Do the Cleveland Cavaliers have the MENTAL TOUGHNESS to put G4 behind them & save the season in G5?

Do the Cleveland Cavaliers have the MENTAL TOUGHNESS to put G4 behind them & save the season in G5?

In the first conversation we have on today’s Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show is being brought to us by Epicor. Every team knows the value of hard work and taking pride in what you build in practicing every detail to get the best results, but no one player, no matter how amazing, can do it all alone. Working together makes getting the win easier at Epicor. The All-Stars are the hardworking manufacturers and distributors who create and deliver the things we all need from aerospace to a Electrical to medical devices, from small businesses with big dreams to growing enterprises with global visions, we’ll equip you with the right tools to move forward, think ahead and lead the way as the clock ticks down. You need to make the most out of every hardworking minute. Easier doesn’t cut corners. Easier finds the lane. Discover your success at easier with Epicor.com. That is easier with Epicor.com. Bullet is game 5 tonight between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Indiana Pacers. 7 p.m. TNT, the Cavs’ season is on the line. I know you weren’t here yesterday when we discussed the atrocity that was game 4, but let’s try and put that behind us. Look ahead. — Can
— I just say one thing real quick? Of course. OK. Watching that first half on Sunday, when I was a kid watching college basketball. And Saint John’s would be on TV. And remember when I was a kid, Saint John’s was a powerhouse. Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, Bill Wennington, Walter Berry, Shell, like all these great players. And the first month of the season, they would play all these little rinky-dink schools like the univers, the Manhattan College, yeah, it would be a lot of New York schools. You play all these rinky-dink like barely Division One schools and And the final score would be like 90 to 27. That’s what it was like watching that first half. That’s what it was like. So now we move forward. And Yes, we said, I know a lot of people said, well, you know, they’ve come back down 3-1 before. No, no, they haven’t come back down 3. — LeBron and
— Kyrie came back down 3-1. Let’s get tweak. OK. I, I got right now. I have zero faith in this team. Could they win tonight? Sure. Here’s what I think is gonna happen, G. You tell me what you think. I think they’re gonna play a decent game tonight. I think they’re gonna win. They’re gonna tease us into believing they can come back and then they’re gonna lay another egg in Indiana on Thursday and lose. That’s why, that’s how I see it. Oh, please, please, hope I’m wrong. I think they’ll win, I think they’ll win tonight’s game, and I don’t wanna make it seem like that’s an easy task. No, it’s not, um, cause, you know, Indiana’s come out back and beat them twice on a on a starting the series off twice you lose whole part advantage that quickly. Um, but I do believe that, you know, in this game, they’ll come out and win this game. Uh, the game that they need to win and the hardest game to win is to closeout game, Game 6 in Indianapolis. Even when you, even when you go back traditionally, you look at what the Cavs had to do. We talked about LeBron and Kyrie. It took them both getting 40 points on the road in, in, in Oakland in order to beat the goal. State Warriors, both of them have 40, and they’re gonna need that type of that type of of game to, to beat the to to beat the Pacers on uh whatever game they play, game 6 when they come back if they win this game. But I don’t know if they got that capability of doing that. I don’t know, you know, you got Donovan Mitchell, he’s hobb. I heard, uh, we, I was listening to Baskin and Phelps on the way to to work and, you know, Phelps was like, hey. Uh, maybe Donovan sits and lets them, uh, try to figure this one out and then comes back and say, bro, this ain’t that type of ball game. If he can physically, if there’s any chance he can play, he’s gonna be out there, — you know that
— he is at this shots he’s out there. If he can’t play, it’s because he can’t, he can’t move. Yeah, listen, they know what type of time it is and I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna say this, but, but look. It’s sometimes I was just sitting there about thinking about certain things and I was thinking to myself, you know, when you’re younger, I don’t know if this is the case, like when you’re, you’re, when you’re Darius Garland or when you’re Evan Mobley and you know, for this, for this, those are the next two guys we look to step up. Like are they too young to realize that there’s an opportunity? Like, are, are, are they, are they too young? Are they too young to realize that, that you look around and you watch TV and you say, hey guys, if somehow we could pull this series out, the only guys that are standing in, in our way between going to, to the NBA Finals is, is the New York Knicks and the Ho Celtics team at this point. Um, how much are they thinking like, man, this is a perfect opportunity for us, not to say we’re skating nowhere, we’re, we’re sliding through undetected, but this is a great opportunity to play teams that we’ve been better than all year. What like can, we can’t like we, we can get a game at home. Next game’s gonna be tough, but if we get that game, we gotta feel really good about home court advantage and that’s why, that is why we, we played this hard to get the best record in the league. I just, I, I, I think they’ll get this, this game. I think they’ll play hard. I, I just don’t know how, how much it’s gonna really affect them in, in game 6. Yeah, I mean, with again. Uh, on paper, they should, they probably, they probably should lose this game. I don’t know because with Donovan banged up, it’s hard to have any faith in this team. They feel spineless, soft, and they just get, they, they just got, they’ve been so out hustled and manhandled in this series, Mike. We are going to learn more about the makeup of this Cavs team. In the 1st 6 minutes of tonight’s game that I think we could say we’ve learned in the 2.95 years that this group’s been together. I’m serious. If this team comes out and falls tonight, then anyone over the last 3 years that says this team’s soft, no mental fortitude, no backbone, you know what? — You’re gonna be 100%
— right. And and what I’ve been saying for 2 years that the regular season doesn’t matter is once again proven the finish this point. All that stuff. Maybe 60 minutes isn’t the exact mark, but by the end of tonight’s game. We may not have a definitive answer that they are tough and they are mentally strong enough and they have a backbone and they have the balls needed to win a tie. We’re gonna have a yes, but we certainly can get a no and we certainly will know early on in this game if they’re gonna come out and roll over like they did in game 4, which in my opinion was an inexcusable effort. In a crucial, basically must-win playoff game. Game 4 in a 2-1 series is typically a game where both teams know the stakes. It’s either going back 2-2 or you’re going down 3-1, where historically speaking, only 5% of teams have ever come back from that deficit. 13 teams in the history of the league have done it out of 280 chances, not a high percentage, and you come out and you lay a dud, an inexcusable dud. If that doesn’t bring out your best effort from the start at home in game 5, then everyone over the last 3 years who said soft, fragile, weak, can’t win the big one, you will get your validation tonight. Yeah. And nobody wants that. We don’t, I mean, we don’t want, and nobody wants to be proven right that the Cavs are soft. I mean, unless you’re not a Cavs fan. That’s the worst nightmare, man, because next year they go 82-0. Don’t nobody won’t nobody, nobody will care. There’s no way I know again there’s always a percentage of the fan base that likes to just enjoy the games as we go and whether it leads to a championship they’re going to the game or they’re watching the game, they wanna be entertained that day. But how can I get enthused about the Cavaliers? Like we thought Kenny Atkins that the problem was only the coach. And this, if they lose tonight, That’s worse than anything that happened in the last two years, because it Because it, it, it to me, the way that I look at it with the, with the aprons and all of this other good stuff and the way it’s so difficult to retool your team, it puts them in a situation where They’re just hoping and wishing that Evan Mobley just because to me, Everybody else is at their ceiling. Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, Donovan Mitchell as great as he is, he, you know, where he peaks, and the only reason he’s peaking is because of his size. Like it’s a high peak, yeah, it’s a very, he’s peaked, he’s great. Jared Allen is peaked. You’re never getting he’s 100, he peaked two years ago. He’s not gonna give you any more. You, you can’t ask him to turn it on and be a mean guy overnight. That’s that’s the way, which is a good season. That’s all you can ask for from a 4th option. Like, you’re right. And when you talk about the age of these guys, we keep talking about this Cavs team being a super young team. They’re not as young as I think a lot of people think. They gonna read some of the core guys’ ages. They’re not old by any means. Do not misconstrue misconstrue, but Jared Allen’s 27 years old. Darris is 25. DeAndre Hunter’s 27, Donovan’s 28. Evans 23, that’s by far the youngest, or not by far, but the youngest of the core. But this is 4th year in the league. This is Darius’ 6th year in the league, I believe, 5th or 6th year. Jared Allen’s been around for 78 years. Donovan entering his 8th, it’ll be his 9th season next year. Like these guys aren’t newbies to the spotlight. They haven’t had that deep playoff. Run yet, but it’s not like this is a guy in their 2nd or 3rd year still trying to figure out the league. These guys all kind of understand what it takes to be at that high, high, high level, even if they haven’t reached it. How much did you kicked out about it. It didn’t inspire, — spark anything and
— it was a huge break for the cat like Matherin started the whole thing, so I think I actually think the refs got it right, but they got lucky because Hunter overreacted. Like you can’t, you can’t lose your cool like that. But whatever. They Main’s one of their good players. He got kicked out of the game in the NBA playoffs, right? And they still when that happened, I’m like, right, go on. — We
— have been asking and I’m curious what you think on this. I don’t think I asked you this specific question yesterday. You specifically and both two have been asking like one of these caps gotta fight back like someone’s gotta show some fight. And Hunter did. Like that was kind of what we’ve been waiting for. And, and if it did, it inspired Indiana. I, I don’t think I was kind of getting at this on a previous point. They are who they are. Like it, it ain’t like, you know, some psychologists and people talk about how a person is fully developed in terms of their personality and the core tendencies of who they are by the age between 11 and 13. So you could try to reform people after that and you try to unless something catastrophic happens in your life where it’s like, oh, let me wake up, you, you are who you are. Let’s just be honest with you. Jared Allen is not fighting nobody. Nope, ever, no. Darius Garland, I have never even seen Darius Garland argue with nobody. Most likely he’s laughing and just enjoying time. Uh, Evan Mobley, I don’t even see him speak, it’s captions under, it’s closed captions for hearing impaired when Evan Mobley is playing. He don’t even talk to people. Sam Merrill, he’s smacking people in the mouth? No. Uh, — I’m Mitchell’s tough
— guy. Dean Wade, Dean Wade is a tough guy. Isaac Cora, I would let marry my one of my aunts. He doesn’t want to be with none of them. They don’t look like, you know, but I let Isaac Akoro is a great young man. Who and your and your enforcer can’t be a 6’2 Donovan Mitchell. So no, they’re never going to do anything ever. Uh, Jalen Tyson is nice. Uh, Max Stru is fiery. He gets into it. But like you said, one of the things we looked at, you know who used to be their enforcer? George Nang. By the way, — Nyang
— was Ne Yang was that guy for him. — He’s no longer
— here. Speaking of which, there was a play, I think it was in the 3rd quarter. I don’t know if you guys like because at this point, your eyes are probably glazing over so who knows if anybody — but I happen
— to know the time was hurt the paint. I couldn’t even watch them. I already know what you’re thinking of and it was 3. No, no, no, no, you’re not Sam Merrill was going to the basket. And he got destroyed. I don’t, I don’t remember who hit him. Somebody hit him, fouled him, then threw him on the ground, and he, Sam Merrill and the other guy fell to the ground on the Pacers. I can’t remember who it was. And then when the Pacers guy got up first, he kind of like pushed Merrill, like kind of just, I don’t think like need him or pushed him. Merrill did nothing. Nobody else did anything like this. The Pacers used him like a rag doll, and the Pacers ain’t tough. Like this is a crazy part. — They look tough
— in this series. They, — they’re not a tough
— they make, that’s the hard part for me. No disrespect to any Pacers people out there. — Let me just keep it
— real. They deserve all credit. They’ve been kicking, they’ve been kicking our tail. But when you look at their roster. They’re not going if they beat the Cavs, they’re not, they’re, — they have uh a 2% chance of winning and they beat the
— Knicks last year. I went down the Knicks. Hey, listen, I’m gonna tell you this. They, the reason why they don’t is the Knicks are, are able to refer to more goonish tendencies than they are. That’s true. They, they, if they’re gonna let, if they’re gonna let you play this type of game, the Pacers, all they realized was, hey, they’re gonna let us get this off. They’re not really. The Knicks are not. Josh Hart is not going. And and Obi is not letting you. Jalen Brunson, all of them, they are not going to let you get. You think they’re gonna, you think they’re gonna let them come in the garden game one and two and put no, stop. Now listen, on some basketball if they just wanna outdo them, but that’s my problem with the Cavs. It’s not like the Cavs don’t have ballplayers, but the problem is, honestly, and I’ve been saying it from the get-go. This season, people said it was about Mobley. I said it was about Garland. I, I, I said it was about Garland. He’s been in the league 6 years. He’s a max player. Again, we are in the playoffs. Last year, people say it was the broken jaw. It was the broken jaw. He lost a lot of weight, all this good stuff. He was going through some stuff. All right, this year, first round, it’s the toe, you know, I know he’s going through a lot of pain this that. 3rd, bro, you and Max dude and and and and we and we and Donovan Mitchell was hurt. We can’t have you having 13 or 12 or don’t know where you’re at. Like those are the type of guys that you gotta step up and you gotta play well. Like, and, and right now I don’t think I, I would rather trust. At this point, Evan Mobley more than I would trust Darius Garland because Evan Mobley, I think is less hurt and at least Evan Mobley shows a little more fight than what I what I see normally out of Garland. — I don’t know
— honestly, outside of Mitchell, the only guy I can’t really say anything. That’s been disappointing is Max Drews. That’s been awesome. That’s it. Mobley’s been OK. He’s been fine, but not like he hasn’t taken it, raised his game in the playoffs. Darius has been a disappointment. Ty Jerome’s cost himself millions of dollars. Can we see? — We see Mobley’s numbers
— and the rest of the bench is done. That’s the difference, guys. We talked about this big advantage of the bench. The Pacers bench has been a million times better than the Cavs’ bench. Right now, they’re deeper because, you know, obviously, the Cavs dealt with some injuries, but the Pacers. They’re just getting good consistent play from anybody that goes in there. Everybody’s playing solid basketball for them. This is something Jason and I were talking about off-air yesterday. The Cavs’ superpower all season have been their depths, and we talked going to the series. How Indiana’s bench was far superior than Miami’s and even though I thought it was close, I still gave the edge to Cleveland. It’s not the bench, right? It’s been not been close. Indiana’s been a million times better. That, that may not even be putting it in, in good enough context because Ty’s been in complete MIA with Mobley. And with Garland being hurt, Sam Merrills had to kind of find his way in the starting lineup and he’s been. Kind of what you expect, nothing special, but he he’s done it. A a relative job filling in in that spot. You got nothing from Akoro. You got nothing from Dean Wade, and those are your four bench guys. And when Sam Merrow, who’s filling in and giving you. He’s not giving you anything, but you’re also not expecting a ton from him when he fills in there. If that’s the best you’re getting from your bench, you’re getting nothing, and they’re getting Madin, who’s been awesome in this series. OB Toupin has been awesome in this series. TJ McConnell has been awesome in this series. Ben Shepard making shots from the corner. He’s been up and down. Thomas Bryant’s been the best back of big in this series, and Thomas Bryant stinks. He’s terrible. He looks. Like a mess that guy. His whole that’s his whole career, by the way. He was a 5 star kid, ton of talent, just could never seem to put it together. — He
— just looks like whoever they put in there has played well, everybody, there’s no, there’s nobody having a bad series for Indiana, and each and everybody and every one of them people is coming in off the Patriots be bench got an attitude like somebody stole something from him. We come try you know what, now that, now that I say it, maybe that should have been on us that the, the, the record really. The record really blinds you to a lot of different things like next year. There there shouldn’t be anybody. I don’t care how great it looks. There should be nobody championing Dean Wade and the Coro. Those guys have been unplayable in 3 straight playoff series, and we’ve seen it against multiple teams. It ain’t like it’s the, it’s the same teams. Orlando, y’all look terrible. Boston, Knicks, you, you look horrible in this series. I mean, it’s not like it’s just one team that was a and that’s the thing with the Cavs, we are so interested in saying, well, it’s just a bad matchup. it can’t be a bad matchup against the best teams in the East. Gee, you’re more talented. It’s not a bad matchup. The Cavs are more talented. Yeah, there’s no excuse top to bottom, they have the two best players in the if’s healthy. Mitchell and Mobley is better than no doubt on Indiana. By the way, you think about this, and obviously there’s still games to win and we don’t want this to happen, but we could be looking at a Final Four in the NBA of Minnesota who’s never won a championship, Oklahoma City who’s never won a championship. Uh, the Knicks, who haven’t won in over 50 years, and the Pacers who have never won a championship. It’d be crazy to your regular thing, your regular season success. I got a stat for you. Then we’ll move on, talk some browns. We’ll get back when Tys is back in, talk a little about Donovan’s injury. But in the history of the NBA history of the league, 16 teams have won 64 regular season games. And had an average margin of victory of at least 9 points that season. OKC and Cleveland are 2 of those 16. So take them out of, I’m gonna give you the number of 14. Of those 14 teams prior, who won at least 64 regular seasons with an average margin of victory of at least 9 points, 13 made the finals. Who was the only one that didn’t? The Spurs in 11 to the Thunder. And that was the same in the in the semifinals. That was the same year the Warriors won 73 regular season games. They didn’t even finish. They were 67 and 15, didn’t finish first in their conference. I remember 6 games back. — But
— the Cavs team might be the most fraudulent team in the history of the NBA. Well, they, if they lose, they will have lost in the same round the Spurs team did they — didn’t
— they have a big injury too that team was the Zaza, yeah, but my point is. Regular season success does not necessarily translate to postseason success. We’ve talked about that at length. The way the Cavs dominated the regular season, historically speaking from that perspective. Was a shoe-in for what the Cavs should have gone to at least a step above where they had been. And if they lose in the Eastern Conference semifinals, especially if they lose 4 games to 1, losing 3 games at home. It would be one of the most disappointing disappointing flameouts. In NBA history, and I refuse to have anyone tell me anything else. Injuries played a factor. Sure, but they were all healthy in game 4 and they got — boat raced down by 41 at halftime in
— game one, they were missing Garland. Obviously game 2, they had a lot of guys hurt. — Game 3 and
— 42 with those guys as well. It took an epic collapse in even without those guys. — I don’t
— wanna hear, listen, they’ve been outplayed in this line. That’s it. And and and and and the people that are saying is injuries, you guys are idiots. They, they listen, you guys are the ones that Bull describes as just wanna go to the game. If you wanna go to the game, just that’s just fine. Just say, listen, I’m a casual. I listen, I’m gonna support my team regardless, but if you, if you, you call yourself a hardcore sports fan. You know it’s part of the game. Steph Curry is not playing right now. Uh, listen, Jayson Tatum is out right now. Guys are injured like this part of the game. Uh, Drew Holliday missed a bunch of the first round. This is part of the game when you use injuries is, is, is. Oh, we were injured. You, you, you sound ridiculous. The Cavs have been outplayed. They, and, and even more ridiculous was, oh, they were gassed that second game. How are you gassed and you don’t play all year? Just defense guys. I, I get it. I don’t want to hear about injuries because in game one it was just Darius. They’re good enough. They won 64 games. Obviously, Darius is important. They should have been able to win that game without Darius. Game two, everybody’s out, but they blew a huge lead. That was up 2. So I don’t wanna hear about injuries there either. Game 3, and you can’t talk about injuries in game 4 because those same guys played in game 3 and 1. So. I want to hear that they’re injured again in game 4 when they were perfectly fine in game 3. I understand they’re dealing with injuries. They’re not 100%. How many players are 100% in the NBA right now? Yeah, I mean, with a hand injury. The Pacers have been the better team. They have kicked their ass, and we’ll see what happens tonight.

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

Cleveland; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EDT

Cavaliers -6.5; over/under is 229.5

EASTERN CONFERENCE SECOND ROUND: Pacers lead series 3-1

BOTTOM LINE: The Indiana Pacers look to clinch the series over the Cleveland Cavaliers in game five of the Eastern Conference second round. The Pacers defeated the Cavaliers 129-109 in the last matchup on Monday. Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 21 points, and Darius Garland led the Cavaliers with 21.

The Cavaliers are 41-11 against Eastern Conference opponents. Cleveland ranks fifth in the NBA with 45.4 rebounds led by Jarrett Allen averaging 9.7.

The Pacers are 10-6 against Central Division opponents. Indiana ranks fourth in the Eastern Conference with 17.5 fast break points per game led by Bennedict Mathurin averaging 3.8.

The Cavaliers average 15.9 made 3-pointers per game this season, 3.0 more made shots on average than the 12.9 per game the Pacers allow. The Pacers average 13.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.3 fewer makes per game than the Cavaliers allow. | https://www.espn.com/nba/preview/_/gameId/401769743

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