Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to their 52nd win and a playoff berth. Dave DuFour and Es Baraheni discuss the way the Cavs are maximizing De’Andre Hunter, Payton Pritchard’s 43 points off the bench for the Celtics, and Giannis joining the 20,000 point club. Then, the Athletic’s Fred Katz joins the show to discuss Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP ascension, the science behind his development, and OKC’s chances at a title.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Es Baraheni & Fred KatzExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson MoodyRead Fred’s story on Shai here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6174500/2025/03/05/shai-gilgeous-alexander-sga-thunder-mvp-nba/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What led the Cavaliers to clinch the playoffs?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily. Coming up, the Cavs become the first team to clinch a playoff spot. Peyton Pritchard did what? And we got Fred Katz on to talk about his big feature on Shea Gildas Alexander and the Thunder's chance at a title. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, S. The Cleveland Cavaliers, man. We are running out of ways to call them good.
They won their 12th straight game. That's their third winning streak of the season of at least 12 games, which is pretty insane. They now have 52 wins and... On March 5th, they clinched a playoff berth.
That's absurd, S. It's absolutely absurd. The fact that they are head and shoulders above the rest of the competition, it's just awesome to see from a team that's really versatile. I wanted to mention something about DeAndre Hunter. Because in this game against Miami, by the way, Miami pushed them like Bam had a really good game against them.
I thought in general, they just played a good defensive game overall against the Cavs. But then they went to their lineup. The Cavs did with DeAndre Hunter at the four and Evan Mobley at the five. And so this is what you expected when they traded for Hunter in the first place, a guy who can space the floor a little bit.
Obviously, he's shooting like 58 percent from three in his little stint with Cleveland so far. Not sustainable, but something that will be really prevalent in what he can bring to this Cavs team. And then another guy who can bring size, another guy who can just be able to make some plays across the floor. He was in that short roll area to start it. Another guy who can run screens, right?
Like he can come set screens for the guards up there.
Yeah, that lob to Mobley in the fourth too. Overall, man, like I think he fits like a glove. And when you have a guy who can add that little bit of versatility to that lineup, it changes things for me.
I think he's the piece that they've been missing in the perfect position because they've needed a guy. You know, they had Karis LeVert, who, in my opinion, more of a two that slid up to play three a lot. Sure. Yeah. You know, they were constantly like undersized at the three. And now they've got the guy who can give them that.
He's a three who can be a four. Yeah, that's right.
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Chapter 2: How did Peyton Pritchard perform against the Blazers?
After watching the Orlando Magic for the last week, they could use Peyton Pritchard. Peyton Pritchard, really? Yeah. No, I mean, look, he's been an absurd shooter all season, legitimately one of the best shooters in the league this year. I think I saw a stat a couple of weeks ago. He generates 1.7 points per possession off of screens, just elite stuff, like ridiculous stuff from a guy who,
who just has to sit there and shoot, right? He's playing next to Tatum, playing next to Jalen Brown. He can really just maximize his possessions, and he does. And so, look, he's one of those guys who is in the conversation for sixth man of the year, rightfully so. And nights like these are going to put you in that conversation. Crazy that this is the first Celtics duo. Yeah.
to get 40 points each. Just nuts. You know, all the legends. And it's Derek White and Peyton Pritchard.
I mean, well, Tatum and Brown, like you would think that maybe there would be a chance, but yeah, none whatsoever. Not even Bird and McHale. Well, no, that makes a little bit more sense. 40 is hard to get. You're having two guys get it. I mean, there was a little bit of a need there, too, for the Celtics because they were a little shorthanded. Also, should shout out Jalen Brown.
He had 18, 8, and 8. I thought it was one of the better playmaking games that I've seen out of him. He's not exactly the most – ready passer when it comes to, you know, when he's on the drive. But I thought he did a pretty good job of actually stirring the drink for them. Look, the Celtics, we've called them bored. We've called them boring. This wasn't boring. This wasn't boring at all.
Peyton Pritchard, man, that was a pretty good time. Also not boring last night. We got to talk about the Nuggets because they picked up a pretty big win. The Kings have been playing really well here recently. They lost a bonus. We got a chance to see this new starting lineup. So I do want to start with that with the Kings before we get to the Nuggets. But new starting lineup for the Kings.
They had Keon Ellis. Zach Levine, DeMar DeRozan, Keegan Murray, and Jonas Valanciunas. And their early returns were pretty great. I thought the 42 points in the first quarter, they really caught the Nuggets off guard. Jonas Valanciunas for a large portion of the game, two and a half quarters, was outplaying Jokic. Until Jokic got pissed off, and then that was it.
Just got angry. I mean, look, Jokic had a right to be pissed. There was a lot of calls going back and forth. This was a very physical game. Yeah, on both sides, very physical game, and it
We're going to find out there's a show in Denver that these guys had tickets to, that the referees had tickets to, or they all had early lift tickets to get out to Vail. They had some skiing to do because they just weren't calling fouls. Jokic getting hacked. But it was both ways. Neither team was really getting any foul calls.
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Chapter 3: What is the significance of Giannis reaching 20,000 points?
Chapter 4: What makes Shea Gilgeous-Alexander an MVP candidate?
Chapter 5: How have the Nuggets been performing recently?
Yes, he will. I think if you look at it, he'll probably get to 40th or 42nd this season. It's just inevitable at this point. Not that many games left, but he can get 200 more points.
Just turn 30, 20,000 points. Feels like 30,000 is a safe bet, which KD just passed here recently. 30,000, probably a safe bet as long as he stays healthy. Yeah. We're talking literally like... One of the greatest players of all time. Absolutely. And we are living in a golden age of that, actually. There are so many of the all-time greats of the sport that are playing right now.
And, you know, 10 years from now, I think we're going to look back on now as the best time. Beautiful time to like basketball, Dave. Absolutely. Yeah. And there's something good every single night. Guys, stick around. Speaking of something good, Fred Katz after the break.
Ich nehme den. Nein, den. Oder vielleicht doch den? Große Auswahl. Kleine Raten. Zum Beispiel den Kia Sportage ohne Anzahlung für nur 259 Euro im Monat leasen. Oder den Kia Seat oder den Kia Seat Sports Wagon. Nur bis 30. Juni. Zuzüglich Überführungskosten. Bei deinem teilnehmenden Kia Partner. Kia. Movement that inspires.
As we're rounding the corner and heading into the playoffs, it feels pretty apparent that Shea Gildas Alexander has the MVP locked up. Here to talk about how he forged his own path into that conversation and really to the award, Fred Katz. Got a big feature on Shea Gildas Alexander over at The Athletic. How's it going, buddy?
It's going great. It's going great. Did you have a good trip to Canada? Yeah, it's going wonderful. Hamilton. Great trip to Hamilton, Ontario. I hear it's very industrial. Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. Very. It's like I don't know how to describe it. It's like Pittsburgh. You know, that's that's. Have you ever been to Pittsburgh? I've driven by Pittsburgh. Beautiful city on the river.
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Chapter 6: What are the Kings' chances of making the playoffs?
Also beautiful. Also, let's talk about Shea and his beautiful game. Fred, the first time I saw Shea Gildas Alexander, he was sharing a backcourt with Nikhil Alexander Walker in the 2017 Hoop Summit. And that guy looked like a star to me. I mean, a flat out star. When did you know he was going to be a star?
I knew he was going to be really good his rookie year during that first round series. The Clippers played against the Warriors. Yeah. If you remember that series, he started in that series and he was so composed throughout that entire series. And if you remember that series, that was the year before the Clippers got Paul George and Kawhi. So it's like post Blake Griffin series.
And the Clippers are the scrappy upstart team that wins 48 games. And everybody's surprised that they win 48 games and they kind of take the world by shock. Right. And they end up playing a really competitive series against the against the Warriors. And this is the KD Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. I think they won two games in that series. And Shea was just making every right read.
He was getting the ball on a catch and go. He was hitting the paint, and he was reading the low man, and he was kicking to the corner. He was making every proper read he was supposed to make. And I was like, you can't speed this guy up. And I think that's probably the moment when I realized – all right, this guy's pace is something a little different.
You're not going to make him play at your pace, no matter the scenario. I think that's probably when I noticed he was going to be really good. That being said, I didn't sit there in that moment and say, this guy's going to be an MVP one day. I did not think that highly of him in that moment. I don't think the Clippers thought that either.
I don't think the Thunder thought that when they made that trade. I mean, I think the Thunder were really high on him. They thought he was going to be really good. They trusted their internal development, all that kind of stuff. But I don't think they made that trade being like Shea Gildas Alexander is going to be a perennial MVP candidate.
And I will disagree with you, Dave, even though I wrote the story. I don't know if he's got MVP locked up. Really?
I think that was going to be a question. Do you think it's yeah.
You think it's up in the air with him and Jokic or you think LeBron has like an outside shot like I do?
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Chapter 7: How does science influence player development in the NBA?
The strength of triangles, though, we're really just talking.
Yeah. But but if you think about a point guard like a pitcher, it makes a lot of sense. You want to have off speed stuff that complements your your fastball and you want to have a curveball. I mean, I would argue Shea added a curveball this year with the step back. Right. Being able to get into that step back from both directions and to hit it at the rate that he has.
I mean, the best players in the league have have been able to do all these things. I mean, you know, you didn't mention him, but Luka Doncic is another guy that that does the same thing. And I would argue to an even higher level when you consider how much how slow he goes sometimes to speed guys up. So with Shea, like.
The way that he scores, okay, three level, especially now, the step back, what can he add? Like you mentioned how he got to where he's at. How can he improve? Because I feel like he's still got stuff he can tap into.
So first of all, I just want to say I'm so happy you made a baseball reference. I never go on a basketball podcast and fail to be the first one to make the baseball reference. So I'm so happy that you did it for me.
Welcome to the NBA daily.
That's right. You know what's funny? You know how I got that anecdote about pacing? I was like trying to figure out the pacing and how they got there. And you know how I got that out of... like Dwayne Washington, I got him to open up on it, was I made an analogy and I was like, tell me if you agree or disagree. I was like, I feel like most elite NBA point guards are more like Randy Johnson.
where they're just going to blow you away. 97 mile an hour, fastball giant size, giant size, 97 mile an hour, fastball mix in just a power slider. Like they, that's how most NBA start point guards play. Shea is like Greg Maddox. And where he's just he's ninety one, ninety two on the fastball, but he's just going to paint corners and everything is precision, accuracy and intelligence.
And I made that analogy and he wasn't a baseball fan, so it didn't work. But then I explained the analogy to him. And he was like, oh, yes, 100%. Funny enough. And it got him to open up.
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