FIRST TAKE | Cavs in 6! – Stephen A. roasts Perk after Donovan Mitchell DESTROY Hali & Pacers in Gm3

FIRST TAKE | Cavs in 6! – Stephen A. roasts Perk after Donovan Mitchell DESTROY Hali & Pacers in Gm3

Desperation mode for the Cavaliers. Cleveland in a two nothing hole entering game three in Indie. But with Darius Garland and Evan Mobley and DeAndre Hunter all back from injury. And Donovan Mitchell has been a one-man gang. 33 in game one, 48 in game two. He was electric again in game three. Looked like he wanted to throw it down. Instead, he lays it in. Cleveland up 14. Garland hadn’t played since game two of the Miami series. Out with a toe injury, not a bunion. It was a legit injury. He had gorgeous dish right there to Moy. One of three assists in the game. Closing seconds of the first. Indiana got 50 bench points. Ben Shepard three right there. It was tied at 32 after one. Second quarter. Spite of the step through move. Nine of 16 on two-point field goals. Smooth as Tennessee whiskey there. He was five of 13 from three-point range. He had a game high 17 at the half. Under a minute to go in the first half. Cavs up 18. Cleveland so good on the glass. They had 18 offensive rebounds. 5637 edge on the glass overall. 21 second chance points, most in any postseason half over the last 20 years. This was on the verge of a blowout. 6645 at the half. Indie cut the lead to 11 at one point in the second half. But Mitchell spin cycle Drano. He went for 43 on the night. Nine rebounds, five assists. the fourth player to average 45 and five through three games. LeBron, MJ, and Jerry West. The others, we have a series again. Cavs win. We don’t want to go home, you know. I mean, credit to them. They came in and stole two games on a road. So, my biggest thing was, hey, we got to do the same. Um, we accomplished one goal tonight, but the job’s not finished. We got to go out there and find a way to get one on Sunday. But the biggest thing is we it’s not that we we stuck together. Um, and that’s what it’s going to take. And obviously, I mean, you got Evan Moy, Darius Garland, DeAndre Hunter back, it always helps, but you got to continue to stay at that pace, stay at that level. We didn’t let up. That’s that’s the biggest thing. But when when you got those guys back, especially on the defensive end, man, Evan Moy’s a monster, man. He’s the defensive player of the year for a reason. DG being phenomenal. Getting into the paint, finding guys. Dre being able to play defense and different things on offensive end. So, um, it’s huge. It was a very poor effort at the beginning of the game, um, through too many parts of the game. Uh, it’s on all of us. We all own it. Um, pretty clearly I didn’t have these guys ready for this. So, I take responsibility for for that. Ty had a rough game. I got to do more to get him involved, get him shots, um, get him in better positions to, you know, defend better. All those kinds of things. And if he was up here, he’d say, “I’ll be better, you know.” So, he will. And, and I got to help him be better. Well, the key is they got to be better on the glass, too. But Donovan Mitchell was spectacular again. back-to-back 40point games. He joins LeBron as the only Cavaliers with consecutive 40point games in the postseason. James did it twice, Nicole, most recently in the 2016 finals against Golden State. Reunited with Kendrick Perkins. Look, and speaking of being reunited, the Cavs were reunited with their starting five. They are now back. When you watched how they played back together again, what impressed you the most? Outside of Donovan Mitchell, let me start here and give coach Kenny Atinson some love. The the coach of the year, right? That zone that he threw out there, he kept in his back pocket that disrupted the Pacers offense and the Pacers pa uh uh pace. Uh starting with the defensive player of the year, Evan Mobley, he was so impactful on both ends of the floor. That was the reason that they got the win. Now, on the other hand, you look at it offensively, Donovan Mitchell is averaging over 40, right? Like taking it over in in great fashion offensively. Not waiting on nobody. He’s saying, “You know what? I got you. Get me to the fourth quarter and I’m going to show you how we could close this on the road. How franchise guys supposed to close this on the road.” And Donovan Mitchell, he’s been spectacular throughout this whole series, but getting the others back. Evan Mobley, Darius Garland. Having those guys back in the lineup to be able to knock down or make some plays down the stretch is what got the Cavs over the And it’s all about adjustments. And we saw him go deep in his bag with that zone. Not only showed the numbers. Yeah. And not only did he go zone, but he put his defensive player of the year, a sevenfooter, and Evan Mobley at the top of the zone, right? And then he d he’s daring them to make threes and he’s cleaning up the glass because he’s able to keep that double big lineup out there with DeAndre Hunter. And so when I’m thinking about this, I’m looking at it, I’m like, hell of a hell of a uh substitution pattern by Kenny Ais. He had a short lease with Ty Jerome. I believe Ty Jerome can’t play in this series. But then going on the other side, Darius Garland, you cannot pick up that fourth five. It was just crazy. The Indiana Pacers have a playoff high five different players averaging at least 15 points. Five. Four of them are shooting better than 50% from the field. The Indiana Pacers can play some basketball. You know, you don’t look at guys and say, “Oh my god, they’re great, great, great.” But they got a lot of really, really good dudes that have been here before. They were in the conference finals last year. They’re ready to go. It’s not going to be enough for Donovan Mitchell to explode. It’s not going to be enough for Garland and Mobly and Hunter just to return. They have to give us some semblance of what we saw from them during the regular season in order to come back from this 20 deficit because they’re in Indiana down 200. They’re on the they’re on the brink. I don’t I agree with you. It’s not all health, but it’s a good chunk of health, I would say. Now, would they be up 2? Maybe not. But I think it’d be 1-1 if had Garland and Moy played in the last game. I mean, they had that last game. I mean, credit to the Pacers. I know we’re going to talk about Hallebertton later, which he deserves it by the way, but this guy matters. I mean, obviously we know who he is. We know what he does. Evan Mobley, Garland, without Garland, the load on Mitchell has been tremendous and he carried it as far as he got to the one yard line and then he ran out of juice. He just couldn’t get it over and Hallebertton had enough to make a huge shot. Um but but Malikica, the interesting thing is this is a this is a Cavs team that shot second in the league from three the whole season. Yeah, they’re shooting 26% in the series. You see another team that’s relied heavily on threes, Boston Celtics shooting about 25%. When you shoot this many threes and you go cold, it’s hard to win those games. Take it from a guy who knows those guys made their three. And again, I joke a little bit. What I will say is it’s different making a regular. You know this, some guys can shoot in the regular season and some guys can shoot in the postseason. It’s not the same thing. It’s not. They lack toughness. The Cavaliers. Yeah. Toughness. when when you’re trying to go win a championship, you need some you need some goons. You need some some bad guys. You need some guys that’s gonna be instigators. Green. You need that. You need a You need that. In 2008, we were crazy as hell. From myself to KG to Big Baby to Tony Allen to Eddie House, you could name it. We had guys that were going to start stuff every single game that were going to touch you up. The Indiana Pacers got that, right? They got that in Aaron N Smith. TJ McConnell go pick you up full court, go knock your hand down if you touch them. Who’s doing that for the Cleveland Cavaliers? Nobody. Not even Donovan Mitchell. They got a talented group, but a bunch of nice guys. Nice guys don’t get you championships. Nice guys do not get you championships. I’m looking for them to junk up the game some type of way. Play with some type of physicality. That’s what they’re missing. evidence, more direct evidence of what you’re seeing. N Smith is shooting 56% from three-point range this postseason. Neard is shooting 50%. Seakum 43 and a half%. When you got some goons on the other side, that don’t happen. They going to make sure they touch you. They’re going to make sure they put They going to put something on you to make sure you you understand it’s not going to be that easy. You ain’t going to sit outside looking pretty, you know, beating us from long range. We going to get up in you. So, I agree with Perk in that regard. I do believe that Cleveland can exercise that level of toughness, but they got to do it. They got to do it. Yeah. I’m not ready. I mean, I don’t know how you guys feel. I’m not ready to say Cleveland’s out of this thing by any stretch. Got to win tonight. And to your point, yeah, let’s find out if they have that. I’m not sure. I would like to see their full team, right? Uh to see if they have that or not. Well, are we going to see their full team tonight? I know what Sham said, right? the the injury report they are going to play. But Darius Garland, he’s missed the last four games and that toe in I called him out the other day. Listen, I understand the toe is damn it. I mean, the toe hurts. That’s a big deal. Figure it out. Take a shot. Limp your behind out there if you got to. He better have played tonight. I mean, they on a break. Remember, they couldn’t imbalance the basketball, right? You turn the ball over. among players with at least 10 attempts in the season. That is the best field goal percentage on game tying or go-ahead shots that occurred in the final minute and a half of a game since tracking began. And this guy didn’t even receive a single vote, not one vote for clutch player of the year. Perk, what makes Tyrese Hallebertton such a a clutch killer here? Well, I think it’s I think it’s his balance, right? The deception that Paul Pierce like used to play with, right? It was almost if you look at the gamewinners and you look at the step back, he’s the slowest in the league at the step back move, but got the quickest release once he get out of it. And it’s almost like if you, you know, Rajan Rondo and and Jaylen Brunson had a baby, you get Tyrese Hallebert. You get for real talk, you get a playoff Tyrese Allebert because not only is he going to come up clutch in those moments, but his leadership skill, his leadership in this postseason has been a beautiful thing to see. The way that he sets the table for everybody. 13 assists in game one, nine assists in game two. Everybody’s eating around him. He’s picking his poison Bob Stephen A Malikica on when and and when he’s going to be aggressive for himself and when he’s going to allow others to eat and when he’s going to set the table. Right now he’s been the best player in this series in this Cav series just solely because of those points. 18.4 points, 47% shooting, leading or you know leading everybody with 10.7 assist in the postseason. It’s been impressive. I just think I’ll simplify it. It’s guts. The brothers got that it factor in terms of closing. He, you know, when it matters most, this is how you know. Correct me if I’m wrong, Bob. Guys could be, you could watch and see other people doing whatever they’re doing offensively. And when a game is on the line, they’re looking for that other person. Even though they’ve been making shots, they’re still looking. When you look at Indiana, it could be Near, it could be Nith, it could be Miles Turn. And then when it’s on the line, here you go. That’s how they look at Hallebertton. And that’s how you know there’s no such thing as overrated when it comes to this brother. He can play. And you you said it. This goes back to the first time you play pickup basketball. Where does the ball end up when it’s game point with the guy that wants it, right? And a lot of guys don’t want it. They talk about wanting it. They don’t. There’s not a And by the way, Perk, you I I say this respectfully and I and I was not ever an NBA player. There’s a lot of guys that in those moments are scared. Oh, They’re scared. Yeah. And you But by the way, that’s probably the most normal way to feel. Yeah, it is scary. He’s not scared. No. When he shot that ball, I said that’s going in. I mean, and he’s done it all year, Malik. Like you said, I put him up there with the best some of the best shot makers in our league right now. He is. He’s proven it. And I always look at it like this, Stephen. A when you say, you know how you know? When I was working in that business, I’d look at a guy like that and I’d be like, “Oh boy, we’re down. we’re we’re up one, but he’s got the ball. And then you look at certain other guys and you go, they they’re not they can’t score here, right? But he gives you that shot. And think about this. I want y’all to go look at the last play with Jason Tatum and how he sped up and go look at the last play with Tyrese Hallebertton and how he knew like he knew the timing and everything. It’s a crazy looking shot, too. And Cleveland question, you’re putting me in a tough spot here. Let me just say if you’re a Cavs fan, you’re going to be very encouraged that just a few minutes ago they wrapped shootaround and all three of their questionable players, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, and DeAndre Hunter were out there on the court working through shootound. It doesn’t mean they’re all going to play, but if they weren’t out there, I would say almost no chance. So, they are looks and and I I get it. If they lose tonight, they can’t I think they’re done. So, this is all or nothing. How much they can they can contribute, I don’t know. In g, by the way, I’ve had conversations about Donovan Mitchell’s value in the playoffs with like Hall of Fame coaches and executives. He is extremely well respected because of his ability at both ends. I know he doesn’t have the reputation as being a good defender, but he can defend in situations. So, I probably go with Donovan, but I only go with Donovan if he gets his two other all-stars back with him. So, let’s see. That’s going to be a big factor at the tip off who’s available. Great note on the shoot around because that’s why I think you’re seeing the point spread move from Cleveland minus one up to three and a half at the moment and that’s probably going to keep going. Stephen A, jump in. This has been a disappointment for me. Um, it’s been good from the standpoint that the Indiana Pacers are proving to be a good team. They don’t have anybody great, but they got a lot of really good players. All right, N Smith and Nem Hard and these brothers and Alleird, I want to hear a damn thing about him being overrated. his brother has has balled out. Uh, and I and remember I wanted them to draft him instead of Obie Toppin. No shade on Obie Toppin, who I’m proud of as well, but I wanted the Knicks to draft him years ago instead of Obie Toppin. Having said all of that, the fact that Cleveland has sustained so many damn injuries is really taking some of the luster off of this. If this had happened and Darius Garland is on the court for game two and DeAndre Hunter is on and and Evan Mobley are on the court for game two, that’s different. But you just know that without them healthy, they’re not beating Indiana. And that is what has taken some of the sizzle off of this.

FIRST TAKE | Cavs in 6! – Stephen A. Smith roasts Perk after Donovan Mitchell DESTROY Hali & Pacers in Game 3