Evan’s MSG Night Gets Complicated as Knicks Cavs Takes Center Stage

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.2 • 988 Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Knicks and Cavaliers are finally set for the Eastern Conference Finals, and Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber dig into why the matchup feels both surprising and inevitable. They break down Cleveland’s Game 7 response, the Knicks’ home court advantage, the Cavaliers’ heavy playoff workload, and why the longer the series goes, the more it may favor New York. The conversation also covers a wild fake Mets Yankees trade idea, Aaron Rodgers landing in what could be a perfect Steelers situation, and the biggest question facing the Jets under Aaron Glenn. Evan also reacts to Donovan Mitchell shouting out the Mets after Cleveland’s win, defends bringing his Mets scorebook to Madison Square Garden, and explains why Big Mac has almost no chance of avoiding Yankees spoilers at Knicks Cavs Game 1.

Transcript

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0:00.0	As a Knicks hater, I didn't know what to root for.
0:02.7	It was more just sit back, relax, watch basketball, kind of evaluate as an IBO.
0:07.5	I was stunned that the Cavaliers kicked their ass the way they did.
0:11.6	Especially because the Pistons responded by winning a game six on the road the way they did.
0:17.2	Right.
0:17.6	I just didn't expect.
0:19.0	And you told me Cleveland's going to win game seven at that point. I wouldn't have been surprised. But to have a thorough wire-to-wire ass whooping like we saw. And one thing that jumped out of me about Cleveland is, A, they showed a lot of guts. Right. You know, we've called them the frauduleers. And I think that's kind of been the consensus around here that they're a fraudulent team. I think they showed you something by blowing a three-two lead and then having to go to Detroit, not an easy environment, and winning a game seven the way they did. They also cleaned up one of their biggest worries, and that is the turnovers, which the Knicks could clearly take advantage of. They only turned the ball over 10 times last night.
0:54.7	So they protected the basketball a lot better.
0:56.5	11 total.
0:57.2	11 total.
0:57.8	Right.
0:58.4	It was just a real, well-rounded, complete performance by a Cleveland team that talent-wise is better than the Pistons.
1:06.5	Yeah.
1:06.7	A deeper team than the Pistons.
1:08.1	Right.
1:08.4	I mean, the Pistons, they struggled because the guys they really needed to count on,
1:13.6	in particular, Tobias Harris and Cade Cunningham, they had bad shooting nights.
1:18.9	And when you're young and your veteran and star grossly underperform,
1:26.6	I mean, Tobias said five points.
1:28.1	Kate Cunning at 13.
1:29.6	So it was a no show performance by Kate.
1:31.2	It was a no show performance by the Pistons, which is exactly what you predicted, what happened,
	...

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