Podcast Episode 78: Are You Worried Yet? (Plus bonus pod!)
2015-12-04http://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/podcast-episode-78-are-you
Nearing the end of the first quarter of the NBA season, David Wood, Tom Pestak and I piled into the podcast studio and talked some Cavs. We started with the live game experience Tom and I had over Thanksgiving weekend which included Tom’s three point shooting show from the Q floor. Then we talked about the Wizards game, Mo “no D” Gotti , SuperDova, what’s wrong with Timo, underused Andy, Kyrie’s return, how much TT gets paid per free throw, the two Kevin Loves, the epic Golden State Warriors, and whether or not we’re worried about the season yet. Then we topped that off with a farewell to Kobe Bryant.
You can find us above, on SoundCloud, or on iTunes.
But wait, there’s more! If you order now, you’ll receive this bonus pod, Tom Pestak on WingAM in Dayton from Thursday afternoon, talking Cavs With Mark Neal.
https://soundcloud.com/dayton-radio/tom-pestak-12-3-15
I was dead and buried, and then Nate’s deluge of haterade on Kobe resurrected me from the grave. Thank you Nate, I have not been happier in months than to hear someone finally, honestly give a Kobe autopsy rather than eulogy. Kobe Bean Bryant is the U2 of NBA basketball players. Yes, he is great. Yes, he sold a lot of tickets. But still . . . OVER-RATED. Clap clap clapclapclap. ANNOYING CORNHOLE. Clap clap clapclapclap. Between Nate killing Kobe and the Sixers process self-immolating (instant karma’s gonna getcha), I couldn’t be happier. Oh right, Cavs. They will be fine… Read more »
Listened to this at work last night, great job, guys. Thought you all had good points, but particularly appreciate Tom bringing up the defensive numbers with respect to who is on the court. It shouldn’t be too much of a mystery at this point what the best combo is. I’m also with Tom in fearing that the Cavs are trying to do this at the same time the Warriors are peaking – I thought Tom’s five on four analogy was a good one. If the playoffs were right now, I would give no team in the league a very good… Read more »
Great Job on the Podcasts. I listened to it on the treadmill, which didn’t help me run very hard so I probably won’t do that again.
Kendrick Perkins visited #Cavs on court. He yelled at Matthew Dellavedova, “You lucky I ain’t playing. I’d hit you with a hard-ass screen.”
So the knicks are beating Brooklyn by 30. In the second quarter. Porzingis fever, baby.
Thad young is -33 in 14 minutes. I don’t even know how you do that unless you’re shooting in the wrong basket.
I agree with… I think it was Nate? I think the best chance we have to beat Curry is the same way the Pistons beat Jordan. I’m just not sure if LBJ would buy into the “Bad Boy Cavs” mentality though.
Seriously tho…you just deny curry the ball. You play hard nosed, 90s style defense minus the hand checking, and you deny curry the ball. And then you slow the pace way down like we did last year. The formula worked with a not that good jazz team. It can work with an all time great and a couple all stars and a solid bench.
Awesome stuff guys! Although for future podcasts, I’m happy to be the designated GSW non-believer… Utah showed what a good defensive team can do against them, and I expect the Cavs’ D to be up to the task in the playoffs…
I think so. But man, Curry. He can just pull up from 30 feet and hit 40%. He must be smothered constantly. He’s just breaking the game right now.
I actually think Utah, with their size and playstyle, are one of the more difficult matchups for GS in the league right now. They are pretty much an outlier in their makeup, though, and no one else is really equipped to play that way. I’ll be interested to see the Spurs play GS, that should be a tilt.
Also, man, I never thought I’d be in the minority on this but I couldn’t disagree more about Kobe. I could cherry pick the lowest moments of LeBron’s career and make him look bad, too. Objectively, Kobe is at LEAST the 3rd greatest SG of all time. In a sport where the primary goal is to score more points than the other team, he is one of the best scorers the game has ever seen; the 81 point game is one of the greatest individual feats in league history. Plus there is no arguing the five rings. Shaq was the… Read more »
So I’ll contrast your argument with current Steph Curry. He keeps a defense honest. He is already twice as good at that as Kobe ever was. Kobe has made lots and lots of stupidly difficult shots because he takes lots and lots of them. The argument about Tim Duncan being better from the podcast has to do with understanding basketball better. Kobe built a career on hard work and will, and insane talent. Tim Duncan has all those attributes plus a better understanding of how to make basketball easy. Kobe’s flaw as a basketball player isn’t necessarily his shooting percentage… Read more »
Great podcast!! As usual!! I thought you made really good points on Kevin Love. I had noticed too with all that banging under the rim does tire him out. When Blatt gives him extra mins, he is much more productive. I knew there was some kind of nonproductive chemistry between Love and Mosgov but didn’t understand why. You explained it brilliantly. It all evolves around Mosgov getting better physically and mentally. I do think in the beginning you kinda slighted Richard Jefferson a little. His defensive numbers are actually better than you may think especially on ISO and spot up… Read more »
That was a nice listen for a Friday at work, guys, well done. But way to try changing the subject to “positive” things and then promptly go on to make me depressed about K Love lol! I wonder how much his health is tying into his back-and-forth play this year but I think he’s one of the most skilled players in the league who doesn’t rely too heavily on athleticism and will turn it around. Yeah, I can admit I’m terrified of the Warriors. It’s not like I’m scared of us facing them, cuz I look forward to the opportunity… Read more »
Thanks for helping me through my workout guys! Such great content. The Kobe rant was perhaps my favorite cavs the podcast four mins of all time. I will add…It’s as if Kobe was a two year old, listened to two Michael Jordan sound bytes about “You never make the shots you don’t take” and “you can never lose focus on your individual goals and you can’t let yourself be beat because of lack of effort”, and added an N as an exponent, and varied the N throughout his whole career. The Nth degree could have been his nickname instead of… Read more »
Nate really brought it on Kobe. I had forgotten about Kobe refusing to shoot. When he started talking about that it was like…”oh wow how did I forget about that!”
Yeah. Kobe is an all time Diva. A great scorer, but bad teammate. Even now, he’s still all about himself. Shooting when there are clearly better options. He’s stunting the growth of that franchise and completely does not give a crap. Not that I mind, but he is not retiring gracefully at all. The best thing that can happen to the Lakers right now is that he gets injured, because Byron Scott doesn’t have the balls to sit him.
Haven’t listened yet, but am about to. But so much this – I’ve never been a Kobe fan, either of his game or him personally. He spent his entire life trying to copy Jordan in every way, right down to speech mannerisms. In the end, he succeeded – he became a crummy imitation of Jordan. He did everything Jordan did, or nearly so, but all in an inferior manner. He was still a great player, but more in the top 20 all time rather than too 10 (or top 5, for the true Kobe sycophants). As I posted in EG’s… Read more »
Can’t wait to listen!! Check back later with you!