“Whatever Happens, Happens.”
2013-04-04
The Cavaliers were decimated by the Nets Wednesday night.
The Cavaliers are not a very good basketball team. The Cavs lack in star talent and depth at nearly every position other than point guard, and the remarkable Herculoids have faded down the stretch. However, no NBA team should lose games as badly as the Cavs did last night. The final deficit was only 18, but anyone who watched the game would tell you that the game was much worse than that number would indicate. The Nets led by around 30 for much of the “contest,” and the action consisted mostly of wide-open jumpers, the monotony occasionally broken by free throw attempts for Brooklyn. I’ll keep the game action recap brief.
First Half:
The Nets outscore the Cavaliers by eight in the first quarter. Marshon Brooks makes it clear that he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for Andre Toney’s jumper. Deron Williams also plays well. As the second quarter starts, the slaughter begins. Seven minutes into the quarter the deficit is 17, soulless Marshon continues to dominate, and Jerry Stackhouse dunks all over the Cavaliers. By the way, he’s 38. Deron Williams scores 11 in the last three minutes of the second, and the Cavs trail by 30 at the half. BKN 66, CLE 36.
Second Half:
The third quarter starts out a little bit better, thank God(s?). Kyrie dishes a few assists, devilish Brooks finally misses a few shots, and with 7:50 left in the quarter the Cavaliers have battled back to within 27. Brooklyn hurriedly calls a timeout, as the panicked Nets snipe at each other about defensive rotations and missed shots. The young Cavs snarl, smelling blood. The chase is on. Unfortunately, at the end of the third the lead remains 27. The fourth quarter is the definition of bad basketball. Tornike Shengelia (That’s a real person, I promise), Mirza Teletovic (Didn’t the Cavs look into signing this guy?), Chris “Funny Ears” Quinn, and Omri “Am I Even On This Team Anymore?” Casspi all make appearances. Final Score: BKN 113, CLE 95.
The pervading storyline from this game will be Byron Scott’s future, or lack thereof, with the Cavaliers. Losses are expected, accepted and perhaps beneficial this late in the season. However, no one wants to see the Cavs get run out of their own gym, and home losses this bad usually come back to the coach. After the game, Scott said “The energy, the effort wasn’t there — for whatever reason.” I agree with him– Cleveland looked flat and uninspired all night. But whose fault is that, if not the coach’s? Byron Scott may be on the way out of Cleveland. As he said regarding his job, “Whatever happens, happens.” If that’s how Scott feels, than he should by all means allow the Cavs to keep losing like they did tonight. But if he has any interest in coaching Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson in the playoffs next year, he’d better make some adjustments.
Most major additions to this team will probably come via trade rather than free agency. I’m all for the three years at the top of the lottery plan. After this years draft they should have an idea of what they want to keep around for the core of the team for the long term and what still needs addressed. Some of Grant’s picks will get traded. He’s going to have to make shrewd decisions within the next two years on who to extend for the long haul. Kyrie is obviously one of them. Dion or Tristan is probably the other.… Read more »
Agree with Aksel and T. I wish there was a way to “like” comments so that we could gauge the pulse of the more passive readers of this site.
Gordon
Yep. And the thing is no one is advocating for only building through the draft. Not anyone on this site, not Chris Grant, not Byron Scott, etc.
I’m glad the Cavs owners are not like the owners the Browns have had. Every year or two it’s a new coach, new quarterback, new defense. Nobody gets a chance to prove themselves. Mallory’s argument of wanting to build a team through free agency/trades is bunk because no team is going to give up their best guys in a trade and no big free agent has ever signed with Cleveland (the closest we had was Larry Hughes, ha). Every team is trying to win and unless you’re LA, NY, Chicago, or similar big market teams, you’re just not going to… Read more »
Mallory – your comment about not wanting the team to puts all of its proverbial “eggs” in one basket (aka building through the draft) is a bit misguided. I agree that you cannot 100% build through the draft – that would entail never signing any FA’s and having a team filled with only your own draft picks. But, in order to build a strong team in this league, you must hit on your draft picks (or be an LA or Boston who can lure top tier FA’s year in and year out). For us, we cannot and will never be… Read more »
People on this blog are way way way to optimistic, besides mallory who seems to have realistic expectations. Everyone else seems to think that the cavs are going to be able to all the sudden win games next year and get a 7 or 8 seed, and then sign lebron the year after. Sorry Lebron is not going anywhere as long as hes winning championships and i don’t see a team in the leauge that is going to be able to stop the heat the next 3+ years. I don’t understand how some of you fans are happy with one… Read more »
I don’t think any of us are pleased with the turnout of the season. I expected more. Maybe 30 victories if they would have stayed healthy. This is a season that we can only measure by developmental silver linings. There are plenty of reasons they won’t win more than 25 games this year. Every team deals with injuries, but I it effects younger teams much worse than more established teams. The Spurs can win without Tony Parker. The Bulls can win without Rose. The Celtics can win without Rondo. They can because they have a core of veterans to rely… Read more »
Adam-
Very good post and gave me a good laugh
mallory vs. everybody else
Ctown-
you said it right
T –
I completely agree. The other worrisome development is just how much more natural Kyrie and Dion look when the other isn’t on the court. Some of that has to be blamed on Scott.
Losing in the big picture is expected given the early search for the next Alonzo Gee off the D-league/waiver wire slag heap and obviously the injuries. But if you watch the games, its hard not to see Scotts coaching deficiencies in the X’s-O’s and rotation departments, even for the laymen. Time to stop giving Scott a pass just because he was lucky enouh to find himself a part of the showtime Lakers. His supporters can make all the excuses they want, but the hard fact is that two good teams have quit on him beacause they didn’t believe he was… Read more »
http://www.fearthesword.com/2013/4/4/4183780/byron-scott-hot-seat-cleveland-cavaliers-rumors
Askel is a sock puppet! LOL!
this is a great blog with great writers. they have wonderful narrative skills, carefully thought out arguments and diverse perspectives.
and on occasion the comments are maddening: paranoia, conspiracy, personal attack. i commend the authors for taking the high road.
Well I lost an hour of productivity attempting to read all of these comments… Mallory – What have you gained from freaking out like this? Think the cavs are gonna call you up and be like, I read your 100 comments on the ESPN blog about an random awful game we played in March when our team was eliminated from having any reason to give effort on the court and decimated by injuries. Heres a job offer to be assistant GM… You guys have made the same points back and forth over and over again… Mallory thinks the team needs… Read more »
@Cols714 Lol “Trolling his own blog” was pretty funny but I certainly can relate to his disappointmentin some of these games and failure to improve at defense. Agh! What can we do? Nothing really. Cavs organization needs to do some probing if Scott has lost the locker room. I hope not. Time will tell.
No (s?) necessary. There is only 1.
Also, it’d be nice if the effin Suns would win a game.
Rich and Ctown – I never once “gave up” on Tristan. I argued, correctly, that Tristan was incredibly raw and under performing. Even now I think there’s a tendency to overrated his value. Which is fine, you’re a fan of his team. I’m not going to sugarcoat serious deficiencies if they exist. But all that being said, I certainly never saw a reason to “give up” on him. That’ll come next year (ha). Guys, I don’t see myself as negative. I’m HAPPY to celebrate when there’s a reason to, and I have done so more often than not. But there… Read more »
Now, since this season is over and we’re talking about trying to actually win, as an organization, next season, who’s up for raiding the Warriors bench? Jack and Landry are both FAs this year (Landry can opt out) and so is Rush (who has been hurt). I’d be alright with any combination of those guys (although if we keep Ellington, no need to bring in Rush) personally. Jack and Landry have been a big reason Golden State has improved so much this season.
C-Town has it right. You give up on players so very easily, Mallory. Imagine if you were running the show. There would be almost no stability ever. You’ve got to actually give this franchise a chance. It’s year 2. Next year, unleash your wrath if things don’t turn around. I’ll be right there with you.
“I’ve said this a ton already today, but I’m going to say it one more time – as a fan of this team, don’t you want to see tangible improvements?” our young players are improving. patience is needed for a rebuild. players don’t improve in a linear fashion, it comes in fits and starts and it occurs over the first 5 -7 years of their career. last year and into the first part of this year you gave up on tristan. you’ve given up on zeller and coach scott too. I and many others think you are wrong. it can’t… Read more »
But who exactly was there to add that would have made this team a contender, or a contender by next season? Who exactly are you thinking of? Because here’s the cold, hard truth of the matter. As long as LeBron James is in his prime and in the East, whatever team he’s on is the favorite and beating that team is unlikely. Ok? That’s bleak, but its true. So going out and spending like crazy isn’t going to fix that problem. And I have seen tangible improvements. I’ve laid them over the course of this thread. They are there. They… Read more »
Look, I’ll end it with this. This roster was designed to lose at the start of the year. You go into a season with Donald Sloan as your back-up PG and your back-up PF is a mix of Luke Walton and Samardo Samuels, you’re trying to lose games. In the middle of the year, the FO made a trade, not to win, but to acquire another draft pick. It resulted in a more competent bench. We were a .500 team. Then two of our three best players got hurt, with our second best player already hurt, and we started to… Read more »
Rich – I want NO approach that puts all the eggs into a single basket. From the start I think building a team entirely around the draft was a horrible idea. Unless the Cavaliers win a championship with only the guys they drafted, I’ll continue to believe that. I’m not advocating irresponsible spending, I’m advocating a diverse team of youth, vets, and depth. Currently, and for the last three years, that’s been missing. It’s clear that Grant and Gilbert want to take this approach and will live (and die) by it, but that doesn’t mean it’s the smartest way to… Read more »
“It’s awful how the authors of this blog continue with the theme “all is lost, the team is on the wrong track” Totally, agree with you, $. You too, Rich. You too, cols. I agree with anyone that agrees with any combination of them. If you agree with $ and Rich, I agree with you. Wholeheartedly. If you agree with Rich and cols, I most certainly agree with what you are saying. If you agree with cols and Rich (the reverse order) you might be surprised to find……that I agree with you! This blog is so negative all the time… Read more »
So then not only can I not trust what guys like Kyrie and Tristan say about Scott, but I also can’t trust what my eyes tell me about Dion and Thompson?
See, Mallory, what you want everyone else to do is get into panic mode with you. Fire the coach, hate the draft picks, sign Danny Granger in the off-season! Just not going to happen. I think you are categorically wrong on this and I believe it will be proven next season.
what do you mean?
I don’t know nor do I care. 42 games is not enough time to make any rash judgments about whether or not the two can play together and whether or not the coach can fix any issues that might exist between them.