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Jig and Rch jump into the studio before the start of the Eastern Conference Semifinals with Boston to discuss: Breaking down the gauntlet that was the 7 game series with Orlando Donovan's leadership Caris, Strus & Merrill Darius Garland leaning on Donovan Mobley's impact on the series Preview of the Boston series Call in and shoot your shot with a :24 second take to be part of the next show 216-282-6289 or join the conversation by creating a profile, reading the rules and adding to the best NBA fan forum online at ⁠⁠RealCavsFans.com YouTube Spotify https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rubber-rim-job/episodes/Episode-3-15-Cavs-Survive-and-Advance-e2jcd2j

Well, the Cavs get their hand-picked second round opponent. *tongue in cheek* Being one of the eight remaining teams while the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns, and Los Angeles Clippers all watch at home is a telling sign where the league is at. While superstars are important, it takes more than just the team with the most star power to be successful. In today’s salary cap era, the more you spend, the more restrictive it is in building out your roster. And in today’s game, it takes more sacrifice then ever for multiple stars to work and stars are finding out how hard that is. A playoff series win always feels good no matter the opponent, what the circumstances are or how it happened...

As writtern by Wham With the Right Hand Last year the Celtics won 57 games. They lost in the EC Finals to the 8th-seeded Heat in seven games. After the season they got rid of Malcolm Brogdan, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, and Blake Griffin, bringing in two new starters in Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. The result was an improvement to 64 wins. Let’s face it, the Celtics have a lot going for them. The best record in the East this year at 64-18, home court advantage, well-rested, and their top six players have an average of 83 play-off games under their belt. They beat Miami 4-1 in the first round, although the Heat were missing Jimmy Butler and had a second-year player who averaged under 8 points per game in his spot. They were...

Well, we have a series. They say a series doesn’t start until a team wins on the road, and the Cavs did just that. It was quite the way for JB Bickerstaff to earn his first playoff road win as well as the first time the Cavs scored 100+ points in a road playoff game but here we are. There’s not likely to be too many games where the Cavs hold the Celtics under 100 points and outshoot them from the perimeter, but it clearly made a difference. The Celtics haven’t scored less than 100 in a month, and 94 points was the second fewest they scored all year. It didn’t start out looking like an eventual Cavaliers 20+ win. The Celtics came out on a 9-2 run with Jayson Tatum getting to the line and Al Horford scoring points like it was 2016. The...

There’s an argument of rest versus rust when it comes to a team coming off a competitive series and one lying in wait. That may be a valid argument for another time, but Game 1 looked like an argument of better versus best. No Kristaps Porzingis, no rust, no issue for the Boston Celtics. The Cavs had a streak but at no point did they consistently look like the better team. The Celtics are good. We knew this coming in, and we knew this with the Cavs missed two rotational players. However, we thought there would be a little bit more of a game then it ended up being. The fourth quarter was relatively noncompetitive, and the white flag was waived the final five minutes of the game. Sigh. JB Bickerstaff’s opponent remains undefeated when the...

All Cleveland sports know how to do is make history – good or bad. When the Cavs were down big in the second quarter, I texted a buddy saying hold on because the second half will either be historically bad or historically good. Luckily, it was the latter. If you’ve watched enough Cleveland sports events, you know. Sins are forgotten with a win but not totally forgiven. A first-round series win makes a difference in how this team moves forward but it doesn’t totally address all of what it takes to get to the next level. But that’s for another time, now it’s time to celebrate. Except, it didn’t really start like that. A Cavs 10-7 run is about as pleasing as it would get for several quarters. Guards getting downhill has typically been a...

The game was there for the taking, unfortunately there wasn’t a Cleveland team willing to take it. Game 7 is a win or go home scenario. But Game 6 felt like a must win for the Cavs. Down Jarrett Allen. Down Dean Wade. Evan Mobley injured his ankle. Donovan Mitchell playing on one knee. A Magic team gaining confidence with every game. A Cavs team losing confidence in their shot with every game. The longer this series goes on, the less it feels like the Cavs can overcome the obstacles they’re facing. That’s not even mentioning the historic Donovan Mitchell performance we witnessed. For all the “Donovan Mitchell doesn’t show up in playoff” talk, Mitchell quickly erased any doubt he wasn’t up for the moment. Mitchell was problem was the...

It would typically be overdramatic to say one game was one of the most important games in franchise history but in this case the statement really might be true. With a superstar’s player option hanging in the background (sound familiar?) playoff success is really the only success that will determine next steps. So of course, the lack of playoff success, in back-to-back first rounds, nonetheless, would mean a lot. For all that was invested, it could easily go *poof*. But that’s a discussion for another day. That conversation can be blocked from the airwaves the same way Evan Mobley blocked Franz Wagner’s shot. Cleveland has a thing for late game dramatics including blocked shots, and Mobley played his part in adding to it. One could say...

Whatever good vibes were had after the first two games is out the window. Losing isn’t unexpected and is understandable. Losing in a fashion they did, the worst in playoff franchise history, is unacceptable. Every playoff series is like its own regular season – there’s ups and downs and every game seem like the highest high or the lowest low. If there’s anything this Cavaliers season has taught us is that they’re consistently inconsistent on a game-by-game basis. There’s no predicting what was around the next corner. We knew the Magic would bounce back shooting wise and would come out ready returning home after two tough losses to open the series. What we didn’t know is the Cavs wouldn’t come out ready. The Cavs look like they had...