How can the Cleveland Cavaliers MENTALLY put the G2 collapse behind them & get ready for G3 vs. Pace

How can the Cleveland Cavaliers MENTALLY put the G2 collapse behind them & get ready for G3 vs. Pace

Let’s get to the other part of the Cavs conversation I want to bring up a quick word from. There’s nothing like the energy of the MLS, the, the atmosphere, the goals. If you want to experience it all live, makes getting tickets easier than ever with last minute deals, all in pricing and a low price guarantee. Game takes the guesswork out of buying Major League soccer tickets plus Prices drop as kickoff gets closer, so you can score amazing seats at a great price. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game time and download the Game time app, create an account and use promo code locked down and get $20 off your first offer. Once again, create an account, redeem code locked on NFL for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. So game 2 is obviously an emotional roller coaster for the for the Cavs and all of Cleveland and their fan base. Afterwards, Kenny Atkinson and Donovan Mitchell were asked, mentally, how do you put what just happened behind you and regroup for game three? We’re gonna listen to Donovan and Kenny and then Tyvis, I’m curious from a former athlete perspective at the highest level, how a player and a team can put something like this behind them. So here’s Kenny and Donovan, and we’ll go right to Tyvis afterwards. We, we, we gotta get guys back that’s, that’s first hopefully if we can, um, you know, we can get guys back, um. I’ve been down 2-0 before, um, at home, and, and, you know, we have enough talent, we have enough talent in there to go, go get, uh. You know, game 3, that’s it. That’s all that counts, not game 4, not game, you know, we, we just got to focus on getting game 3, but, uh, you know, that’s a, that’s a tough blow, — no doubt
— about it. We can sit here and dwell on this and be home in about 4 or 5 days, or we can move on and take some things that we did really well and then go from there. Um, I have no doubt everybody in that locker room. Is ready for Friday. Um, It sucks, stings, but. We gotta go out there and take care of business, otherwise that’s it, but I believe in everybody in the locker room, we believe in each other, um, we’ll figure it out. — I thought
— I’ve been wearing sunglasses that the fashion thing? All the stars do it. They all wear sunglasses. Yeah, he ain’t got no buffs though. He should have been buffed up. What does that mean Cartier glasses. You ain’t never seen the movie. Of course you ain’t never seen. I’ve never seen the Detroit, it’s like a hood, it’s a movie. I don’t have to get free, right? You can watch it on YouTube. — sunglasses
— as an athlete, Emotional collapse like that and regroup. I’m not gonna lie to you. I, I’d be a fraud if I sat up here and told you that, oh, you could just flush it, watch the tape, flush it and move on. It is very difficult when you have that type of momentum and you lose in that fashion, knowing the circumstances that your teammates are in. It’s very hard to turn the page, but You gotta find a way to do it. The good news about this is this wasn’t game 4, you know, they still, you still got an opportunity to go out there, and I think, you know, guys like, like Tyd Jerome, Ty Jerome had one of the worst games, he’s been terrible in the playoffs, period. Well in the playoffs excuse me, in this series, right, in this series, he’s been, he hasn’t been good, but guess what? You get another opportunity to go out there and right that wrong. It’s not too late, and that’s the thing you gotta hold on to. No matter how good or bad you’ve played, no matter what the circumstances is, you still have another opportunity to fix everything, you know, teams can come back from 02. You get down you go 3-0, like that’s where you know it’s like curtains so now. So I feel like in their mind, in my mind, if I was playing on this casts teams, I would say. It’s the best way to get revenge. They came in and they embarrassed us in our in our facility in our home. Now it’s time to go do the same thing back to them and it starts with physicality, you know, I would think that if we know if guys are gonna come out there and play in this game, the Evans, the the Dariuss, the, the hunters, if those guys decide to go out there and play. Personally, I would find a way to even things out if I gotta take a couple of hard fouls to get people off their game or bump them up a little bit like so be it, but I, I gotta find a way to even this thing out like no matter what, you gotta find a way to win this game. Um, Donovan is not gonna be able to shoot threes we already know that I. Don’t know how many calls he’s gonna get going to the lane this upcoming game because I feel like he got a bunch of them in this last one. Don’t know how many now that you in their building, I don’t know how many times you’re gonna get those calls, but other guys gotta step up, you know, Max Strus had a good game, Jared Allen had a good game. We need that. Sam Merrill gave you something on. Off the bench, I think you just if if you just need just one or two more people to step up in there and have a better performance and you can find a way to win this game. I think the extra day off really helps because you can pout yesterday, you can sulk yesterday, you can. Oh, you did lick your whatever phrase you wanna use, get it out of your system, come back today, get a good practice in and get on the plane and I, I think it would be harder on a one day turnaround. I think that extra day. In this instance can really help. You know what I don’t like guys and. We’ve all been so high on Kenny Atkinson all year and Uh, the other day we played a clip where he talked about the, you know, the fouls and stuff, and we all, uh, whoever was here that day, I don’t remember, we all said we didn’t like it. And I don’t like that. Like the his first answer to how do you get over that is we got to get guys back. Well, that was the first question. I’m sure he’s gonna have a different answer. That was the aftermath. If guys don’t come back this game, he just said, first we need to get guys back. So essentially he’s saying, well, — if we don’t get guys back we can’t
— win. I, I, I disagree. I think Mike’s right. It’s the emotion of the moment. You’re frustrated, you don’t have your guys. Yeah, I think it was just the emotion of the moment, but I hear what you’re saying. Right, I mean. If he says that, I agree with you. I was literally 5 minutes after the buzzer. Right, — but I
— was shocked how fast he came in the it was the fastest he’s ever. I mean it was like just get this over with. There was like 6 people in the press. Like people had didn’t even made it down from the press seats. — Did you wanna add that context that was
— because usually they take 2025 minutes to come in after a game like that and he was in right away. Yeah, uh, when Also, you know, I was listening to, to that clip we, that Ty has sent this morning to our chat group with Brian Winhurst and Brian made the point of saying that part of the reason. People are starting to complain like us to some degree that these guys aren’t playing, especially Darius, is that the Cavs keep listing them as questionable, right? Well, when, when the coach says, well we gotta get guys back, it makes you think they could possibly play. So if he says we gotta get guys back, if none of those guys could play, if there was no chance they could play Friday, I don’t think he would say that. So now if guys don’t play again, especially Darius, it’s gonna be like, well, they keep listing him as questionable. The coach is saying we need guys back and if they’re not back, it it it has you scratching your head. There’s a tactical too yes and Jason and I actually talked about this. There’s a Fan versus tactical component to an injury report. You don’t want to tell Indiana, Hey, Darius is out, but he’s doubtful. You wanna leave it up in the air as long as possible to make them have to prepare in the instance they’re gonna play. And on the flip side, if you say questionable exactly what you just said happens, we all assume maybe they can play. And then we get upset and frustrated when they don’t because they’ve been. Listed as questionable and I’m not sure what the fine line to walk is and how a team should handle that versus not because you don’t want to play your cards and give your hand away to the opponent, but you also don’t want to let the imaginations run wild of some of the, and I mean this sincerely in a good way, some of the craziest fans who are then going to get upset if it doesn’t come true the label guys a soft one that may not be the reality. Do you, do you think that this point. That the Pacers today will prepare much differently. If the Cavs are honest or not about Darius. Is the preparation that much different? As Tyvis, who played at the highest level, if you had to prepare if Joe Burrow was gonna play versus the backup. Here’s where I think it’s, yeah, that’s a different course of course it is, but that’s a different sport. Yeah, that’s where you got one game. You got one game at the end of the week. You may or may not have seen that team earlier — could be a Sunday to Thursday
— by this point, is there much of a difference? I, I actually don’t think that there is just because I remember going off. You know, when I was when I was a beat writer and talking to teams and players who said everybody knows what everybody’s doing at this point in the season. You don’t have any secret plays. You don’t have any now you can come up with something like special ATO or whatever, but for the most part tendencies, everybody knows what everybody else is doing by this point in the season. They’ve seen the Cavs with Darius. They’ve seen the Cavs without Darius. They know, uh, yes, there is some gamesmanship involved in this, sure, certainly for sure. But you know this is 2 years in a row now where we’ve had this. This is this is the exact same situation with Jared Allen last year that it is, it’s the exact same thing where, but and I don’t even want to go back. I, I mean we wrote that and it caused all kinds of, I don’t, is it true? No, it was true, but, and I’m not saying Darius is or isn’t. I, I have no knowledge of that. That’s why I. — That’s why
— I don’t, I don’t want to get, I don’t want to go down that path, but this is the 2nd year. In a row in the playoffs where you have this instance of a really key player, is he in or is he out? Is he gonna play? Is he not gonna play where a guy’s questionable for two weeks like you usually you’re not questionable for 2 or 3 weeks you’re questionable for a couple days so it’s just, it’s unfortunate that. We are all in this position where the Cavs are in the spot. Of course they want their guys back. Of course Darius would rather play than not play. It forces us to be in positions of, well, how hurt is he? How tough is he? We don’t want nobody wants to do that, right? Bad boy pistons, you gotta go knock some people on the ground. You gotta make it even. Well, that’s what I was screaming and yelling about on. And I’m sorry. — I’m sorry the
— Cavs have not. Donovan Mitchell’s getting his ass kicked. Yes. Hallibur got a. We gonna make sure that Halliburton should be knocked on his ass. I just don’t understand the caps are soft. Put Tristan. We ain’t got nothing to lose. Yeah, you do. You can’t put him in for a couple of minutes to foul. — There is a spot
— for him, yes. I think he actually plays in game 3. So on my side. You picking up what I’m putting down any of these guys are going to play tomorrow? Who? I think I think Hunter will be out there. I don’t know. Listen, I thought Darius was. — I have
— people calling me during the show. Hey, you and Jason got the hotline. nobody love me. Uh, I thought Darius was gonna play in game two, so I, I have no idea at this point. I don’t know. I’m not gonna pretend to know. I don’t think they know. I talked to, I talked to they’re gonna play. I mean, I talked to someone this morning. Maybe Jared knows. He would know better than us. We’re gonna bring Jared. They’re all gametime decisions is, is what it, what it’s gonna come down to. And we’ll see how warmup goes. This is a must-win, an absolute must-win. There’s no other way to put it, and I think if these guys can go, I got my fingers crossed, they will, but.

Cleveland Cavaliers (64-18, first in the Eastern Conference) vs. Indiana Pacers (50-32, fourth in the Eastern Conference)

Indianapolis; Friday, 7:30 p.m. EDT

Cavaliers -2.5; over/under is 229.5

EASTERN CONFERENCE SECOND ROUND: Pacers lead series 2-0

BOTTOM LINE: The Indiana Pacers host the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference second round with a 2-0 lead in the series. The Pacers won the last meeting 120-119 on Tuesday, led by 23 points from Myles Turner. Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 48.

The Pacers are 29-22 in Eastern Conference games. Indiana is 22-15 against opponents over .500.

The Cavaliers are 12-4 against Central Division opponents. Cleveland is 5-4 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Pacers make 48.8% of their shots from the field this season, which is 3.4 percentage points higher than the Cavaliers have allowed to their opponents (45.4%). The Cavaliers score 6.8 more points per game (121.9) than the Pacers allow (115.1).

TOP PERFORMERS: Tyrese Haliburton is averaging 18.6 points and 9.2 assists for the Pacers. Aaron Nesmith is averaging 14.6 points over the last 10 games.

Darius Garland is shooting 47.2% and averaging 20.6 points for the Cavaliers. Max Strus is averaging 2.7 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games. | https://www.espn.com/nba/preview/_/gameId/401769741

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