rested compared to them um and also like what who who does Mitchell play does he play in both of them does

He play in one of them does he play in neither of them like that is also up in the air too yeah the my answer is whatever whatever game Donovan Mitchell plays is my answer that’s a fair fair fair fair assessment just because like he uh we talked about

It a little bit the first segment like he had some juice against the Suns like the Cavs could very well need that uh one they’re at La this week yeah hopefully the Cavs at least get some good meals enjoy the night life maybe sneak down to Phoenix and the

Scots out there for a final four game or something you the world’s your Royster when you have lots of money and and free time on your hands uh depending on when you fly back but that’s going to be it for this episode of Locked on Cavs they could get back

For the women’s final four well they’re going to miss the the Sunday one but they could they don’t play the Wednesday play what Wednesday could say watch women’s final four I know I don’t think anyone other team in there they might come back for the total eclipse who

Knows JB did say to me that he is uh disappointed schedule wise that they aren’t home for the final four cuz he wanted to be there personally as a fan of basketball and he’s also just like the ticket prices are insane and my kids are trying to find I’m paraphrasing a

Little bit kids are tring to find trying to find tickets that I can justifiably pay for cuz it’s like a gazillion times more expensive than the men’s final four as it should be okay because the women’s tournament’s ruled this year okay but all I’m going to say and I’m not trying

To count someone’s money when they have to pay taxes in every city he coaches in JB bicker St if you make lots of money just pay you have you make millions of dollars what are the millions of dollars for unless you’re going to put like pay

For and what are the CR franchises for unless you want to like take your kids to see Caitlyn Clark and paig Beckers in in South Carolina like what are we doing not even just an individual player just South Carolina as a so I mean no but that they’re undefeated that team’s

Incredible like you can get on them right now was like them versus the field like and they have Cam cardosa who’s going to probably be a top three four pick in the WNBA draft like that team’s awesome but it’s like that t that that the appeal of that of the final Forno is

Okay they’re the they’re like the the big Killers it’s Caitlyn Clark and then it’s Paige Beckers at at Yukon like and it’s they don’t have like the like the the the person oners Showdown is Paige and Caitlyn on Friday it is not like card Camille cardoso

Versus must TV um and real quick as we head out do you wish LSU was in the final four instead of having to be Iowa’s roadblock to get to the final four I mean sure but like the bracket is the bracket you know the bracket is

But I do think it would have been fun just for like you know the off Court like stardom like I know lover hater Kim Moy and the LSU Tigers are part of that musty TV but um I don’t know it is cool though uh it is fun to

Hear what Paige Beckers and Caitlyn Clark have to say about Cleveland because there’s like it’s so cool there’s so much stuff to do and I’m like oh that’s nice like it’s just nice to hear people say nice things about where you live yeah well what Kaylin Clark

Said about the Rock Hall is like I don’t know if you actually spend as much time as she as you think there Caitlin um the look here’s the thing though Iowa LSU like even was in the final four did 12.3 million viewers according to ESPN it was the most watch college basketball game

Evern I was my wife was stunned she’s just like you’re really locked in I’m like yeah this is like I’ve been looking forward to this game like it’s going to be nuts and it was nuts did L four innings in like NBA finals games good for the sport good for the

Sport great for the sport yeah that that we’re going to be we’re going to end there we’ll be we’ll be back Saturday after Cavs Lakers recap that and then I’ll be here Sunday after Cavs Clippers to recap that one um and then we’re in the home stretch of the Cavs 2023 24

Regular season I’m Chris Min that’s Dem we’ll talk to you guys on

On a new episode of Locked on Cavs (Friday, April 5, 2024) hosts Chris Manning (@cwmwrites, The Just Basketball Show, SB Nation’s Fear the Sword, Forbes Sports) and Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan, Right Down Euclid) talk through Donovan Mitchell’s comments about how he’s starting to feel more like himself and that he’ll be right by the playoffs, the Cavs’ recent win over the Jazz and their loss to the Suns and what they are looking out for this weekend when the Cavs play the Lakers and the Clippers.

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10 Comments

  1. Mitchell will show he's back with a contested dunk over a good defender, probably not until playoffs. Healthy Wade is more important than Garland for playoffs.

  2. Until DG is healthy, he should be treated as a role player. On offense, he should put in the corner in that Okoro's role to take the 3 or backcut to the rim while Evan is facilitating the halfcourt offense in the triple threat position, JA is setting off ball screens/pick with the option to cut to the basket, and with the other perimeter players playing off ball as movement shooters. JB has not defined roles or adjusted to the roster with injuries at all. He is pulling a Thibodeux and wearing down his team.

    On defense, we should be in a 3 – 2 zone instead of playing the overswitching, overhelping, out of position 4 a rebound Man DEF. JA and Evan's rebounding is more important than their individual man to man defense. Again, JB hasn't adjusted to his roster and their injuries. DG, Spida, and Max r limping in games right now. They can't play JBs favorite scheme right now. We shouldn't miss two bench players this much, though.

  3. Yeah right. I’ll believe it when I see it. The next game he’ll probably come out hobbling again like the last several. Wish GARLAND would start to feel more like himself AGAIN 😵‍💫🥴🥴🥴

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