Podcast Episode 69: The Finals!
2015-06-04https://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/podcast-episode-69-the-finals
OMG The finals are here! Northeast Ohio is buzzing. Excitement and anticipation are in the air. After nine days of hype, David Wood, EvilGenius and I jumped in the podcast booth to give a hard core Finals breakdown: stopping LeBron and Steph, the rebounding battle, the turnover breakdown, x-factors, Steph’s Horoscope, the Shaq factor, prop bets, and more. Are you as excited as I am!?
You can listen above, on Soundcloud, or on iTunes.
Cool podcast, bros, but WHAT IS UP with all of those paper rustling noises in the background? Is someone collating photocopies? It renders the entire thing unlistenable.
Imagine what those numbers would be if he could shoot!
Another quick David Blatt note:
The Warriors basically play Euroball. It is very common for teams here to have a small ball four and a sweet shooting lead ballhandler. Obviously, they aren’t as talented as the Warrior version, but then Blatt has more talent at his disposal as well.
On the other side of the ball, the switch everything man/zone hybrid has been in Europe for years. The Warriors defensive style is normal here.
Blatt is going against what he knows best. Expect some great adjustments.
@ScottRaab64: Containing my fearless prediction: http://t.co/LqflQmblE0
evil what are you smoking you are in PRIME FORM TODAY !!!—–Blatt’s genious is going to surface –he has had a ” master ” plan from day 1 to ‘ REST THE GRAY BEARDS THE ENTIRE SEASON ” their legs / bodies will be like in their 20’s —their experience in their 30’s—they will dominate their bench —cavs in 6 —got the ” mower fired up ” ready to head ” to the land ” with my ” fireworks blazing behind me “—I’m allowed to dream aren’t I — GO CAVS !!!
No smoking… just lots of this… ;)
Cavs are going with the blue uni’s tonight…
This is why I decided not to try to go to Game 1…
Awesome podcast guys. Would put the Steph three-point over/under at 30.5 and would put Thompson’s offensive rebound over/under at 24.5. As far as beer, I’ve been drinking a lot of Hop Juju from Fat Head’s.
That picture is like a double jinx. I’m changing my prediction: Spurs in 6.
I can’t take the waiting anymore. It’s 11:30 a.m. in Los Angeles and I need to start drinking if the finals don’t start in ten minutes.
NBA Finals Prediction
http://0to100sports.com/2015/06/04/2015-nba-finals-preview-and-prediction/
Start drinking. That’s what I would do.
Just don’t be this guy…
This is hilarious!
A nice long profile on Delly, with quotes from a couple NBA scouts, his old coach in Australia, and Blatt at the end:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2481224-the-rise-of-matt-dellavedova-the-playoffs-unlikeliest-star-and-biggest-pest
Great piece. This is my favorite line: “That’s why I have a beard, because it’s a bit of protection.”
LeBron is likely to finish his career No. 3 all time in playoff assists, behind only Magic and Stockton; and, if he has three or four more deep playoff runs, No. 1 in scoring (he needs about 1,200 points). Not bad.
Those credentials plus one or two titles in Cleveland along with the two in Miami would make for an interesting GOAT discussion.
cols are you sure you didn’t write that article ( are you Will Leitch in disguise ? ) —- gotta go ” ride my mower ” and calm my nerves —-we need to win one of these 1st 2 games and then see how vegas changes the odds
Richard Farnsworth in David Lynch’s Disney movie. Nice.
http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/13010031/nba-finals-large-majority-bettors-backing-underdog-cleveland-cavaliers
Interesting…
from a betting point i do see the take. as an aside, when do you think vegas will modify their odds so that the house might not loose money? likely before 9 pm? this might be one of my favorite story lines leading up to the finals game 1
I bet Cavs in 6 and also Cavs in 7. Those had great odds.
There’s too much paralysis of analysis by many Cavs fans here.
The Cavs are going to win because they’re tougher . . . and that counts in a series like this.
Also, the Cavs are better than the sum of their parts. Too many are drawing conclusions after analyzing the parts. Like Mozgov said, “Team is team.”
my wife (a cleveland heights native) echoes this underdog. even her favorite gossip sites are bonkers about analysis. it doesnt hurt that the athletes are most all good looking either. she told me that you know its critical mass when athlete’s “camps” have people positing on gossip sites with little scoops. like superstitions with which barber to use or meals to eat. some other stuff she tells me when our boys are asleep because she doesnt want them to ask age inappropriate questions. the internet is DARPA’s greatest invention.
This is the best thing I’ve read so far today on the Finals
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/128540608/lebron-james-nba-finals-high-expectations
that is about as fair and balanced as i have seen. his wilt reference made me laugh because my mom used to tell me that quote as a kid when my little league or youth basketball teams played.
of all the basketball analysts I think Legler is the most professional / accurate– the one that I will respect and listen to his opinions —-wow is everyone as nervous/ anxious as I am—I have coached athletes / teams at state competitions ( even my own son ) and I don’t believe I was this nervous / anxious —GO CAVS —LET’S ENJOY THIS JOURNEY TOGETHER —ALL IN !!!
anxious… yes. nervous only if they drop a clunker in games 1 and 2. i had to double take your lower cases nomad. is this your zen like vides you want to send to oakland?
so during your talk i thought of a colleague of mine who loves to rewrite with what if scenarios. he thinks a what if with wiggins in this lineup is devastating. and then added that cavs retrade back love for wiggins even up. you cant believe how happy i am that the media has not pontificated about the love trade. i say sign both TT and love next year. rotate many bigs (moz, andy, tt and love) and anyone who can hit 3’s or slash to the hoop makes this team devastating. dion waiters is the only one who is… Read more »
They don’t talk about Wiggins in the podcast do they? If so tell me where so I can skip that part. Wiggins would be almsot unplayable in the playoffs. He was bad defenseively and shoots like crap.
no they didnt (at least from what i remember early this morning). their conversation though reminded me of a work colleague who took most of what they were saying in the ‘cast and added to it a wiggins narrative.
No, we did not talk about Wiggins. What’s the point of that?
I agree. That is what I told the work colleague. I don’t know why some cavs fans (mainly in Ohio) try to enhance something rather than just enjoy. I’m savoriing this feeling because it rare in the cavs history. Plus where the team is now is fascinating.
Tim Legler” insulted if I am a supporting cast on cavs”. I agree, Shump, jr, TT !mozgov and Delly are no stiffs and are just getting fueled by the lack of respect they get from the media. You hear praise about ever dang player on the warriors. I think we are going to shock the world. Pressure beyond what they have experienced will expose the inexperience of this team.
Thanks for the podcast! Will be perfect with a Bloody Mary. Game at 6 out here, here is to stealing game 1 and home court.
I love this… “Your move, Dad…”
Also – on Brian Windhorst
http://www.complex.com/sports/2015/06/brian-windhorst-and-the-internets-hatred
I wonder if Chuck Booms got canned for calling him Windbag on air?
This is an awesome interview with Mark Price.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nba/article22891806.html
Speaking of Mark Price… this is awesome!
Man, Cleveland is the best. You’d never see a Laker fan some with Kareem bar in his freezer for 20 years.
What do people think about the finals hat? Silly? Cool? Stupid? Awesome?
Personally I think it looks cool but how often would you wear it?
I think it looks cool.
I would not wear it often because I have no hair and hats look weird on me now.
Do you shave your head? Wear a tupee? Or just leave as is?
Shave. Every few days or so. In the summer more often. With a razor. Also and too sunscreen
I shaved this morning in anticipatino of the Finals. 7:00 pm start time Mountain. Which rules, I can be in bed by 10 ish.
Might have to drink heavily though, I’m getting nervous.
Don’t drink moonshine or you’ll lose your hair!
I generall stick with beer. Maybe some shots if I’m really feeling it.
Get Draymond in foul trouble. He’s the second best player on the team right now.
Awesome – can’t wait to listen to this tomorrow!
My two cents on this series… Finally! It’s here. Almost everything has gone the Cavs’ way the last year, really from the moment we won the Lottery the third time in four years – that was the catalyst to everything. But Love’s shoulder separation was a big exception and ultimately I believe it’ll be the difference between a championship and none. I have the Warriors winning this in 7 – and I almost wonder if I’m hoping it’ll go that long because I’m rooting for a memorable, if not epic, series – could be 6, even 5. Golden State is… Read more »
Now I could go into debates on whether you have Shump guard Curry and what that does to your transition defense, and the role TT and the offensive rebound mission the Cavs are on, and all that jazz – but those are aptly covered elsewhere. So many other great storylines here: MVP Curry v. best-player-in-the-world James and them being born in the same hospital, LeBron’s fifth Finals in a row, this Cavs team versus 2007’s, Riley Curry, concussion protocol, does Delly play dirty, Klay v. Wiggins for Love, is Love really gonna stay and might the Cavs actually be better… Read more »
Except football championships that aren’t Super Bowls really don’t count. So it’s more like 1948.
How we won the spelling bee a few years ago!
‘Hey’ not ‘How’
In who’s universe? Without Jim Brown there might not have been a super bowl.
No one counts NFL championships. Everyone counts the number of Super Bowls a team has won. Counting stats and stuff from pre-Superbowl is like counting basebal stats from pre-1900 baseball. No one does it. Except Cleveland.
So then why does ESPN say that Clevelands last championship was in 1964?
So you’re saying that the greatest athlete in Cleveland sports history is irrelevant? OK.
Yep. Put Jim Brown in any other era and he’s still good, just not great.
Yeah Jim Brown was a great athlete. That includes Football, Lacrosse and others. When a sport creates rules to stop the physical advantage an athlete has, he is great in any era.
“Yep. Put Jim Brown in any other era and he’s still good, just not great.”
You’ve said a lot of silly things throughout the history of this blog, Cols… This might be the silliest.
man, i am usually an advocate for you but jim brown would be elite in any era. more so now because of the advances in exercise science and a willingness for owners to pay a fair market wage.
Let’s try this test. The NFL Network’s ranking of all-time greats put Jerry Rice first and Jim Brown second. Which of those two was more dependent on the rules of a particular era?
“No one counts NFL championships. Everyone counts the number of Super Bowls a team has won.”
You realize this is basically a marketing contrivance born out of, and intended to reinforce, football’s rise to supremacy in the 1960s.
Plus, the football of the Super Bowl era is basically the modern game as invented by Paul Brown and spread by his coaching tree. Check out NFL Network’s documentary on him coming later this year.
Yeah, but Evil, football in black and white doesn’t count!
Check out at 1:20 when he fights through an attempted horse-collar tackle to get over the goal line.