Cleveland Cavaliers Dismantle Dallas Mavericks Thanks to Evan Mobley's Huge Night

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On today's show, the Cleveland Cavaliers throttled the Dallas, Mavericks on Friday night,

and the most important thing about this game is the guy that set the tone for the calves.

We'll talk about Evan Mobley on this edition of Lockdown Caves.

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We'll talk about the calves taking down the Dallas Mavericks, taking care of business

in the game they should have won, Evan Mobley being the guy who set the tone, Keon Ellis,

being inserted into the starting lineup and his stock, continues to rise, and then what

the challenge for the calves should be coming off of this game.

The calves ultimately do beat the Dallas Mavericks, 138 to 105, which is tied for the largest

margin of victory.

The calves have had it in a game so far this year.

And the fact that the calves won this game in blowout fashion is to me, just like taking

care of business.

I talked about this the other night after the calves beat the sixers that was a professional,

appropriate type of effort.

The Dallas Mavericks, the team that was wearing Mavericks uniforms on Friday, that was on the

second night of the back to back, had no business being in a basketball game with this version

of the Cleveland Cavaliers, even with the calves being without Jared Allen, being without

Max Truce, who we will talk about coming up at the second number three.

Sam Merrill didn't play in this game.

Those things should not have mattered.

And I think one of the best things about this game for the calves is that those things

did not matter.

And the fact that it was Evan Mobley, that set the tone in this game, I thought was a

really, really good sign.

And part of the reason why he set the tone in this game is because the Dallas Mavericks

didn't have very much resistance on the interior.

Marvin Bagley, the third is the starting center.

Marvin Bagley, the third, not a very good NBA player.

If you are just joining us, like this is a matchup that Evan should have dominated.

But we've seen so many times where Evan has had matchups that are similar to this and

maybe isn't as assertive or as aggressive as everybody would like Evan Mobley to be.

We know that he's capable of doing all of this stuff, but he has to be assertive.

He has to be aggressive.

And that's exactly what we saw right from the start.

Evan Mobley wins the opening tips, scores a basket on the very first possession of the

game.

That was to me the perfect way to set the tone.

And then he finishes the first quarter with 16 points on seven of nine shooting played.

I believe seven to first seven and a half minutes of this game and was easily the best

player on the floor.

And that's what he needed to be.

He needed to go out there and a game without Jared Allen, a game where again, the Dallas

Mavericks are short on capable interior defenders.

He needed to make an imprint.

And that's exactly what he did.

And I think that's a great sign because this is the guy and it's not always going to be

29 points in 23 minutes, which is what Evan finished with.

Like his stat line is got he final saline 29 points, seven rebounds only played 23 minutes.

I think you only played one stint in the second half.

I will say like there was that play where he kind of grimaced a little bit and looked

like he grabbed.

I believe it was at his left knee stayed in the game for a few more possessions and then

it was his natural time to check out.

And by time it may have been his natural time to check back in.

The calves were up by like 28 to 30 points.

So putting him back in didn't make sense.

That is something we have to keep an eye on.

Is Evan going to pop up on the injury report on Saturday?

I don't know.

Obviously I'm not in Dallas.

I don't have insight into that.

As of right now I record this to 10 30 on Friday evening, but I do think it was a good

sign just from watching on television.

Like Evan was on the bench the rest of the game.

He didn't go back to the locker room.

Didn't to me look like he received medical attention at any point.

At least not that I saw on TV.

So we will have to wait and see to be sure.

But it does look like things should be okay there.

And this tells me that if the calves needed Evan Moby, which they should not have in the

second half of this game that he could have gone out and given it go, which again is

a good sign.

The best thing to come out of this game for the calves was that Evan Moby dominated

that when he was on the floor, he was the best player on the floor because in matchups

like this, we know Evan has the talent to do it.

Like that's never something that's up for debate.

I don't think people that are detractors, if you will, have Evan Moby sit here and say

this guy's just not talented.

No one says that it's a mentality type of thing.

And I thought that on Friday night, he had the exact mentality that he needed to have.

It was almost to me watching this game from afar.

It almost looked as if Evan Moby was disrespected or felt disrespected by the line up the Dallas

Mavericks dared to put out there against it.

Now the Mavericks aren't a very good basketball team.

They're 20 games below 500.

They're not happy they lost this game by 33 points, I'm sure.

But I don't necessarily think that they're all that mad they lost this game and to be

fair here.

And we have to talk about this because I do talk about it when the calves, when it goes

against the calves.

But this, to me, part of taking care of business for the calves is this was a game against

the lesser team that the calves had a rest advantage.

The Mavericks played on third day night in Memphis.

This was the second night of the back to back in which they had to travel like that is

a game where you should win frequently.

You should look like the better team frequently.

And if I bring that up when the calves lose those types of games, I have to bring that up

and kind of give this a bit of a grain of salt, but they did take care of business.

And the fact that Dallas did rest some guys probably did eight in Moby's performance,

but it's less to me about how many shots he actually made because guys are going to miss

shots.

And yeah, he had a lot of dunks and he had a lot of shots close to him.

He did hit two threes, which was a good sign.

He does need to figure out the free throw stuff like that.

If he does not get that straightened out, that is going to cost the calves at some point

in the post season.

He needs to figure out why he's shooting like 55% from the free throw line as of like

missed a few on Friday night, that's just unacceptable.

That to me is like the most unacceptable part of what his season has been is the fact

that he is shot free throws as poorly as he has this year.

But I think the fact that he was as assertive and as aggressive as he was that he took.

And again, this is not always all on him because he's not a primary initiator because he

is somebody that does need help getting involved in the offense, whether that is James Harden,

who I want to talk about that in just a second, or Donovan Mitchell, or Dennis Schroeder,

like Porter Jr., guys that are running the offense do have a responsibility to get

Evan involved.

But Evan also needs to be aggressive.

He needs to be assertive.

He needs to put himself in the right positions to be able to make that to be possible.

And I thought he did that in all the best ways on Friday night.

And the other thing too, and this is independent of who the calves played.

But I thought that this was the best that the pick and roll relationship between James

Harden and Evan Mobley has looked since they've been playing together.

And I think that we are going to be grading this on a curve just a little bit partially

because when James got to Cleveland, he instantly had remarkable chemistry with Jared Allen.

And I think Jared is closer to the type of big that James has played with through his

career, where he's, you know, that guy that is going to be a dive to the basket type

of guy.

He's got that chemistry.

He's got that timing down.

He's done it thousands and thousands of times, like I look at James, or at Jared Allen

and say to me, he is a more talented version of what Clint Cappella was when James was

at his best in Houston.

And I think that is part of the reason why it clicked so quickly between him and James

Harden.

Evan Mobley's not that same style of pick and roll partner.

And I do think it has taken some time to figure out timing on both ends of things because

Jared is somebody that when he sets a screen, I think he's going to hold it just a little

bit longer.

And he's not quite as quick getting to the basket.

And James is a patient player in the pick and roll, Evan is somebody that he is going

to set that screen in his next movement, partially because he's more athletic than Jared

is, but his next movement is going to be quicker, whether it's to the basket, whether it's popping

out for a three point or whether it's, you know, getting into the short roll, like that

next move from Evan Mobley typically comes a little bit quicker than it does from Jared

Allen.

And I think it has taken some adjusting on both ends of that equation, both from James

and from Evan to sort of figure out their timing, get things down pat because James runs

the pick and roll much differently than Donovan Mitchell has.

And Evan and Donovan have run, I mean, thousands of pick and rolls between their time together

in Cleveland.

So they've worked on that.

They've built that.

That's how they've become such a good duo.

And obviously James and Evan do not have that same, like they don't have that built up.

They don't have that same shared experience together.

So I do think it is something that they both need to work on and it is going to take

time.

Like when I talk about what is important, the rest of the season for the calves, obviously

it is winning games, which is everything they needed to do on Friday night.

But it's figuring things out like this because you can run, pick and roll and practice so

many times and it can help.

But I don't think you can substitute what those two were able to do on Friday night and

practice because the game situation, and this, I'm not going to sit here and say, yes,

the intensity level and Dallas on Friday night against a bad NAVIX team is similar to what

we're going to see in the second round between the calves and the Detroit pistons.

It's not true.

But I do think it's closer to that than a practice session is going to be.

And I think that those types of things do matter as you think about this.

There was the one pick and roll where hard and through an excellent pocket pass to Evan

Mobley.

I believe it was in the second quarter and it was just the best pick and roll, I think

that harden and Mobley have run together so far.

Now again, it's a limited sample size and I expect these things to improve as these

to get more time together, spent on the floor.

But that to me, like watching the way that they operated together, there are obviously

a lot of positives to come out of this game.

A lot of guys play well.

You don't, I don't care who you play.

Like if you win a game by 33 points, that means a lot of things went your way.

You did a lot of things well as a basketball team.

But I think the most important thing to come out of this game is the fact that this was

the best.

And again, it was not against a good opponent.

Like do it against Boston, do it against the tour.

I get all of that.

But you have to start somewhere and you can only play the teams that are on your schedule

and that's what the calves have to deal with in this upcoming stretch because the Dallas

team they played on Friday, not very good.

They played Alice again on Sunday, not very good Milwaukee Stinks, Chicago Stinks, New Orleans

Stinks.

Like the next four games they play are not against teams that should, I'm not, they

should go for and over those next four games.

And those four teams are all at a significant talent disadvantage and Dallas and Chicago both

want to actually lose the games because they're more so in a race for the bottom of the

standings rather than playing where New Orleans is just bad and has nothing to play for because

they don't control their first round right.

They don't have a first round right pick.

And Milwaukee has the guys of wanting to win basketball games even though their season

is dead at this point.

But you can't control who you're going to play, but you can control the way you operate

in those spaces.

So I do think it was important to see that chemistry is building between James and between

Evan.

And I don't know how much those two are going to share the floor together.

But I do know that there are going to be moments where the calves are going to want to

close the game with one big in the playoffs.

And that one big more than likely is going to be having mobility.

I know how good Jared has been and he might be back on Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks

at home.

We'll have to wait and see for what that says.

But when push comes to shove, whether you agree with this or not, the calves are going

to pick Evan Mobley to be on the floor in those spots over Jared Allen.

It's what they're going to do when they want to lean space.

Evan Mobley's the guy.

Just this.

I'm not saying that's right.

I'm not saying that wrong.

I'm saying that is what is going to happen.

So he needs to have these reps with James.

He needs to build up chemistry with James because there's going to come a time when they're

playing in a game far more important than the game they played on Friday.

And they need to have this down.

And I think Friday was a step in the right direction for that pick and roll partnership

to have it down.

And I think the fact that Evan Mobley was as assertive as he was in this game, I think

is the best thing to come out of a 33 point win for the calves over the Dallas Mavericks.

Now, like I said, there were a lot of good things that came out of this game.

Donovan Mitchell was awesome.

Thought James Harden was really good.

He and Ellis stocked continues to rise.

We're going to talk about those three guys and a few more things next right here.

Unlocked on calves.

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I thought both Donovan Mitchell and James Harden played very well in this game.

Now to be fair here again, this was a not good version of the Dallas Mavericks,

but I thought that this was physically the best Donovan has looked in a little while.

I think he looks like a guy now that is over that groin injury, if you will.

I thought he looked explosive going to the basket.

Some of the finishes that he had, the fact that when, so the Caves led this game by 19 early on.

And then the Mavericks went on a 12-nothing run.

And I think a lot of people, myself included, said, oh, they're just not going to be serious tonight.

Well, then Donovan Mitchell was the one who stopped that because he goes down back-to-back

possessions, hits that windmill gather into a floater, makes him,

but one of them might have been into a layup and out of floater, but hits him both.

Hits Evan Mobile with a no-look pass in the lane.

Mobile gets fouled, splits the free throws because again, that free throw stuff is an issue with Evan Mobile

that needs to be figured out in short order.

And then gets a layup and the Caves go on a seven-nothing run.

And after Dallas goes on that 12-o run, I thought that was a really big response.

And it was at that moment where you're like, okay,

they are going to be serious.

Like, we know how the rest of this game is going to go.

At that point, I could maybe have recorded the podcast then, because that told me that,

okay, like, they're going to win this game and they're going to win this game today.

And I thought Donovan Mitchell was a big driver of that.

So he finished with 24 points on 11 of 16 shooting.

Had Atasus, he had a pick and roll two with Keon Ellis.

And Donovan's getting better at this, where the screener for Donovan

is in lessage Jared Allen and sometimes Evan Mobile.

Like, it's often a ghost screen or a quicker screen where you're getting two hands on the guy

and then darting towards the basket.

And he ran one with Keon Ellis.

And he just throws his two-handed bounce pass into a tight area,

finds Ellis cutting down the lane and Ellis gets to the rim and lays it up with his left hand.

And it's like those types of things I think are really interesting to watch for.

Because I do think Donovan's getting better in that area.

I think he's becoming a better passer in those situations.

And I thought that that was just a really good example of.

And I do think that is also, and I'll talk about Keon Ellis here in a second.

But I think that is also an instance of the Cavs continuing to build chemistry

as they play together a little bit more.

And then As for James Hardin, I already talked about how good I thought that he played

alongside Evan Mobley on Friday.

But overall, I thought Hardin just had a really good game.

So he finished with 17 points, seven boards, and seven assists.

He did six of 11 shooting with three of seven from deep.

It is wild to me that James Hardin just does not get to the free throw line anymore.

Like I don't think he's playing.

He is playing, I think, not passively.

He is looking to set up teammates more frequently.

Like the role on the team he has now is different than the role he has had

at most other times in his career.

Like he is in a different role with the Cavs and he was with the Clippers.

Then he was with the Sixers.

Then he was with the Nets, with the Rockets, with the Thunder.

Like it just, it looks differently.

And that is certainly part of it.

But he is not getting calls at the same rate that he used to.

Like he and Don of a Mitchell combined in this game to take three free throws.

And this is not a game where it's worth complaining about the refs.

Like the refs did a fine job.

And the Cavs won by 35.

Like there's nothing really to complain about here.

If you are the Cavs.

But to me, it's just kind of wild to watch Cooper Flag get to the line eight times and

get some of the whistles that he got in this game and watch James Hardin,

who does try and do some of the stuff where he's trying to draw contact,

trying to earn whistles.

And he's not getting the whistles that he has gotten for most of his career.

Again, only got to the line two times in this one.

Did hit both of them.

Again, finished with 17 points.

Was a game high plus 27 in the 28 minutes that he played for the Cavs.

So a really, really strong night for him.

And then Keanu Ellis, I just think the stock for this guy keeps rising.

This is the third game in a row where he's just been awesome.

So Sam Merrill was out in this game because of a hamstring tightness.

I think the Cavs termed it as popped up on the injury report on Friday afternoon,

which typically not a good sign when a guy pops up, pops up on the injury report day of game.

It is a rarity that they play in that game.

So I do think that this is something that we will have to monitor as far as Sam goes.

And when that happens, it's okay.

Well, I just did a show about how Jalen Tyson should be in the starting lineup,

or maybe like should be in consideration to be in the starting lineup because his production

has tailed off.

And Tyson came off the bench again in this game.

Did play better than some of the games he's come off the bench.

He only played 90 minutes.

I think that was partially because that this was a blowout.

He didn't need to play in the fourth quarter very much because the Cavs were winning by 30 points.

So why would you play him in the fourth quarter?

So I don't look at his minutes total and say, yeah, that is reflective of anything.

But K&L have got to start.

And I do think that is partially because Kenny Ackinson likes to reward guys when they're playing well.

And the last two games that K&L has played had been awesome, right?

He scored.

I believe it was 20 points against Orlando on Wednesday.

I think it was 22 against Philly on Monday.

Like he's looked awesome.

He made five threes in both of those games.

Started this game was awesome again.

So he had 13 points in 25 minutes, five of nine from the four, three of five from the field.

And I think it's a big deal with Keon off because we know what he's going to provide defensively.

He had a steal, had two block shots.

Like he just is this chaos creator on the defensive end of the four that the Cavs have not had.

He is a different style.

They've had obviously very good defenders.

Like no one wants to hear this on this podcast.

But Dean Wade is an elite defender on the wing.

Previously, Isaac Acoro, awesome wing defender.

But they're very, very different stylistically from what Keon Ellis is defensively.

And I think that is an important thing to note because he is a chaos creator.

He leads to the Cavs being able to get into the open floor.

He's going to take some risks.

He's going to commit some files.

But he's going to do so much more good than bad on that under the floor.

And I do think too.

We've even seen his risk taking.

Jump up a little bit when you consider the fact that when he was in Sacramento,

he never really played with a good rim protector.

With all due respect to Demonis Abonus, like he's not a good defensive center.

Where I know Jared Allen didn't play in this game and has missed the past several games.

But playing alongside Jared Allen and Evan Mobley is a whole different world than playing alongside

anyone that Keon Ellis has played alongside previously in his career.

But offensively, one of the things that I look at as a big deal for him is,

you know, he had three threes.

He's a good shooter.

He's going to make those shots, especially when he's taking them confidently,

which has been a consistent thing over the past three games.

He has looked very confident shooting the basketball from beyond the yard.

But the fact that he took four twos, I look at his really good sign.

And sometimes you can look at that and say, okay, well, like, are they fast break?

Are they dunks off of steals that he created?

But some of these are coming in half court sets where he's become, I think,

a more competent player offensively putting the ball on the deck,

which is something I do think the cabs need out of him.

Now, I think the passing has a ways to go, like he's far from a perfect offensive player.

But I think that we are seeing more a greater diversity of offensive skill from Keon Ellis

than what I expected to see from him on that and in the floor.

He just looks more comfortable with every game that he's playing.

He looks more comfortable alongside his teammates.

And he looks like his role in the offense is growing.

And it does to me look as if there's still untapped potential there.

Like the player that Keon Ellis is right now.

I don't think it's the player that was in Sacramento.

And can Keon Ellis be a different player in the postseason?

Denny is right now.

Caves have to hope so.

Will he be a different player next year, presuming that the calves do sign him

to a contract extension, which I think probably does happen.

Can he be a different player in October and November of next year than he is right now?

I think that is absolutely a strong possibility.

But I think that calves fans should love what we're seeing from Keon Ellis

because he is showing more on that and in the floor.

We know what to expect from him defensively.

If you watch the calves, you know what to expect from Keon Ellis defensively.

Night in and night out.

But what we have seen from him over the past few games offensively

is something that I do think can take his game, this calves rotation,

and ultimately the calves as a group to the next level.

And that's one of the most important things that can happen between now

and the end of the regular season.

Now the calves have a challenge on Sunday and they might be healthier

when that ultimately rolls around.

But they see this Dallas Mavericks team again.

They should do the same thing they did on Friday night.

I'll tell you why next right here, I'm locked on calves.

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Thank you again for making this latest edition of Lockdown

Cavs your first watch on YouTube or your first listen.

Any where you might be getting your podcasts.

And the Cavs are back in action against the same

or maybe slightly different Dallas Mavericks team.

On Sunday afternoon inside Rocket Arena,

the Cavs are returning home after this quick two game road trip.

We will call this the Mac tournament road trip.

And then they will be going back on the road for three more games.

What are we are going to call the NCAA Wrestling

Championship Road Trip because I believe that will be inside

Rocket Arena over the next week after the Cavs play at home.

On Sunday, I think this is something that the Cavs would very much take

as opposed to having an extended West Coast road trip this time of year

which has been a constant really of my adult life.

It feels like the Cavs go out and they do have to go out West

for just three games later on this month.

But like it's not it's a very manageable trip compared

to some of the other ones that they've had.

So the challenge for the Cavs is to do this again on Sunday

because yeah, Dallas would probably have a few more available

bodies on Sunday.

Their injury report probably going to look a little bit different.

They might not be as short-handed in the front court.

Now the Cavs could be getting some guys back.

They said on the broadcast, Jared Allen could play on Sunday.

He has not played since March 30.

He's missed 10 days with that knee-ten initis.

Some guy named Max Truce might play on Sunday.

Max has obviously missed the entire season as he

recovers from a Jones fracture.

I've been saying on the podcast all week like I think Sunday is a day

that could make a lot of sense.

They mentioned that on the broadcast.

We will wait and see what we hear on the injury report

when that comes out Saturday afternoon or Saturday evening.

But I do think that we could potentially see the healthiest

version of the Cavs.

They're the most available version of the Cavs

that hasn't existed this season.

They've not obviously had a single game

in which they have not had a player out because of injury

because Max has not played yet this year.

I think they've only had a couple where they've had only

Max Truce out because of injury.

That could potentially change again on Sunday.

We'll have to see what's up with Evan Mobley.

We'll have to see what's up with Sam Merrill as well.

But this, to me, should look on Sunday the same way it did on Friday

because the Cavs are again at a rest advantage.

They'll be coming home and I know that first game

home after a road trip, even if it's only two games.

Can sometimes view you a little funky,

but let's go back to that game.

The Cavs played against Oklahoma City where they're in

OKC and they lose that game.

They're trailing.

I believe it was 28 to five or something absurd in the first quarter.

They just got run off the court in the first seven or eight minutes of that

game.

They had more turnovers than shots halfway through the first quarter.

The part of the issue and nobody wanted to hear it at the time

was the Cavs were playing their third game in four days

in three different cities and when that third game in four days

in three different cities starts at that game started at noon central time.

That's a tough draw.

Well, the Dallas Mavericks.

On Thursday, they played a minute in Memphis.

On Friday, they played at home against the Cavs in Dallas.

On Sunday, they play in Cleveland against the Cavs.

What is that?

That is three games in four days in three different cities

and that game is at three three on Sunday.

This is a spot where the Cavs should dominate.

Whether the Mavericks are healthier or not, whether they have more guys available

on Sunday than they did on Friday, those things should not matter.

What we should look to see on Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks from the Cavs

is another professional performance where the Cavs go out there.

Maybe they don't shoot the basketball quite as well.

I'm not saying they need to go out there and win this game on Sunday

by 33 points the way they did.

I mean, they shot 61% from before.

They shot over 50% from three or excuse me.

They shot 47% from three.

I'm not saying they need to do that.

But they need to control that basketball game.

There needs to be like, it needs to be a game where for most of the second half,

there's very little to no doubt who is going to win that game.

I think that should be the goal.

I think that should be the expectation.

That is what serious teams do.

There is no reason.

Even if the Cavs look different as they try and potentially work

matches back in, potentially work Jared Allen back in.

Maybe they have lineups that we have never seen before.

But there's no excuse for them to not win this game

and not win this game in dominant fashion on Sunday.

That to me should be the challenge that this Cavs team

takes on the next time they take the court.

But that's going to do it for this Saturday edition,

or I guess the late Friday night edition,

if you're catching this as it debuts on YouTube.

But please, do me a favor as we get out of here

on this version of Lockdown Cavs.

Hit the thumbs up button and that notification bell on YouTube.

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And I'll be back on Sunday

and for the Cavs, take on the Dallas Mavericks.

Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson,

one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

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