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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Cleveland Cavaliers · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up everybody. Hope you are doing well. We want
0:03
Speaker 1: to let you know. This podcast episode was recorded on Monday,
0:07
Speaker 1: April seventh, twenty twenty five, so by the time you
0:09
Speaker 1: hear this, some things may have changed here or there,
0:11
Speaker 1: but we hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to this
0:30
Speaker 1: installment of Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:33
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:37
Speaker 1: in the world, twelve years strong. We got a great
0:40
Speaker 1: opposition Territory podcast coming to your ears this week, where
0:45
Speaker 1: we are specifically going to be focusing on one of
0:47
Speaker 1: the dominant NBA teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yes, what a
0:52
Speaker 1: season this team has been having. It is going to
0:56
Speaker 1: be interesting watching this team during the latter part of
0:59
Speaker 1: the season and as they get into the postseason, could
1:04
Speaker 1: they actually win the title. We're gonna get into a
1:07
Speaker 1: lot of storylines surrounding this Cavs team. Let's get right
1:11
Speaker 1: to it. Joining us this week to get into some
1:13
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers talk. It's been too long since we've had
1:17
Speaker 1: him on the show. He's coming to us from Fearthsword
1:21
Speaker 1: dot Com. You know we love our SB nation sites.
1:24
Speaker 1: You can follow him on the Twitter slash x at
1:27
Speaker 1: Jax Flickinger, and he's also on the podcast Junkyard Podcast.
1:33
Speaker 1: We've got the one and only Jackson Flickinger. How you doing,
1:36
Speaker 1: Buddy good.
1:37
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on. I always appreciate coming on
1:40
Speaker 2: in talking Cavs basketball.
1:41
Speaker 1: It's great to have you, my friend. It's great to
1:43
Speaker 1: have you. I mean, what an incredible year for this
1:46
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers team. As a seventy six Ers fan, I've
1:50
Speaker 1: already put the twenty twenty four twenty twenty five season
1:53
Speaker 1: in the back of my mind to never think about
1:56
Speaker 1: it again. But I am still very you know, loving
2:01
Speaker 1: the world of basketball and what we've seen from certain
2:03
Speaker 1: NBA teams, and certainly the Cleveland Cavaliers are one of
2:07
Speaker 1: those very interesting teams. And look, I'm gonna be honest
2:09
Speaker 1: with you, and I think many of us actually thought
2:13
Speaker 1: they'd be a pretty darn good team this season. But
2:16
Speaker 1: I don't think that many of us thought that the
2:17
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers at the beginning of this season would be
2:21
Speaker 1: as dominant really as they have been. They've just been
2:25
Speaker 1: a fun team to watch. If you are objective when
2:28
Speaker 1: it comes to the game of basketball. They're a fun
2:30
Speaker 1: team to watch. So as of us recording this Jackson,
2:33
Speaker 1: they are sixty two and sixteen, a top of the
2:36
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference and the perennial favorites quite frankly to head
2:40
Speaker 1: to the NBA Finals at this point, a lot of
2:42
Speaker 1: basketball still to play. But I'm wondering, how would you
2:46
Speaker 1: describe this Cleveland Cavaliers season from what the expectations were
2:51
Speaker 1: at the initial start of the season and where they
2:54
Speaker 1: are at now. What are your thoughts?
2:56
Speaker 2: So I think that if you're going to talk about
2:58
Speaker 2: like how the Cavaliers got to this point, it's really
3:01
Speaker 2: it comes back to Kenny Atkinson. The big change, big
3:05
Speaker 2: change in the summer was letting go of J. B. Bickerstaff,
3:08
Speaker 2: who has done a great job in Detroit and who was,
3:11
Speaker 2: you know, the right coach for a young, up and
3:14
Speaker 2: coming team. But this team clearly hit a ceiling with J. B.
3:19
Speaker 2: Biker Staff, specifically on the offensive side of the court.
3:23
Speaker 2: They had a tough time getting Garland and Mitchell on
3:25
Speaker 2: the same page, had a tough time getting Allen and
3:27
Speaker 2: Mobiley the two Bigs on the same page. That's where
3:31
Speaker 2: Kenny Atkinson came in. He was brought in to really
3:36
Speaker 2: make this a modern NBA offense and that's what he did.
3:41
Speaker 2: If you you know, they are the number one offense
3:44
Speaker 2: in the in the league, which that has led that
3:47
Speaker 2: has led to them being the top team in the
3:49
Speaker 2: Eastern Conference this year. They've been going through a little
3:52
Speaker 2: bit of a wall, i'd say the last month ever
3:56
Speaker 2: since it was pretty much determined that they're going to
3:58
Speaker 2: have the number one seed in the Eastern, they've kind
4:00
Speaker 2: of taken their foot off the gas a little bit.
4:03
Speaker 2: But really just how the offense night in the night
4:06
Speaker 2: out has been phenomenal is what has led to this
4:10
Speaker 2: team being really, you know, as dominant as they have been.
4:14
Speaker 2: And it's also what a lot of people didn't see
4:17
Speaker 2: coming like they had it was. It wasn't a talent
4:21
Speaker 2: issue in Cleveland. It was more so how do you
4:23
Speaker 2: get the talent on the right page, And that's what
4:25
Speaker 2: Kenny Atkinson has done and that's what's led to the success.
4:29
Speaker 1: It's interesting how you mentioned a little bit of a lull,
4:32
Speaker 1: you know about the past month or so.
4:34
Speaker 2: I don't.
4:34
Speaker 1: I certainly don't watch all the Cleveland Cavaliers games like
4:37
Speaker 1: you do. You are so in tune with it. But
4:41
Speaker 1: from what I have seen with them. It seems like
4:43
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter has been a challenge for them in
4:46
Speaker 1: various ways, not necessarily like they're losing steam, but may
4:51
Speaker 1: not actually be putting at times one hundred percent into it.
4:55
Speaker 1: I don't know, I could be completely wrong. Is that
4:57
Speaker 1: what you've been seeing maybe over the past few weeks
4:58
Speaker 1: with this team?
5:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean kind of what they've what they've really
5:03
Speaker 2: done is like we'll just let go of the rope
5:06
Speaker 2: for like five to ten minute stretches. They've played the
5:09
Speaker 2: Sacramento Kings yesterday, who had a lot to play for
5:12
Speaker 2: as they're in the playing tournament out west.
5:14
Speaker 1: We're going to get in that game in just a second.
5:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Calves decided that they weren't going to you
5:20
Speaker 2: know that they were okay with letting go of the
5:23
Speaker 2: rope for about a ten minute stretch there. They were
5:27
Speaker 2: run off to court by the Kings, and then they
5:28
Speaker 2: tried to they tried to claw their way back in
5:31
Speaker 2: after falling down by twelve, and they weren't able to
5:34
Speaker 2: do that. So that's where when you look at like
5:39
Speaker 2: this team hasn't had the necessary effort and focus that
5:43
Speaker 2: they've shown during like their three really long win streaks
5:47
Speaker 2: of twelve, fifteen, and sixteen games. And I think that
5:51
Speaker 2: shows up most on the defensive side of the court. Yeah,
5:54
Speaker 2: the defense just and that's you know what we talked
5:57
Speaker 2: about JP Pickerstaff what he did for this team. Well,
6:00
Speaker 2: team made this a defensive first team. And this team
6:03
Speaker 2: they'd like to say that they're a defensive first team
6:05
Speaker 2: because I think everyone wants to say that. I think
6:07
Speaker 2: that's just cool in all sports to say that you're
6:09
Speaker 2: a defensive first team. But they're not. They're an offensive
6:13
Speaker 2: first team. But when they're playing their best basketball, they're
6:19
Speaker 2: you know, getting back to some of their elements that
6:21
Speaker 2: made them a good defensive first team in previous years.
6:25
Speaker 2: And that's what's really they've really not done a good
6:27
Speaker 2: job of. It's basically just been like Candy offense, build
6:30
Speaker 2: them out, Candy hit enough shots to you know, paper
6:33
Speaker 2: over the lack of effort during the during this really
6:40
Speaker 2: boring stretch of the NBA season for teams that have
6:44
Speaker 2: for like teams that are the number one seed and
6:45
Speaker 2: don't have anything more to play for, right, So Yeah,
6:48
Speaker 2: and when those shots don't go in, they lose, and
6:51
Speaker 2: the defensive effort just isn't there. So what you know,
6:54
Speaker 2: I don't think it's a long term concern because I
6:57
Speaker 2: think that they're going to show a defensive effort in
7:00
Speaker 2: the playoffs than they have the pieces to be a
7:02
Speaker 2: good defensive team. Yeah, but in the short term, you're
7:05
Speaker 2: gonna you're gonna lose games that you definitely shouldn't absolutely.
7:09
Speaker 1: Look, we're gonna talk about one of those games here.
7:12
Speaker 1: You mentioned the game against the Kings from this past weekend,
7:16
Speaker 1: and I wanted to get into a certain angle of
7:18
Speaker 1: this game because you put up a short piece over
7:22
Speaker 1: on Fearthsword dot com about the officiating excuse me, the
7:26
Speaker 1: officiating mistake in this game. And even though the Caves
7:31
Speaker 1: they really didn't play all that great in this game,
7:34
Speaker 1: which was for me a little bit unexpected, the refs
7:37
Speaker 1: in that game admitted that they should have reviewed a
7:40
Speaker 1: shot clock violation that was on the Kings, and look,
7:44
Speaker 1: it likely would not have changed the outcome of the game.
7:47
Speaker 1: But I do think it's an interesting topic and storyline
7:51
Speaker 1: because you had an officiating crew actually taking accountability and responsibility,
7:57
Speaker 1: and I think this needs to be more prevalent in
8:01
Speaker 1: the sports world in general, not just in basketball and
8:04
Speaker 1: professional basketball, but in the sports world in general. So, Jackson,
8:08
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, do you think we need to see more
8:11
Speaker 1: of this in sports from referees when they do screw up,
8:15
Speaker 1: and should there be some kind of consequence for it
8:18
Speaker 1: from an overall perspective, What are your thoughts here?
8:21
Speaker 2: This is always a tough one for me because it's
8:24
Speaker 2: always like, well, we all knew that you messed up,
8:28
Speaker 2: So then when you just admit that that you messed up,
8:30
Speaker 2: you're like, well, that doesn't actually change the outcome of
8:34
Speaker 2: the game in a way that is helpful, right, So
8:37
Speaker 2: that's that's one of the things. And if people don't know,
8:40
Speaker 2: Zach Lavine had a layup that was clearly a shot
8:44
Speaker 2: clock violation that in the last about like fifty seconds
8:49
Speaker 2: left in the game, and the rest didn't didn't review it,
8:52
Speaker 2: and they because play continued, they weren't able to go
8:58
Speaker 2: back and review it. And that's kind of like a
8:59
Speaker 2: weird gray area with if we remember the max Strue rule,
9:03
Speaker 2: which is it's informally called because of the heat Celtics game,
9:07
Speaker 2: where like they went back in and added or took
9:10
Speaker 2: away a point because somebody was out of bounds or
9:12
Speaker 2: a three point line. They can do that, but they
9:14
Speaker 2: can't do this. So anyways, it's just kind of a
9:18
Speaker 2: weird just kind of a weird thing, and I don't
9:20
Speaker 2: know how you get rid of it or like help it.
9:25
Speaker 2: Like it seems like taking accountability is probably the best
9:29
Speaker 2: it's like the best thing that you can do, but
9:31
Speaker 2: it also it doesn't affect the game. And then also,
9:34
Speaker 2: like all sports have this, and I feel like because
9:37
Speaker 2: I don't follow football to the same level as I
9:40
Speaker 2: do basketball, obviously, but it always feels weird, like, oh no,
9:43
Speaker 2: you can't review that. Oh no, this is automatically reviewed.
9:47
Speaker 2: This one is not automatically reviewed. Like it's just the
9:51
Speaker 2: more reviewed and the more you try to get the
9:53
Speaker 2: game right, there's always like these gray areas that just
9:57
Speaker 2: kind of become more frustrating because it's like, wait, we
10:01
Speaker 2: can review everything else, what's the deal with this, right?
10:04
Speaker 2: So uh so, yeah, I don't know, I don't know
10:06
Speaker 2: how to do it. You know, the NBA does the
10:08
Speaker 2: last two minute report, and then every time you're on
10:10
Speaker 2: the wrong end of that, it's like, well, what's the
10:12
Speaker 2: point of this because you're just you're saying it's wrong now,
10:16
Speaker 2: but that doesn't do anything about the game.
10:17
Speaker 1: Exactly.
10:18
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's it's kind of a weird gray area
10:21
Speaker 2: that all sports are kind of trying to navigate. And
10:24
Speaker 2: I it's one of the things that I think that
10:26
Speaker 2: the more you try to get it perfect, the more
10:30
Speaker 2: frustrating and actually they comes. Then it'll be interesting to
10:33
Speaker 2: see how like how like baseball deals with it with
10:36
Speaker 2: like the robot and stuff. So anyways, just just a
10:39
Speaker 2: lot that's just a rabbit hole that we did we
10:42
Speaker 2: could talk about absolutely.
10:43
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, And it goes to a point that I
10:46
Speaker 1: wanted to make is that there is no easy answer
10:48
Speaker 1: when it comes to officiating in sports. If there was,
10:51
Speaker 1: if we had the silver bullet, if we had the
10:53
Speaker 1: crystal ball and the right answers, we would have perfection
10:57
Speaker 1: in officiating when it comes to the sports world. So
11:00
Speaker 1: it's it's just it's a theme we talk about a
11:02
Speaker 1: lot on this podcast platform and appreciate your your viewpoints
11:06
Speaker 1: on it. But you know, getting back to this Calves
11:08
Speaker 1: team and so of the talent that we have seen
11:11
Speaker 1: this past year. Uh, I'd like on our opposition Territory
11:14
Speaker 1: shows every now and then to get into specific players
11:18
Speaker 1: and specific categories of players, and uh, I'd love for
11:24
Speaker 1: you I have four here that I would like to
11:25
Speaker 1: name for you, and if you can give me a
11:28
Speaker 1: player on the Cavs team that best describes this particular
11:31
Speaker 1: category and a brief explanation as to why you picked
11:35
Speaker 1: that player, that would be awesome. Let's start with the
11:38
Speaker 1: rising star on this Cleveland Cavaliers team. Who is that
11:42
Speaker 1: rising star and why.
11:44
Speaker 2: This one was super easy? That's Evan Mobley. Evan Mobley
11:48
Speaker 2: is you know he should be the defensive player of
11:51
Speaker 2: the Year. I know there's been a lot of buzz
11:52
Speaker 2: about craigmond Green, which I personally don't understand at all.
11:56
Speaker 1: I'm with you, I'm with you, but.
11:58
Speaker 2: Evan Mobley has taken it. If we're looking at like
12:01
Speaker 2: what one thing helped the Cavs, I think we, like
12:03
Speaker 2: I talked about that's Kenny Atkinson. But of the one
12:07
Speaker 2: of the first things that Kenny Atkinson did, and specifically
12:10
Speaker 2: with the help and buy and of Donovan Mitchell, is like, hey,
12:13
Speaker 2: we have to highlight Evan Mobley Moore as an offensive player.
12:17
Speaker 2: He's taking more threes, he's handling the ball more, and
12:20
Speaker 2: that just has allowed him to be more aggressive in
12:23
Speaker 2: getting to the basket and attacking mismatches. Playing in an
12:27
Speaker 2: offense that has real spacing principles also allowed has allowed
12:32
Speaker 2: him to just do a better job of the things
12:34
Speaker 2: he was already good at, like finishing around the rim,
12:36
Speaker 2: being a good post player. So when you look at
12:39
Speaker 2: the ascension of this team and kind of their ceiling
12:42
Speaker 2: it is, it is dependent on Evan Mobley. Can he
12:46
Speaker 2: carry this over to the playoffs? Can he? You know,
12:50
Speaker 2: that Celtics series. I think it's going to come down
12:52
Speaker 2: to the Celtics. Evan Mobley has to be the guy
12:55
Speaker 2: who's able to punish mismatches. You can't put Drew Holliday
12:58
Speaker 2: on him. You can't put Derek White on him. You know.
13:01
Speaker 2: Can he stick with Christaps Porzingis on the other end?
13:04
Speaker 2: And that's a big open question and one that you know,
13:07
Speaker 2: will probably determine the Cavs the Cavs playoff playoff of hopes.
13:12
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting. For sure, We're going to get
13:14
Speaker 1: into some Calves Celtics talk to finish up our discussion
13:18
Speaker 1: in a bit. But in sticking with the categories here,
13:21
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, who do you think is the comeback kid
13:24
Speaker 1: this year for this Cavs team. Who's the comeback kid
13:27
Speaker 1: for you and why.
13:28
Speaker 2: Darius Garland he you know, missed a lot of last season.
13:32
Speaker 2: He broke his jaw, lost significant weight, and just wasn't
13:36
Speaker 2: the player he needed to be or was expected to
13:40
Speaker 2: be for the Cavaliers last year. That was a big
13:42
Speaker 2: reason why they struggled so much against a what I
13:46
Speaker 2: considered to be a considerably worse Orlando Magic team in
13:49
Speaker 2: the first round of the playoffs. That's why they were
13:51
Speaker 2: blown off the floor by the Celtics and the following round. Like,
13:55
Speaker 2: Darius Garland just wasn't an All Star player, and this
13:59
Speaker 2: year he has been, and so he's he's had a
14:01
Speaker 2: really big rebound and that's just really helpless team get
14:04
Speaker 2: to where they are.
14:06
Speaker 1: I like the answer a lot. And as we're moving
14:08
Speaker 1: along the next category here, it's gonna be interesting to
14:11
Speaker 1: hear who you have to say this one is the
14:15
Speaker 1: needs to improve guy on the team? Which which player
14:20
Speaker 1: here is the guy that needs to improve? As you're
14:22
Speaker 1: looking towards the latter part of the season and heading
14:25
Speaker 1: into the postseason.
14:27
Speaker 2: I'm sticking with Darius Garland. We're gonna have We're gonna
14:30
Speaker 2: have am repeat. So Darius Garland, he's really been not
14:34
Speaker 2: good after the All Star break, after being named an
14:36
Speaker 2: All Star, he hasn't played like an All Star. And
14:39
Speaker 2: one of the things with Darius Garland, it is not
14:41
Speaker 2: that he when he plays bad, he doesn't like you know,
14:45
Speaker 2: some some guards, when they play bad, they just try
14:48
Speaker 2: to like dig themselves out by like taking more shots
14:51
Speaker 2: and then just forcing things. Darius Garland's kind of the opposite.
14:55
Speaker 2: When he doesn't have it, he starts to like kind
14:59
Speaker 2: of becoming where he's just like not seeming like an
15:03
Speaker 2: active part in the offense. We kind of mentioned the
15:06
Speaker 2: Kings game where the Cavs really just were loown off
15:09
Speaker 2: the court in the third quarter after Donovan Mitchell kind
15:11
Speaker 2: of went down with a brief ankle scare and Daris
15:15
Speaker 2: Garland took one shot in that time period when Mitchell
15:17
Speaker 2: was off the court, and it's like, you need your
15:21
Speaker 2: other all star guard to step up in those situations.
15:24
Speaker 2: So the Calves, you know, I talked about Van Mobile,
15:27
Speaker 2: but Darre's Garland. That's a big part of the cast
15:29
Speaker 2: success as well, and he needs to be an active
15:32
Speaker 2: participant and not somebody who kind of fades away for
15:35
Speaker 2: a quarter at a time.
15:36
Speaker 1: All Right, very interesting in terms of the needs to
15:40
Speaker 1: improve guy last guy here with this category the don't
15:45
Speaker 1: count him out guy? Who is that for you? On
15:47
Speaker 1: the calves? And why?
15:49
Speaker 2: So I feel like, I feel like when you ask
15:52
Speaker 2: this question, you're looking for like an under the radar guy.
15:55
Speaker 2: So like I thought about like like a Tay Jerome,
15:58
Speaker 2: he's had a big improved but uh, you know DeAndre Hunter,
16:02
Speaker 2: he's a guy who's been a six Man of the
16:05
Speaker 2: Year candidate. Dean Wade, Isaac Accoro both really important on
16:09
Speaker 2: the defensive end. So I could go with all those,
16:11
Speaker 2: but I'm actually gonna go with probably somebody you didn't expect.
16:15
Speaker 2: I'm going to go with Donovan Mitchell. Donovan Mitchell. I
16:19
Speaker 2: think it's you know, we talked about the Cavs success
16:23
Speaker 2: and we haven't brought up Dono with Mitchell once and
16:25
Speaker 2: he is still the best player on this team. He
16:29
Speaker 2: has the highest point per game to average against the
16:33
Speaker 2: Boston Celtics from anybody in the entire in the history
16:36
Speaker 2: of the sport. Briefly he has it over Jordan, but
16:39
Speaker 2: I think like a percentage of a point. So probably
16:43
Speaker 2: won't last forever, but he's somebody who the Cavs like.
16:47
Speaker 2: He needs to be a all NBA Fringe MVP level
16:51
Speaker 2: player for the Calves they get to where they need
16:53
Speaker 2: to go. And it's easy to like point out like, well,
16:55
Speaker 2: Evan Mobley needs to be really good and Daris Carlin
16:57
Speaker 2: needs to be good, and you got to figure out
16:58
Speaker 2: how Dared Allen fitson. But really it's Anovan Mitchell, like
17:03
Speaker 2: you're you're You're only going to go as far as
17:05
Speaker 2: your best player. Yeah, so weird to throw them in
17:08
Speaker 2: on this one, but I think it's I think it's appropriate.
17:10
Speaker 1: You make a good point, You absolutely make a good point.
17:13
Speaker 1: And again, folks, we are talking to Jackson Flickinger from
17:17
Speaker 1: Fearthsword dot com. They cover everything Cleveland Cavaliers and also
17:23
Speaker 1: check out the Junkyard podcast. Great great podcast and follow
17:27
Speaker 1: Jackson on the Twitter slash x at Jax Flickinger. Great
17:32
Speaker 1: great follow. And as we're moving along with the conversation,
17:34
Speaker 1: here a couple more topics I wanted to dive into
17:37
Speaker 1: this next one here. Look, we know the biggest strengths
17:40
Speaker 1: on this team. You know, we talk about Donovan Mitchell,
17:42
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley, Darius Garland even even though he needs to
17:46
Speaker 1: be the improved guy on this team. But I'm wondering,
17:50
Speaker 1: who are you really concerned with about down the stretch
17:52
Speaker 1: when it comes to how this team is going to perform,
17:56
Speaker 1: especially in the postseason. I want if it might actually
18:00
Speaker 1: be Darius Garland, like you've mentioned, but do you have
18:04
Speaker 1: a guy specifically that you're looking at, you know, that's
18:08
Speaker 1: that you are really concerned about when it does come
18:10
Speaker 1: to this postseason.
18:13
Speaker 2: I am concerned about Daris Carland, but for this one,
18:15
Speaker 2: I'm going to point to Jared Allen, and not as
18:18
Speaker 2: much Jared Allen's actually playing really well, it's just sort
18:21
Speaker 2: of you know, you've seen the Celtics play. You know
18:24
Speaker 2: that they shoot the ball a lot, and it's sometimes
18:27
Speaker 2: it can be hard to run two bigs out there
18:29
Speaker 2: with Jared Allen and at both Evan Mobley. So a
18:32
Speaker 2: lot of times what Kenny Acton has done is he's
18:35
Speaker 2: heavily staggered them when they have played the Celtics. So
18:39
Speaker 2: that means that you're going to really rely on guys
18:41
Speaker 2: like DeAndre Hunter and Dean Wade to play the four.
18:44
Speaker 2: And one of the things that DeAndre Hunter, he is
18:48
Speaker 2: a phenomenal offensive player. He is at six eight, He's
18:52
Speaker 2: a huge, huge guy, He's an okay on ball defender,
18:57
Speaker 2: but he can't rebound, and that's something that with the
19:02
Speaker 2: Calves have had issues in the past with rebounding. And
19:05
Speaker 2: if you're going to play with one big and DeAndre
19:09
Speaker 2: Hunter at the four, you're gonna have to give rebounds
19:11
Speaker 2: and it's probably not coming from DeAndre Hunter. So that's
19:13
Speaker 2: one of the things where if you're looking at a
19:15
Speaker 2: tight series, especially you kind of think about that series
19:19
Speaker 2: against Celtics, we anticipate that being a tight series, you're
19:22
Speaker 2: gonna have to give rebounds, You're gonna have to win
19:23
Speaker 2: the possession game, and that's something where I think the
19:25
Speaker 2: Calves should be concerned with, and that's an open question
19:30
Speaker 2: as to whether or not they can't do that if
19:31
Speaker 2: you're playing smaller Yeah.
19:33
Speaker 1: It's gonna be interesting to see, you know, where this
19:35
Speaker 1: team goes in the postseason, which players are actually able
19:39
Speaker 1: to step up, because I think at this point right
19:42
Speaker 1: now in the season, as we are here at the
19:44
Speaker 1: beginning of April, I think it seems apparent that the
19:48
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference Finals may be looking like the Calves and Celtics,
19:53
Speaker 1: even though and yes, I know folks who listen to
19:56
Speaker 1: this podcast will go back to our initial preview with
20:01
Speaker 1: the NBA season, when I predicted that it would be
20:04
Speaker 1: a Nick's Sixers Eastern Conference Finals. My gosh, everybody should
20:11
Speaker 1: just come through the screen and punch me in the
20:13
Speaker 1: face or through the speakers right now, just punch me
20:15
Speaker 1: in the face for that. My goodness. What a horrendous,
20:18
Speaker 1: horrendous pick that I had.
20:20
Speaker 2: But I can't believe in Paul George. I cannot believe
20:22
Speaker 2: in Paul George.
20:23
Speaker 1: Gosh, I know, good lord, we'll be getting into this
20:27
Speaker 1: Sixers team on this podcast platform.
20:29
Speaker 2: One thing, yes, god, thing I do when I when
20:32
Speaker 2: I watched Paul George is I keep a counter of
20:34
Speaker 2: how many times he gets into the paint, yes, with
20:37
Speaker 2: two feet like in the ball at the same time,
20:39
Speaker 2: because it's just it's just not that often. So you
20:42
Speaker 2: just got to recognize the little things like that. So anyways,
20:45
Speaker 2: I'll let you get back. I know what you were saying.
20:48
Speaker 1: It's just gosh. Yeah, we're gonna be talking about it
20:51
Speaker 1: a lot more on this podcast platform for sure, where
20:54
Speaker 1: the Sixers team is gonna be heading. But really, I mean,
20:56
Speaker 1: we're all again being objective being a fan to the NBA,
21:00
Speaker 1: being a fan of postseason NBA basketball really does seem
21:04
Speaker 1: like the Calves and Celtics are probably going to be
21:07
Speaker 1: that Eastern Conference Finals matchup that I think is going
21:11
Speaker 1: to be tremendous to watch as a basketball fan. But
21:15
Speaker 1: I'm wondering which team or teams are are you all
21:20
Speaker 1: hoping to avoid and possible or possibly see in the postseason.
21:25
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is Calves fans in general,
21:27
Speaker 1: those who are following the team, are their teams you're
21:29
Speaker 1: hoping to avoid teams you might want to see. What
21:32
Speaker 1: are your thoughts?
21:33
Speaker 2: I think the Calves are obviously you don't want to
21:35
Speaker 2: you don't want to play the Celtics, But I don't
21:37
Speaker 2: think that's I don't think you're gonna avoid that right.
21:39
Speaker 2: But one of the teams that I think is kind
21:41
Speaker 2: of could be under an underrated threat to the Calves
21:44
Speaker 2: is the Pacers, which would be a second round matchup
21:48
Speaker 2: just with how fast they can play and how they
21:51
Speaker 2: can spread the floor. We saw them have playoff success
21:54
Speaker 2: last year, and that that's a team that you know,
21:57
Speaker 2: I talked about the issues with Alan and trying to
22:01
Speaker 2: go smaller and some of those issues. It's possible that
22:03
Speaker 2: the Pacers could expose some of those I don't think
22:06
Speaker 2: the Pacers have the skill level to you know, win
22:09
Speaker 2: four out of seven games against the Calves, but they're
22:11
Speaker 2: a team that I think presents a stylistic problem that
22:15
Speaker 2: I don't see from even teams like the you know,
22:18
Speaker 2: the even like the Knicks, Pistons, Bucks, I don't see
22:22
Speaker 2: them presenting a stylistic problem, whereas I do see that
22:26
Speaker 2: with the Pacers. So that's one of the teams where
22:28
Speaker 2: it's like, if the Calves did get knocked off, I
22:30
Speaker 2: would be I'd be I'd still be pretty surprised. It's
22:34
Speaker 2: got to be.
22:36
Speaker 1: It's got to be by a team that's gotten hot
22:37
Speaker 1: in the postseason. That's what's going to happen. I think
22:40
Speaker 1: if they don't get knocked off, yeah.
22:43
Speaker 2: Right, so, and I think they would have to be
22:45
Speaker 2: a stylistic present some of those issues, and I think
22:47
Speaker 2: the Pacers could do that. So that's a team that's
22:50
Speaker 2: a team that that I have circled. As you know,
22:52
Speaker 2: you probably don't want to face them, but you should
22:56
Speaker 2: still beat them.
22:57
Speaker 1: Yep. All right, Well again, folks. Jackson from Fearthsword dot
23:02
Speaker 1: Com Jackson, Buddy, it was great talking to you. I'm
23:04
Speaker 1: not gonna let too much time pass before I ask
23:07
Speaker 1: you to jump back on the podcast. It's always fun
23:09
Speaker 1: talking NBA, talking Cavs with you. Come back and join
23:12
Speaker 1: us down the road, my friend. I'd love to have
23:13
Speaker 1: you back on the show.
23:14
Speaker 2: We'll do I'll be waiting for an invite on the
23:17
Speaker 2: Paul George Podcast.
23:18
Speaker 1: Yes, let's do it for sure. Absolutely, that's gonna do
23:23
Speaker 1: it for us here on Opposition Territory this week. Please
23:26
Speaker 1: share our podcast with your friends and family members who
23:29
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23:32
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23:35
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23:39
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23:42
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23:56
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