CLEVELAND, Ohio — In this episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast, Ethan Sands and Jimmy Watkins dive deep into the NBA Finals matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers.
Takeaways:
Small Market Finals Matchup: This NBA Finals features two small market teams in Oklahoma City and Indiana, which may result in lower viewership compared to larger market teams. Despite this, both hosts emphasized that this series offers quality basketball for “hoop heads” with compelling storylines, particularly the matchup between the league’s best defense (OKC) and one of its best offenses (Indiana).
Thunder’s Elite Defense: Oklahoma City brings an “all-time great” defense to the Finals that has been consistently dominant throughout the regular season and playoffs. The Thunder defense is elite both in personnel (with seven strong defenders in their rotation including Jalen Williams and Lu Dort who made All-Defensive teams) and in style, creating turnovers and transition opportunities. This defense hasn’t been matched by any team the Pacers have faced in their playoff run.
Predictions Favor Thunder: Both hosts predicted a short series with Oklahoma City winning, with predictions of a sweep or a gentleman’s sweep. They cited the Thunder’s defensive prowess, ability to match Indiana’s pace, and superior personnel as key factors. The hosts expressed hope for a more competitive series but acknowledged the significant talent gap between the teams.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Star Power: SGA is described as a “different level of guy” who recently won his first MVP and is making his first Finals appearance. The hosts noted that while he’s Oklahoma City’s primary creator, his ability to handle ball pressure and create his own shot separates him from players the Pacers have faced previously. This Finals appearance represents a significant stage for his development as one of the league’s premier stars.
Tyrese Halliburton’s Challenge: Despite receiving praise as the playoffs’ leading assist man, Halliburton faces his toughest test against OKC’s defense. The hosts emphasized that for Halliburton to have success, he’ll need to consistently touch the paint, which will be difficult against defenders like SGA, Dort, Williams, and Caruso. They noted that the Pacers’ offense flows through Halliburton, making him a primary target for the Thunder’s defensive scheme.
Pace and Style Matchup: The podcast highlighted the contrast between Indiana’s “light speed” offense and OKC’s swarming defense. Unlike previous Pacers opponents who struggled with their pace, the Thunder are comfortable playing at high speed and have the personnel to get back in transition. The hosts suggested that OKC’s ability to control tempo and force the Pacers to slow down could be a decisive factor in the series.
Myles Turner’s Critical Role: The hosts identified Myles Turner as a potential X-factor for Indiana, noting he’ll need to make numerous three-pointers to stretch OKC’s defense. They expressed concern about Turner’s ability to punish mismatches and his defensive limitations against players like Chet Holmgren who can extend to the perimeter. His performance could be pivotal to Indiana’s chances of competing in the series.
Thunder’s Depth Advantage: Oklahoma City’s rotation features elite defenders at virtually every position, with the hosts listing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, and Cason Wallace as “all plus defenders.” This depth allows OKC to maintain defensive pressure throughout games and gives them flexibility to adapt to different matchups, contrasting with Indiana’s more limited defensive personnel.
Coaching Matchup: The podcast touched on the coaching battle between Mark Daigneault and Rick Carlisle (former NBA champion). While acknowledging Carlisle’s experience and tactical acumen, the hosts suggested that personnel limitations may prevent the Pacers from executing his schemes effectively against the Thunder’s versatile lineup.
Implications for the Cavs: The hosts noted that if the series unfolds as they predict, it would reflect poorly on the Cavs, suggesting that the gap between Cleveland and a championship-caliber team like OKC appears substantial. Especially considering that the Thunder are positioned to improve further with their wealth of assets and young talent.
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Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.
Ethan Sands: What up Cavs nation? I’m your host, Ethan Sands and I’m back with another episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. And joining me today, the best columnist in the Land, Jimmy Watkins, cleveland.com and we have a great show provided for you guys as we dive into the NBA Finals prediction Oklahoma City vs Indiana, the team that knocked out Cleveland. Jimmy, I know this is a small market series between two teams that have made it all the way to the NBA Finals. What is your initial reaction to these teams? There are some people, some fans that are out here saying that this is a series that won’t get as much views as many in the NBA might think.
Jimmy Watkins: That’s probably true. As much as we don’t want to feed the narrative that the bigger the market, the better it is for the NBA. We get to the Finals. History tells us that’s true. These are two teams that America doesn’t have a lot of familiarity with. There’s an opportunity for those, for that to change after this. I mean Oklahoma City, as we’ve talked about on this podcast, is a team that’s going to be around for a while. I think the KD Russ Thunder, they weren’t, they didn’t, they weren’t a draw in and of themselves necessarily. Kevin Durant was the draw. But if this is, this is how you develop those stars, we keep, we talk, we have this exhausting future face of the league conversation. These, these stages right here, this is where they’re developed. So shake Shai Gilders. Alexander won his first mvp. This is his first finals appearance. This is a big stage for him. Tyres Halliburton, he was overrated then. We weren’t sure he’s a superstar now. His team’s in the NBA Finals. I’m less confident that he will return to this stage. I asked the subtexters the other day whether they think this run is sustainable or more of a, a one off in like winning the East. People were shooting back at me and saying well they made the conference finals last year. They got swept. That’s a little bit different. A lot of people in Tyrese’s situation, I think I did a list on stat had like all NBA and you win the conference by age 24, a lot of those people get back. He’s the only guy on this list. I think there were 13 names and nine of them went back to the finals. He’s the only guy on this list that was voted third team. He’s the lowest on the all NBA ballot hierarchy. I think he can climb that in the future, he’s certainly put himself. We are more aware of Tyrese Halliburton now, much more so than we were at the beginning of these playoffs. That’s why the playoffs are awesome. They teach you about awesome basketball players. And I think this is going to be a good basketball series. Like we’re not. If you’re not watching for the logos, you’re watching for the hoops. And this, this one is for the hoop heads. My concern with it is, is it going to last long enough? Because I always get sad when basketball ends and this one I worry about competitive. I want competitive games and I want a long series. And the Thunder don’t do too many of too much of either of those things. So we’ll see this series.
Ethan Sands: And me and Chris talked about it briefly as we were predicting who would come out of each conference. We both said like the best ideal situation outside of the narratives and the finalists being who had the best trade acquisition between Minnesota and New York is the best offense versus the best defense. Right. And I think obviously we know OKC has had the best defense throughout the entire regular season, throughout the postseason as well. And the Indiana Pacers have been one of the best offenses dating back to last postseason. And Jimmy, I hate to throw you into the fire a little bit, but you mentioned them, right? The former OKC team with James Harden, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. And I got to ask you, before we get into our predictions of this upcoming series of this OKC team in 2025 led by SGA and MVP versus a team led by three potential and future MVPs, which team are you taking?
Jimmy Watkins: I mean, it’s so hard because that mean Kendrick Perkins was the starting center on that team. It’s just a team from a different era. They play such different styles. That team was, we were right on the precipice of the three point boom. But like Kevin Durant wasn’t taking as many threes as he would end up taking. James Harden wasn’t taking as many threes as he ended up taking by default. I would take like if they’re playing each other, I would take this Thunder team because again, I mean Thunder, we’re just, we understand basketball at a deeper, more advanced. I think Mark Dagnol is a huge coaching advantage over Scotty Brooks. There’s a reason Rust and KD never won a title as a partnership. They never figured out the right push pull as a star duo. And you know, James Harden only complicated that, man. I mean James Harden left that team for a Reason he didn’t feel like he could become the player he needed. He. He felt he could become on. On that roster. But I mean if you’re asking me to pick a core, it’s no question I’m taking the three MVPs versus. I mean we. It’s interesting to think about though. I’m very confident that Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams won’t end up becoming MVP type players. Less. A little less confident about Chet, but pretty confident. Jdub is going to be a great star in his role player for a long time and Chet’s going to be one of these elite defenders. All NBA kind of guys stretch the floor. He’s a unicorn big, but they’re always going to. Shai’s always going to be the guy around which this offense revolves. And you know, you wouldn’t have thought that about James Harden back in the day, but I think that’s. I’d take the old OKC big three, but I would take this, this team in a series because they’re deeper, they play better defense and they, they. They’re modernized.
Ethan Sands: You know why I would take this team, Jimmy? This current 2025 team, what they’ve been talking about since that last series ended. The bond of friendship. Right. Obviously we knew KD and Russ and James Harden were great individual players, but separately they had their things going on behind the scenes that they had to deal with. Right. And obviously as time has gone on and been our benefactor, KD and Russ have not been on the same terms. Right. And I think if you were to separate this SGA led team, they would still be friends outside of this. And I think it’s interesting you say what you do about Chet Holmgren because to me he feels like an Evan Mobley type of player being able to impact both ends of the floor. Obviously Evan Mobley is a better overall defender than Chet Holmgren, but Chet Holmgren feels like a player that could be more influential on the defensive end just because of his blocks and just because of the other sides around him. Isaiah Hartenstein obviously being there potentially for however long. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. We are here to discuss the predictions of this NBA Finals. And Jimmy, these are two of the best teams. Obviously they had to get here somehow. But we talked about it, right? Best offense, the best defense. Is this the series that proves whether or not defense actually wins championships?
Jimmy Watkins: I think that’s a complicated question because Pacers offense is not. The Thunders defense is equal. I get what you’re saying. Best Defense play ops versus the best offense. But this Thunder defense is all time great. It’s all time great in a very unique way that creates offense for the Thunder as well. The Thunder’s offense, while it can, it can sputter a little bit. One of the keys that the Pacers can get these games to the fourth quarter, they have a good chance because we’ve seen when, you know, OKC’s offense still has these moments where it bugs out a little bit at times. Although they look pretty good in the, in the Minnesota series. I don’t think you can ever take away something such a. Take so grand from such a small sample anyways. But in, in this series we would need a team, we would need an offense the caliber of, of OKC’s defense to put that theory to the test. You know, I’m thinking like, I don’t know, like 2017 Cavs or Katie Steph, I mean Katie Steph warriors is borderline unfair. I don’t think there is a defense for that for that team. But like all time great playoff offense meets all time because the Pacers in the regular season, they’re a good offense, but they weren’t. The Thunder have been wired a wire from like game one until game one of the finals. The best defense in the NBA by a comfortable margin. The Pacers are really good offensively. They are when they’re at their best. I actually do think they’re an offense that can challenge OKC in some ways, but they’re not equals.
Ethan Sands: I think that’s well said. You think about the Pacers and obviously historically last year they had one of the best offensive ratings in playoff history. But I’m eager to see where they end up this season, especially because they will have to face this Oklahoma City defense, as you mentioned, is one of the best. Had two players be named all defensive teams, whether that be first team or second team with Lou Dort and Jalen Williams. And then you obviously have SGA and others behind them that can fill in the gaps and play to that standard. So let’s get specifically into this series, Jimmy and I think that’s where we want it to go. This series ends in five games with OKC being the top dog. Because the Pacers offense, which has been great throughout this playoffs, has not seen a defense quite like the Oklahoma City Thunder with the movement, with the pace, with the matching of speed. And obviously one of the biggest assets that the Pacers have had is their pace and being able to outrun teams. But they haven’t faced an Oklahoma City Thunder defense that is able to play to the same capability, one, with the, with the matchups and the lineups variation, but two, also being able to keep up and play to the same level of intensity. Also, I think it’s fair to mention that OKC’s defense gets away with some of more physical calls than any other team in the NBA during this playoffs. And that means that they’re going to be able to do more to the Indiana Pacers as they try to get their offense going with the movement, with the ball movement and body movement. I should specify in this specific series and when we talk about these things, right, like obviously Tyrese Haliburton is the pinnacle of the offense for the Pacers, but that’s based on his passing. And I think for him to have success in this series, he has to touch the paint almost every possession, which limits his scoring ability. And two, I feel like anybody that the OKC Thunder put him up against is going to make that so much more difficult than someone on the Knicks, than someone on the Cavs and even before them. What do you think about this series in particular between OKC and Indiana and then talking about the specifics of why or who will come out of the series.
Jimmy Watkins: Man, I think we could be on sweep watch here. I know we are. We are a podcast that respects the Pacers. The Pacers have earned that respect. Please don’t take that as me dissing them. They are a very good basketball team. But I think there are levels to this and I think that there will be an adjustment period for both teams being at for in most cases this is going to be their first finals. And I think that the way that the Pacers play, you mix that with a little adrenaline. I worry about the execution a little bit, but big picture, it’s more just theme of the Pacers playoff run is then, oh boy, we’re just so shocked by this pace and we can’t keep up with them. We can’t control the tempo, we can’t slow them down. I think Oklahoma City can. I think Oklahoma City is more comfortable than any of the teams the Pacers have played thus far playing at this pace. I think OKC has one of the strengths of getting out of transition so often is that you get cross matches, you get guys that, you know, you get defenders guarding players who they ordinarily wouldn’t be guarding. But the play’s moving so fast that you just gotta grab somebody with the Thunder outside of like Isaiah Hartenstein, whose role could be diminished in this series. Frankly, I’ll give the page of that. I think they can make the Thunder change shape a little bit. I just think the Thunder are extremely equipped to change shape and adapt to what Indiana does. I think they can slow Indiana down with ball pressure. Alex Caruso with J Dub, with the list of guys that they can roll out and have wear on you is unending. One of the other Pacers strengths as attacking switches. Who are you attacking? Who are you attacking? Thunder can put guys on, can put multiple lineups on the floor where they’re comfortable with pretty much switching one through five. And I think once the, if the Pacers get behind the eight ball a little bit here, the Thunder are not going to be one of these. When they smell blood, they go. And their, their runs tend to snowball the other direction. And I think that’s. This is going to be a much harder team to come back against. You want the TLDR dumb guy take? I think the Thunder defense travels a little bit better on this stage than the Pacers offense. The Pacers got here by making a lot of shots, you know, shooting over expected. We talked about that, right? Teams are leaving guys open and those guys are making shots the Thunder don’t even. I think the Thunder are just going to have everyone manned up. And Tyrese Halliburton is an offensive wizard. An offensive wizard. He’s been incredible this entire playoff run. Pascal Siakam has been really good. He’s conference finals mvp. Mvp. This entire playoff run, they haven’t seen a defense like this. They haven’t seen individual defenders like Alex Caruso, like Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren at the rim, Isaiah Hartenstein at the rim. This is a much, much, much different challenge. You think? I mean, like the Bucks were so, so defensive team. I think back half of the year they were flirting with top 10 defense. But the end of the year statistics always get a little bit weird. The Cavs defense, they were built on two players essentially. Evan Mobley and Jared Allen. The Pacers found a lot of pressure points. The Cavs melted down in that series as well. The Knicks defense, this is not me invalidating Pacers run. This is just me illustrating how big of a step up they’re about to take. The Knicks defense. For the Knicks to serve, to be a sustainable, to have a sustainable lineup on the floor, basically one, if not both of Jalen Brunson or Carl Anthony Towns has to be on the court at all times. That’s a weakness. There are very few weaknesses in this OKC defense. Now I do, I think if you’re going to test the Thunder defense and give it problems. I think you need to be a team that can make quick decisions, play point five basketball, move the ball around quite a bit and move bodies. The Pacers do that. At their best, they do that. And if they can defend OKC well enough, I always have a little bit of a question about the OKC half court offense and if you’re missing the Pacers are going to make it hard for you going the other way. But I just think that more often than not the Thunder are going to be able to, even in transition, get back or force Indiana to slow down at the other end. I think it’s going to be. I think these first two games in Oklahoma City will tell us a lot. I really, really hope the Pacers steal one because I want storylines, I want to have conversations about this series. But if not, man, I don’t. I don’t know. I really don’t know.
Ethan Sands: That’s why I’m giving the benefit of the doubt. We shall say to Indiana to steal one game at home and take this game five, right? Because I do think Oklahoma City will win this series and I think it’s important to know everything that you talk about. The defense is important, but the inverse of that is what Indiana Pacers will have to deal with defensively, right? They have Myles Turner manning the paint and we saw he had problems with Karl Anthony Towns. So what does that mean for a player like Isaiah Hartenstein? What does that mean for a player like Chet Holmgren who can extend and also guard on the perimeter, right? And I think for Oklahoma City Thunder that’s where you start, right? You make Myles Turner extend his defense one or if you feel like you have a physical mismatch with Isaiah Hartenstein, you attack him defensively and then you figure out whether or not you can use SGA Jalen Williams off of these ball screens. And obviously this isn’t the offense that they’ve necessarily ran throughout the season, but both of these two head coaches, one obviously a recent coach of the year last year, which I’m a mark from okc. And then Rick Carlisle, who has the pedigree of a coach of the year coach candidate who has been to the NBA Finals, is an NBA champion, right? And we’ve seen this season alone, this postseason alone, how important he has been. And even watching back clips, dissecting the opposing offense, obviously knowing that there’s players on the bench that were cheering him on, cheering Riccarlo on while on the bench after a possession that started at the beginning of the game in the Knicks series and saying, hey, you planned that out. You saw that before it even happened, right? I think there is obviously an IQ that needs to be remembered when it comes to Rick Carlisle and his experience and his ability to adapt to any given situation. But as the Cavs learned and as the Miami Heat learned against the Cavs, you have to have the personnel to match what you’re going to be able to put in schematically and tactically by your head coach. And in this series, I don’t think that the Indiana Pacers are capable of matching what Oklahoma City Thunder have offensively. And that’s crazy to think about, Jimmy, because we’ve had this conversation throughout the year about how Oklahoma City only has one true ball handler. I want to ask you this. How do you figure that a creator on offense is going to be led by sga, but if the Pacers will be able to use their defensive strategy, Andrew Nemhard, Aaron Neesmith, to attack their ball handlers to a different degree or a similar degree to what the Cavs saw in their Eastern Conference semifinals round against the Indiana Pacers.
Jimmy Watkins: I mean, I just think SJ is a different level of guy. I also think there’s, he’s their best creator and their loan creator, really like their lone elite shot creator on offense. But like, J Dub can bring the ball up. Alex Caruso can bring the ball up, Chad Holmgren can bring the ball up. I think we’ve watched the Pacers for three rounds now. One of the ways to mitigate ball pressure is to just have somebody else dribble. And that’s, that’s why they’re there. That’s why OKC’s transition offense is so, I mean, one, they feed it with turnovers and turnovers. That’s, that’s one of the cruxes of this series. You know, the Pacers are the best ball security team in basketball for most of the year. The Thunder are historic swarming defense. They, they put opposing offenses in hell. That’s, that’s a real pressure point of this series. And I, I mean the Pacers are, are, have earned that distinction in large part because of Tyrese Halberton. Anytime Tyrese Halberton doesn’t have the ball, the Pacers are on alert. I think Andrew Nemhard is going to see a different, like it’s not just the guy who’s guarding you. The next guy over is looking for a way to punch that ball as you dribble. Okay? You catch the ball in the post. Pascal Siakam you want to do some shimmies down there, Keep your head on the swivel. There are hands coming for that basketball. The top seven Thunder players in minutes played per game this postseason. Shea, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Lou Dorrit, Isaiah Hardenstein, Alex Caruso, Casen Wallace. All plus defenders. All of them? All of them. It’s crazy to me, but to your original question, Shai’s just a different level of guy. We kind of saw this with Jalen Brunson in the last round, like, similar guys guarding him. And Aaron Nesmith was hobbled with the ankle. And that’s another big question for the series. How is he going to look after a couple of days off? He. I mean, they need him. He has been so massive for them in these playoffs. But Jalen Brunson was kind of just doing his thing, like some. There are certain guys you can’t speed up. Jalen Brunson is one of those guys. SGA is another one of those guys. And, oh, by the way, he’s like three inches taller, so he. I think he’s just a different beast. And the Thunder can fill in so many different gaps offensively with. With their defense, even if they’re not forced and turnovers, they’re going to force a bunch of misses. Think of it this way. The Thunder are an elite defense by style, and they’re an elite defense by personnel, like, across the board. I just read them to you. 7 really, really good defensive players. The Pacers. If we’re talking elite offensive personnel, it’s Tyrese, it’s Pascal on his. On his good days, he can be a little hit or miss. He was great in that last series, but he can be a little bit hit or miss, and I think he’s going to see some defenders in this series. I won’t. I won’t disrespect OG an obi. And everybody said he has it, but it’s just. It’s constant. It’s constant with. With the Knicks. You know, Bridges is usually on Halliburton. There’s only one OG Anunoby, right? With. With the Thunder. They got more dudes that they can throw at. Alex Russo can guard anybody on the court. Anybody. Jalen Williams can guard anybody on the court. Lou Dort can guard outside of, like, a legit center. And Myles Turner has gotten a lot better at punishing switches as his career has progressed, but he can guard just about anybody else. He is super strong after that. Who are we talking about? We’re talking about Andrew Nemhardt. Hitting these crazy shots. It’s a different world now. We’re talking about OBITOP and transition weapon. It’s a different world now. We’re talking. Talking about Aaron Neesmith. We don’t know about his ankle. Myles Turner’s got to make a bunch of threes in this series. He’s going to be massive. If I’m the Thunder, I’m letting him. I’m not leaving him open, but I’m. It’s going to be a lighter contest for me because if I’m the Thunder, I’m more concerned about protecting the rim than I am about Myles Turner. Let’s see how many you’re willing to take, and let’s. Especially if you’re not hitting that day, let’s see how many you’re willing to take. So again, it’s just the Thunder are an elite defense by personnel, across the board and by style. The Pacers are an elite offense by style, and they have an elite engine. But it’s. I mean, their run has been as much a testament to the role players around Tyrese Halliburton. And this, this is where it’s a little bit harder for those guys to shine.
Ethan Sands: As we all know, LeBron James gave a whole lot of praise to Tyrese Halliburton, his Olympic teammate, right? And Tyree Tyler Burton is more than deserving of all of the praise that he’s received. He’s the leading assist man in this playoffs. But. But again, he has not faced this caliber of defense. Whether you’re going up against Shai, whether you’re going up against Dort, whether you’re going up against Jalen Wales, whether or not you got Al Caruso coming off the bench guarding you 94ft. Kayson Wallace coming off the bench and guarding you 94ft, these guys are dedicated to. To their job of mucking up the game as much as possible. And everybody knows that this team, the Pacers, goes as Tyrese Halliburton does. It’s the same way with the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s either Donovan Mitchell or Tyrese Halliburton. Right? And in this series, Jimmy, I think you make a great point. Myles Turner will be huge if he’s able to hit threes, even if he’s contested more heavily depending on who is guarding him. Right? Chet Holmgren, if he’s out there as a seven footer on the perimeter. We’ve seen Myles Turner struggle with those types of attempts. But I think when you talk about the different level of defense that the Pacers are going to face and We’ve talked about this a lot. It’s not Eastern Conference level. There’s levels to this, right? And the Western Conference is tougher to get through. And once the OKC Thunder got through Denver, oh boy, it looked like a straight path to the NBA Finals. And right now it’s looking like an NBA championship for the first time in this franchise’s history. Jimmy, you said four games. I said five. Even compared to the Cavs, who I think are looking at this and like, oh boy, if I would have got game two, this could have been us.
Jimmy Watkins: I hope we’re wrong. I hope we’re wrong. And I said there is a world, by the way, still in a little bit of an adjustment period for OKC against this light speed offense. And the Pacers can make a bunch of threes early in one of these games. And again, I do trust the Pacers much more in late game, fourth quarter situations than I do most of most of the. Shai’s on. Shai’s on. There’s nothing you can do about that. I like. I like the Pacers in clutch games, although OKC’s defense is just. I’m trying to make Pacers talking points and I just go, yeah, but you see who they have to get past to get to the rim. It’s just so hard. It’s just so hard. I hope we’re wrong. I want a good series. I want competitive basketball. I want seven games. I just think that we’re going to get a bit of a wake up call here. I think we’ll save it for later, but I think if this series goes how we think it’s going to go, we need to have an take another sizable look in the mirror for the Cavs, because I know they didn’t play their best against the Pacers. That series might not be representative of what’s going to be this franchise going forward, but like they weren’t close, close against the Pacers. And I don’t think the Pacers are that close against okc. The leap that the Cavs have to make between where they are, where they finish this year and where they want to be. Championship, by the way. Championship is what we’re talking about.
Ethan Sands: It’s sizable, especially when we talk about an OKC team that can only get better this offseason. If there’s a team that has the assets to improve, it’s okc. And that might be the scariest thing of them all. As we talk about them potentially winning this year’s NBA championship, obviously that takes a look back to the Boston Celtics last year and say, hey, they have a lot to do with building it back, rebuilding or coming back with the same roster and having the same chances that they did last year. Injuries are unpredictable. We understand that all of those things are must knows going into the playoffs to have the know how of getting through the NBA Finals and getting and earning a championship in any given playoffs. But I think this year you feel it more than anything else with the new CBA on the rise and each team trying to figure out how they can fight for an NBA championship. Oh, and for our viewers that are watching on YouTube, if you saw me struggling at some point I got a new kitten, six weeks old and now she’s sleeping. But of course she has been messing with my wires, playing with everything as a child does. But with all that being said, that’ll wrap up today’s episode of the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. But remember to become a Cavs insider and interact with Chris, me and Jimmy by subscribing to cell text. This is where you can send in your weekly questions for our hey Chris episodes. Of course, we still got you this week. Send them in and we’ll see if we can get them in after we review Game one of the NBA Finals. But with all that being said, sign up for a 14 day free trial or visit cleveland.comcavs and click on the blue bar at the top of the page. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. All you have to do is text the word stop. It’s easy, but we can tell you that the people who sign up stick around because this is the best way to get inside the coverage on the Cavs from me, Chris and Jimmy. This isn’t just our podcast, it’s your podcast. And the only way to have your voice heard is through subtext. Y’ all be safe. We out.
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