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Episode 149: West Coast Trippin
45 Plays3 months ago
Alex and Corey react to the Cavs 4 game losing streak which is the longest of the season so far. We revisit all 4 losses and break down the common issues that need corrected. Then we talk about what adjustments are needed to get back into the win column. We take a look at the remaining 12 games to finish the season and then end with some news on several former Cavs players!
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Transcript
Cavs' Current Challenges and Playoff Concerns
00:00:16
Speaker
Hey Cavs fans, welcome to another episode of the Cavs Pick and Roll podcast, the podcast for diehard Cavs fans. I'm Corey, I am here as always with Alex.
00:00:27
Speaker
Good evening, sir. Hey, Corey, ah you doing? um Well, I need to check in and see how you're doing because the Cavs are on the largest losing streak of the season with three weeks left to go before the playoffs on a scale of one to ten. How worried are you right now?
00:00:49
Speaker
um I'm not worried at all. uh it is i don't know you know like they haven't been playing the way that they've been playing all season but i'm not i'm not too concerned about it i think they've just been taking it easy they rested mitchell for a game they rested uh garland for a game these past couple of games they just haven't been playing defense like they typically do play defense but Yeah, I mean, on top of watching all these Cavs games, I've been also been watching nearly every March Madness game, so I'm pretty tired.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yeah, West Coast games, and then watching March Madness, you know which a lot of those are during the day. Basketball game after basketball game. Basketball after basketball.
Cavs' Social Media and Public Perception
00:01:35
Speaker
ah Before we recorded, Alex called Cooper Flag, Cooper Cup.
00:01:39
Speaker
Yeah, I can't even keep track of who's on what team anymore. like I've watched so many games. There's been so many great upsets, though. There's been so many good games. We're doing a um a bracket you know challenge tournament at work, too. And that was in third place last I last i looked. So doing okay.
00:01:59
Speaker
Very nice. Very nice. Well, the Cavs are out on their five-game West Coast trip as we so as we record this episode here on Saturday night. Unfortunately, they've gone o in three And they also dropped the home game before the the West Coast trip against the Orlando Magic, which we'll get into a little bit.
00:02:21
Speaker
And yeah, Alex, it's kind of crazy that we're about three weeks left until the end of the season. And this is the largest losing streak the Cavs have had.
00:02:35
Speaker
You know, all year.
Playoff Position and Strategy
00:02:36
Speaker
And I've seen some some larger, you know, national social media accounts and stuff like that, kind of trying to troll a little bit, putting up some memes and stuff like that. I saw one, I think, today where, you know, like this ah you maybe you've seen the Spider-Man one where it's Bob. What's his name? Barker.
00:02:55
Speaker
um with glasses on and with glasses off you know yeah yeah yeah so when he has the glasses on the calves look like the calves right like it's our lineup and then the meme was on the part where the glasses are off it was like the 2015 atlanta hawks team like al horford and you know, Joe Johnson and all those guys where, um, yeah. So, you know, the media is taking, you know, some, some channels are taking poking some fun right now.
00:03:26
Speaker
Um, but it's okay. It's okay. Because again, if if this is the worst basketball, the Cavs play all season, whatever. Yeah. And I mean, they're just coasting, right? Like they're already locked into the playoffs.
00:03:38
Speaker
They're resting guys. Um, you know, it's getting close to the end of the season. So it's just, they're just waiting. They're just taking it easy.
00:03:51
Speaker
And, I've been seeing a lot of the ticket releases on vet ticks for free tickets for veterans. So if you're military veteran, check out vet ticks, but, uh, yeah, they've been posting calves tickets for the last several games in April pretty frequently.
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. So, and I did see that, um, You know, if you look at the standings today, the Cavs now only are up five games on the Boston Celtics.
00:04:20
Speaker
The chances of the Celtics, though, actually catching the Cavs are still still pretty slim. But what the Cavs don't want to do is give the Celtics any kind of hope or let them kind of inch closer, you know, in the standings and go into the playoffs kind of feeling like, OK, we're right there. We're neck and neck.
Adversity and Defensive Inconsistencies
00:04:40
Speaker
You know, that's the mental advantage you've had over the entire Eastern Conference all year is, you know, a lot of the times having double digit, you know, leads in the standings minus the Boston Celtics.
00:04:55
Speaker
And you don't want you don't want teams in the East to start to see the Cavs kind of allow that gap to be closed. Right. Right. So what I'm curious to see um is every time there's been adversity for the Cavs this year, which hasn't been very often, by the way, the Cavs have always seemed to answer.
00:05:15
Speaker
um And they have an option. know They have a chance to do so. You know, with what we'll talk about the remaining games left in the schedule, there's 12 left. Um, I'm not worried either.
00:05:27
Speaker
ah Maybe a four out 10, something like that, just because it's like, ah, I don't want to see my team losing. And especially the time of the year, I want them to stay focused and keep beating up on everybody like they have so much. But at the same time, um, Hey, it happens.
00:05:43
Speaker
It happens. We're healthy. We're healthy. That's all I care about right now. Yeah, you know, the last time we talked, to the Cavs were, they weren't playing great basketball either. Like, they were getting down by a lot.
00:05:54
Speaker
You know, we were calling them the comeback Cavs they would get down by a lot, and then they would come back in the fourth quarter yeah and win. Well, they're still playing that same way, only now they're not coming back in the fourth quarter.
00:06:07
Speaker
So, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not worried about it, but at the same time, like... The signs are there, right? like I hope that they get back to yeah what they were the you know in the postseason.
00:06:23
Speaker
They don't continue. Before many bad habits sir or such like that. Right, right. At the end of the day, out of your 20 ain't too shabby.
00:06:34
Speaker
Right. It ain't too bad at all. um And again, we're we're healthy. That's all I care about this point. Just focus the rest of the season. Get through it. Get ready for the playoffs.
00:06:47
Speaker
um and And we'll see what happens from there. But Alex, why don't we get into kind of some of these recent games and kind of talk about, you know, what we've seen at least or are kind of if anything else has kind of caught your eye in these games.
00:07:04
Speaker
um The most recent one was against the Phoenix Suns. um Credit to the Suns. I thought they played. They played pretty good.
00:07:15
Speaker
um This game and Durant had a ah ah throwback game for sure. Finished with 30, 42 points and was sniffing around triple double territory.
00:07:27
Speaker
But Alex, what what kind of caught your eye in this game or any, any positives from, from this game? I'll tell you the biggest negative. Yeah. I mean, well, I mean, you know, the the thing that hit me the most was how just,
00:07:42
Speaker
I mean, not and not just this game, but also the past couple of games was just how lackadaisical their defense has been. um Just not being careful with the ball, careless turnovers, careless passing, you know, ball getting stolen for easy, easy layups on the other side.
00:08:01
Speaker
You know, that's that's kind of what I've been seeing frequently in these past few games, especially the Suns game. You know what I saw? Donovan Mitchell scoring seven points.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah. That ain't going to do it, bro.
Game Analyses: Key Matches and Player Performances
00:08:17
Speaker
Two for 18. he has not He has not had a great month, and I would say.
00:08:27
Speaker
um After winning Eastern Conference Player of the Month again, for I don't know what, the third or fourth time, at least, of the season, um winning that back in February? Yeah.
00:08:39
Speaker
He has not followed up with a very great month. Hasn't quite been himself on the offensive end, which is okay. I mean, hey, but seven points. I mean, that 31 minutes, seven points, that that's not going to get it done. And he even admitted after the game, he's like, that that's on me.
00:08:56
Speaker
He's like, just put this one on me. You know, I can't i can't be performing like that and expect us to win. Yeah. So that was that was the biggest thing that stood out to me. and Like, oh my gosh, what what is going on?
00:09:09
Speaker
And um other than that, I mean, you know, nobody else really stepped up and had a great game to kind of fill that gap from the lack of scoring of Mitchell.
00:09:21
Speaker
Mobley gave you 16. Garland gave you 18. Ty Jerome gave you 16 off the bench. But Jared Allen was quiet. you know Max Drews didn't have a great game. Hunter put in 17. But it just it wasn't enough, especially when Durant goes off for 42.
00:09:38
Speaker
um And just like you said, the the lack of defense and just kind of careless passes and so on and so forth. bad it was It was a bad loss, Alex.
00:09:49
Speaker
well Yeah, it wasn't pretty basketball. And, you know, with Donovan Mitchell, what they say, shooters shoot, you know, he's he's got to shoot himself out of the slump. But at the same time, I think at some point when you're 0 for 8 from 3, you got to do some other things to help the team win.
00:10:08
Speaker
You know, you got you had other guys that were knocking 3s down pretty consistently, like Hunter and Ty Jerome, so. Yeah. Yeah. Move the ball. Mobley had a nice block on, on Durant.
00:10:20
Speaker
Durant kind of just tried to pull up from the top of the key and Mobley just met him at the top of his release. Like it was nothing. And that turned into, I believe a Darius Garland layup, I'm not mistaken.
00:10:31
Speaker
So that was pretty cool kind of seeing, um, you know, when, when Mobley and Durant were matched up together and stuff, it's just funny because there's, they, they got such a similar build and it's just like, my God, like they're both just twigs, you you know? that's one thing that hopefully Mobley will continue to do in the off season, right? Keep working on his body, putting on some more mass and so on and so forth. But it was cool to see him, uh,
00:10:59
Speaker
you block Durant on that play. Durant's got that unstoppable mid-range game where he can just know create space and and make a shot every single time he goes down the court if he wants to.
00:11:11
Speaker
Mobley could do that. I mean, he could learn that. he could you know He has that potential, but I don't know. I don't know if he ever will. He's he's much more of an inside scorer. Yeah. there's there's there there' There's very few players in the NBA, though, that could meet Durant at the top of his release like Mobley can though. So that at least he's got that going. yeah i don't think he'll ever be the score that that Durant is and the way that Durant scores at least.
00:11:40
Speaker
um But it was kind of cool seeing that matched up in that game. um So, okay, whatever. yeah i feel like we played the Suns early in the year. i feel like we smashed them. That's why I was kind of mad that we lost that game.
00:11:56
Speaker
um But the one before that, kind of, to me, come on, man, it's the Kings. Yeah, the Kings. It's the Kings. Like, yeah, they got DeRozan out there.
00:12:09
Speaker
um You know, they they
Playoff Potential and Lineup Weaknesses
00:12:11
Speaker
got some guys, but, I mean, they're not ah they're not a great basketball team. Yeah, we we let Malik Monk just yeah kill us. Exactly. Didn't they get Zach Levine?
00:12:24
Speaker
Is he hurt already? You know I don't know. thought they traded for him. thought they traded for him because I thought I heard that DeRozan and Levine were back together again. remember seeing him make his debut game and all that stuff, but I haven't haven't paid attention since. Yeah.
00:12:41
Speaker
But i don't I don't see that. What what team were was DeRozan in? in Chicago. Bulls. Oh, they were in Chicago together. okay Yeah, yeah, yeah. With Vujicic and Ball. there They were supposed to have a squad.
00:12:57
Speaker
But yeah, the Kings, not not a great team, um especially out West. and Mitchell played you know better this game, 26 points in 35 minutes. Mobley had a monster game, double-double, 31 points, 10 rebounds.
00:13:12
Speaker
like It felt like there was enough here. and the Cavs had the lead couple times in this game, and they kind of just squandered it away, Alex. Yeah, they had the lead at the half, and then...
00:13:25
Speaker
They came out in that third quarter and just the Kings went off like yeah They couldn't stop them. The defense was just kind of eh, and the Kings just took advantage. They gave up 43 points yeah in the third quarter. that's That's like what the Cavs have been doing to teams.
00:13:42
Speaker
But yeah, they just and never really recovered from that. And and in the the biggest thing that stood out to me was just how dominant Mobley was in this game too, though, right? Mobley had 31 points, 10 rebounds. he was He was just killing the Kings.
00:13:58
Speaker
Yeah. yeah But you know if it doesn't amount to a win, then what good is it? It was kind of a coming out game for Mobley, another one of those this season. He's had several now.
00:14:10
Speaker
Yeah, Mobley has been really fun to watch this year. He definitely was deserving as as an all-star. um It's what we've been waiting for for for at least a season or two now was for kind of his coming out party.
00:14:25
Speaker
And it's going to be exciting to see, you know, I'm excited to see how he does in the playoffs. Is he going to be confident? Is he going to be, you know, unsure? is he going to, you know, I don't know. know what I mean? and And it'll depend on what team we're playing against and who he's matched up against and what happens when he's up against a bigger physical, you know, big team.
00:14:46
Speaker
You know, what's he going to do? You know, is he going to get pushed around or is he going to use his, his speed, his, you know, his agility is shooting to his advantage. So I'm, I'm very, I'm very excited to watch Evan Mobley in the playoffs this year for sure.
00:15:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And it does seem kind of hit and miss. It just depends who, who he ends up matched up against. And you know, it's also the same thing with Alan. It's like, if it's a ah muscular center, then, you know, Alan and Mobley tend to get pushed around. Otherwise,
00:15:17
Speaker
You know, if it's someone around their same, I don't know, body type, skill type, they tend to dominate. Yeah, they they take advantage. its The good thing is, is they take advantage more than they don't. um But yeah, Jared Allen, same thing.
00:15:33
Speaker
Sometimes, depending on the matchup, um his he's not able to do the type of things that, you know, he's able to do most of the times, and that's going to hurt you. So it'll be interesting.
00:15:45
Speaker
um the Rosen still a good player, but same thing like Durant, like these guys are, you know, they've been around for a minute and you kind of let him have a throwback game with 27 points.
00:15:56
Speaker
Um, and then like you said, Malik Monk gives you 22 and they have, you know, six, seven players in double digits and just, yeah, Cavs just couldn't, couldn't figure out a way to hold onto that game. Unfortunately.
00:16:08
Speaker
um No Mike Brown. They let go of Mike Brown. Oh, they did. Yeah, they did. That was a little bit earlier in the season, I believe. They were on All-Star break, I thought I heard. Is Mike Brown with any team now?
00:16:21
Speaker
I don't believe so. I don't know. I don't follow him on Twitter anymore, so i don't i don't know. I don't know where he's at. ah prize You know what he's probably doing? He's probably still getting paid by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Probably.
00:16:35
Speaker
In some way. We're probably still paying all those coaches. I know. Be lying. yeah You can't say that name around here.
00:16:46
Speaker
Paying all those guys. yeah Probably still paying Ty Lue. Yeah. He did win us a championship though. That's true. I'm down with paying Ty Lue. All right, Alex. Clippers game.
00:16:57
Speaker
Man. What you got on this one? Oh, Clippers. You know, Harden. and Harden was, uh, Harden's still good.
00:17:09
Speaker
Like, it just seemed like he was able to pick his shots. Um, Yeah, i don't I don't know. It's it's another game that you know we came out firing on all cylinders, and then the second half we just let it all slip away.
00:17:24
Speaker
Same exact thing in this game. I mean, we were leading at the half, and then they just blew us out in the third quarter. So I don't know what the deal is coming out of the locker room, but The Cavs just are not sticking with their game plan or you know, maybe the other team is just making adjustments. Yeah, I really don't know what the problem is here.
00:17:43
Speaker
Bogdanovich was a nice pickup for the Clippers. Yeah, absolutely. You know, he I think he came from where was he? Maybe Atlanta when Atlanta was doing their fire sale. They they got Bogdanovich. We got Hunter.
00:17:57
Speaker
don't remember who else they got rid of, if anybody, but that's a nice pickup. He he had 20 points this game. But to me, what what pissed me off the most was Zubiak going off for 28 and 20. Are you kidding me?
00:18:09
Speaker
The center?
00:18:12
Speaker
I mean, and then Leonard gives you 33. Harden gives you 22. I mean, between those four guys... You're sniffing around a hundred points, you know, so it just can't do that, you know, and, and and expect to win a basketball game. And the calves obviously didn't answer on the off offensive end.
00:18:29
Speaker
And to give up that much on the defensive end obviously isn't going to help you either. And here you go. Yeah. Jared Allen, only eight points that game was, was not able to do what he is capable of doing.
00:18:42
Speaker
And Zubiak took advantage. Yeah. Yeah. They also have a Nick Batum, but yeah yeah, I was talking, you know, in our last episode, I was watching that, that I think it was Court of Gold, the documentary about the the Olympic Games and both Batum and Bogdanovich were heavily featured in that as two of the, you know, better international players and it kind of followed them around a bit.
00:19:07
Speaker
I feel like Batum has been in the league forever. He's got to be up there now. You think? Age-wise. i think Bogdanovich is up there too, though, age-wise. Yeah, Batum is 36.
00:19:18
Speaker
36, okay, okay. And they also got Ben Simmons, by the way. remember Remember for a minute there, he could have been a Cleveland Cavalier because there was interest when he got bought out by Brooklyn. That would have been kind of crazy. Bogdanovich is 32. Okay.
00:19:32
Speaker
okay But he's been playing since he was like, he's been pro since he was like 16 or something like that. He's one of those kind of similar to Ricky Rubio, how he went pro super Yeah, so early.
00:19:43
Speaker
Yeah. It's crazy, though, because Batuu, it feels like he's been around forever. he's 36, he's definitely up there. But, you know, he could play another two, three years yet.
00:19:54
Speaker
Ben Simmons, man. He got 13 minutes and did not do thing. Did not a thing. took one shot and and missed it. Yep. He had two rebounds, two assists, one steal.
00:20:10
Speaker
don't know what to yeah yeah i mean and e yeah wasn't it He was like an all-star his first two, three seasons. Was he rookie of the year? Maybe. It's crazy just how he's not playing well. Ben Simmons will not be part of the playoff rotation is my prediction when the playoffs come for the Clippers.
00:20:29
Speaker
First round pick.
00:20:33
Speaker
They can't all be winners, Alex. we We drafted Anthony Bennett. Just remember that. All right. Anthony Bennett. Who's had a better career, Anthony Bennett or Ben Simmons?
00:20:44
Speaker
At least Ben Simmons had those two or three seasons. And Ben Simmons is still in the league, right? Bennett never had any draft anything close to that. Right. bennett Bennett was what?
00:20:56
Speaker
Three, four seasons in the NBA? Yeah. Somewhere around there. Sydney's got to be approaching, what, 8, 9, 10 years, right?
00:21:06
Speaker
What about J.J. Hickson?
00:21:11
Speaker
Do you have a better career than... J.J. wasn't the number one overall pick, but he did prevent me from getting Amari Stoudemire. ah yeah yeah Every time I hear J.J.' 's name, that's that's what I think about. But jj J.J. was all right. He was able to do some things.
00:21:27
Speaker
A different time. You know, he was he was a big he wasn't like what a big is today jacking up three pointers. He was a workhorse. But yeah, the Cavs, he was a rebounder. And that was it.
00:21:38
Speaker
He was a rebounder and gets you some slot points, you know. The Cavs didn't want to let go at him, let go of him. for a chance to get Amari Stoudemire. So that puts him on the naughty list, unfortunately.
00:21:53
Speaker
In my eyes, at least. think we're going off the rails a little bit. That's all right. That's all right. So the last game will probably, you know... um you you know, on this four game skid was the last game before they went on this West coast trip.
00:22:08
Speaker
This one stings to Alex, um, the Orlando magic, I'm into Cleveland and and steal a victory yeah on a, on a Sunday. i hate losing to the magic. I hate it.
00:22:19
Speaker
ah you know, Ben Caro, the Wagner brothers, they're just also cocky and i don't know. They're just, they just always rub me the wrong way. Every time we play them to hate to lose to them.
00:22:32
Speaker
Well, we've got some history with them too, right? You know, playing against them the playoff series. And, you know, they're down at the bottom of they're down at the bottom the standings. they'll They'll be in a play-in game. They're currently the eighth seed.
00:22:45
Speaker
um So there is a potential for a first-round matchup there, um depending on how things, you know, play out or whatever. And, yeah, I'm with you. i i i also hated losing to the Magic because...
00:23:00
Speaker
for a while they've been hovering around that, you know, area in the standings. And you just, again, it's a mental thing. You don't want to give them any kind of confidence, any kind of hope that, you know, Hey, wait, we just beat this team.
00:23:13
Speaker
If the playoffs start in three weeks, we just beat this team a couple weeks ago at home on their home court. Like we but were not afraid of them. We can, you know, we took them to seven games the year before in the play. Like you just don't want them to build up that confidence. That's one of those losses. That's just like,
00:23:31
Speaker
any other time of the season who cares, right? It's a regular season game, but that last regular season game before going into the playoffs. Yeah. And what could potentially be a first round matchup? It's like, ah, just poor timing to let that one kind of slip through.
00:23:46
Speaker
mean, credits to the magic. They, they played some pretty good D down, down towards the end of that game. But, And that was one that, you know, the Cavs have been sneaking out those wins in that type of scenario and they just weren't able to do it.
00:24:00
Speaker
And then, you know, followed up with three more stinkers on the West Coast after that. So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, Orlando sits in the eighth seed right now. So potentially first round matchup. And here we are giving them confidence against us.
00:24:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, you know, it it is what it is. um But at the same time, it's just, yeah, just and an untimely loss there at home, which the Cavs have been excellent at.
00:24:28
Speaker
um You know, they've only lost, what, six games at home or something all season, something crazy like that. So they've been dominant, you know, when they're when they're at home.
00:24:39
Speaker
And that's just one of those games where, yeah, and it was just such an ugly game. it was it was i mean i yeah i mean look at this i mean banqueiro uh you know he went six for 22 he only made six
Off-Court News and Nostalgia
00:24:53
Speaker
shots and took 22 shots but he still had 24 points because they sent him to the free throw line 11 times and then you you look at our box score and you got darius garland and donna and mitchell they combined for eight turnovers and yeah I mean, it's just sloppy with the ball. Yeah.
00:25:12
Speaker
Can't do it. Can't do it. Did you hear the um and I don't have it like up in front of me or anything like that. But after that game, I heard some stuff come out about Ben Caro talking smack about Jerome.
00:25:26
Speaker
Did you hear about that? ah They got into it at the at the yeah, in the game and Jerome got to take some free throws and Ben Caro was still chirping at him about it. Yeah.
00:25:37
Speaker
Yeah, I saw something, like, afterwards, though, like, kind of like what what he was saying or whatever, and it's just, like, the only reason you're, you look good, or the only reason why you're anything right now is because you're on a good team or something like that, and Ty Jerome's like, you can't guard me. and Yeah, and I think that took place in the second quarter. Yeah.
00:25:57
Speaker
And then ever since, you know, that, or maybe it took place in the third quarter, I can't remember, but ever since, like, they got into that little skirmish, like, That's when and else that game started going downhill for the Cavs.
00:26:09
Speaker
It's like, damn it. you know If you're going to run your mouth and talk, you've got to back it back it up. Yeah, you can't let them walk got a back and And that's one thing I'll say is missing from this team. There's no real enforcer.
00:26:24
Speaker
Right? nobody Nobody in your rotation, at least, that's an enforcer. Thompson. Thompson. TT. TT can go out there and throw an elbow or two, but TT ain't going to sniff any, you know, any time in a playoff series is the problem.
00:26:38
Speaker
um Unless you just turn them out there for the fact of sending a message, right? So you have no one in your actual rotation. that's kind of like that enforcer type player. So to where the magic, you know, you know, Wagner can be, know, you know, the, uh, the center Wagner could be a little physical and, you know, there, again, you just, um I'm very interested to see how the calves do, because you're going to get a different look from these teams, um, than what you did in the, in the regular season. So everybody, everybody realizes it's also a mental game. So everybody's going to be chirping. Everybody's gonna be throwing that extra,
00:27:13
Speaker
you know, elbow going for the rebound and and so on and so forth. So, yeah. I mean, TT, yeah. Even in this magic game, I mean, he went in for 11 minutes and he didn't do anything except for three fouls. So, yeah, yeah but, uh, you know, if if you're saying to the, you know, the, to the, the Cavs down to enforcer, I'd say, you know, Tristan Thompson,
00:27:32
Speaker
yeah Maybe Javante Green, he's he's been really scrappy. He's kind of a really physical dude, but neither of those guys are going to get minutes and in the playoffs, more than likely. Probably not. it'll it'll Green maybe more than Thompson, and it'll be for like a three-minute spurt or something like that. So you're right. we We don't have an enforcer that's actually in in the rotation.
00:27:53
Speaker
They traded the enforcer. They traded Niang out to Atlanta. Yeah. He was just a mouth runner, too. Yeah. He couldn't back up nothing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:28:05
Speaker
So, you know, that's the last four games. and the game the The last game that they won was against the Memphis Grizzlies. I will say, Alex, what was funny about that game was at the time, the West is so close in the standings that at the time of that game, they were the number two seed and the Cavs absolutely obliterated them.
00:28:28
Speaker
The score looks closer than what it actually was because the starters were polled. with five minutes left in the game. And then, you know, Memphis, you know, bench players started hitting some buckets, but I'm watching that game and I'm like, really, this is the number two team in the East because we are just wiping the floor with them. And I'm looking at Memphis's roster,
00:28:48
Speaker
And I just like, I don't see it. Like, ah sure, Jha's nice and Jha had a great game. But we've we've we've seen that path here in Cleveland where when you have one guy going off for 45 points and nobody else doing anything, it's not a good recipe.
00:29:06
Speaker
So I was kind of blown away but they were or that and they were where they were at in the standings at that time. um But the Cavs played a beautiful game, that game, and wiped the floor with them.
00:29:16
Speaker
It was great. that was on the road, too, I'm not mistaken. So yeah um they need to get back to that, Alex. They need to get back to that. And the good news is is they have an opportunity to because on Sunday, the day that this episode will probably come out, they play the second worst team in the NBA, the Utah Jazz. 3.30 game, Sunday.
00:29:40
Speaker
Yeah, I like the Utah Jazz. They're kind of like the old Cavs. They are. With Markinan and Sexton. Yeah. they still um No, they don't have Abaji anymore. No, they traded him. He's yeah over in Toronto.
00:29:52
Speaker
um But yeah, I mean, the again, here's here's some adversity. um Both Atkinson and Mitchell have kind of been saying... It it was funny, before the the loss against the Suns, after the he lost they lost to the Kings, Mitchell was kind of like...
00:30:10
Speaker
He said something along the lines of like, I'm actually happy right now. He's like something, ah something like I'm kind of that psycho that kind of enjoys this. It's what makes the season fun, you know, having some adversity.
00:30:22
Speaker
Right. And Atkinson was trying to just stay positive. Like, yeah, this is an opportunity to learn. But we played better in the second half. We just didn't, you know, we weren't there the whole game. But, you know, like it's it's it's allowing us to learn.
00:30:35
Speaker
Right. um So now we got to see what they do. And they have some games lined up here that is kind of handed to them on a silver platter because they the Utah Jazz, the Trailblazers, the Spurs are their next three.
00:30:50
Speaker
And then then they got the Pistons. um So, you know, if there's a time to kind of jump back and get back on a winning streak, I would say it starts with tomorrow's game against, you know, the Utah Jazz, Alex.
00:31:04
Speaker
yeah Yeah, totally winnable game. you lose that game If you lose that game, my four is going to go up to about a six. Yeah, yeah you know it's just hard knowing. ah you know are they Are they just taking it easy and coasting until postseason? You don't want anybody to get hurt.
00:31:20
Speaker
you know It's not a very important game for them to win. Yeah, but at the same time, you got 12 games less. you can't You can't do something like go 6-6 or 5-7 or something like that. it wouldn't surprise me.
00:31:34
Speaker
That'd be horrible. It really wouldn't. horrible. You don't want that going into the playoffs. They still got a five game. There's still five games over the Celtics for first place in the Eastern Conference. so You don't want to give them any opportunity to think that they can...
00:31:49
Speaker
overtake the Cavs for the number one seed. ah a lot of lot i mean I mean, we'd have to lose a lot. They'd have to win a lot, but it's it's mathematically possible, Alex. It's a balance. Yeah. So it's what's crazy is looking at the rest of the schedule.
00:32:03
Speaker
um So they play those three against the pit and and the Pistons. They'll get another shot at the Clippers. And then they play the Spurs again. They play the Knicks twice and the Pacers twice.
00:32:16
Speaker
All before the end of the season, Alex. They'll get another shot at the Kings as well. And then the Bulls are stuck in there too. So kind of a weird ending to the season where they play three teams twice. So half of your games are against, you know, the same teams.
00:32:32
Speaker
um But there's there's winnable games there. um And what I like is, too, is that there's also some more kind of heat check games because the Pacers are always just kind of scrappy teams that the Cavs seem to not match up the greatest the greatest with.
00:32:50
Speaker
um The Pistons, you know they're kind of a team rising in the East, out to prove things. yeah you So they're going to give you all the... JV's got them overachieving. so Yeah, they're going give you everything they got.
00:33:02
Speaker
yeah And then the knicks the Knicks, who are kind of... you know Nobody's really giving them any sort of... chance, right. To do anything in the East this year. Cause they're, they're below the calves of the below the Celtics, you're going to get them twice and they're going to do the same thing. They're going to be, ah let's see where they are in the standings.
00:33:22
Speaker
They're, they're playing for seating still because they got the Pacers, you know, not, not too far behind them, a couple of games behind them, but they need to play basketball and they're going to want to send the calves a message as well. So the Cavs will have some games here that are very winnable, but they're going to have some challenges here too.
00:33:38
Speaker
And I'm excited to see how the Cavs react to that. Yeah.
00:33:47
Speaker
Predictions for the last 12 games, Alex, if you had to go record. um Or, or, or I'll let you do it this way. They're sitting at 56 wins.
00:33:59
Speaker
They got 12 to go. So the max they can get to is 68. What do you put in their final win total at for the season? Maybe that's more fun. Total wins.
00:34:09
Speaker
I'm going to put their total wins at, ooh, that's tough. That is tough. 76 wins. seventy six wins 76? They got 56 wins now. I'm just kidding. 66 wins. I was like, holy, here cooper co Cooper Cup again.
00:34:32
Speaker
or whatever the hell you said before we started recording. I'm like, boy. 66. I'm going to go one less. I'm going to go 65.
00:34:42
Speaker
65 wins. that's a nice That's a nice season, Alex. whens last time we had 60-plus wins? It's been a minute. It's been a while. It's been a minute. so Yeah, so I'm looking forward to it. you know we'll We'll get another episode or two in there before the playoffs actually start.
00:34:59
Speaker
um you know Alex, you already talked about March Madness a little bit. um we You had some news on some former Cavs players, though. Oh, yeah. That we want to spend a minute or two talking about before we kind of wrap up this episode.
00:35:16
Speaker
Yeah, so I saw an article about a calf's legend. Samardo Samuels reportedly arrested in Milan, Italy, where he lives. A little excerpt from the article here.
00:35:31
Speaker
Samardo Samuels was arrested in Milan on Saturday night. The 36-year-old Jamaican was allegedly playing extremely loud music and drinking alcohol in the courtyard of a residential building.
00:35:43
Speaker
alongside a cane Corso dog. A family fearing for their safety called the authorities and he was eventually apprehended. I'm a champion! I'm not a criminal! He shouted while struggling to follow the directions of the authorities.
00:35:59
Speaker
The incident reportedly marked the fifth police intervention due to his behavior over recent weeks. Following further investigation, an ongoing case for stalking and violating a restraining order was confirmed.
00:36:12
Speaker
Additional complaints include several past altercations with residents and even an assault on a delivery worker. So, Smarto Samuels, what are you doing, man?
00:36:23
Speaker
know This was basically for loud music and drinking, right? Yeah. That would be like what I would get in trouble for when I was like in high school. I'm a champion. I'm not a criminal. He's got to be. He's got to. I don't know how old he is, but it's like what?
00:36:41
Speaker
Thirty six arrested for that. Who gets arrested for that these days? Like, come on. And if for the fans that have no idea who we're talking about. Samardo Samuels played three years in the m NBA.
00:36:54
Speaker
All three years were for the Cleveland Cavaliers during ah the dark years, Alex. hu This was after LeBron left the Cavs for the Miami Heat.
00:37:05
Speaker
And if you succumbed yourself to watching Cavs basketball ah those few years, you know who Samardo is. If you weren't, you don't know who the heck we're talking about, but...
00:37:17
Speaker
part of Samuels man can't believe yeah he's been he's been playing in a lot of different leagues in the Euro Euro League average about six points four rebounds the Cavs played I played in 109 games the Cavs over those three years Yeah, and then, you know, the J.R. Smith, they've been doing a J.R.
00:37:46
Speaker
Smith shot of the day video clip in the Cavs subreddit. It's <unk>s been pretty entertaining. Lots of great clips of J.R. hitting incredible shots. Who knew there were so many? but That's awesome. It's definitely a fun watch.
00:38:01
Speaker
That's gotta be a fun watch. And you're you, you, you go in that subreddit quite frequently. Is this the first time you've seen them do something like this? Like a former cast player.
00:38:13
Speaker
ah No, they've they've done similar things in the past. Somebody will start some sort of series of you know something something similar. Well, the shot of the day thing, I was just curious if that was the first time they started or not because it's... like Thinking about it, like if if you're if someone was to come up with that, like probably most people wouldn't think of JR right away, right?
00:38:35
Speaker
They're going to think of like Mark Price or Kyrie Irving or... you know um but jr smith's actually an excellent choice for a series like that because there's probably so many ridiculous shots that he both took and made that we have already forgotten know i mean so like that would be a fun ah fun thing to follow and i'm curious how long they'll do that how long has it been going you know um i don't i don't know how long it's been going But the one they posted today, Saturday 322, is awesome.
00:39:12
Speaker
It's like a turn around spinning turnaround, no look, jump shot from you know almost mid-court. Nails it.
00:39:23
Speaker
Crazy. Fantastic. crazy i hope i hope it's not something where they do it for like six days and then they stop i hope they do it for like 76 days yeah know what i mean just give us give us a jr clip every day like that's yeah that's amazing that's awesome great idea that's a great idea go check it out cast fans uh then what else you got alex um And then in other news, i Brad Doherty and Mark Price will be in Strongsville for the Sports Card Collectors Convention.
00:39:59
Speaker
So Strongsville, Ohio, the weekend of, I believe it's April 11th through April 13th. Very cool. so go there, see Brad Doherty, Mark Price, get some stuff signed, autographed, quite a few other.
00:40:12
Speaker
ah There's going to be some Cleveland Indians players there. supposedly Dennis Rodman's going to be there. that i saw him advertisements. I don't know if that's real or not. I've seen it too, though. I've seen it. That's pretty wild. Rodman's going to be there. I want to say Bernie Kosar was on the list. he's always He's always around for that kind of thing.
00:40:32
Speaker
Be cool, man. Go take some Mark Price cards up there and get them signed, Alex. Yeah, maybe. a get out I got a good amount of cards from both those guys. I'd have to go digging through boxes. Yeah.
00:40:45
Speaker
Cards were fun back at that time, but they're not really worth much these days. Those cards, like 1990 Fleer. Not going to get very much for a Mark Price 1990 Fleer card. About 15 cents.
00:40:59
Speaker
So, get it signed, and then it'll be worth ah maybe a buck. But very cool that they will be there at the Strongsville Card can Convention. Man, we were just talking the other day at work about about kind of cards and stuff like that, and You know, if you grew up in the 90s, I mean, cards were were a thing to do, right?
00:41:19
Speaker
um But that makes me want to go look through my cards too, just to see what I have. I have boxes and boxes of cards that I haven't looked through in, geez, 20 years. um Yeah, you know, I don't know if I have anything that's worth anything, but I mean, card collecting is still extremely popular and alive and well.
00:41:38
Speaker
If you look on eBay, there's so many. You know, yeah there's still plenty of places you can send cards in and get them graded. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not really into it anymore, but I know it's still it's still quite popular.
00:41:50
Speaker
You might even have a Smarter Samuels card. ah too recent so had to risk you were you were long done by that point yeah i might have some samardo samuel cards so i need to look through and uh maybe over the summer alex you know we did it i don't know if it was a year ago or two years ago now we were posting a calves card a day for a little while on uh on social media maybe Maybe we'll have to start that up again over the summer just to have some content. Yeah, maybe that'll be my project for the summer. It'll be your project. Go go through all your cards. all my boxes of cards and find all my Cavs players. and
00:42:26
Speaker
Find all the random Cavs players that you're like, oh, yeah, i forgot he even played for the Cavs. And then it's a Bill Lambere card, right? You haven't pulled that thing out in months. going to pull the Bill Lambere card out. You just ruined it.
00:42:38
Speaker
Since you moved to your new place, you haven't even pulled it out once, man. It's disappointing. I think I have. Yes, I have. I'm sure it's sitting right here somewhere. He's looking for it. Yeah. you and If you're watching on YouTube, but if you're listening, it's never too far out of my reach.
00:42:53
Speaker
yeah mal yeah The Bill Lamb beer. The, the, was that, is that signed? Yeah, it's autographed. I don't know if it's a real autograph. I got it off eBay. How much did you pay for that?
00:43:04
Speaker
How much you pay for that off eBay? Do you remember? It was like five bucks. Yeah. It was something, it was something real cheap, but it was from ah a good so ah seller, a good seller. That was, yeah.
00:43:15
Speaker
That's crazy. Pretty credible, but who knows? If Bill Lambert was at the Strongsville Card Convention, Alex would be. Oh, yeah. print The Prince of Darkness? Yeah, absolutely. I would be there.
00:43:28
Speaker
Definitely. All right, Alex. let's ah Let's wrap this episode up. think we've gone on long enough about nonsense here. want to thank you, Cass fans, as always, for tuning in and listening.
00:43:40
Speaker
And Alex, you want to let them know where they can follow us and connect with us. Yeah. Follow us on Twitter at Cavs Pick and Roll. Shoot us an email, CavsPickAndRoll at gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr. Watch this episode on YouTube.
00:43:54
Speaker
Wherever you're listening, watching, click like, subscribe, leave us a rating or a review. We'd appreciate it right, Cavs fans, there it is. will talk to you again soon. Peace out, Cavs fans.