The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Mavericks-Thunder Reaction: OKC strikes first, BLOWS OUT Luka Doncic & Dallas

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

Jason Timpf reacts to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and the Oklahoma City Thunder's 117-95 blow out win over Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Jason breaks down the biggest highlights from the game and discusses his main takeaways heading into Game 2 of the series. Later, Jason shares his reaction to Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the Boston Celtics' 120-95 Game 1 win over Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Timeline: 05:00 - Mavericks-Thunder Reaction 21:00 - Cavaliers-Celtics Reaction #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule. of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year.

It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for Black. people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. The NBA playoffs are heating up, and so is the action at Draft King Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA.

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21 plus, age varies by jurisdiction, void in Ontario, bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash B-Ball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week so far. I'm going to hit the two games tonight. The two home teams go up 1-0 in our second round. One out west with the Mavs and the Thunder.

One out east with the Celtics and the Cavs. We're going to break it all down from the perspective of all four teams. You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to our brandy YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT. So you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under hoops tonight. And keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments.

I think I'm going to do a mailbag tomorrow morning. That just kind of bounces around the playoffs. So drop mailback questions underneath this video. And we'll get to those tomorrow morning. All right, let's talk some basketball. So Mavs Thunder, kind of a weird game. I'm sure that Nuggets fans were super annoyed watching it. Because it was officiated like it was January.

Tons of tiki-tack calls. The game in general wasn't very physical or intense to start. Like, it's just weird watching from the opening tip. Like, Luca just dribble the ball easily up the court without much ball pressure, right? Like, it wasn't as intense and physical as the game we watched last night for sure. and the officiating was just bizarre. It was super ticky tack, a lot of like grifty stuff

that we haven't seen too much of in the postseason so far. So it was kind of a weird game. But the biggest factor by far is that Shea, Jay Gildes Alexander in his first playoff run as the best player on his team in second series in that role, just badly outplayed Luca Donchich.

And kind of going back to my series preview, if you guys remember, I talked about how I viewed this series as razor thin, like incredibly thin, meaning I wouldn't be the least a bit surprised of either team won, and I don't feel good about my pick to start to start the series, which was Dallas, right? But the reasons why I leaned towards Dallas,

the three main reasons that I put, if you guys remember, the series preview was Luke is better than Che. They have a physical front line that can do damaged Oklahoma City in terms of just the blood bath underneath the rim. And then three, Tyree is just a little bit more prepared for this moment than Jalen Williams, even though I have a ton of optimism about J. Dub's future.

I think he is incredibly good and has the potential to even be better than Shea one day. That's how high I am on Jalen Williams. But second year player, first time in the playoffs. That was kind of the three things that I was leaning towards Dallas for. So let's go through all three of those and talk about how they played out in this game. Shea versus Luca. Shea just badly outplayed him, in my opinion. He was a little shaky early at a couple of weird unforced turnovers where it just seemed like he was rushing things

and just a little bit out of sorts. But he got going at the line. So the whistle definitely helped him there. He got going at the line, seemed to kind of get his rhythm and get his confidence there. Really started cooking in that third quarter. Hit a couple of threes at the top of the key. And those threes ended up being kind of like the, the original, like the Mavs got back within two. And that was kind of when Oklahoma and the city started to build their final margin.

He was making a nice kickout reads. It's finished with 29, 9 and 9 with a steel and two blocks. Luca, on the other hand, he keeps leaning on that stepback jumper and he just can't make it. And it's kind of bizarre, juxtaposed with the beginning of his career. Because if you guys remember early Luca, it was like he was a mediocre three-point shooter or slash pull-up jump shooter in the regular season. But then he'd get into these playoff series against the Clippers and the Jazz, and he would just be lights out and he'd be making them like crazy.

And so it was kind of a weird dynamic, right? It's kind of like similar to what Anthony Edwards is doing, right? And then this year, it's the exact opposite. it. Luca has his best pull-up jump shooting season by far, big part of his leap in this season, and he just can't make them in this playoff run for whatever reason. He keeps going to it. And he's having some bad misses too. It's not like he's going in and out on every single one of them. He just can't get the rhythm on that pull-up jumper. And that was kind of the difference when the thunder pulled away in the third quarter. Again, Mavs were within two. Shea hits a couple of pull-up threes.

Luca keeps missing. That starts the delusion that it's over from there. And then Luke also had five turnovers. And again, against Oklahoma City, that's, that's suicide because they're a really aggressive defense that loves to run in transition off of those turnovers. 22 to 12 was the points off of turnover's battle in favor of Oklahoma City. So Luca gets badly outplayed by Shea. Check, that's the first thing that goes Oklahoma City's favor, right? The second piece, the physicality of the front line. Now, again, the officiating didn't help here, but they got destroyed in the paint in this game. They got out rebounded 52 to 39. Oklahoma City wins that battle.

16 to 11 in offensive rebounds. Remember, that is a battle Dallas has to win and not just win, but win convincingly, because that's one of their biggest advantages in this series. Oklahoma City is a bad defensive rebounding team. And coming into tonight, Dallas was the third best offensive rebounding team by percentage of all the playoff teams. They had grabbed 32% of their own misses.

So you get badly out rebounded. You don't do anywhere near as much damage on the offensive glass as Oklahoma City does to you. And you get outscored in the paint, 40 to 32. And this is where we got to get to Chet Holmgren, because he had a great offensive night. He had 19 points at a couple of threes, big one in the corner there late. But he had the paint on lockdown all game long.

Only two steals and three blocks. I say only, that's an amazing achievement. But like, that doesn't do a justice to what he was doing around the rim. He forced a ton of misses, had guys second-guessing themselves. I'm actually really excited to pull up the shooting numbers when they update and just kind of look at Dallas's field goal percentages, close to the rim in this game because I felt like they missed a bunch of bunnies right around the rim. But it wasn't like they were smoking easy layups. They were just kind of changing shots

and shooting kind of funky hesitant shots with Chet there. How many times did it feel like Gafford would catch on the roll and then like rise up like he's going to dunk and then at the last second be like here's the little push shot because I don't actually have the advantage there and it seemed like he missed every single one of those. Right. And so I can't say enough about Chet. His rim protection just completely changed the game tonight. So in short, Shea badly

outplays Luca and Oklahoma City wins, like, dominates the physical battle. And like, let's just put it very simply. If Oklahoma City dominates the physical battle, they're just going to win this series. Because, again, we talked about it. You know, Shea and Jalen,

they're much better shot creators than that hardened PG duo that they just went against. And Down the roster, Oklahoma City has much more offensive skill than Dallas does. These guys that are off the ball shooting for them, like Lou Dord is a much better three-point shooter than that PJ Washington, Derek Jones, Jr., Josh Green kind of trio, right? Like, Aaron Wiggins is a better shooter.

Kasson Wallace is a better shooter. They're off ball, like, you know, three-and-d guys are really good shooters, whereas Dallas's guys are a little bit more inconsistent, right? So, like, that's not a battle you're going to win over the course of the series. Like Dallas got out shot tonight, and I don't. really see a universe where they don't get out shot over the course of the series. That's probably going to keep happening. Like that Oklahoma City is a better jump shooting team in terms of their role player. So you have to win the physical battle. You have to do a better job defending at the point

of attack without fouling, which we're going to get to in a minute. And you have to do more damage to Oklahoma City's front line if you're going to win this series. The last piece of it, the J. Dub Kyrie matchup, Kyrie won that matchup big time through three quarters. J. Dub really struggled. I think he was what, two for 11 through the first three quarters, but J. Dub really broke out in that fourth quarter stretch. You remember that kind of like right-handed scoop shot that he kept leaving short on the rim where he'd like jump into Gafford's body and then kind of scoop around and like take that right-handed shot?

He missed that a bunch of times over the course of the games, over the course of the game, and then he finally gets one to go in the fourth quarter, just gets it a little higher, a little softer. And instead of going into the body, he went around and used his athleticism instead of just like initiating the contact. he kind of went around and went higher and softer, finally got one to go, hit a couple of jumpers, including a three, had that driving dunk past PJ Washington on the baseline, and then all of a sudden

he finishes the game with 18, 5, and 5 on 15 shots. So like, really nice game for J. Dub, basically kept that matchup relatively even. So the main three swing factors, Oklahoma City dominated two of them and held serve on the other. And so all of a sudden, Dallas doesn't have many advantages in this game, and Oklahoma City wins convincingly, right? So that kind of, to me, was the story of this particular game. A couple other shoutouts I want to hit. Really nice games from Aaron Wiggins in case on Wallace off the bench. Excellent point of attack, defense, maintaining that physical ball pressure,

and then some scoring pop. They get 23 points out of those two guys. On the Dallas front, have to do a better job without foul. Of not fouling, I should say. Yes, it was a tough whistle. No doubt that played a role. But they weren't doing themselves any favors. There were a lot of them in there where it was like,

these are tiki tags should not be called, but then there were others where it's like, yeah, but you're kind of playing into this situation by committing fouls that are going to get called the majority of the time. Like hitting a jump shooter on the arm. Like if Shay's is isoing you, just get a contest and hope he misses. Like getting up into his space and touching him on the forearm right in front of the official, that's going to get called every single time, right? Like jump shooting fouls like that are ones that reps are hyper sensitive to.

So like that's a little bit of it. The illegal screens. And this goes both ways. Luca was having a tendency to kind of like leave early. Kyrie did it at least once as well where it's like, there's a reason why they say the ball handler is to wait for the screens. Think of it like this. If I'm the ball handler and I've got my point of attack defender on me,

as soon as I start moving, the point of attack defender is going to follow me, right? Like he's going to slide with me, probably try to fight over the top of the screen. So if I wait until the screener is set and then I go, then he can kind of get away with a little bit. He can lean a little bit more. to stick that elbow out, stick the butt out a little bit, whatever it is that they do, all the little gamesmanship tricks of the trade that you do with screening. But the one thing that's going to get called every single time is if Luca leaves,

or if Kyrie leaves early and the on-ball defender follows him, before this, like while the screen are still running up to get set, it's going to get called every single time. And then like when you combine that with like Gafford was doing that little lunge into it, which again, if you do that in the ball handler waits for you, has a better chance of going uncalled. The majority of NBA screens are illegal, you know, by the book. That's what's so stupid about that call getting overturned in the next Pacers game is like,

that's just the same illegal screen that happens on just damn near every single possession. But the one thing that's going to get called every single time is when the ball handler leaves early because then it just looks like an offensive lineman. Instead of it being like ball handler, screen, go, it's like you're hitting somebody on the move. You might as well be a pulling guard. You're going to get that called every single time. right. Better shooting, a big one. Like Tim Hardaway Jr. goes 0 for four, had some bad misses to Derek Jones Jr. goes

one for three. Josh Green. Josh Green was getting left open all game long and he ends up going three for eight. He's going to have to hit those shots over the course of the series. Three for eight's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but like he's getting like left open, which means it's kind of like janking up the offense. So he needs to be really efficient on that shot. And then Luca just has to be better. Luca has to be better. That's simple. Like you can't I understand that your knees a little bulky. You know, so is Donovan Mitchell's. Jamal Murray's playing on a bad calf.

You're not getting sympathy points from anybody. You have to find a way to be better. And like, again, I think it's going to be like what he did with the clippers. Stop settling for that damn pull up jump shot. Work a little bit closer to the rim. Use your size and strength. Get going. And then in moments where the game's a little more under control,

like you're up seven or you're at home and you're up 15, whatever it is, when you're in a situation where you can actually afford to trick off some possessions, that's when you can try to work yourself back in rhythm on the pull-up three. Or take them when they're open. Like if you have to put one up at the end of the shot clock, that's fine. Guy ducks underneath a pick and you get a great look, that's fine. You get a guy on a switch and you do a step-bat move and get a ton of separation. That's fine.

But he's taking it in a lot of questionable situations right now, and it's just not going in enough to really justify that decision. One little X's an O's note, they did. So they started with Gafford. on Chet, but they did come out in the second half and they did what we talked about in the series preview. They ended up moving Gafford over to Giddy. They had some success there, but then Oklahoma City just bailed on Josh Giddy and started leaning into Aaron Wiggins and Kaysa and Wallace Moore and it just kind of mitigated that advantage, right?

They could probably try to find an alternate version of that where they put Gafford on one of those guys, but those guys are just better shooters and they have a chance to make you pay. But yeah, so really tough game. I expect a much better, Luca performance in game two. Again, just as the more desperate team physically, they have to win that paint battle. My guess is game two ends up being a much, much closer game, and it's

going to come down more to the stars in a clutch time type of situation, but we will see. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's

superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators,

and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got? to do a little kill. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have age. on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun,

thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Moving on to Cavs Celtics. So the Celtics started with a similar coverage that they used in the regular

season. We talked about it in a series preview. So in the first Cavs Celtics game of the season, they went more traditional, but in crunch time, they moved Jason Tatum over to Jared Allen. And then they did it again in game, in the second game, where they actually started with Tatum on Allen and then went to him back at the end of the game closing. They started it like that today as well, went with Tatum on Evan Moble. Now, again, there's a very specific reason why you do that. because of the Allen Allen injury, you still have another non-shooter on the floor.

Obviously, Alan is the non-shooter, or Alan and Mobley are both non-shooters in their normal full starting lineup. But Akoro, and then Coro came out and hit a couple threes tonight. And he's turned himself into a much more reliable catch-and-shoot guy. But he's, again, the big thing in the league is,

do they guard you? It's less about whether or not you make them and more about whether or not they guard you, right? And so they put Horford on Akoro, just had him ignore him and hang out in the paint, they put Tatum on Evan Mobley, and then they switch the Mobley ball screens. Because again, like, the Cavs run a ton of pick and roll. I think they were ninth and pick and roll frequency this year. It's their primary kind of method of attack on offense, right? So it's a really

smart coverage for Boston to use. When you switch ball screens, you take away the baked-in driving lanes, right? When there is a, when it's, when you switch, the only way you're going to get dribble penetration is if you beat your man off the dribble, or you can do slips and posts and things like that. There are other ways to attack it, but it's much harder to get dribble penetration. In a ball screen where they don't switch, as long as you get your man caught on the screen, you're going to get downhill in some way, shape, or form. And so putting Tatum on Mobley does a good job of kind of mitigating some of that dribble penetration. Now, it was funny, one of the early possessions of the game, they run a ball screen, I think it was Garland and Mobley, and Tatum switches. And so they immediately go to

Mobley against, I think it was Derek White on the left block. And, Mowgli goes to work and because he's just not a really experienced playmaker from the post, Boston brings like a triple team with Jason Tatum and Al Horford and they just swat him off the glass. So it's like they attacked it the right way tactically, but it's just you're making Evan Mowley make your decisions for you. And that's just not a very good idea. So like that one wouldn't working very well. One of the ways the calves countered it is they just tried bringing Horford into the screen no matter what. So a lot of times that was a coro.

They just had him set the screen and Horford was running a drop there. or cross-matches. Like, Horford usually would pick up Evan Mobley in any sort of transition situation, and then they would just bring Horford up and try to set the screen that way. Some guard-guard stuff. They got Mitchell downhill early in the game

with just a Garland Mitchell two-minute, just have Garland set the screen. Again, a lot of pushing in transition. And to Cleveland's credit, they stayed connected for most of the game. Early one until the late third quarter that Boston really got too far away for it to matter. Boston, kind of turning to them,

they went heavy through Jaylen Brown early in the game again. is something they've been doing for a while. Like they just run a lot of their early offense through Jalen Brown. He got Max Drews off his feet early with a pump fake and hit a three. Had a nice closeout attack where he went at Mowbley's chest and got to the foul line. He went at a Coro in the post and got to the foul line. He fouled him on a kind of a fadeaway jumper.

Went at Donovan Mitchell in the post and hit a left shoulder fade. He had a layup that there was a really nice ATO that they ran. This was, I want to say, after Mitchell hit the three to get it to 2321. but they uh that was when the Cavs took that early lead 2321 come right out of an ATO and donovan Mitchell is on Derek White and this really smart set where like all game long they were trying because they were really trying to use Mitch a Mitchell and Garland's man as a screener to try to get Jalen Brown or Jason Tatum downhill that was a big thing that that Boston was doing early in the game and the way that this at this uh ATO meaning after time out play went

they were in a horn set and they had, they ran an action at the top, kind of like, if I remember correctly, it was like a screen, the screener thing, but it flowed into Derek White doing a dribble handoff with Jalen Brown

out of the left corner. And Mitchell was trailing the play pretty hard. And again, what they were trying to do was hedge and recover in those situations. They want Garland and Mitchell to hedge and then recover. Hedging, meaning stop the drive and then recover to the shooter.

But the problem is, is Mitchell is so out of position from the early part of the action that Jalen Brown was able to just get downhill, easily off of the DHO. I think Struis was on him at that point. He just got easily pinned on the screen. Jaylen Brown got right downhill,

got in the lane, got a layup. It's a really nice way to come out of the timeout and kind of get a quick bucket, an easy bucket to take the Cavs lead away. Jaylen Brown had another transition drive at Max Struz off of a, I think it was off of just a miss or a turnover. They got out in transition, got a layup. Jaylon Brown had 15 points in like the first something like seven minutes

of the first quarter. He came out just guns blazing. middle of that first quarter, they started leaning more into Derek White and Jason Tatum playing a two-man game. Garland was on Derek White, which is a matchup I didn't like. We'll get into that in a little bit. And Struis was on Tatum, but they didn't want to switch it. So, like, at first, like, they were in this bind because it was like they switched it once. And then Tatum just went right down to the post and easily scored on Garland. He, like, missed a shop and easily got the offensive rebound and put it back.

And then it's like, then they didn't switch it. And then Derek White started breaking open because he was the ball handler. And Max Truss didn't want to leave Jason Tatum. he was like kind of hugged up on Jason Tatum and Garland would get caught on the screen and Derek White was hitting threes and Derek White is just so locked in from three point range right now it's kind of like a death sentence in its own right, right?

And so again we're going to talk about that and a little, I'll just get into it right now. I didn't like the Garland on White decision. I understand why you do it to save Donovan Mitchell's legs, right? Because he's the one that's been carrying your offense for the majority of this postseason. But Derek White's on a heater right now. And Derri's Garland is just too small

and he cannot guard him. he cannot bother his pull-up jump shot. And so even though Mitchell has a lot of offensive responsibilities, he's just more physically equipped to do so. And again, Derek White's torching you. He was the one who blew the game open late in the third quarter. Once again, with this three-point shooting, hit a couple catch-and-shoot threes,

hit another one on a two-man game with Jalen Brown, where once again, Darius Scarlin, kind of lingering in a soft hedge where he's more just kind of hanging out to help on the drive. And then he closed out and got a hand up on Derek White, but Derek White just doesn't see his hand. He's too short. And so that really was what kind of blew the game open in that late third quarter.

The highlight was that step back, kind of like pullback dribble that he had on Sam Meryl. So it's like he's on the left wing. They call up a ball screen. Tristan Thompson shows up throws like a random trap at Derek White. Derek White retreats out of it. When he retreats, Tristan Thompson goes away. And there's only like four seconds on the shot clock. And so Derek White just hard dribble move to the right, like two, three hard dribbles,

snatch back behind his back and just, and talk about like. skill development, go watch that shot again and like try pausing it right when he does the snatchback dribble and then watch it. It looks literally like he goes straight up and down. It looks like a normal catch and shoot jump shot. That is the, all of the best pull-up jump shooters. They're actually, it's all ball handling and footwork to get to straight up and down jump shots. Like that's why they're so efficient on those shots. They do their work early. They do their work with the handling and the footwork and the leg strength to stop on a dime, then once they get that separation, it's just going straight up and down into a jump shot. Beautiful move, beautiful shot

from Derek White. But again, like, yeah, that's something I think the calves are going to need to take a look at. And we'll go over some options here in a few minutes. But yeah, that that Derek White Hot Street kind of put the game away in the third quarter. Two more guys I wanted to shout out. Luke Cornett, he came in for his shift in the late first quarter and immediately had a couple of blocks. He blocked Isaac Acorro slashing on a closeout. and then got Donovan Mitchell in a drop coverage. That was part of the defensive run. They got Boston's first separation because, again,

Cavs kind of hung around. They were up 23, 21 after a Mitchell pull-up three. And that defensive run kind of led by Cornett there, getting those stops at the rim, kind of helped them get that initial separation. Peyton Pritchard. He pitches in 16 points off the bench, hit a huge pull-up three at the buzzer in the third quarter

that felt more or less like a dagger. It felt like the shot that kind of put the game out of reach. On the Cavs front. Not a whole lot they can do. They don't really have the firepower offensively. And without Jared Allen, they're too small in this matchup. They got killed on the glass today, 55, 38, 13 to 7 in offensive rebounds. You know, with Jared Allen, they're a pretty big team.

But as soon as you take them out of the lineup, they've, like Evan Mobley undersized, you know, center, right? Like now you're going Max Truce and Isaac Acorro as your three, four. And then Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, two small guards. So they're just like almost like untenably small. without Jared Allen. But if I had to do something, I tinker with the matchups a little bit. We talked about maybe just swapping Garland and Mitchell. Another thing you could do, just take your three best defenders and put them on their three best shot creators and hide Garland and Mitchell, even if they're undersized on Horford and Drew. Just take Evan Mobley

and put him on one of the wings and has Shrewson-a-corro guard the other wing and Derek White. have Donovan Mitchell guard Al Horford and have Darius Garland guard, uh, uh, guard Drew Holiday. And you know what? Maybe you'll just disrupt Boston's offense by causing them to bail on their typical actions and start force-feeding the post on Horford and Drew Holiday. Maybe you can double team and rotate out of it or front the post or something. I look, I don't expect any of this to work. I'm just kind of spitball in here on some options they have, but like Darius Garland on Derek White certainly is not going to work. And like this is the thing that Boston does to you. They have so many damn good players that there aren't really good places for you to hide your guys and they can put you in a predicament like this where it's like maybe you put your two small guards on their two physically strongest players in the starting lineup. It's it's just this is these are Boston problems man. This is what Boston does to you. Uh, more mixing up coverages to like just throwing random blitzes, switching randomly going into, uh, they, they threw some token zone in garbage time. But like what if they,

went to a little bit more random zone, like just do it like not consistently, but a random possession to disrupt rhythm, but it's all gimmicky. And the talent gap is just too wide to really make up that gap. There's a reason why the Celtics were a minus 1,200 favorite

to win this series and every other series in the first round was substantially closer. And it's because there is a chasm between these two teams in talent, athleticism, size, everything. And it's just going to be really, really hard for the Cavs to hang around. All right, guys, that is all I have for tonight.

As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. Tomorrow morning, I'll do a quick mailbag. So, why don't you guys drop some questions in the YouTube comments and we'll get to those in the morning. And then tomorrow night is I want to say game two of Nick's Pacers. And I think that's the only game tomorrow night. So we're going to hit that one. We'll go live on YouTube right after that game.

And then we'll get back into it on Thursday. All right, guys. I appreciate you. I'll see you tomorrow. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel.

Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two.

Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

This is an IHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.