The Indiana Pacers finished off the Cleveland Cavaliers 4 games to 1 to move on to the Eastern Conference Finals, and Dave DuFour and Zena Keita are here to react. They discuss Tyrese Haliburton’s huge game and whether the Cavaliers need to make any changes this summer. Then, following an epic game between the Nuggets and Thunder, Andrew Schlecht joins the show to talk about OKC’s win, why the Thunder bet on Lu Dort, and how the Nuggets get the series to a seventh game.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Zena Keita & Andrew SchlechtExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moody Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: How did the Pacers advance to the Eastern Conference Finals?
Zena, the Pacers are the first team to make the conference finals. What do you think? Just initial gut reaction to the Pacers making a second consecutive conference finals.
They deserve it. Dave, I think if you're looking at all the teams in this playoffs, I think Who is the most consistent to what they look like during the regular season? It's Indiana. They were an offensive team focused in terms of being able to get the ball around. They averaged about 30 assists during the regular season. They're doing the same thing in the playoffs.
They have their starters distributing the ball, distributing the amount of field goals they're making. They're doing the same thing in the playoffs. They have not veered away from what got them success in the postseason. Now, some teams... have picked up some new skills in the postseason, which is great. But a lot of teams have completely changed their identity.
And it's been their downfall, including the team that Indiana just took care of in the Cleveland Cavaliers. So I look at Indiana and I say, shout out to you for staying consistent, being efficient and staying true to who you are and finding success in that, because that's exactly what's gotten them here.
Yeah, I think, look, if you were going to look back at just this series, you would say that the Pacers and the Cavs were much closer than their records look like, right? The Cavs get off to this great start. They have multiple 15 or three, right? 15 game win streaks or something like that. I mean, at least two. I can't remember if there was a third one that made it there. There's two.
I think it was 12 games it made it to. And the Pacers got off to a rough start, but then they finished the season 34 and 14. Andrew Nembhard comes back. All of a sudden, that defense makes so much sense. And and in my opinion, the way that the Cavs kind of went into the playoffs was so different than the way that their regular season had gone up to that point.
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Chapter 2: Why did the Cavaliers fall short against the Pacers?
You know, they were blowing a lot of games in March. They started picking up injuries. Right. They go into this series, they pick up some injuries to key players. Darius Garland misses a couple of games. Deandre Hunter's out. Evan Mobley was out. And then you see in this game, you know, last night, man, they've really missed Evan Mobley and they missed him being 100 percent.
And I mean, he made a big difference, but it wasn't enough to keep him in the series. Cavs kind of ran out of steam, but. Indiana won this series, right? They were the better team. I thought they were the better team in pretty much every single game, even the one that they got blown out.
I thought there was a lot of stuff that was positive for Indiana outside of Tyrese Halliburton having a really awful game. They just wound up having more guys that were playoff players. You know, Ty Jerome just didn't didn't bring it. And I think that what we're seeing throughout the playoffs is about having, you know, do you have six guys you trust?
Facts, facts. I literally can tell you the numbers. I mean, we can go down the list of the actual players, but let's look at from a team perspective. The Cavs had every opportunity to get this done. It's just a matter of who could execute in those opportunities. The Cavs attempted 47 more free throws than the Pacers, and they made 39 more. That's awesome.
But then when it came down to their actual scoring, do you know that Donovan Mitchell in this series attempted 125 field goals? The next highest number, 57. On the Indiana side, it was Tyrese Halliburton, Miles Turner, Andrew Nembhard, Pascal Siakam, all were at about 100 or more. Evenly distributed, right? It became this ISO show for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And again, that's not what got them there. It was ball movement. It was pace. It was running. And of course, yes, the injuries definitely made an impact, but they were healthy in this game with their backs against the wall. And again, what you saw was the game had to be carried by Donovan Mitchell. And I got to give him credit.
Because that man was exhausted in this game and still was making tough buckets, was making sure that he made up for the three free throws that he missed at the end of the game, got that big bucket to keep it open for them. And still, Darius Garland goes on the other end of the court, makes a foul, gets Indiana back to the free throw line.
There was just so many moments in which they could not execute in the opportunities that they had.
Yeah, I mean, they obviously missed Garland, right? Like Garland in his fourth quarters, he really, he won him a lot of games. Games that they had leads, right? He would come in and slam the door shut. And on the other side, right? Tyrese Halliburton has a monster, monster game. Never looked tired, really, in this series, right?
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Chapter 3: What changes should the Cavaliers consider for next season?
He gets to trail the play when they're in transition and he'll just bomb away. But the other thing is he played bigger this season. You know, he played bigger. He's played bigger so far in the playoffs. He's been more aggressive offensively in the paint during fouls. So, anyway, hats off to the Pacers. And on defense. And on defense. Well, yes.
And on defense. But his run pressure has been great, obviously.
He's amazing at blocking shots. Right, of course. But hats off to the Pacers. We don't know who they're going to play yet, although it does look likely that they're going to meet the Knicks. But... You know what we do around here when the team gets eliminated? We have to start thinking about their summer. And the Cleveland Cavaliers are a very interesting team.
They had the best record in the Eastern Conference. They were the one seed. This is a disappointing finish. But you have four really good players. I mean, Donovan Mitchell is, you know, a perennial all-star, all-NBA level guy. Evan Mobley, just one defensive player of the year. Do you run it back just like it is?
Or, Zena, did you see some warts in this playoff run that you think that maybe they need to address?
They got some gaps. They definitely have some gaps that they need to fill, particularly on their wings. I think DeAndre Hunter joining the team midseason was a positive, but they didn't have enough time to really integrate him as being someone that could –
In the moments that Donovan is putting up 125 field goal attempts, DeAndre Hunter to come in and kind of take off that load like he was doing in Atlanta for Trey Young. I actually think that they've got the pieces, especially with Darius Garland. This is his real first run at it. Right. Like in the sense that last year he was dealing with some injuries and he wasn't able to play the full season.
Like now he knows. And we've seen this, whether it's, you know, Anthony Edwards or Shea Gildas Alexander or and I'm not comparing him to those players. But we've seen it where players need to go through this in order to know what it's like, in order to know what it takes. to get there. Donovan's been through this. He's literally been to the playoffs every single year of his career, which is crazy.
But Darius hasn't. Evan hasn't. Jared Allen hasn't. They all now, they see what it takes. I think it's worth running it back, but you definitely have to fill out your three-point shooting because there was no support out there. There wasn't enough, excuse me, out there for them. And they've got to find another...
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Chapter 4: How did the Thunder manage to survive Jokić's performance?
in the league fifth or fourth then third then two years at number two and then finishing at one with the 64 and 18 season they're ripe they're due like they are in prime position and i can imagine a lot of teams will see that as a great destination yeah and a lot of players like they built it they built it from the coach of the year kenny atkinson like come on yeah
Yeah, so maybe it's next season for them. Yeah, year one, not too bad, but the Pacers might be a buzzsaw. Guys, stick around. After the break, we got Andrew Schlecht live after OKC picks up a huge win.
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The Oklahoma City Thunder survive an insane Nikola Jokic game to go up three games to two. Andrew Schlecht joining us still in shock from that game. What was it like being in the building for the last five minutes of that game? It was just back and forth, big shot, big shot, big play. Must have been fun.
It's all you can ask for as an NBA fan. To be in the building for a game like that where it's hanging in the balance, you have literally the number one and number two guys in MVP trading shot for shot. Jokic hits this off-balance three with a minute 40 left to tie it at 103-103, and it felt like this is anybody's game after that one went in. And so it was really fun.
I mean, the crowd in OKC was wild. I had friends texting me that people were chanting in the streets, OKC, OKC, going out here. I mean, everybody was so hyped. This was the game they needed. A year ago, they lost game five in this building to Dallas. And that really effectively ended their season. You know, they go and they end up losing game six and a heartbreaker.
But, you know, this is a is a big game and you don't want to lose it at home. And so it felt like most of the night it felt like this was not OKC's night. They turned it around about the eight minute mark of the fourth quarter is when they turned it around. And it looked like Denver was pretty gas and OKC had a lot more to give.
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Chapter 5: Why is Lu Dort crucial for the Thunder's playoff success?
during those moments so you know they ended the game 28 to 13 in in the final eight minutes of the game and you know that it was it was big and i'm sure we're going to talk about lou dort but like dort was was really the catalyst to start that run a tale of two dorts
Honestly, Lou Dort went from me saying, wow, they can't go back to Lou Dort. Why is he starting the second half of this game? They can't go back to Lou Dort. To hitting the three biggest shots of the game that gets OKC back in it. And look, this is, again, Mark Dagnall, I'll apologize for questioning it. This is why you stick with your guys, Zena. This is the old ball coach thing, right?
You stick with your guys and it pays off. And Dort was incredible.
I think also like this is the second game in a row that we've seen Lou Dory a part of it. OKC get the boogeyman off their back and kind of mature in a way. I'm happy that Andrew, you brought up last season and how it ended, because this is the moment where you're seeing the shift. You're seeing the fact that OKC can get it done in these clutch moments.
And of course, you're seeing it against another monster provider for their team in the Jokic, right? Last time it was Doncic, but now it's Nikola Jokic doing unbelievable things. 44 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, and he's doing trick shots to keep his team in this. And yet they were so focused on
I think Dwight Howard asked Jalen Williams on Inside the NBA about like, how do you guys use his energy, Shea Gildas Alexander's energy towards the end of the game? And I was like, I don't even know if it was just Shea. Like this entire team looks so laser focused at the end of the game. And this is a sign of where they are now, how they've shifted.
Like, is that, does it feel as if they've like, like babies growing up in front of your eyes, Andrew? Yeah.
Yeah, it does a little bit because, I mean, you look back at game one where not only the players, but the coaching staff, too, kind of felt like they gave game one away.
Made the mistakes. Yeah.
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