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00:00127-125 overtime victory last night in a three-plus-hour affair.
00:07You had a star-studded crowd in attendance.
00:11Deshaun Watson was sitting courtside.
00:13A bunch of his teammates were there as well.
00:16And the Cavs, a thrilling victory when it was looking very, very ugly in the first half.
00:23James Harden looked absolutely cooked.
00:26You were waiting for Evan Mobley to do something.
00:30And all game, it was Anthony Edwards just putting on a show looking like, well, a newer version of MJ
00:38at times.
00:39Just calmly splashing home contested threes.
00:43But doesn't matter.
00:44Cavaliers knock the Timberwolves from the ranks of the unbeaten.
00:48Overtime victory, 127-125.
00:50Nick Padone is in for Kenny for the first three hours.
00:53Kenny, I think he has, I think he got in trouble for a fishing expedition gone wrong.
01:01Did Odyssey do what MSG did?
01:04Did you guys hear what happened with the Knicks?
01:07No.
01:08PH fishing.
01:08Yes, PH, where they were allegedly going to size up employees for rings.
01:13And so a bunch of employees responded to the email and it was like, ha ha, you got caught fishing
01:18and you're probably not getting a ring either.
01:20And so now you have to come in and talk to HR.
01:23I think that's what Ken Carman is doing for the first three hours.
01:26And when he finishes that compliance training, he will be on with us in the final hour.
01:30Padone, did you have fun last night?
01:32I did.
01:32How could you not?
01:33Malik Thomas looked really good in his NBA debut.
01:37And that's somebody that we knew was going to come in and play with confidence whenever he would get that
01:41opportunity.
01:42I was kind of wondering.
01:43You knew that to that extent?
01:44I mean, like watching what he did in the summer league, I didn't know it was going to be there
01:48to that extent, though.
01:51A lot of guys put up summer league numbers.
01:54Right.
01:54I think even Anthony Bennett had like a virtuoso summer league game once.
01:58Because it doesn't often translate the way that it did for in his debut.
02:04People were wondering, when is Malik Thomas going to play?
02:06So apparently, Kenny Atkinson had a feeling, had some sort of nod, something that was going on.
02:14Because remember, Malik Thomas did not play in the first two games of the year.
02:18Two games, they blew huge leads.
02:20There were defensive issues.
02:22You were wondering, where's the dog in this cabinet?
02:25But Charles Barkley, Shaq, saying there's no dog to this team.
02:29And then, lo and behold, Kenny Atkinson had a feeling before the game.
02:33I don't know.
02:34I mean, I've been thinking about it since summer league.
02:37Yeah, Ethan, that's a good question.
02:38Why didn't you play him game one?
02:40That's very fair.
02:41You can say that.
02:42You can write that.
02:43It's like, what is this coach?
02:44He doesn't.
02:45You know, I'm a big believer.
02:46A little bit matchup the first two games.
02:48But after watching the Brooklyn game, it was just a gut feel.
02:50I just felt like we need this guy in the lineup.
02:52Obviously, supports.
02:53You know, we need that kind of third ball handler.
02:56I think that's part of it, to support Don and James, because teams are just going to
03:01try to wear those guys down.
03:02So can we have another guy out there that can do it?
03:04So that was part of it, too.
03:05Heck of a performance for a rookie.
03:07He was doing the hustle plays.
03:09Never mind going four of five in your NBA debut from three-point range.
03:14In that audio, did Kenny allude to Malik Thomas as a guy that could pick up the scoring
03:19when Donovan Mitchell and James Harden wear down in games?
03:22Yes.
03:23That's what it sounded like.
03:23That's a second-round pick that made his NBA debut in game number three for the Cavs
03:28last night.
03:29And it sounds like the coach of the team is expecting him to kind of keep this up a little
03:33bit.
03:33A guy that actually sprints down the floor.
03:36He caused a little havoc in the half court when they needed it, when they were down double
03:39digits.
03:40In the first half, you know, he was part of producing a turnover.
03:45I don't remember if it was Ball or if it was Anthony Edwards.
03:48But it was one of those, give me that, and then took it the other way.
03:51Like, there were a lot of different little things he did.
03:55And to have that be your debut against an undefeated team, a team that had been pulverizing its
04:02first three opponents, that was a sight to behold.
04:05Don't believe me.
04:06Take it from Donovan Mitchell, your star, who said, I don't know if we win this game without
04:11him.
04:12It's very rare to ride the coattails of a rookie going into a half, right?
04:18Like, we didn't have energy.
04:19We're flat.
04:19We're playing the wrong way.
04:21We weren't doing the right things.
04:22And for him to be the spark in his first game of the year, like, it's not normal.
04:27You know what I mean?
04:27And that speaks to him, his confidence, his concentration, attention to detail.
04:32Well, his confidence, you know, you hear a lot of rookies talk confidently.
04:36But for the 34th overall pick, somebody who doesn't exactly have all the physical traits,
04:47I think that you would be hoping for.
04:49So you'd like to think those guys are built a little bit differently.
04:53But in fact, I said 34th pick in the second round, Malik Thomas out of Arkansas.
04:59But listen to him and you tell me, guys, if he exudes confidence.
05:03My motto and my method is whatever God put you through, if you feel as bad as a person,
05:08then it's for you.
05:08So I was just telling myself, like, me not playing, like, that's for me.
05:11He wants me to persevere and overcome whatever he's going to.
05:14If he's not going to have me play for five games, then be ready to six one.
05:17Like, regardless of whatever goes on, practices, games, just stay ready and your moment will
05:22come because you can't really keep a star in the closet for too long, you know?
05:25Yeah, I'd say he passes the confidence test.
05:2734th overall pick saying that.
05:29A star.
05:29Yeah.
05:29You can't keep him in the closet.
05:31It took him exactly one NBA game for him to refer to himself as a star.
05:35I think he's fitting right in in the NBA.
05:37All right.
05:38You guys are looking for something different, a reason to believe, a reason to think that
05:44this year could go any differently than in years past.
05:47Well, I'll submit to you Exhibit A.
05:50Malik Thomas coming in and looking completely unfazed by the moment in the opener.
05:56That's not an easy situation to make your NBA debut.
06:00And then you have the star of your team, the guy who's going to be making 70 million a
06:05year saying, we rode his coattails.
06:08Yeah.
06:08I mean, dude, like that was a really optimistic showing for Malik Thomas.
06:13But here's my thing now is that they got to stick with it.
06:16Like last night, you saw no Craig Porter Jr.
06:18You saw no Tyrese Proctor.
06:21You got three backup guards.
06:23How's Kenny Atkinson figure that thing out now?
06:25Well, we got 78 more games this season.
06:28They do, Owen.
06:29But after what I saw last night, I'm not taking Malik Thomas off the floor.
06:33No way.
06:33Yeah, but wait.
06:34What if he has a gut feeling?
06:35What if coach has a gut feeling that it's not a good matchup?
06:38It's October 27th.
06:38It's October 27th.
06:39What are you doing?
06:40What are we doing?
06:41Or what is Kenny Atkinson doing?
06:43No, that you're already crowning Malik Thomas as the guy that gets you through the playoffs.
06:48Now, it is, it's not even how they get it.
06:51I don't know that anybody said that.
06:52Well, that's what you both just did.
06:54That's how you started the show.
06:55Well, Lima pointed out that Charles Barkley did his whole thing about the Cavs are song.
07:02What you're both doing right now is going, Malik Thomas is going to save us.
07:04Malik Thomas is the reason we're going to make the NBA Finals.
07:07Malik Thomas is the greatest player ever.
07:09Kenny Atkinson waited until game three to even get him in the lineup.
07:11Could we not be excited?
07:12The whole NBA waited until pick 34 to get him into the NBA.
07:15And then Kenny said, write it down.
07:16I made a mistake, which I believe is exactly what I was doing during the first segment.
07:21Why wasn't Malik Thomas playing?
07:22Coach said I could write it down.
07:23Sometimes Kenny, a little, a little, the honesty gets him sometimes.
07:27But in this case, I just think fans are so desperate, Owen, to see anything that doesn't look like last
07:35year getting run off the floor by the New York, by the champions, right?
07:40The New York Knicks, it was so ugly.
07:42In fact, you heard it.
07:43Fans were not mesmerized by two seven-game brutal series.
07:50They didn't give them any credit for it the way that I was trying to give them credit for it.
07:55Everybody just thought it was their birthright, apparently, to be in the Eastern Conference Finals.
07:58It's like, no, they went and beat a one seed on the road in a game seven.
08:02Didn't matter.
08:03Fans didn't seem to care.
08:04And they brought that distaste, right?
08:06Their unenthusiastic feelings into this year.
08:10And then when they get run off the floor from, you know, halfway through the second quarter or whatever, the
08:16third quarter into, you know, that Philly opener against LeBron, that left an awful taste in their mouths.
08:22The TV situation has left.
08:25You need something.
08:26You need a reason for people to feel like this could be different.
08:30All I'm saying is, Owen, you're right.
08:31It's silly to think that he's going to just come in and, you know, ride the team, ride his coattails
08:37on the way to the NBA Finals.
08:39Okay.
08:40Yeah.
08:41We probably do need to settle down a little bit.
08:43However, you do need something to get pumped up about.
08:47And I was pretty, I went to bed pretty pumped up about the debut of Malik Thomas last night.
08:51Yeah, me too.
08:52Especially because, dude, this has been rough.
08:54And you mentioned last year, the postseason, everything that happened.
08:57That was a team that was put together in the 11th hour.
08:59So my expectation was, even if you somehow made it to the NBA Finals, it was going to go pretty
09:04rough for you against either OKC or San Antonio.
09:07Ultimately, with San Antonio, they couldn't get it done.
09:09Whatever.
09:10Last year was last year.
09:12When I watched opening night against the Philadelphia 76ers, in the back of my mind, I couldn't erase the thought
09:20that the Cavs kind of failed in their top pursuit to land LeBron this summer.
09:25You know, and I felt like they kind of thought they were getting LeBron.
09:29And Kenny Atkinson, before the game, you know, has the quote that goes out that he was depressed when he
09:34learned that LeBron was going to Philly and not Cleveland.
09:36And I was like, you know what?
09:37That's kind of still how I feel.
09:39And then as I'm watching the game and I'm watching LeBron make an impact, even in his early 40s against
09:45the Cavs, I'm like, man, this really would have been nice to have here.
09:49And then against Brooklyn, you could maybe start to kind of feel OK in the first half because they're up
09:5520.
09:55But then as they sacrifice that in the fourth quarter, you're like, oh, my goodness, this team might just be
10:00exactly what they were last year.
10:02So the fact that Malik Thomas is showing me a glimpse that maybe it might not be, at least for
10:07one guy who is new and one guy who can bring a little bit of fight early in an NBA
10:12season, I want to keep seeing more of them.
10:14I don't know how you figure out the Craig Porter dynamic and the Tyrese Proctor dynamic.
10:18I think we've seen his last DNPCD for the year.
10:22I hope so.
10:23I think Coach's decision going forward is going to be, yeah, not only are we going to play him, but
10:27you're right.
10:28Like now it's about trying to figure out usage and time.
10:32And look, you know, you're trying to get both James Harden and, you know, these guys have to be able
10:40to get to the end of the season, right?
10:42They need to be fresher going into the postseason.
10:45I mean, he overused.
10:46That gets an overused James Harden.
10:48James Harden led the team in minutes in the playoffs last year.
10:50And then he was gassed at the end of it.
10:51It was visible.
10:53Even if you didn't follow basketball, if you've never watched a basketball game in your life before and you watch
10:58James Harden against the Knicks, you would say that guy is out of gas.
11:01And the guys on the other team have a little bit of gas.
11:05More than that.
11:06And they basically used us and abused us on their way.
11:09And it's Donovan, too.
11:09The NBA fouls, yes.
11:10And Donovan has had a history of still piecing together transcendent playoff performances.
11:16But over the course of a seven-game series, he just, for whatever reason, even though he looks like an
11:23NFL player, he's not built that way to be able to survive that with him having to be the guy.
11:28Remember, Hazonia, after the opener, said, hey, we can't have our guards, our older guards, getting taxed like that.
11:36Other guys have got to be able to bring the ball up because we need them by the end of
11:39the year.
11:40So all signs point to some younger guys, some younger energy.
11:45Peyton Watson, it hasn't been great so far, but you see the glimpses.
11:50Yeah, defensively, I'll take the effort.
11:52If the offensive side is going to come.
11:54He comes from the weak side and slams the basketball off the backboard and gets those blocks.
12:00And then we'll just take the ball from, you know, in between the circles in about a half a step
12:06all the way to the rim.
12:08Like, you can see the talent is there with him.
12:10Just going to be corralling that.
12:12But that's what you need to see.
12:13You can't see James Harden, you know, Donovan Mitchell have to carry the team through like Owen was laughing.
12:21It's game three.
12:22Yeah, I don't want to see those guys have to be able to do that.
12:25I don't know.
12:25Harden was terrible in the first half and really has been terrible up until the second half when he got
12:30it going.
12:31Did he have like 17 in the second half?
12:32Third quarter, he heated up in a major way.
12:34Yeah, he kept them in the game.
12:36But you don't need to see that.
12:38And I don't want to see that in game three.
12:40And I don't know why Malik Thomas wasn't playing the first two games of the year.
12:43Was Kenny Atkinson like coaching for his job?
12:46Like thinking, I can't risk it.
12:48I can't have us lose games.
12:49Like, dude, you can't lose the games at the end of the year.
12:53And you're going to lose the games at the end of the year if James Harden at 37 is totally
12:57gassed.
12:58And Donovan Mitchell is looking like he's limping into the playoffs.
13:01That's how you lose.
13:03I was wondering if the move to go to Malik Thomas was Kenny kind of coaching out of desperation a
13:10little bit.
13:10That you went to a guy that you didn't go to the previous two nights.
13:13Looking for a little bit of a spark from anything, anywhere, anybody.
13:18I totally agree with Nick Padone.
13:20I totally agree.
13:21And we've got a rookie calling himself a star already.
13:24Just one game into his season.
13:26Crown it.
13:26He's the next Jalen Tyson.
13:27Oh, we didn't use Jalen Tyson.
13:31No, and in the fourth quarter, it got a little bit like last year.
13:34No, I'm talking about last year.
13:34And we didn't use him last year either.
13:36No.
13:362-1-6.
13:374-7-4.
13:38Double-0-92.
13:39If you have any thoughts on that Wild Cavs game, there was a report.
13:45It was from Dove Kleinman.
13:46He said Deshaun Watson was sitting courtside and got a standing ovation.
13:51I'd like to hear from some fans there because that would be something.
13:54And when we come back, I am hearing wild conversations.
13:58I might have been a part of a wild conversation yesterday about what's next for this Browns team.
14:05And I don't mean the Pittsburgh Steelers.
14:07You'll hear some of that when we come back.
14:09Carmen will be back.
14:10I am told he is through page two of a 52-page compliance training.
14:17We'll get him back in the final hour of the show.
14:19Danny Cunningham at 7.20 from the Lockdown Cavs.
14:22He's got a lot to say about what went down last night.
14:26You'll have a chance to win $50 gift cards to Lively's at 8 o'clock.
14:29Cavs ticket giveaway, 9 o'clock.
14:31Loaded show for you.
14:32Anthony Lima, Nick Padone, and later, Ken Carmen right here on Sports Radio 92.3 The Fan.