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OK, lots to write about today.
- Windy doesn't take any of his Delly remarks back. Many people were down on Delly.
- Said the Cavs were even calling Steve Nash during the season to see if he could come in at take Delly's minutes.
- Delly has been invaluable in this series and saved the Cavs. He was extraordinarily impressed with Delly.
- He does not expect role players to come up big on the road like that.
- He thought the Cavs were heading for trouble, but they powered through, which is what Championship teams do.
- Teams almost never win when they go 6 minutes without scoring on the road in the playoffs, but the Cavs turned it into a laugher.
- Bulls have their issues, which will be addressed in the upcoming weeks, but beating the Bulls was a tremendous accomplishment. Biggest series victory for the Cavs since beating the Pistons in 2007.
- Cavs season has been filled with adversity. Delly was a symbol for the Cavs ability to overcome adversity.
- When the Cavs were 19-20, it was a failure even though they faced adversity, but it prepared them
- The adversity they overcame in this series is way more severe than the early season adversity
- Cavs bench had nothing but confidence in game 6.
- Three previous games were all nail biters. Game 6 Cavs get a 27 point win.
- Unnamed Cavs official told Brian before the game that the team felt like this game needed to have game 7 urgency. Team was told pregame: "you are not just playing this game to get to the ECF, you are playing it to get 5 days off"
- Caller 1: Eerily similar to Maccabi last season. Can you argue argue that any other coach has had a better playoff run so far?
- Brian: Maccabi didn't have Lebron. Lebron covers up a lot of coaching errors. Blatt had to go big because Miller didn't work out. The big lineup is good at defense. Even though Bulls have their own offensive issues, defensively the Cavs looked good.
- Calller 2: Lebron doesn't score a lot and the Cavs win. What does that say about the team?
- Brian: 21 points from their best players and the cavs blow out the Bulls gave the Cavs a lot of satisfactions. Delly looked hesitant to shoot at times during the season. Pressure didn't get to the Cavs bench and they just stepped up and took it, even though it was the perfect storm for a panic loss. Much stronger team bond than the team that lost to the Knicks on opening night.
- After Kyrie went down, Cavs only had 1 starter left from opening night.
- Kyrie says it felt like his knee regressed back to where it was last week.
- Loved Delly's "whatever" about the booing.
- Miritic's foul was stupid and emblematic of the way that the Bulls played.
- Cavs didn't need 28 from anyone. Shump's 13 points were valuable. JR's 3 threes were enough.
- Caller 3: Any minute restriction for Kyire in ECF?
- Brian: I think it will be more of a "How does it feel?" Kyrie won't practice. Good chance he's back to where he was in game 5 by next Wednesday.
- Caller 4: Lebron's back and knee?
- Brian: Injuries came from contact, not wear, which is preferable. Didn't look like Lebron was getting any abnormal treatment.
- Caller 5: Who do the Cavs want to play?
- Brian: Been thinking about it. Covered the Wiz in round 1. Wizards would be tougher to deal with. They have found some very effective lineups in the post season that they didn't use in the reg season with Otto Porter at 3 and Pierce at the 4. Spaces the floor and the defense ends up better.
- Wall has a broken hand, but looked really good in game 5, and is still an impact player on defense even if his offense isn't where it was.
- The Hawks are potent, but can be beat with preparation. Milsap is still hurting. Teague has been up and down. Hawks are not playing great.
- Neither arena intimidating like Goldenstate or Chicago.
- Picks Cavs to beat either Hawks or Wizards if Kyrie lets back to 70%. Hopes the other series goes for 7 games if the Wiz wins, 6 games if the Hawks win so that the Wiz don't have time to prep for the Cavs, or the cavs have time to prep for the Hawks.
- Caller 6: What's up with Mike Miller? Can he still make an impact?
- Brian: The Zombie! Last January, Blatt had to trim the rotation down because players were getting frustrated with inconsistent minutes. That meant Miller was out, because Jones was 9th in the rotation.
- Mike Miller is effective in small lineups, but the Cavs have been playing big lineups. He might be useful against the Wizards, but if Miller gets minutes, it's probably going to be as an emergency. He's out of the rotation.
- Tristan did a great job avoiding foul trouble, which was vital. A+.
- Wizards can flex between big and small lineups. Cavs can compete with that.
- Kevin Love is a difficult guy to figure out, and that's not just me. Nothing wrong with the relationship with the team as far as Brian knows. Don't understand why he didn't go to the bench for the game 5, but the situation for the summer is incomprehensible. Thinks the Cavs did everything they could to turn Kevin off early in the season. Lots of rumors still circulating about Kevin leaving. Kevin is publicly adamant that he is staying, to the point where he's tired of talking about it. Have to take Kevin at his word.
- Caller 7: Can the Cavs sign another max free agent and keep Lebron and Kevin?
- Brian: Cap holds prevent Cavs from doing that even if players opt out.
- Tristan and Delly's agents were at the game. Rich Paul and Bill Duffy were both very happy.
- Cavs were the first team in 50 years to win a playoff game by more than 20 points when their starters shot 36%. Cavs have never won a game by 20 points when their starters shot 36%.
- Caller 9: How does Griff not get executive of the year? It's not voted on by the media, and controversial at times. Often a 2 year award, for good moves over time. Sometimes it is very political. Griff was upset about it, even though he'll never say anything.
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