The Cavs Get Embarrased By New York Knicks (It’s Cavalier Podcast), Cleveland Cavaliers, Cavs News

The Cavs Get Embarrased By New York Knicks (It’s Cavalier Podcast), Cleveland Cavaliers, Cavs News

[Applause] oh He [Applause] Welcome to another edition of the it’s Cavalier podcast it’s your boy Mac and tonight I am joined by mror Nicki G of Cavs Nation how you doing my man doing great man it could be better actually could be a lot better I mean I mean yeah

I assume that we could both be doing a hell of a lot [ __ ] better after tonight’s game obviously if you are watching this live uh we are just we are referring to Cleveland’s contest between themselves and the New York Nicks now this is the third time this year that

This team has taken all the Knicks and what could be the final time with any potential additional matchup having to occur in the postseason and with the way the two are currently seated assuming the Cavs are able to to stop themselves from falling down the standings that may

Not happen until the second round that said they had the opportunity to Come Away with the series win tonight and obviously they did not they lost to the Knicks by the score of 10798 and sending fans into a collective frenzy in the process it was brutal man and as we were

Talking about before we went live here like a fan of basketball I suppose there are things that you could really enjoy from tonight’s game if you’re not a fan of the Cavaliers uh Josh Harts you know uh obliteration of Cleveland on the boards as well as Dante Devan chinzo

Stepping up when uh some some unfortunate injury news occurred for the Knicks but man it’s all around all around this is just a frustrating loss let let me just ask you this what were your initial thoughts like your first takeaway as soon as this game

The the clock hit zero yeah you said it as a basketball fan it was kind of cool The Big Ragu Dante putting up 28 Josh hard grabbing 19 rebounds it’s cool to see a team without their four best players do something like this um the worst part about this was that there was

Not much you can take from this and say that was progress or that looked good or that was something we can take into the next last 20 games here and really build off of this really kind of felt like um like a forced reset button for us where

It just seemed like mentally we have to look at ourselves it’s it’s back to the drawing board and it’s not a time where we want to be at the drawing board I mean no I this is not the point in time where you want to have a loss like this

We knew heading into the latter half of the Season that there were a few of these on the schedule um obviously we were hoping that we would have both Carris Levert and Donovan Mitchell available both of which missed the game which did open the door for Craig Porter

Jr and Sam Merill who was a bright spot for the Cavaliers if you know on a night that is kind of absent of them Merill was definitely the one bright spot out there and just seeing the way that this team responded it it it was it was really disheartening man it really was

It’s like we of all people fans of this team know exactly what it’s like to see a team gutted by injuries and still Prevail or or find a way to to succeed despite that hell they did that this season for a large stretch without Evan Moy and Darius Garland healthy when you

Saw players like Dean Wade and the AFF forementioned Merill step up and and and really just just step into the roles and be elite at them so it suck to see Cleveland kind of trending towards the you know the the the other direction here it almost is like that injury

Galvinized New York while kind of I don’t know deflating the Caps I don’t know if I’m the only person that felt that way but just 47 seconds into the game seeing Jaylen Brunson get injured like that am I crazy for believing that that deflated the Cavs even a little bit

Or that that changed the entire uh that changed the entire tone of the game I I don’t know honestly it it’s been like this for over a year it’s been like this where there’s this moment whenever the Cavs and the Nicks face and the Knicks seem to always rise to the moment and

Then the Cavs for some reason they don’t play up to their potential in these moments they especially when the opportunity is there it feels like it pulls away from us a little bit um that’s what was a little bit frustrating because JB has kind of shown a lot of

Moments where compared to last season when we lost to the Knicks and five and we forced a lot of double big because that’s kind of what we had that was our go-to um it feels weird to see him do it again today especially when lately he’s

Been doing a lot of mixing he’s been like staggering Mo and Allen even into the fourth you know and then today he went back to full double big with the cororo and you just saw the same rebounding issues the same like defensive scheme that worked in some ways but offensively you know

Trepidacious um rebounding you know weak uh it just it just seemed like JB takes certain steps forward and then the moments when you really want to take that next step forward he takes a step back um so it was a it it kind of leaves us a little bit of nowhere right now

I’ll be honest yeah I mean Mobly for wood squ did finish with a double double tonight 13 points 13 rebounds he did his part I’d like to say but what’s going on with Jared Allen Jared Allen is just not pulling down as many rebounds as he had

Been to begin this season I I I really want to know is there are you seeing anything from that from that fiveman spot that worries you just a little bit is it just the fact that Moy is now back in the lineup so now they’re trying to

Figure out this to Big Thing Once More because you know as you know they were able to stagger the minutes last year they did that a lot but this season with Dean Wade kind of being fully healthy and and really shooting that ball really well and then the addition of George

Nang who we’ll talk about here in a little bit they have been staggering their minutes even more this season but why do you think that jar all of a sudden seemed to kind of be a non-factor um I think this is what we talk about the Knicks being a bad

Matchup for us this is kind of the reason why the Knicks do this to a lot of teams they um they’re very they’re a bruising team they they’re good at forcing offensive rebounds because of the way they attack guards um of the way they defend um we are like a especially

When we go double big we’re a big drop coverage team we’re a team that really like our bigs help our guards like that’s how it really works and that you know when you when you Blitz their guards even if it’s McBride for 47 minutes or even if it’s Dante on a on a

Heater you know the way we play defense it it moves our bigs and you know guys like hartenstein and even a Chua today they Feast on that they Feast on getting rebounds off that um and so that was one of the reasons why sometimes when if

You’re like you know if you see the clear Advantage the team has on the glass um JB has a tendency to love size I think we’re gonna talk about George Nang I feel like one of the underrated reasons why he loves George Nang is the size factor I think he like he thinks

About like if I if you put Dean Wade instead of Nang sometimes he’s worried about the rebounding even more then um but we’ve seen that necessarily that doesn’t equate you know adding size or adding defense doesn’t necessarily solve the whole problem because now you’ve got

New issues you add aoro into the mix it stagnates the offense you add George n to the mix sometimes it can like it won’t lead to the rebounding effect that you want so I just think it’s a bad matchup for us and some of our comfort

Picks like the double big and um certain players we like to play it’s not a good match up for the Knicks so uh these are the moments you want JB to not go back to some lineups that hadn’t worked in the past um and also just moments you

Want more toughness like you’re right Allen you you would like to see just a little more heart you’d like to see uh you know just a little bit more um I definitely think that’s that’s something you expected from today when you’re like what what are we eight games since the

Playoff series against the Knicks so you know I mean I I’m flabbergast because we know what Allen is capable of and for much of this season he has been on like a Redemption tour I actually felt that he should have been in heavy consideration for one of the replacement spots in the

All-Star Game and you know really since since All-Star break has has ended and they’ve come back I just felt like we haven’t seen that same intensity from him um I think a lot of that does have to do with the inclusion of Evan Moy and having Darius Garland back out there and

The Cs have to having to face yet another adjustment which was you know it was obvious it was going to happen when you’re integrating two of your two of your best players back into the mix but I don’t know in a matchup like this that clearly as I was saying before we went

Live here like although there were definitely numerous starters missing tonight that that didn’t matter like this game still carried some weight to it I I know I’m not alone in that I know you feel that way and I know our fan base feels that way is that no matter

Who stepped out onto that court tonight for either Squad this meant something this absolutely meant something to this fan base and to to to see them go out there and just get absolutely obliterated on the boards and just to have a lack list of performance in terms

Of effort at certain points although I will say there was some crazy shot making on New York’s part uh at at some instances in this game but to see this team get beat the way that it did tonight it was just it sucked and I’ll say this I came in tonight into tonight

Understanding that this was really never going to be it was a it was a no-win situation it was a lose lose situation for Cleveland because if you win the game you don’t gain anything they’re outside of the standings outside of saying hey you know we’re keeping Pace

In the East and we’re not droing and further down the standings uh but outside of that there really wasn’t too much to gain because if you win and you blow them out the media would have would have just said oh you beat a a a Julius Randall Jaylen Bruns Brunson list New

York Knicks team so what you know do you want a cookie and if you lose obviously we did the the media is gonna tear us apart and and and so is the fan base and honestly after a loss like tonight it’s some of it is Justified so I get it but

I just came into tonight with that mindset I’m curious to see how you felt though I get I get you know the noise sucks the noise sucks there’s a lot of noise um and a lot of it’s distracting and honestly I just think we F you try

To ignore it a little bit you try to just look at the progress and kind of like what you’re trying to do um the Cavs never really get any favoritism from the media anyways um it’s just kind of the way it is um yeah I I thought I thought not only did you

Uh not see the Cavs step up when you wanted them against the Knicks the bigger thing is you didn’t see the Cav step up without Mitchell it’s one of those things it’s like there’s this toughness there’s this leadership thing I think one of the strongest uh Arguments for why Donovan deserves to

Being this MVP ladder is that is the fact that he leads it’s the fact that like his his demeanor uh the way he plays it’s contagious to his teammates uh without it we really lose our identity sometimes and it could be kind of scary because like a game today he’s

Been he’s missed four of the you know last seven since the allstar um you know it’s just without him it feels like a different team and so when he’s sitting there on the bench watching this team he knows how important he is to it and he

Knows how much he wants to be there for it but at the same time you’re evaluating guys like Darius Garland you’re looking at Evan Mobley and you have a decision this summer and you have to say can I extend and play with this guy for three four five years and can I

Really believe in this guy believe in this team and win with this team um it’s not like today was that day to prove that it’s not April is going to be the time to prove that abely you know it’s it’s you you wonder how it’s going to build into April and and and

What this does does it P does it you know Propel us forward or is it going to be a sign of a potential future Pitfall um we hope these last 20 games we figure that out I mean that’s essentially where I’m at from a big picture standpoint

It’s just when you get to a a game like this that clearly you know it’s a it’s not necessarily a barometer because again they are missing considerable amount of talent over there so you know you you whoop their ass and there’s not really too much to gain outside of a win

You lose and you’re a laughing stock again and then on falling right now exactly and that’s that’s that that’s exactly the general consensus on social media obviously but we know that not to be the case and really from a topdown perspective um there’s not anything that this Cap’s team could do during the

Regular season to prove to people that they are legit it’s going to have to occur as you said in April in May if they make it that far um it’s going to be then when we can really start having some of these conversations about how far this team could Advance what this

Core is you know what what the ceiling of this current core is those are not conversations that can be addressed in the regular season however they do give you confidence right tonight’s Vic tonight’s tonight’s game would have gone a long way even though they were missing

Some Talent over there also we you know we were too it still would have been a confidence boost considering how the Cavs have opened up this this uh second half of the season so it just sucks man but but but I will stop harping on all

Of the bad tonight let’s talk about a little bit of the Good Sam Merrill uh he’s been phenomenal this season man and the one true issue with Marill has been finding him minutes and it’s it’s maddening to me because at full strength you’re talking about Donovan you’re

Talking about Darius Max Isaac cares you could you know there’s there’s a couple other guys you could throw in there that he could potentially steal minutes from as well but when this team is fully healthy when you have one of the best shooters in the NBA not seeing the

Floor some would say that’s a problem and some would say that’s on JB right so I guess my question for you is how do you solve issue is it as simple as just playing Merill when other guys are off is it saying is it as simple as saying I

Don’t give a [ __ ] what happens during the course of a game Sam Merill needs his his uh his fair allotment of minutes what is the right answer to getting Merill minutes because clearly he he can impact the game yeah well quick reference here Sam Mero today actually paid 29 minutes uh

Dean way put up 20 minutes and George Nang had 16 minutes I know a lot of fans are saying that 16 minutes too many for George Nang but compared to even just a few games ago him alive right now yeah yes uh I hope he’s not checking Twitter

Otherwi or Donovan might have to defend him suit on Twitter or something um but I mean JB is this is different like this is clearly like a different distribution that he’s done in his past couple weeks he is experimenting with more Sam today you still Dro this game against an

Underman Knicks team even with Sam you saw the tradeoffs like um they attack George yangang on defense du today they attack Sam a lot um but Sam Actually held up pretty well he I thought he did pretty good on defense um like he he definitely was like you know outplaying

The negatives uh the way he was shooting the B Lett us and scoring um and you just need the threat because that’s a threat that the Knicks you know never really have to worry about uh there was a time in the third quarter today where Isaac aoro had five really good looks

From three just three threes that he’d been making all season right even if he misses one or two a come back and hit the next one or two missed five in a row and I feel like that was like the moment where there was there was a little bit

Of a shake again there was there was a little bit nightmares back to last April there was just a little bit of just like uh you know oh God it’s that thing again and you know that was when JB kind of came back and put back saman Maro the

Question now is like should we be doing this ahead of time should we be putting should we go into this game with the strategy instead of reacting to it and always playing this catch-up style of thing and like you said it’s um It’s a situation where we have a lot of lemons

And we’re trying to make lemonade out of it um but it’s a lot of good lemons like I think if George Nang is like your 10th best player George a career 40% three-point shooter has more playoff experience than about our entire roster almost combined um other than Donovan

Like that’s like I understand why JB sometimes go to him as a as a comfort pick you saw at the end of the fourth quarter today Sam four minutes 53 seconds left Sam’s on a heater JB pulls him out he pulls him out so he puts in

Max stru and Evan Mobley um two guys who Moy had a decent game streu had a not so great games but both guys in general were struggling against the Knicks um and so you think think oh wow JB’s going back to a habit here he’s going back to

Mob he’s going back to double big he trust his streu because he trusts the experience um should he be trusting Sam more um so I think the goal I think what’s worth experimenting JB has recently started to give young guys more unproven guys unproven guys as in Wade

And Merill these guys aren’t guys who’ve made play you know playoff runs before they’re not you know year-over-year showing a results so I think that’s why he has tended to support the Nang and vert minutes but I think now he’s going to be more situational about it like

Today he kind of was today he did put more Merill minutes now he’s going to go into more game plans more prepared to get there early or at least he should he should get you know get to a point where he’s ready to make those adjustments

Earlier in the game give these guys you know if if you need to flip the minutes to more uh Sam and way then you probably should um that’s I guess that’s the balance he has to do see what combinations work like that and and if

It’s a game where stru or Moy or Levert are really struggling you have to have the confidence to flip the switch and give your guys a different look and see that this is the thing with me like I I find myself wondering does he need to be

Included in the rotation or are his minutes purely situational obviously tonight with with Donovan being out with Carris being out there’s a clear path to minutes for him same with Craig Porter Jr but when those guys are back and we’re at near full strength and you know

I don’t even include Ty Jerome in that conversation anymore which is crazy but um when when the Cs are back full strength is he just a situation a situationally dependent player honestly I I find it really [ __ ] hard to sit him because the man is shooting 43 plus

Percent from three-point distance he I I believe he has now drilled his 103 of the Season which is crazy considering the amount of minutes that he has played and the amount of games that he has appeared in he is a flamethrower of the highest Accord but he plays for a team

That obviously is pretty stacked at the guard position and I know one of the candidates for him to steal minutes from is Levert and Mar and uh and streu but I I I I just don’t know what the correct path to to solving this situation is or

If there even really is one because it’s kind of a damned if you do D damned if you don’t situation with JB because somebody’s always going to be the odd man out somebody deserving of minutes is always going to be sitting and that’s kind of just the nature of the beast in

Terms of the rotation at times especially when the playoffs commence but it it does suck to see a such an asset who can shoot the ball so well just getting so few minutes and it is frustrating at times I I guess I’m I’m raning here just to say I get it but it

It’s frustrating nonetheless it is it is and I I think I think maybe don’t overthink it at some point like I think at some point if you’re right if the proof is right there if it’s that obvious that you need to play Sam then you’re right I think you do need to find

Minutes and give him a consistent role and see what he does with it um I think I think a a big reason why I mean it goes back to this whole Nang debate right like why does George Nang get 16 minutes in a game like why does he get

So much more playing time than D do you want my answer on that for real I believe some of that is because obviously you point you you kind of hinted to it you know to a degree it’s one he’s trusted he’s a trusted veteran right he’s a trusted vet he has coming

Off of five straight Seasons which he has drilled 40% or better from three-point distance and so he and the one thing that he does have working for him is that he does play the power forward position he’s a he is he doesn’t have the prototypical body for a power

Forward but he can give you viable minutes at that power forward position and when he’s on he can legitimately be a for spacer out there but when he is off it can be God awful and and that’s an addition to the defense of concerns right and so that’s why you have you see

JB kind of Le averaging his and Wade’s minutes at certain points where you know where we know Wade is a little bit more flexible in terms of his versatility in in regards to positioning because he can play the three the four and he can give you spot minutes at the five even in

Certain lineups but um for Nang I I feel like the reason why he is getting those minutes is because JB for one he’s a veteran and JB rarely trusts young Talent right unproven Talent like you said very yeah and and two he he is a

Power forward and he is one of the only bigs on the floor that can space and so I I get why he’s getting the minutes but I feel like they can be adjusted as needed there there there’s one more aspect a little wrinkle to George Yang’s

Game that I also think is a little bit underrated what one thing that Dean Wade doesn’t do that George does really well is imagine the drive and kick offense and eventually gets to George versus it gets to Dean Wade when the defense catches that rotation they get to Wade

Usually the offense stops usually Wade’s ability to attack a close out is one of the weaker on the teams um George has actually shown the ability to put the ball on the ground get to the rim finish around the rim make the next pass there’s a continuity there’s a kind of a

Little bit of a higher sense of IQ I think from George dang that I think uh JB trust um overall though I don’t know if we’re getting enough out of it I watched George Yang’s minutes today I know we want to overreact I know we want

To look at the styline I know we probably the answer here is to decrease the minutes but if you just look at it possession by possession um there was there was some decent looks like there were some times when he was able to get

Down to the rim and do a kick out there were times when you saw him do certain things that Dean way couldn’t do and I think that’s one thing that gives me a positive outlook on Sam Maro he’s more than just a shooter this guy is really

Good at moving out the ball hitting bigs on the pocket pass doing the next you know the next swing he gets the team aspect of this so I think you could actually fit him into a normal rotation and and and he be productive and him contribute to the flow I think that’s a

Big reason why JB trusts George over Dean Wade sometimes a little bit more just because of his ability to continue the flow of the driving kick offense um but George has struggled to produce some time so maybe maybe you let the vet be a vet who can come off the bench in

Situational moments and you trust the lineups that work well together I think those are valid points I there are times throughout these uh throughout these games this season where I see George driving and I’m like oh my God this is the slowest drive to the basket that

I’ve ever seen in my life and it’s befitting the many nickname and he makes the shot it’s frustrating and he he is also fully capable he does have enough Vision to kick out out there that is something that he does have a leg up on

In terms of uh of Dean Wade but he’s got a mouth on him he talks pretty he’s tough pretty yeah he will let you know that he ain’t gonna take no [ __ ] and so I love that toughness that he brings to the table when the Cavs are trying to be

Soft allegations it is important uh make no mistake that is important to have a guy that can not only be your enforcer but can give you minutes too but your point about Merill is spoton because it’s not just shooting the guy his mere movement generates gravity unto itself

There are many possessions that he’s out there at which the the opposing defense is scrambling to to to navigate around screens to to to catch up to him um there was one play one possession that that stands out in particular uh in regards to his minutes n was one in

Which Darius Garland used an off ball screen from Merill to drive to the basket and and find Jared Allen uh for a pretty it was contested but it was a fairly makeable shot and he made it it’s little things like that that Merill understands as you said the team aspect

Of basketball moving without the ball in your hands and finding ways to be impactful and finding ways to generate guys looks because as we often like to think of gravity as how much spacing a guy can provide to a team and how much gravity a guy gener simply by by having

Them uh by being out there and teams having to pay attention to him but the other part to that is literally being able to generate gravity for others being able to open up the lanes for the ball handlers being able to pull the defense’s attention away from one of

Your teammates so that they have a a a solid look in Sam Marl you can clearly tell that that happens when he’s out there and I feel like if Sam was just a little bit taller he would be a lock to be in this rotation because no 100% yeah

Yeah defensively he holds up his screen navigation out there is better than I initially thought um he’s not getting beat too badly in the pick and roll there are some teams that are built to kind of take advantage of that we saw that happen against the Clippers earlier

This season where you have a little bit more of an athletic Wing out there that can kind of hunt Sam out there but it’s not going to be every game um I know we’ve kind of harped on the Sam talk for a long time here but I’ll just I’ll

Close out of it by saying this if there is ever a guy on this team that deserves consistent run and is that man he’s he’s yeah 100% I’ll ask you one last question about it um if Kyle corver was on our bench right now would you give him

Minutes over George Nang the answer is probably yes and I’ll just say this Kyle corver in his fourth year in the NBA shot 43% from the three-point line Sam Maro this is his fourth year in the NBA his emerging season he’s right shooting 43 and a half% so I mean you see the

Movement without the ball you see the instant impact he has on the game defensively you’re right he’s not as bad as you think and just like on offense he’s able to add to the flow and buy into the team aspect same thing on defense you rarely see him miss a

Rotation you see him hustle on Closeouts he is somebody who can fit and I think you know you wouldn’t bench Kyle corver this long so I think you have to do the same thing for Sam yeah I I think one of the things that people have to

Understand as well is that this team is just deep uh um and and I try and tell myself that all the time like hey there’s a there’s a number of guys that deserve run that are not getting it uh but you know there are there are other

Aspects of this game that oh thanks for that update B scrs says jayen Brunson x-rays came back negative good for them yeah I was really pulling for that um as much as I hate the Knicks I am a huge fan of Jaylen Brunson that guy he

Continues to prove a lot of his doubters wrong and he play he plays a pretty fun brand of basketball we know how capable he is um so I’m glad to hear that that he he is not truly going to miss too much time um I do want to ask you though

Darius scarlin um in a night where you don’t have Donovan Mitchell which has kind of become a it’s become more and more common uh for for Donovan to miss some time ahead of these playoffs and if that’s what it takes to get his body right I’m okay with that we know we met

We know that he’s had the illness we know that he’s had some soreness out there as well so I do want them to play it cautiously with him but one of the things that you said earlier that you know is quite honestly very very true is

That he basically you know he’s the he is really the the punch he he is really really the number one option out there and the guy that that generates so much for this team and on a night where you need Darius Garland to kind of just kind

Of take it upon himself to to to motivate these guys to to to up their games I just didn’t feel like we got that from him 19 points four rebounds five assists seven to 14 on the night sounds okay but it felt pretty quiet I’m curious to to to hear your thoughts on

Darius Scarlett’s performance tonight I think the the thing that was the most frustrating part about hearing all the Darius Garland slander over the last few weeks is I think fans sometimes forget how hard it is to be a number one option in the NBA I think people don’t realize

How hard this is like when you’re a number one option in the NBA you are getting guarded by the best player you are facing the most double teams you are running into bigs and getting pounded constantly there are only a there are 400 some players in the NBA and every

Team 30 teams have one number one options and a lot of them aren’t as good as the the you know the upper half of them so it’s a hard job Donovan Mitchell this year has proven that he is maybe we have to see it in the playoffs but in

Terms of an engine in terms of a number one option who can create and win you games and raise everybody’s level of play he has proven it this year that he’s capable of doing that Darius used to have that role back in 2021 when we lost ston and we made our

Play in run that was darius’s Role and he was the reason why we made the play in he was um as valuable as they come in terms of point guards that season and he had that role in 2022 so he comes back in 202 for he’s coming off of a jaw

Injury and surgery that took 14 pounds of muscle off his body that you know or whatever pounds he lost and you know and and you have to come back and not only adjust to playing again but now you have to adjust to playing in a number one

Role a role that this entire team is humming off of Donovan Mitchell for six straight weeks that’s not easy that’s not easy on top of the fact that you are the number one target for offenses to attack when you’re defending so I just think there was just a lack of

Circumstance that people really realize with Darius like coming back from injury sliding to a hard role dealing with everything he had to deal with um today I thought overall it was a clean game from him I didn’t see too many mistakes I thought the Pistons game and the and

The Chicago game before that you saw some light for him you saw some confidence you saw Simplicity to his game like he just like wasn’t um he was being a little bit more decisive with it a little bit more Snappy with it and we love that from Darius and today yeah you

Wish you wish you saw more of it but just a reminder the Knicks are winning games without their Stars over the past few weeks whatever wins they are getting they’re getting because they know how to take number one options out of games and they know how to get physical with you

And make it hard um in terms of the leadership in terms of what Donovan provides besides the basketball I think that yeah Darius has you know we’re not seeing it from him as much which is why I think you you really would like to see

It from a guy like JB bicker step I think that’s where you really that’s where it has to kind of come from a little bit if it’s not going to come from Darius and it’s not going to come from guy’s a giant it’s you know so if it’s not

Gonna come from Darius then it has to come from coaching it has to be a buy in for the team um but it really just shows that Donovan’s job is not something that darus can always easily slide into I think that that is a fair sentiment I

Think I find myself at some times I have been a pretty staunch defender of Darius Garland uh pretty much for his entire career there that All-Star season that he had it was phenomenal and you are correct he was the engine that allowed them to get to that playing tournament

And had they not sustained the number of injuries they did that year they would probably have been a higher a high seed in the playoffs in in my opinion but this year coming off of some of the injuries that he’s had uh especially the jaw injury that caused him to to miss so

Much time and having to mentally adjust to playing you know to to to moving from second fiddle to Bonafide number one option without Donovan out there that does play a role I just wish he would be a little bit more aggressive at times it’s like I I watched today’s game in a

Couple of previous games with Tyrese Maxi out there and I’m thinking man tyes is as aggressive as they come he plays and you know this isn’t necessarily true I will say but the way that I envisioned it today was he plays it 100% like U like one speed all the time obviously

He’s quick twitch he knows how to be Shifty and whatnot but he is just so damn aggressive out there and we’ve seen that from Darius in the past I just want him to be able to flip that proverbial switch the same way that we have seen

Donovan do it all season long and I think that has been the biggest separating factor between these two guys is that Donovan has quickly become one of the game’s best combo guards this season without Darius Garland most of the time out there if he knows uh if the

Situation calls for him to playmake and get guys involved he can do that but he can also go out there and get you a damn bucket and be aggressive when it’s necessary and I feel like that is that is what’s missing from Darius Garland um

At this point time and I don’t know if that’s that’s something that you can teach I don’t know if that’s a mentality thing that Darius has to grow into he 24 years old yeah yeah it it’s still very possible and you know uh but that is the

Difference between these two like one of the biggest differen is not the only difference but the biggest one in my opinion but you did bring up one individual who I have to discuss because a lot of people have their opinion on them one way or another sometimes good

Most of the time bad and that is JB bigger staff let’s do it let’s get into it let’s talk about I gotta ask you I I gotta ask you because people accuse me all the live long day of being a JB apologist and I’m just like man just

Give the guy some give him to the rest of the season if you’re gonna can him if he has a if he has a poor playoff showing yes fire him that’s probably the best Direction they could go in if they get swept or they have just another piss

Poor playoff showing I can acknowledge that but I do have to ask you where are you at with JB Bickerstaff right now is he the man for the job right now or do you feel like they should have cut bait um let me just say this to all the

People who give [ __ ] to Mac on Twitter be nicer I think this this is there’s a bigger picture here this is this goes beyond coaching this this this is like a lot of things need to come together for things to work right and I know it comes

Down to the coach here’s what I’ll say about JB um I’m I wouldn’t say I’m a JB truther but I will say I’ve been very patient with him I think there were circumstances that we should really pay attention to uh last year I think there were big limitations on the Personnel um

You know before this season there were a lot of cast fans who thought Dean Wade should didn’t even be on the roster there were a lot of cast fans those same cast fans who complained to you about JB bicker sta these were the same fans who said that ammani bate should have Dean

Wade’s minutes and now we here we are you know three4 of the way through the season and now we’re talking about Wade should have 25 plus minutes over George the like you know things change in Twitter so um but JB is the one constant it’s the one constant that we hear about

Um I treat him like a player I think a player can come in and do a lot of the right things go in with the right game plan and sometimes not execute or sometimes the shots don’t fall and sometimes just the mistakes will happen I think JB has a philosophy about about

Basketball I think it’s not a fluke that he developed one of the best defenses in the league I think he has an understanding and a connection and ability to develop players I think we’ve seen that now multiple times like uh guys like Craig guys like Sano guys like

Even Allen’s developed more we you were I mean admirable to be a Garland Defender even through some of the early years when you know there were reporters who were calling him statistically one of the worst players in the NBA worst player in the NBA yes so yeah the worst

Yeah so um there there are some undeniable benefits to what JB has done to this organization and honestly from my standpoint we’ve seen franchises with the rotating door of coaches we’ve seen franchises who fire Championship level coaches we did it we we we fired tyou not too long

After he brought a championship um it happens the coach is the first to blame um but I I think as an organization as a cultural standpoint it’s important to not cut bait when you’re when you’re developing when you’re growing it’s really important to like you know look

At a first playoff series and to not overreact to it and understand the the the benefits of continuity and chemistry yes yeah and I think you basically said it you you framed the question like this can JB get the job done and I think where we disagree on is what that job is

I think Cass fans want to win the championship now and I’m Not Gon to lie to you there is a with the injuries that are happening in the East with the potential that we’ve shown I can understand why you want it and I can understand why you think there’s a path

That’s worth pursuing now I get that um but in terms of what the Cavs are thinking in terms of what Donovan Mitchell is thinking in terms of like what our priorities are I think it makes sense to give them this last shot um to show that you’re giving people who have

Gotten you here that you know that belief um and allowing JB to learn from his mistakes and grow I think today was an example where it shows like it feel like he didn’t but there are days where it feels like he does um there’s times when he makes judgment calls and they

Work so come playoff time it’s on him like you said if you know how we play is it convincing and if not he will be the first to go we all know this um but the job is not to win necessarily a championship the job is to prove that

This can work that Moy and Garland and Allen and Mitchell and Shooters and Defenders and the identity that you’ve formed it can work it can it can it can become something one day that’s worth Donovan extending into um so overall I think JB his biggest challenge his biggest challenge is going to

Be he has certain biases he loves size he loves defense he he changes his rotations based off those things can he have the courage to switch it up when it matters can he when you have to trust your offense when you’re getting outrebounded anyways and outsized anyways can you switch up

Your play style just like when Mobi and Garland went down in December 15th can you buy into a new identity when you need to um that’s what’s that that’s that’s what it’s gonna come down to for me for him um but I give him the benefit

Of Doubt until you know until it’s too late that’s essentially where I’m at and I feel like people think that I’m just out here you I love the guy no matter what no that’s not the case the case is this he has definitely warranted being here through this season there has been

A consistent level of growth at least through the regular season there has been a progression I don’t think people understand the state of the Cavaliers when they were handed over to JB bicker staff I get it’s not all JB right the addition of some of this wonderful

Talent that we have seen come through these doors at Rock and mortgage field house that has a lot to do with it right adding adding a defensive monster like Evan Moy to the equation really changed things from a defensive standpoint uh you know adding a superstar in Donovan Mitchell really El

Elevated the ceiling that the Cavs have but you know he has definitely earned his right to see this season through its end I am mindset go ahead I I was gonna say especially after December 15 like I don’t know if we hold on the way we did without

Him no I I I mean there were a lot of people at Point thir this season after the news was announced for Evan Mobley and Darius scarland going to be missing considerable portions of this season uh there were a lot of people that wanted to punt on the season or thought the

Season was over and that we needed to can JB and start a new and there was just a lot of takes flying around in regards to him and they continue to do so and it comes with a job right it’s one of those things things it’s like being in content creation or anything

Else when you’re a public figure um there are always going to be people that that have an opinion about you good or bad and for JB he has an opportunity to silence a lot of his critics through this singular postseason um I guess my last question in regards to JB would

Probably be this what do you think specifically it would take for the Cavs to feel like hey this is enough progression this is enough of a a a uh move forward for us to retain JB is it is it a series Victory is it two is it a competitive second round

Series if you ask beat reporters if you ask the organization the answer they’re saying is essentially that they have to get to the second round and it has to be competitive it has to be very competitive it has to like show it has to be giving Conference Finals potential

Now um that’s that’s that’s the vibe but honestly if if I’m going to be blunt um I think this comes down to Donovan Mitchell I think everything on this team how the roster is built who stays on the coaching staff the direction the play style the philosophy the future it all

Comes down to how he feels about the coaching situation um Donovan has been nothing but a class actor about the Cavaliers he’s been nothing but a committed and he’s been nothing but passionate and happy he’s been happy um so it’s hard to say JB’s driving him out

Donan Mitchell two years in a row has been having the best years of his career this is the first year he’s actually this high up on the MVP ladder he’s doing that with JB a roster with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell is top two in the NBA in defense Donovan Mitchell

Is a is actually a pretty solid Defender this year these are things that JB has I get get some credit for so you’re right it’s gonna come down to April it may not be totally up to him I think the Donovan Mitchell Factory will be bigger but

Here’s the one thing I’ll say and one thing you can ask those those those haters on Twitter whenever they ask you this I think you could say this the same thing you asked about why don’t they play Sam or Wade or when they asked you about minutes is like what would you do

Differently if you were the Cavs who were you firing or replacing JB bicker staff worth there is no tyo on the bench there no did you want to get udoka did you want to get UD because I think udoka just wanted the keys to the team and he

Wants to shape it the way he wants to shape it and you know I don’t know like I just think there’s there’s not like a there was not like an immediate option that made sense that was going to change the entire tide and like especially when you saw so many personnel deficiencies

Just the lack of shooting just the lack of experience you know like I just think there was too many other factors outside of coaching that the organization was like yeah we need to see more and we need to see it with JB a little bit more

So I mean it could be the wrong decision it could all blow up in our face we can get bounced again and then it can all go wrong but overall I think the Cavs have handled it correctly I could not agree with you more one of the guys who also

The Cavs wanted to see a little bit more of is Isaac aoro Isaac is experiencing what I would consider in a career Year from him he looks as confident as we’ve ever seen him he dro 17 points tonight hit three more triples you did you talked about it a little bit earlier on

There was a stretch where there was a ton of offensive rebounds and he had like three or four shots in a row or they were very clean looks nobody was defending them should have knocked him down but regardless the shot is finally starting to fall from him and the the

Best part about it is that it’s not even about the shot falling it’s about the confidence to take it period because there have been points in the past or you’re like dude pull the trigger you have the space don’t try and attack the clothes out all the time time and get to

The rim um although we know you can do that we know you can draw contact and get fouls we’ve seen that happen although the refs seem to think that that he doesn’t deserve calls a lot of the time maybe that’s just me being bias but uh yeah what are your thoughts on a

Potential Isaac aoro extension where do you think his current value lies I I saw a lot of people discussing this about how the Cavs maybe want to look toit doing it now um they can get him on something similar to Max stru and in the course of three to four years years it’d

Probably come off as like a good contract especially if he keeps developing like this Isaac aoro first year in the NBA shooting under 30% this year he’s at 40% um and honestly the efficiency is cool last year he had pretty good efficiency overall the change is you said it in the word

Confidence I’m gonna replace that word with the word volume um people know that Isaac can hit 36 plus percent of their threes what they also know is that Isaac won’t shoot them that’s what that was the reality last year this year that’s not the case Isaac without hesitation is

Firing that changes defenses that’s what matters today there was a moment where the Knicks called him on the bluff and he had a cold stretch I don’t remember the last time I saw Isaac aor is 5 threes in a row um that’s a good thing it’s been a while that’s a good thing

That we have the confidence in him to take that shot every time and we we can expect a different result um in terms of signing him in terms of extending him I think I I I give Kobe Omen a lot of credit I think his development his

Belief in him as well as all these other young guys Sam Merl uh Craig Porter these guys who have developed and become like really you know rotational players um I trust Kobe’s Instinct here where you really do have to see how it plays out you have to see what what Mitchell’s

Because what you do if you sign Mitchell and everything that will determine a lot of your contracts um and if you need to bring in Talent or what so I think if you bring you know if you if you if you give Isaac aoro that four years 60

Something million thing um if you do that too early before you’ve seen in a new playoff series and everything it might hamstring you in certain aspects it might hamstring your other decisions that you have to make later so even though you do risk though now having to

Pay him more later if it you know if it goes well for him so um but I think that’s I think that’s gonna be the vibe here I think the the Cavs have to they have to get to April they have to see what this looks like I think that’s fair

And I think a lot of people especially coming off of that uh that playoff showing that he had and to be honest with you I felt like a coral should have played more in that Series last year and I know JB had a really really uh he had

A short leash for ISAC in that series and I I to a degree I understand it like there were spacing concerns obviously with the two big lineup not being able to provide you a whole hell of a lot in that regard but I felt like from a defensive standpoint Isaac probably

Should have played more now this year um coming in fully healthy playing a hell of a lot more confident I feel like Isaac is primed to have a like a great postseason showing assuming that they actually give him minutes to be able to do so and in that same line of thought I

Will ask you this one last question before we close out here today and that is if the season ended today my friend who would be in your let’s say ninan playoff rotation um okay let’s let’s think about this so I mean obviously it seems like no matter what we are rolling into

Things with double big so those looks like the the lineup is set all healthy you’re looking at Garland Mitchell stru MO Allen um Staples at the bench Caris L we know um I think at this point you you can expect you can expect the combination of Dean Sam and George I

Don’t see George completely being phased out um unless when you get to a deep playoff run here and it’s not no longer a ninan rotation it’s more of an eight man rotation then I think he gets phased out in a ninan rotation I could see nanks continuing to be that ninth guy

Um I believe that’s that’s eight or nine right there right and then I guess you have the Tristan Thompson minutes when he comes back if you do need the size if you do need to throw a different look at them um but yeah I I think I think

That’s the big challenge now is um can you make Sam and Dean Wade kind of fit into everything and do you have guys like George and Tristan and even Craig Porter at some moments that you can kind of throw in for a wild card um but that

That seems like that’s that’s going to be the go-to eight to nine yeah okay I I got one more for you like in a matchup like this because you brought the name up Tristan Thompson who was still serving his uh his 25 game suspension I believe he is eligible to

Return against the Houston Rock Houston Rockets on the 16th if I’m not mistaken how big of a role do you think he could play in in a matchup like this for sure and Tom K thanks for correcting me aoro should also be in that nin man ahead of

Uh yangang and Sam and all those guys um Tristan Tristian adds something that we just lack uh there’s a girth there’s a grit there’s a um you know it’s a it’s a taste of New York’s medicine that we can throw right back at them I agree with you the sentiment that

Like aoro should have played more last year in the playoffs because the shooting was already bad enough and one of the big big reasons why we gave up so many offensive rebounds was because bigs just had to help a lot and if you have lot bling on Brun lot of blitzing and so

If you have a cororo is the point of you just limit some of that um and I I think I think that needs to be that’s what it should be like I think we need to like use trishan Thompson to neutralize a threat um if it’s a rebounding threat if

It’s a size threat that’s what you need to kind of throw at them if it’s like a if it’s like a guy like Brunson if it’s like a playmaking uh penetrative player then that’s when you need to throw in a cororo so I think I just want to see JB

Balance better his idea of what the ideal lineups is and then understanding the Personnel of the matchups and putting in guys who will actually like counter what we’re up against um too often I think we just kind of do the other when we should be doing you know

The other so um yeah I think I think that’s going to be determining just picking the right matchups uh it’s a good problem to have maybe it’s not going to be always the same eight or nine people it should depend on who we’re facing that’s what the playoffs

Are about yeah Styles make fights a lot of the time I think that is a perfectly fine way to encapsulate that thought um and that’s up to JB right if JB fails to do that in the postseason he’s gone there are no if ANS buts about it to

Hearken back to that topic but man I I truly do appreciate you for coming on mror Nicki G ladies and gentlemen of Cavs Nation got anything you want to plug man nothing at all uh this podcast is is is a staple for Cavs fans on

Twitter I’m excited to be on it um Cavs nation is going to probably be promoting this podcast a lot more so you guys should always be looking out for Mac on Twitter and looking out for this podcast on YouTube nothing to plug man thanks

For having me I hope we get to talk more Cavs as the season goes I I’m still optimistic I really am I think this is I just treat this as our last Rock Bottom I treat this as like a last like wakeup call for us I think we really need to

Like these 20 games is an opportunity for us it’s an opportunity some tough games some Growing Pains like this is a chance for us to find Rhythm and really obsess about keeping it um I I I I just hope I hope we we look forward here with some optimism because there’s a good

Opportunity here there’s there’s something right here for us as long as we just like we keep paying attention to what’s working and and we just keep investing into it absolutely I I I couldn’t agree more I feel like you know overall tonight’s law sucked I I there’s no way around that [ __ ] tonight’s

Tonight’s loss absolutely suck but I can’t let one regular season loss in a in a marathon of a season deter me from the fact that I feel like this team still has a pretty high ceiling um you know people there were a lot of criticisms tonight and some of them are

Justified so I’m not going to battle people back and forth about how they feel in the moment but I just encourage people go back and rewatch The Game there are some things that you can glean and and feel a little bit better about Sam marrow getting minutes cpj getting

Minutes those are positives right I mean I’m always I gotta look on the bright side that’s what I do but uh I get why people are pissed off in a matchup like this because I too I found myself very frustrated with the uh with with the lack of effort at certain points tonight

We wanted this one we about this one we all did man like like I was saying before like this even though there were starters out on both sides prior and then even after the the uh the jump started you know Lo with them losing Jaylen um this meant something and I’m

Sure it meant something to Nick’s fans too they they they won’t tell you that but they hate us just as much as we hate them at this point uh this this is a budding rivalry in my opinion and I I can’t wait until both teams are back at

Full strength and I really truly do hope these two teams meet in the uh in the playoffs of course that is probably assuming the both of the these teams stay where they’re at um in the standings it’s going to take them meeting in the second round and Beyond

So I I really hope that’s where we get to that said as always tell you guys if You’ like to reach out to me you know how you can it’s Cod on Twitter Tik Tok Instagram YouTube and more if you like to be added to the it’s caver Discord

Chat you know what to do leave a rating leave a review Send a screenshot of said review to its cavaler 53@gmail.com and I will send you an invite I messed that up so much man I’ve been I’ve been stringing them together so it feels good

To have uh a couple of uh shots go down like saman Maro did today but uh that said go Cavs have a good night good night guys

Mack is joined by Mr_NikkiG (CavsNationCP) to discuss Cleveland’s disheartening loss to the New York Knicks..

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