Podcap: New York 119, Cleveland 111 (or, Bright Lights and the Big City)
2025-10-23After going 4-0 in the regular season last year against the Knicks, Cleveland dropped its opener in the Garden, 119-111. The story of this game was free throws, focus, and rebounding. The Knicks were more focused (Cavs fouled four three point shooters in the first half), were much better on the glass (48-32 rebound advantage), and then were blessed by the officiating gods as New York played refball down the stretch (as I called pregame). Still, you can’t spot a team 15 points in the first half on their home court, especially an NBA darling like the Knicks.
Donovan Mitchell and Sam Merrill turned in monster second halves, helping the Cavs briefly go up 1 in the fourth with 23 and 16 respectively, while Mobley dropped 22/8/3 on the night. Jarrett Allen played soft as triple ply Charmin, and Jalen Tyson shook like he was haunted in his first start in the bright lights. Meanwhile, CPJ no-showed, and Tyrese Proctor looked like a player unafraid of the big city in his NBA regular season debut, with good handle, feel, and some nice dimes to complement a team high +11 with zero turnovers. OG Anunoby started his quest for DPOY with a 24/14/2 line with three stocks, while Brunson scored 23 on 13 (mostly bullshit) free throws. It was a frustrating loss with some bright spots, and as some commenters noted, the Cavs were missing 50 ppg worth of injured players.
Nate Smith and Chris Francis made a long overdue return the podcast booth to break it all down and go around the NBA with some instant reactions, over-under win total predictions, and a look forward to the coming six games in nine days stretch for the wine and gold.
As always, catch us below, download the full audio file, or listen on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, or Spotify.
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I did not have the Pacers getting to 2OT against OKC. SGA is such a foul merchant
PREACH BUCKAROO PREACH 👍👍👍——HOPE ALL IS WELL WITH YOU!!!
thx NOMAD bro.. hope you and the 18 yr old bride are happy..
billups, rozier and others ARRESTED in sting on illegal sports betting.. why am i laughing ? i must be a bad dude.. but i find this hilarious.. stick to practicing your free throws, dudes.. as clint stated in one of his classics, “a man’s got to know his limitations”.. gonna be a hard time in the hard time..
Ex-Cav Damon Jones amongst them.
CAVS HAVE TO START INCORPORATING A “ TOUGHNESS CULTURE “ — MY DEFENSIVE MOTTO “ STAB AND TWIST “ ——— GET IT GOING CAVS — “ GO – GET BIG OR GO HOME—- EARLY “ 🤬🤬🤬🤬
NOT CONCERNED ABOUT LONZOs SHOT NOT FALLING—— EVEN WHEN THEY ARENT —- HE STILL BRINGS ALOT TO THE TABLE 👍👍
AGREED PATRICK —-TYSON ESSENTIALLY A ROOKIE—— CPJ ( SIMILAR TO WADE ) HAS TO “ TURN THE CORNER “ THIS YEAR / NEEDS MINUTES TO ALLOW FOR THIS
I “ BET “ THEY FIND MORE PLAYERS/ COACHES INVOLVED IN THE GAMBLING PROBE
Definitely. I’d separate poker (Billups, Arenas) from NBA prop bets (Rozier, Jones?). Both gambling but w different effects on NBA competition/quality and arguably soundness of betting markets (if one cares about the latter).
AGREED MR STEAL—- WAY TOO EARLY ON TYSON——WOULD WORK ON HIM BEING A SOLID RESERVE—-CONTINUE “ IRONING “ OUT HIS SHOT ( HE WILL NEVER BE AN ELITE 3 or SHOOTER ) —WORK / REFINE HIS STRENGTH s !!
And an important way to accomplish this is to give him significant non-garbagge minutes. Something some of us clamored for last season but it did not happen. Injuries forcing this to happen now. Given teeny usage last yr, I’d treat him basically as a rookie this season.
team has 6 in ten days not nine. count it up
Friday (Day 1): Nets
Sunday (Day 3): Bucks
Monday (Day 4): Pistons
Wednesday (Day 6): Celts
Friday (Day 8): Raps
next Sunday (Day 10): Hawks
🙏🙏🙏GUYS—- SCARY TERRY ALSO ARRESTED/FBI /GAMBLING ———-WAY TOO EARLY “ TO THROW TYSON UNDER THE BUS —— REALLY LIKE/ SUPPORT THE KID “ —— DONT KILL THE MESSENGER—— JUST THROWING THIS OUT FOR OPINIONS ——-WHO WAS TAKEN AFTER TYSON IN THE DRAFT—-HOW ARE THEY DOING/ IMPACT ON THEIR TEAM s
I wanted Yves Missi for fit as a third big with potential. I think Terrence Shannon has shown more than Tyson to date. Some folks wanted DaRon Holmes, who was hurt.
But yeah, there are a lot of nothings after Tyson, too. It might be an Okoro situation where he flashes interesting stuff but never quite puts it together, but way way way too soon to tell.
Off-topic,but Damon Jones in the news. From the ESPN article about Chauncey Billups arrest:
“former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones was arrested Thursday on charges that he provided inside information about NBA games to co-defendants who used it to place sports bets, according to ABC News. Jones, 49, played for 10 NBA teams over an 11-year career from 1998 to 2009 and was a Cavaliers assistant from 2016 to 2018.”
Apparently leaked Lebron injury status before it was publicly announced. Seems like JR is vindicated for throwing soup at him (never doubted you for a second JR!).
😂😂😂