Perk says the Cavs are IN TROUBLE 👀 ‘I’m always weary of Donovan Mitchell-led teams’ 😬 | First Take

Perk says the Cavs are IN TROUBLE 👀 ‘I’m always weary of Donovan Mitchell-led teams’ 😬 | First Take

The Pacers stunned the top seated the Cavs last night by going into their house and taking game one. Donovan Mitchell’s 33 points weren’t enough to overcome poor shooting from deep and Tyrese Hallebertton’s allaround performance of 22 points and 13 assists. Postgame, Mitchell spoke on what he took away from his team’s loss. You got to come in and give them credit to make shots on the road. Game one set that tone. that that’s credit to them. But, you know, never hang in your head. Doesn’t don’t trip. That’s pretty much been the message the whole time. And even tonight, understanding that look, we didn’t play our best basketball. We’ll we’ll be better. So, our message is pretty much consistent regardless. But, um, you know, understanding that, hey, we found some things that we can, you know, better at and we’ll we’ll be better. Perk, quickly. And I mean quickly, make your point. Are the Cavs in trouble after that game one loss? Hell yeah, they in trouble. Hell yeah, they’re in trouble. And look, I had this series going seven games because I’m I was I’m always weary of a Donovan Mitchellled team. They’re his teams that’s led by him never go to a conference finals, right? And when you look at what the Pacers do, they play a genderfree basketball offensively. They don’t care who gets to shine. By the way, I think we all forgot this was a team that went to the conference finals against the NBA champions last year. These guys have experience, right? When you think about those guys and what they do defensively, they get into you. Tyrese Hallebertton showing the leadership last night on the road, setting the table for everybody, picking his picking his spots when went to attack and be aggressive. I’m looking at this team and I’m like, if the Cavs don’t get Evan Mobley more involved and more than 13 shots, they’re going to get their ass sent home. This is not a Tai Jerome type series. So, Kenny Aerson needs to take that out of his game plan. There’s no way in hell that game should have ended with Tai Jerome having more FGAs than uh Evan Moy. Nowhere in hell. But this series going seven, I’m giving a slight edge to the Pacers right now. I was about 3 seconds over, but I’ll forgive you. Go ahead, Swaggle. Well, well, don’t take my damn 3 seconds telling him he 3 seconds over. Listen, I I agree with you, per I agree with you, man. A agenda free basketball. And I love what Halle Burton’s doing. He, you know, he turned this thing on in March. I think he averaging like 20 and 11 since March. But you look at the way he’s facilitating and moving this rock and the size. I like I I 100% agree with you that Moley got to be involved. He needs to be the second option. When Garland comes back, they determine how that goes. But ultimately, the size matchup is there with Miles Turner standing in the in the paint and knocking shots down. But when you look at the Pacers play, obviously a really good coach who has this experience of going to finals and doing a phenomenal job at playing and scheming against superstar players. But more importantly, bro, Tyrese Hallebert Burton and the way that he’s facilitating and creating for other people to me is the most important part for the Pacers right now. Which is why I agree with you, Per. You know, coming down the stretch of the season when the Pacers won the race for the four seed in the East, the Cavs were watching that because that is not a great matchup for them. After the Celtics, I think the Pacers are the toughest matchup in the East for the Cavs. They knew this and now Darius Garland’s got this sprained toe that is still lingering. And you know against the Heat, they could survive without him. Against the Pacers, they need that offensive creation. When Donovan Mitchell takes 30 shots in a playoff game, a lot of this is from his Jazz days. His teams are one and five. When he takes 11 three-pointers, they’re two- seven. When you make him a volume score, he’s not effective. He’s better as a part of the group. And the other thing about this is the Cavs didn’t lose this game on offense. They lost this game on defense. 19 three-pointers. They were sluggish to guard Andrew Nemhard, who for some reason is a killer in three-point shooting in the playoffs. This guy shot 29% in the regular season on threes. That’s a guy you leave open. In the playoffs in his career, it’s 57%. I know you remember that from last year, Stephen A, in that Knicks series, he did that. So, the other thing is Hallebertton on these switches. The Cavs were switching, putting Jared Allen on him, etc. Hallebertton killed it. They have to re-evaluate how that game plan is going to work if he’s going to be that effective. Donovan Mitchell has the seventh highest postseason scoring average in NBA history based on a minimum of 50 games. Just so y’all know, Michael Jordan with 33.4. Luca Donic with 30.9. Allan Iverson with 29.7. Kevin Durant with 29.3. Jerry West, God rest the soul, 29.1. LeBron James 28.4. And then there’s Donovan Mitchell at 27.9. in 59 games. Yet, despite that scoring prowess, his teams, the Jazz and Cavs, to piggy back off your point, Big Perk, they’ve won only four of 11 playoff series he’s played in. So, that’s the situation right now for a guy that’s been named an All-Star for six consecutive seasons. Donovan Mitchell is going to have to get it together if the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to advance. Yes. Go ahead real quick. Go ahead. Ball Ball dominance is cool. Ball dominance is cool until it ain’t right. Like we applaud and celebrate these players for being able to get these numbers. I saw Ant not have a great shooting night and get teammates involved. That’s the that’s the jump that Donovan Mitchell has to make. So again, you bring up that point the scoring and all of that is cool until it ain’t. And it usually comes to fruition in the playoffs. It ain’t that we don’t need you to score, it’s that we need you to get other people involved too because it’s going to take more than you. real quick with the three of y’all. Go ahead. I’m sorry. Go ahead, Perk. My part. Go ahead. Wendy. Wendy SA. Y’all know this. Swaggle. You know this too. Kenny Atinson got this job because he’s a great coach. He’s a good coach, but he killed it in the meeting when they when they had his when he had his meeting with the Cavs front office when he was interviewing. He they asked him the key piece was in there was unlocking Evan Moley. Right. Well, this is the time. This is the time I believe they should go small and I believe they should run pick and rolls and search out mismatches and let him punish those guys in the paint. Golden State survived the Houston Rockets in round one of the playoffs after 10389 game seven showdown. Steph took over late scoring 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter. However, it was Buddy Heield that held it down for the Golden State Warriors putting up 33 points courtesy of nine three-pointers. The T-Wolves and Warriors will face off in the playoffs for the first time in a playoff series with the Wolves favored to win the series at minus 190 at ESPN Bet Sportsbook. The Warriors won the season series against the T- Wolves 3 to1 without Jimmy Butler in all four games. Burke, let’s go to you on this one. What would be more intriguing? Ant-Man getting his first ring or Steph Curry capturing his fifth? Oh, it’s definitely Anthony Ed was getting his first ring. And it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. Think about this. Knocking off LeBron and Luca now facing Steph. If he gets past this series, he could possibly be looking at SGA, who I believe is going to beat the Denver Nuggets, who might who should who’s probably going to win the MVP. All of a sudden, you get past a SGA or Jokic to make it to the to the finals to face a Boston Celtic team who I believe is going to be there and you knock off the defending champs and Jason Tatum, we could be arguably looking at one of the greatest individual runs, final NBA champion championship runs in the NBA history. and to get his first ring and bring it back to Minnesota. I know he don’t want to be the face of the league, but let him win his let him win uh his first championship, especially this year, he have no choice but to be the face of the league. Wendy, let me transition to you with this question. Who’s the most important player in the Wolves versus Warriors series? This could be a number of different people, but the difference making thing that happened to the Wolves down the stretch was Julius Randall. He got healthy. He settled into his role and he was awesome down the stretch of the season. And they went 17 and four to get that six seed. The reason they’ve got home court right now is because they outlasted the Warriors to get the six seed and bump the Warriors to seven. We couldn’t necessarily have seen the bracket fall this way, but Randall helped make that possible with how good he was down the stretch. Then his be he had a checkered playoff history. his time with the Knicks, he was awesome in this series with the Lakers. He was a totally a differencemaking player. He carries that forward here. He just gives them margin for error because you know that Anna is going to have to play well. We know that. You know that you’re going to have to get good play from the supporting players. Guys like Nas Reed, um guys like Dante Danchenzo, Rudy Goar has got to be effective in his minutes. But Julius Randle is an allNBA player and when he can elevate his game to that level, it gives the Wolves a great advantage. They are already going to be bigger than the Warriors in this series. They are already going to be better rested. They’re already going to have homecourt advantage. If they can have two of the three or two of the four best players, which is what Randall can do, you really swing this thing into their favor. Swag Wendy, I love that from a b basketball perspective. Obviously, um, you think about this Minnesota team, I’m going beyond basketball, the game within the game. And that’s why I got Rudy Goar because how much is he going to influence Draymond Green to get out of his mind and make mistakes like technical fouls or flagrant fouls? We already know that both of these guys have a disdain for each other that runs a long history. Also, with the basketball part is we saw the Houston Rockets against Golden State on the offensive glass. I want to remind everybody, we just watched Rudy Gobear go for 24 rebounds in a game. I think that’s going to be a major factor in those extra extra possessions that he’s able to create. Now, obviously, sometimes the matchups may may send him to the bench, but I think when Minnesota wants to force the issue and they want to create more opportunities offensively, Rudy Gobear can be a be a stalworth down there, either getting putbacks, tipping the ball out, or just getting offensive rebounds. But that other thing is something to watch for as well. How much can he get under Draymond’s Draymond Green skin to make him think about more than just playing the game? And it becomes that tit fortat matchup that we’ve seen get Draymond in trouble in important series for Golden State historically while the uh Golden State Warriors are trying to make a play at a championship. I can’t disagree with anything any of y’all have said, but the name that comes to my mind is Jimmy Butler, Jimmy Buckets, I think that when you’re Golden State, considering how undized you are, all right, the questionable part, the questionable efficiency that you’re going to get from others. played relatively well yesterday, but is he that going to continue? Kaminga is just psyched out. Uh Steve Kerr lost all confidence in him, then put him in the game yesterday. He couldn’t do anything right. Okay, Draymond Green, you can’t anticipate or expect him to be hitting three-pointers or whatever. He’s going to have his hands full considering how undersized Golden State is and what he’s going to have to gumption up in order to ultimately push uh Golden State forward. Jimmy Buckets has to be that guy in my opinion. big perk. He has to be a guy that’s letting them know Steph Curry ain’t alone. I’m that dude come playoff time. I know I had the pelvic injury and whatever. I’m a bit better than that now. I played the last few games considering how bigger Minnesota is. Jimmy Buckets has to play big in order to help Steph Curry give the Golden State Warriors a chance. Go ahead, Perk. I agree. I mean, it’s so many players that we could point out, and I agree with all y’all, you know, and get y’all points, but this series has Draymond Green written all over it. Steve Kerr said that Draymond Green is the greatest defender he’s ever seen, right? He’s going against a guy who they don’t respect in Rudy Gobert, which goes to uh Swag Goo Point. Rudy got four defensive player of the year awards, right? Trophies in in his household. I in his crib. I don’t know if they here or in France, but damn it, he got four of them. Draymond has a huge responsibility this series. One, he’s going to have to shut that ward off of Julius Ram, which Wendy just highlighted how great Julius been playing, especially alongside Anthony Edwards. Two, he’s going to have to control the paint for as the glass. Highlighting again, the Rockets were feasting on the offensive glass. Rudy just had, I think, nine offensive rebounds against the Lakers. The one I got swept. Go ahead, Swag. Go ahead, Swag. I got a question for Perk. I got a question for Perk. Perk, something I saw them do. Do you think Wendy? This is Wendy. What’ you say, Wendy? Talk about spoken to. Seek spoken to. What? Go ahead, man. Go ahead. I got a question. Real quick, ask a question for perk. Perk Cavon Looney in this series. How important is he going to be? Do you think they match that up with Rudy Gober to move Draymond off that? I I think I think Steve K have no choice. Swaggle, we saw it last night. Cavon Looney comes in and all of a sudden give some great give some great minutes. And to Stephen A point, you can’t play Kaminga. Don’t even think about playing them at this point. Mentally, he’s not there. And to be honest, it’s unfair to even put him on the floor because as a coach, you didn’t already showed him and basically told him that you don’t trust him. Okay, cool. But Cavon Looney and spot minutes definitely could help this Golden State Warriors team. We saw that last night, especially when you battling some bigs like a Rudy Go and a Julius Ram. Wendy, before I go to you, but I was I was given I was furnished with the rules and number one was speak when spoken to. I’m just saying I’m okay. No, you have you have permission to speak. You have permission to speak. The rules have not changed. But go ahead, Wendy. You may. Yeah, they have. Um, this is going to be a hard series for the Warriors, guys, because we just saw the Wolves use their size and depth to bash the Lakers. And the Wolves or the Warriors also play small. And if you look at what’s succeeding in the NBA right now, it’s depth and size. You look at these teams who are, you know, the Cavs, I know they’re down 01, but even the Pacers have depth and size. Celtics, depth and size. Thunder, depth and size. The the depth of the Wolves was a huge difference maker in that last series. So, I would never put anything past Steph. The Wolves certainly are a flawed team. It’s it’s it’s it’s a tall task. It’s a tall order to come and win this series without homec court advantage. We had a stat earlier today when you only have one day off and you’ve got to go on the road after playing a sevengame series your average is a 20point loss. So if they if the Warriors even, you know, keep that in mind for the Nuggets tonight in Oklahoma City, if the Warriors even make it a game tomorrow, they’ll have done a good job. That’s what they’re going up against right now. I got to tell you this though, you brought up Julius Randall earlier, Wendy, and I got to say this against the Lakers, uh, obviously he blew by. Practically every highlight was him blowing by Luca Donuch. Um, and the Lakers didn’t have anybody on the interior to defend in terms of blocking shots. I think it’s one of these situations against Golden State. You know what? You don’t necessarily have a rim protector as it pertains to blocking shots, but you’re not going to blow by them as easily as you blew by Luca Donuch with the Lakers if you’re Julius Randle. So, I think that that’s something to watch out for.

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Kendrick Perkins, Brian Windhorst and Marcus Spears discuss the Cleveland Cavaliers losing to the Indiana Pacers in Game 1, the Golden State Warriors playing the Minnesota Timberwolves in Round 2 and more.

0:00 What a Game 1 loss means for the Cavs
6:20 The Warriors eliminating the Rockets in Round 1
7:26 Timberwolves vs. Warriors series
12:00 Who’s the most important player in the Timberwolves vs. Warriors series?

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