Podcast Episode 98: The Domin-matrix, and defending Kyrie’s Honor
2016-04-26https://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/podcast-episode-98-clean-sweep
LeBron-led Cavs teams take care of business in the early rounds. They have an active 12-game playoff winning streak over Detroit (tying an NBA record), an active 8-game playoff winning streak over Atlanta, and an active 8-game playoff winning streak over Washington. So as much as Stanley Johnson, Anna Horford, and their mentor DeShawn Stevenson feel they have some kind of rivalry with the Cavs…they’ve pretty much just padded LeBron’s playoff stats.
Nate, Elijah, and I discussed how exactly the Cavs took care of business (meteor showers from beyond the arc helped!) against the plucky Pistons and we analyzed potential opponents for the later rounds. Tom and Nate ranted about Kyrie/Delly arguments (is that your shocked face?) and Eli expressed his pleasure with the performance of the Big-3 and Tyronn Lue’s defensive adjustments.
As usual we played Potent Perceptions and finished with some post-recording outtakes. Find out which movie to never watch when your wife is in early labor.
Put your feet up Cavs fans, we’ve got some time on our hands. May as well start it off with a podcast that’s…LONG IN THE TOOTH.
I’ll just put this here
Verse the Pistons Kyrie averaged 27.5 points per game, 60.4% true-shooting, 5 assists per game and only 6!!! turnovers
http://40.media.tumblr.com/c6131ce980fd86132089feba01f3a733/tumblr_nyd0toWoTK1s71q1zo1_r2_1280.png
Totally forgot to include this guy’s Tumblr account of all the fake movies and their ridiculous synapses. (along with books and fantastic political signs). This one is my fave. Warning. The general tumblr feed is borderline for work appropriateness. He can get a bit ribald.
http://liartownusa.tumblr.com/
http://41.media.tumblr.com/ae8147c0dc0e5e5c92010231f9565f3d/tumblr_nbxi3eiiww1s71q1zo1_1280.png
I appreciate that Lue has decided to run LeBron with the “second unit” instead of Kyrie. For awhile, Lue was handing the reins over to Kyrie at the beginning of the second quarter with the second line. It completely neutered the Delly/with anyone PnR and allowed Kyrie to think it was “his” time. Starting in Game 2, LeBron went out earlier in the first quarter allowing Kyrie and Love to share the burden. Then James and Delly started the second quarters with the unstoppable PnR action. Frye and RJ did a great job in that lineup stretching the floor leading… Read more »
Absolutely on having LeBron start the second quarter. That had been a disaster with just KI of the big three on the floor probably believing it was all his show.
Question: If the Lakers have a fire sale, cleaning house, is there anyone on the team that we may want/are able to get?
Maybe Hibbert will sign for a vets minimum if we lose Moz.
No. No no nonononononononononononono
I’d rather watch 100 movies picked out by Tom, than have to subject myself to watching Roy Hibbert try to play basketball.
Well CtB, looks like we can go ahead and book that Cavs championship right now:
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15390373/justin-bieber-tells-fans-cleveland-thinks-lebron-james-win-all-2016
We’re doomed…
Don’t know if this was posted yet. I heard that Carli Loyd (US women’s soccer) had a mcl 1 sprained knee yesterday . She will be out 3 to 6 weeks.
I saw that too. An adult friend of mine plays lacrosse, and he had a MCL 1 sprain two years ago. He couldn’t do anything for three weeks, and rehab was around two weeks. So maybe Curry’s two week prognosis is optimistic, although the team did say he would be “re-evaluated” in two weeks. Even if Curry’s rehab goes well, perhaps he won’t be effective for more than a month.
The Hawks. We own them. Series over in 5 games
Why should it take a game longer than last year? Especially since KLove is healthy and the Hawks aren’t nearly as good as they were…
Cavs Sweep the Hawks in 4. Domin-matrix streak at 12 straight games. Cavs end ATL and Horford and Korver both leave in offseason. ATL doesn’t make the playoffs next season.
Great pod as usual guys! Although, I think I’ve found the perfect logo for Cavs:the Podcast…
http://www.whats-thesayinganswers.com/images/long-in-the-tooth.jpg
I found it crazy that all these ESPN commentators were stating how the Clippers need to quickly finish the blazers series and get as many games in against GSW as possible before Curry gets back. Found that disrespectful of Portland, who had the highest chances of upsetting their opponent when the playoff seeding came out. Anyway, you never know what can happen in the playoffs, CP3 breaks his hand and now I don’t even see LAC winning another game this series. Also, Isaiah Thomas just sprained his ankle tonight. If he can’t go in game 6, this BOS-ATL series is… Read more »
I’d agree if westbrook weren’t a horrible matchup for them.
Love seeing the C’s getting destroyed. Just wish it was happening in Boston.
Enjoyable podcast! Many good points. It is puzzling why Lue is being stingy with bench particularly Delly in that series. You risk injury not subbing guys. The defensive stats of 1st half vs 2nd were surprising. I was NOT surprised on how few times Lebron did not get to the free throw line. There seems to be a real distaste for him from the refs. I don’t get it. Things I like to see improve is better protection in the paint & getting more points in the paint. Wow did the Hornets do that well last night. A lot of… Read more »
Most of the teams in the East are pretty good defensively.
ESPN has a headline article right now saying: “The NBA’s next superstar coach? The Celtics’ Brad Stevens”
GAG. Dude is so over-rated.
Yep. He’s terrible. All he’s taught that team is to play hard and dirty to win at all costs. He’s a terrible human because of this.
“An X’s and O’s savant with what some would call a Popovichian demeanor, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens is rapidly climbing the NBA coaching ranks.”
GAG
Yuck. Stevens is nowhere close to the Spo, Pop, Carlisle trinity of coaches. He’s more like a poor man’s Blatt.
You’ll know the lottery is rigged when the Celtics land Ben Simmons.
I like Brad Stevens a lot, and even I thought the premise was ridiculous.
He does seem like a smart guy. But his actual outcomes are very mediocre. Currently losing by 30 in critical playoff game against a team with same record as his team. Great coaches don’t do that.
Tom sucks at picking out movies.
CWZAGGER I KEEP WAITING / HOPING TO SEE A CONSISTENT RETURN OF LAST YEARS MOZ / SHUMP’S PERFORMANCES ( ALONG WITH VINTAGE MO ) MIGHT BE ASKING FOR TOO MUCH BUT ” WE CAN DREAM “—I ALSO AGREE THE CAVS WOULD BE VERY TOUGH TO BEAT——I BROUGHT THIS UP RECENTLY —-WHAT DID WE TRADE FOR MOZ / GIVE UP —–IF WE HAD A “CHRYSTAL BALL ” ( KNOWING WE WOULD ONLY GET 1 PRODUCTIVE YEAR ) WOULD WE MAKE THE TRADE AGAIN—IS WHAT WE GAVE UP FOR MOZ GOING TO SOMEWHAT HURT US —-JUST SOME THOUGHTS / CONCERNS
We would definitely make the Moz trade again. We needed Moz last year. No doubt. Late round firsts are useless right now for the Cavs.
I don’t always agree with Cols but last year Moz was invaluable. The Cavs were hemorrhaging points at the rim. It was bad. It was infecting the whole team with a lack of confidence. Getting Moz turned last season around. Now, if we only get one useful year out of him, I’ll be a bit disappointed, but he changed our team last year.
Yeah, the bottom line is he had an unlucky injury that looks to have ended his useful career. Too bad, but I’d make the trade again for sure.
Last night on TNT, they were talking about what would make the difference in the upcoming series between San Antonio and OKC. Charles Barkley said something like “Well, it’s all going to come down to who is making shots in the last two or three minutes of the game.” And like it or not, many NBA games seem to work out that way. I think that is why I value Kyrie so highly. I don’t know where other people would rank him, but after Steph Curry, I think I would pick Kyrie over anyone else in the league.
The Pistons?! The Pistons have a bight future? If by bright future you mean if they get a few more good players they might be able to take one or two games in a seven game series vs the Cavs in a couple of years? Then sure, bright future.
And Nate, you’d love Reggie Jackson if he was on your team.
The Andersons got tickets to the game!? How’d the Andersons get tickets to the game!!?
They used NBA.com I think.
Your dad’s a genius
My lord I hate that commercial…
Atlanta. We’d rather play Atlanta. Boston has the world’s dirtiest coach and they will injure us. Atlanta is the correct answer.
And of course we will close out fine vs Atlanta. The reason our closeouts were bad was because the idea vs Detroit was to let their awful 3 point shooters shoot them.
Great ‘cast.
I also love love love Tom’s continual ragging on Al Horford’s sister Anna and her tweets. I have to wonder if the Cavs end up facing the Hawks again, will the other sister Maria take off the gloves and start smearing all things Cleveland too? She’s fairly active on social media, but perhaps she was schooled in social graces by father Tito.
Love what Nate said about the Cavs having a Big Six! It’s pretty true though: TT, JR, and Delly have all shown to be guys who can completely change a game in an instant with their skills.
Imagine what we could be if Shump and Mozzy somehow regained last year’s playoff form, Mo came back healthy and as good as he was earlier this season, plus Channing Frye… *phew*
Oh and Richard Jefferson too. I’ve been sweeping him under the rug all season so I’m finally giving him his props. He’s been really solid this postseason as a savvy, veteran backup 3.
It’s pretty ridiculous actually. If the Cavs really had a big six, say something like Leb, Irving, Love, Towns, Blake, and Curry, they’d win 82 games.
They have a big three with good complimentary pieces.
I’ve seen playoff games swing on a dime because of TT’s animal rebounding, JR’s NBA Jam fire mode, and Delly’s floor generalship/hustle. No one is confusing them for All-Stars but those guys are among the best in the league at what they do best.
We have a Big Three with **AWESOME complimentary pieces.
Fair enough, but you can’t call it a Big Six. A Big Six goes undefeated. Think the Dream Team
With the injuries out West it’s not outside the realm of possibility that we could go undefeated this postseason. (Stop me if I start to sound crazy.)
Haha unfortunately, with this team, at our best we look like we can do this. At our worst we look like we could have been busted out of the first round. Fortunately, last series we looked closer to the former than the latter. However, even with the injuries to the West, I think this might be wishful thinking. If the Spurs make it to the finals than we can’t expect Pop to not figure us out for at least a game or two. And if the Dubs make it, that means that Steph is at least somewhat back to his… Read more »
Oh I mean the Cavs going undefeated is not a bet I’d make. But looking at the East right now, as long as things remain more or less static, I think realistically we have a 40-50% chance of making it to the Finals with no losses. From there it’d just have to be a legendary run to go 16-0.
Names and jersey sales win basketball games don’t they?
How about the “collection of very important players who number more than 5 and less than 7?”
How about a six-pack?
http://www.dispatch.com/content/graphics/2015/01/21/1aa-beer21-grl1023eb-1left-hand-milk-stout-nitro.jpg
Due to commenter outrage, there will be no live blog of this podcast. To all my fans, please refrain from directing your comments to this comment section (sorry ma!).
But will there will be any commenter outrage at the lack of a cols live comment?
HOLY! http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2016/04/25/coca-cola-brings-back-hi-c-ecto-cooler.html
I loved that stuff as a kid. I’ll have to get some for nostalgia purposes.
Oh, and despite there being no live blog, I love how Nate can just decide that Drummond is dumb based on how he looks. Someone needs to call him on that.
I don’t think he called Drummond dumb – just said his demeanor wasn’t indicative of a very mentally tough person (in a basketball sense). But just like you didn’t call out Nate, I won’t speak for him.
Fair enough, but I still think it’s kind of ridiculous in a Bill Simmons body language type of way. But OK, I said no live blog and I will try to stick to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m interested in your opinion on individual defense vs team defense. If you had to break down the Cavs players by individual defense (iso D) and team defense, how would you rank them? Or you can just use >’s
I haven’t listened yet, but here’s what I think
ISO defense
LeBron>Shump>TT (on big dudes)>JR>Love>playoff Kyrie>Delly>regular season Kyrie
Team defense
LeBron>TT>Shump>Delly>JR>Love>playoff Kyrie>regular season Kyrie
Not completely out of line with my thoughts.
I’d put Love higher on Team Defense I think. I love how you have playoff Kyrie and Regular season Kyrie but not Playoff LeBron, Chill Mode LeBron????
Haha. Yeah, chill mode LeBron wouldn’t be all that high I guess. Where do you put Love? I couldn’t decide whether to slot him above or below JR.
That defense Irving played against Jackson at the end of the game was phenomenal. No fouling. Irving has really picked up his D for the playoffs. I don’t see any reason why he can’t play that kind of D more often.
“looks” being indicative of the whole package of everything I’ve seen, heard, and read from or about him. And I never said he was dumb. Don’t put words in my mouth. It’s unsanitary.
GSW is the luckiest team of all time. They didn’t face a single healthy PG all of last playoffs and the same thing looks to be coming true again.
Clippers are done man. No CP3 no Blake. Portland is going to move on. So Golden State will at least face a healthy Damian Lillard. Still lucky. They can win that series without Steph. A healthy Clippers team would have finished them off with no Curry.
I love your podcasts, thank you. You could really use the levelator from conversations network, as the volume levels on the various commentators is not close to even. Please check out the levelator. It’s free, so there is nothing to lose. Thanks!
http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator
You should download the Overcast app to listen on, it has a feature called voice boost which greatly reduces the differences in volumes between the commentators.
Also you can then listen on 1.4 speed which definitely helps due to the slow nature of some of the speakers.
Thanks Style!
I’ll look into Levelator. And I need to get a decent Mic.
Ah, so you’re doing volume leveling but not using the levelator specifically I take it? Check out the levelator. It’s much better than the leveller in audacity. (I’m a podcaster, by the way…)
We actually do volume leveling, as hard to believe as it is.
But thanks for the tip.
wow! because on many episodes it is BAD. This one wasn’t terrible, but still needed some leveling. Maybe you could run it through the levelator a few times? Not sure if that would help or not.
I’m starting to equate the Warriors with the Steelers. For whatever reason, it seems like the Steelers have a beneficent God on their side that seems to manage to get them thru as far as possible. Now the Warriors are getting the same holy treatment. The best two way guard and threat to Steph’s game broke his hand… My only hope is that Lillard and Parker can bring enough offense to make it impossible for Steph to guard anyone. Though I expect both of them will lose a leg in a tragic two-team plane accident…
Yeah, what are the odds that the minute a crack opens with Curry’s injury the next game CPaul goes down. And the play he broke his hand looked like 50 other plays in any NBA game. I do think the ankle/knee issues with Curry just might get into his head and affect his stroke. Maybe that is wishful thinking too. I hope the Spurs can beat the Warriors, as I would still rather face San Antonio. And I don’t like – but sure respect – GS and the dangling mouthpiece. Go Cavs
I think it’s going to be more than in his head. I think it’s going to straight up hurt. Even if he’s able to come back with a repaired knee, injuries like that linger. I can easily see him being slower on cuts involving that knee. If he starts to get pain that affects his game, look out.
Yep. If this were regular season, he’d get all the time in the world to recover properly. And maybe if GSW keep winning in his absence, that might still be the case. But if not, there will be pressure to play him before he is 100%….which will be bad for him and GSW and great for the opposing teams.
Yes, I think his knee is likely to be on his mind for more than just two weeks.