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.
Full Episode
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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