PTI - Why the Cavaliers Win over the Pistons Was So Crucial?

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the Cavs big win over the Pistons, potential landing spots for QB Malik Willis, and who will take over in the World Baseball Classic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. It's National Dance the Waltz Day. Tony, can you waltz?

I'm Tony Kornizer, no, but I can penguin dance. Hit it, boys. To the side, back to the front. Slow it down and speed it up. That was a BP fastball right down the middle. Can you waltz? No, I could when I was a kid. I have forgotten how.

Back then. Did you know? Can you waltz? Yeah. For your own wedding? Fantastic. Where'd you have your wedding in Paris? You had the waltz? Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, where should Malik Willis go?

Is Mike McDaniel too much of a players coach? And Buster only joins us to talk spring training and the world baseball classic. But we begin today with the NBA. Two contenders in the East met last night as Detroit went to Cleveland. Cleveland was without their leading scorer Donovan Mitchell. And Detroit may have had rabbit ears because an unnamed cavalier told the Cleveland plain dealer last week, quote, the Pistons are not in our class, unquote.

Cleveland won last night, 113, 109. Wilbonne was to say, big deal, a little deal or no deal? For the whole league, it was no deal. For Detroit, I'm not sure it was much of a deal. For the Cleveland Cavaliers, this is a big deal. Because, Tony, you could take that, that quote, different ways.

I took it at the time to be sort of a challenge to his own team. People hear everything. It's particularly social media. Those guys on the team, not only even if the quote was anonymous, know who it was, whose mouth it came from. And so we're getting to that point of the season where you better win some home games

and you better win against your rivals. And that's what Detroit is. And the standings and the conference geographically, that's what Detroit is to Cleveland. And Cleveland, you know, we heard Perk say it yesterday. And I believe that former players, particularly tough guys and Perk qualifies, they looked at Cleveland last year and went, what are you doing? You won all these games. You got into the playoffs and you rolled over and you did it physically, even though you got

Twin Towers and guys who appear to be tough physically. What are you doing? So they did to Cade Cunningham what they needed to do in that game. Detroit don't bounce back, but Cleveland had to have that. To reamplify what you just said, Kendrick Perkins, hours before that game, said of the big guys, Alan and Mobley, they are as soft as clean sheets. He did. It was a pretty great quote.

All right, let me get to this. I will tell you that I think it is a little deal. Normally I would say it was no deal. Okay. I'm going to tell you there's a little deal because of this one thing, and this could make it a big deal. It's about Kate Cunningham, you just mentioned. Four for 16, 0 for three from three and five turnovers. Last week against San Antonio, five for 26 in a loss.

These are two good teams. San Antonio and Cleveland, these are two playoff teams. If you are inclined to vote for Kate Cunningham as MVP in the league, this would make you back away a little bit. Now, it doesn't happen all the time. For example, 11 or 21 against Cleveland last week. 11 to 16 against Oklahoma City last week, 17 to 34 against the Knicks earlier. So he doesn't always roll over against 15. He's only had like five bad shooting games like that all you.

But I'm just saying it gives you a little bit of pause. It does. And it also underscores how valuable he actually is. That's right. Because if he doesn't have a great game, Detroit's in trouble. They need that extra score and there's no way to get him. We're past the trade deadline. Normally, I would tell you that this thing doesn't count at all.

But that is a good win for Cleveland. There is drama in that. Their coach, Kenny Atkins. and said after the game, this was an evaluation playoff type game. They needed this, Tom. Yeah. And when they win without 25 points a game from their best score or down with James Hardin going five for 14, that's a pretty good win. By the way, Hardin, give you a nod.

Hardin, even though he has got that busted thumb or whatever it is, he's out there. I know he didn't shoot it well, but he knows this is maybe his last great chance. Yeah. Let's move to the National Football League where one of the hottest quarterbacks in the market. has been a backup. Malik Willis has played in just 11 games over two seasons with the Packers, but Yahoo has them in line for a two-year deal at $25 to $35 million per season. Among the teams that could have interest or have interest, the Cardinals, the Dolphins, the Steelers. Tony, if you're Malik Willis, which of those teams would you want to quarterback?

My answer would be the same if I was Malik Willis or Dantra Willis or Willis Reed. anybody but the Jets. I don't want anything to do with the Jets. And then I'm now going to ask the unspoken question here. Why is Malik Willis such a big deal after three games last year with Green Bay? Now let's go to the numbers. He had a two-and-one record. He had six touchdown passes and no interceptions.

It completed 78.7% of his passes, which is great, but it's three games. It's not 17, it's three. Who those three against? Does it suddenly vault him over Kyler Murray? Does it vault him over Kirk Cousins or Aaron? and Rogers and Gino Smith. Here's what I think. Arizona makes the most sense because he played from Matt LaFleur

in Green Bay and Matt LaFleur's brother is now the coach at Arizona. And the GM is the guy who's involved in his draft of the current GM in Arizona. Cleveland always needs a quarterback. Maybe Pittsburgh needs a quarterback, Minnesota. You know, somebody else. I'm just saying to you that in my mind right now

he is a promise. Nothing more than a promise. That's all I'm saying. Tony, you're right. The sample size is small. I happen to be sitting in the stadium watching the sample size live. He played the bears. He comes in against the bears when his boy gets knocked out, Jordan Love.

And he goes 9-4-11. He was fabulous. He ran it. I understand. They called safer plays. They called screens. They called rollouts, which are favorable to him. Then, damn it, find an offensive coordinator who can do that with Arizona.

Because in that young Ohio State receiver, you have a stud in the making. going into what is third season, second season. Got hurt last year. Got hurt last year a little bit. You got Trey McBride, playing tied in. And they may draft the running back out of Notre Dame. He's very good. Low.

And if they do that, Tony, they're going to be just, they're going to be lined up at the offensive position. Jeremiah Love. Jeremiah Love. They're going to be lined up. So why wouldn't you go there? And by the way, the pressure is less there than it is in Pittsburgh and other places. There's no pressure because nobody cares. No.

Do you know they are projecting. numbers, 17-game season numbers from Malik Willis. Here are the projections over 70 games. 3,473 passing yards, 986 rushing yards, and the 44 total touchdowns. If he's that good, Kansas City ought to go get him. Okay? Do they ever project how many times you get hit in the mouth

and you can't actually do this? Tony, this kid's good. Okay, we'll see. We'll see. Let's stay with the NFL and a bunch of comments by free agent running back. Maheem Mostard about Mike McDaniel, who he played for for eight seasons in San Francisco and Miami.

McDaniel was fired after this past season in Miami, and Moster said McDaniel is too much of a players coach. Mostard told Colin Coward, quote, as a player, I need somebody tough who's going to lay the hammer down when it needs to be down and tell other players to get in line. When you don't have that,

that impact can definitely be detrimental, unquote. That's a great quote. Wilbon, are you surprised players might want more of a tough guy coach? No, no. In a lot of years of covering sports, Tony, players, real players, players who are not afraid of that challenge,

they know that more often than not, overwhelmingly, the tough guy coaches who are not players coaches win in any sport. And we could be talking about Pat Riley and Phil Jackson and basketball. We'd be talking about Parcells and Belichick and Shula and Hallis and Lambo. It starts with Lombardy.

It starts with him. We can be talking about Scottie Bowman. It doesn't matter the sport. Bob Knight You're talking about guys who may be too tough at times but the players coach is rare that wins at that level

would you call Jimmy Johnson a players coach? I might. He certainly had elements of that. Maybe Andy Reed and Mike Ditka had elements of both. I might call Bill Walsh. I might. You might call Bill Walsh. But mostly, when you line them up,

Joe Gibbs might have had elements of both but authoritarian. Tough guy. Right? So no, players know who wins. So I want to make one point here early on. This doesn't mean that we think that all tough guys are great coaches, because there are some terrible tough guys as coaches. And they get out of the business early because they stink.

What does not surprise me at all about this is it comes from a football player. Of all the sports that we have, football players accept coaching, they like coaching, and they believe, looking at the history of the NFL, that tough guys win. That doesn't, not all the time. I mean, we're talking about profession. Difference, tough guy coaches in a lot of sports have fallen out of favor, and deservedly so. They have been abusive to their players, and everybody knows this to be true. But again, football is different. Football has the most players on the field.

They got 11 out there. They need the most discipline of any sport. They need that. So football players, it's a business. If there's a players coach who helps them in the business, they'll take them. If there's a tough guy who helps him in the business, they'll take them. But what we may be seeing is that Mike McDaniel doesn't have that gift. that he may be suited better to being a coordinator than head coach.

Like our friend Norv Turner. I was going to mention North Turner, a brilliant offensive mind who was not the guy who was going to lay the hammer down. He wasn't going to do it. But I'm not. Football players saying this does not surprise me. Are they extinct now in baseball? There's no Billy Martins out there anymore. I think there are.

Dick Williams. Oh, I don't know. Are there in baseball still? I think there are. Sure. I think they are. Not all of them win. but I think that they're out there.

Let's take a break. Coming up, the World Baseball Classic starts tonight, we're going to ask Buster only who he favors. We'll also ask him which team he believes has the best shot of keeping the Dodgers from a 3-Pee. Andy Reid, Tough God. But with Donovan McNabb, Donovan and with Patrick Mahomes, draw up a play and get out of their way.

Play to talent. That's why he said he had elements of both. Yeah. You know, didn't have elements of both? Red hour back. The World Baseball Classic begins tonight in Japan with the United States opening play on Friday. We have some questions about that and about spring training for our great friend ESPN's senior writer Buster Only. We'll start with this.

The United States team is stacked. It has more pitching this time around, obviously, with guys like Scoobel and Skins. But when analyzing all the teams, who is your pick to win this thing? So I'm going to go back to what happened the last time we had a WBC, guys. I'm going to say that Japan's going to win it again. Look, you're always looking for the team that's most in. vested. And since the WBC began, Japan's players have always shown up. The other day, Shoehoyotani, he's introduced and he's weeping. Like, those guys love to play together.

I've got them beating the USA team, which I think is better than it's been in the past. But as you know, Terek Schoble is going to pitch once. Paul Skeen's going to pitch a couple of times. I don't think they're going to have enough pitching to get through. My colleague at Wardo Perez says, watch out for the Dominican Republic. He doesn't think they're going to lose a game in this tournament. Wow. It's good to start there with some talk about teams. Let's talk about individuals for a second buster. Is there any player in this competition that you are particularly zeroed in on? That would be Roman Anthony of the Boston Red Sox,

who this year is going to emerge for casual baseball fans into a superstar. Look, he's only got 71 games in the big leagues and 303 plate appearances. He's just 21 years old, and yet when you talk to people around baseball, about him. They think he's a star right now and he's going to become something great. J.P. Ricardi, the former general manager of the Blue Jays told me look, if he stays healthy, he's going to

go down in history is one of the all-time great Red Sox players. And I don't know if you guys got a chance to see him in that USA lineup in the game on Tuesday, but blasts the home run. And I think we're going to see a whole lot of that. Aaron Boone says he's going to be a problem.

We can talk to you about that competition, this competition, forever. But Let's broaden this out for a second, Buster. I want to ask you about baseball suspending Jerkson ProFar for 162 games for PEDs. Where does this leave the Braves? Scambling. Look, they had a terrible season last year because they had awful luck with injuries. And they're having a Murphy's Law Spring training right away.

They lose a couple of starting pitchers. And then they get this news on Jerks and ProFar. Look, the one thing that's interesting, though, is that Mike Yistremski, who they signed during the offseason, steps into ProFar's role. Before the Braves signed Yistremski, they called ProFar. This is back in December and said, hey, we're thinking about adding an extra outfielder. What do you think? It might push you to D.H. And ProFar said to them, go get him.

He's a great player. So now Mike Yistremski is stepping into a role that was partly created by the guy who got suspended for the year. Let's talk about young players for a second. Who in spring training, Buster, has impressed you so far that you know he's going to have your eye going into April? Kevin McGonagall, infielder for the Detroit Tigers. Michael, I mean, he just looks amazing. You know, I asked some evaluators for comps because he's about five. He's listed at 510, but he's got more of the body of a sports writer at 5'8.

And I asked some evaluator for comps. And one of them said to me, he is Dustin. in Padroia in terms of his energy and the way that he plays and the way that it feels like he rubs off on other players. Terrick School told me the other day he is a grinder. There's a question when the Tiger Spring training began, will he make the team? He's forcing the matter. Last night in that game that they played against Dominican Republic, it's a 437 foot home run. His first played of parents has two more singles. He is absolutely wowing the Detroit Tigers. This is someone new in his draft in 2003 was the 37th player taken.

because he's so short. This would be thrilling if a guy with a body like a sports writer became a great player. That would be great. We'll get you out of here on this, and we have to ask this. The Dodgers are a great team. The Dodgers are the clear favorite to win the World Series. Again, this would be a third straight time. They know what they're doing.

Which team, in your opinion, is best positioned to unseat them? Yeah, Tony, I feel like to not pick the Dodgers would be to make up reasons, right? Just to be interesting. And the team that interests me, the Seattle, Battle Mariners who played last year to the American League Championship Series, and I love the moves they made over the wintertime. Resigning Josh Nailator play first base, trading for Brendan Donovan, who's a great compliment with their lineup. They got a couple of really nice young players coming up. Colt Emerson on the left side of the infield, Kate Anderson, who was a first round draft peck, left-handed pitcher.

It feels like with Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh, that great pitching staff, they're going to take a step forward. I think they're going to make it to the World Series. and, yeah, face the Dodgers. That's what we need. We need the Mariners, and then we need the football team. Yes, West Coast games, you can't see. I can't see. There won't be up of what you are too late for me.

Thank you, Buster. I appreciate it, man. Thank you, Buster. Thanks, guys. Let's take one last break. Still to come, a moment to remember in Bedsheet Golf, I believe I had this. The Chiefs trade a key corner to the ramps for a bunch of picks.

Did you watch TGL last night? Just stay up and watch. It's not staying up for you. It's not staying up for you. It started a non-stop. This college basketball, what are you doing? Come on, bed sheet going. What are you doing?

No. Do you play basketball or do you play golf? Golf. So, what are you doing? You know what? I play bedsheet golf, but I'm not watching it. Come on now. Happy time, people, happy 25th birthday, George Pickens.

Pickens were just given the franchise tag by the Dallas Cowboys, which means he actually will get his money, though not as much as he wants. Pickens made $3.65 million dollars this season. season because the franchise tag guarantees you the average of the top five players at your position. Pickens will make nearly $27.3 million from the Cowboys next season. Pickens started with the Steelers was not one of Mike Tomlin's favorite players. Pittsburgh traded Pickens with a sixth round draft pick to Dallas in 2025 for two other draft picks. Pickens had a great year for the Cowboys, catching 93 passes for 1429 yards, third best in the NFL, and nine receiving touchdowns.

Pickens is terrific, but I'm taking J.S.N. Pooka Nakuwa, Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, and Amon Ross St. Brown. I'm taking those guys over him every day of the week. You could take somebody from his own team. You could take C.D. Lamb if you wanted to. I think I might take Pickens and both. They're great together, but I'm just saying let's not act like he's the best thing in the league. Happy anniversary, Gonzaga. On this day, 13 years ago, Gonzaga found itself on top of the Associated Press top 25 poll for the first time ever. Gonzaga then rolled into the NCAA tournament as a number one seat, ran into a buzz saw on number nine seed, Wichita State, losing in the second round. Gonzaga has since been ranked number one in three other seasons. They have been a one seed in the NCAA tournament five times, but have yet to win it.

They lost to North Carolina in the 2017 final and got drummed by Baylor in the 2021 final by 16 points. Gonzaga has only made two final fours. Some of us think it's because they don't play enough good teams in the latter part of the season. Okay, I get you. You're referring to St. Mary's in the conference. That's it. But they got to the finals twice.

Yes. And they didn't deserve to get far once because they, Northwestern, got hosed in a game against Gonzaga with a one versus eight situation. So you don't think they've been underachieving since they got to be real good? No, I think they're a blue blood in college basketball or near it, right underneath the ones who've won a lot of historic. I think you got to win. I think you got to win. Happy trails to the Bay Golf Club. Oh, here we go.

Playoff berth was on the line in TGL last night, Wilbon. The Bay was leading by one on the second to last hole when Tiger's Jupiter team threw the hammer to make Tom Kim's effort worth double. And Kim responded with a hole in one to take the lead. The team went bananas. Tiger reacted as if he'd won a major, said Tiger, quote, best indoor experience ever, said Tom Kim, quote, I've never been tackled before. Jupiter sealed the win on the last hole and I believe I had this. Am I going to catch you at the simulator?

Are you doing that now? I would do that. I've done that a few times, but you don't watch this. It can be very exciting. And Tom Kim, by the way, has the exact personality that you want than this. Very excitable and very team-oriented. And the melancholy trails were sorry to say to Lou Holtz. The coaching broadcaster has passed away at the age of 89.

Holtz coached six schools, most prominently at Notre Dame, where he went 130 and 2. And won a national title in 1988. The school has not won a title since. Holtz had one forgettable stint in the NFL going 3 and 10 with the Jets in 1976 and resigning before the finish of the season saying, quote, God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach pro football. Holtz was known for a sense of humor and his second act came as an analyst at both CBS Sports and then at ESPN.

And he was great on television. He's somebody you look forward to watching if you're a college football fan. I certainly did, but I was around enough when he was a coach at Notre Dame. Lou Holt's a big deal in college football for a long, long time. Yes. I was in New York, of course, when he coached the Jets, and it did not work at all. And he got out quickly. He understood.

He got it. As of what he said, it wasn't for him. He's one of the great college coaches all the time. He is. He is. It's important to say, because Notre Dame is a great football program. That's the last title I've ever won. That's not a knock on Notre Dame.

That is to show you how good a coach. How difficult it is. He went back there to pull them out of some doldrums and did it. Yeah. Let's go to the big finish. The Chiefs traded two-time all-pro cornerback, Trent McDuffie to the Rams for a first, third, fifth, and sixth. Who gets the better of this deal? First, fifth, and sixth are this year for Kansas City.

You know, cornerbacks sort of come and go. Bill Self was ejected. Kansas got upset by Arizona State last night. Big deal? You don't expect that from Bill Self. I wonder if he wanted it to happen to show his team something. I'm not certain. BYU star, A.J. DeBanza, told the Desirene news that he might not leave college because his mom wants him to graduate.

Do you think he could stay? I always love hearing this sentiment. And then I ask somebody, hey, how much do you make as a rookie now in the NBA? The answer is $13 million just that one year. Hard to stay. The Patriots will reportedly release wide receiver Stefan Diggs. You surprised? I am not because he's been in the news negatively lately.

They could maybe go get A.J. Brown. Last one. Thunder Nix, Hornet Celtics tonight, which is the more intriguing matchup. The Hornets are now fun to watch, but let's not get crazy. Okay. Thunder Nix is a NBA finals preview, perhaps. We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Corrinich. Seltis win that game big at home. I'm Mike Lobon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.