Live Thread: Cavs Vs Trail Blazers
2015-01-28
The Cavs come home tonight for the second game of a back-to-back against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers will be unusually rested because their game against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday was postponed due to snow. Portland last played on Saturday and beat the Wizards.
The Blazers are trying to play through a few injuries right now. Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who has been averaging 24 points and nearly nine rebounds a night during January, has a torn ligament in his thumb but will still play. Nicolas Batum* and Robin Lopez, however, will be sitting on the bench for the evening. Lopez is recovering not only from a fractured hand, but also a fractured ego. After trying to go after the Moon Dog, he got bit. Check out this tweet from the feisty Cavs mascot:
No offense @rolopez42, but I only feud with the more high profile of twin brothers. No one remembers the mascot fights with Ed Mikan.
— Moondog (@CavsMoondog) January 26, 2015
I’m excited to watch the the match up between Kevin Love and LMA. Both players love playing from the elbow area and are not exactly known for their defense. I hope Kevin recognizes Aldridge is having some issues with his hand tonight and plays especially physical down low. Maybe when he slaps at the ball for a rebound, he can “accidentally” tap LMA’s thumb.
It will also be exciting to see Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard duel. Kyrie managed to hold DJ Augistin of the Pistons to 19 points last night after Augustin had a 35 point performance against Chicago on Sunday. Irving is going to have to fight over screens to stop Lillard from shooting the three ball. Lillard is taking 7.2 threes a night and hitting 37% of them. He’s averaging 22 points a game. If he goes off, the Cavs could be in trouble.
Also watch for LeBron James to do some serious damage if he plays. He is currently listed as questionable and is a game time decision. Nic Batum normally takes on the task of covering the King and for the season has caused players to average 1.2% less than their typical field goal percentage.
Finally, this is another revenge game. The last time these two foes met on November 4th Portland won it easily, 101-82.
I’m picking the Cavs tonight, 105-99.
*In a turn of events, Nicolas Batum actually started after experiencing less pain in his wrist during shoot around.*
Great defense in this first quarter… Backups are bringing energy and sustaining the lead. Kyrie and Love both making statements early on offense.
Kyrie and Love playing like the leaders they need to be to make up for LBJ being out
Blatt really stressing ball movement necessitated by a lack of LBJ Iso greatness.
coolshah and EG, great points!
coolshah trolling cols?
Kyrie just coming ALIVE this last minute and a half!
Irving drive and dish leads to Irving corner 3. Good ball and player movement.
Really good first quarter for the Cavs!
Great pass by Delly! Kyrie for 3!!!
Great effort on the defensive boards so far, limiting second chance opportunities.
They should put Moz on Aldridge.
Kyrie with the 6 point one-man blitz!
Make that a 9 point blitz!!
Now arriving on track 1, the Kyrie Express.
Well, THAT got Kyrie going!
Kyrie is 0-7. Scratch that 1-8
Kyrie getting his shot challenged a lot more by the long armed guards of Blazers…
Great defensive stand that time
Normally, Delly is just talent-challenged on offense. Now looks like he’s confidence challenged as well…
Delly needs jr smiths short term memory.
Saw the Kobe Bryant update. Out 9 months. Really sad the way his and Steve Nash have ended their careers. Would have loved to see them finish their careers with heady play despite their limited athleticism
The Sixers are up 24-4 on the Pistons.
The rare behind-the-backboard alley oop doesn;t pan out.
Didn’t last night either…
Maybe not so rare then. I missed it last night. Blatt has to rip that one out of the playbook.
The TT on Aldridge is not a good match up.
Big bench minutes here: Shump, Delly, TT. TT with a couple of hoops.
TT doing a terrific job under the hoop!
Ugly miss by Delly, but great movement on that possession. Definitely the right shot to take.
Great pass out of the post by Love, Delly misses open 3, JR misses another open three off a pick by Love at the top of the key. Good shots though.
Another great pass by JR… JR playing well early tonight.
JR was fading back a little on that J. I don’t think he could believe they were giving him that much space.
@ Phil HAHAHA! No kidding!
Moz affected that Lillard drive nicely
Shump left Leonard a little too early on that one…
Delly not afraid to use his fouls that is for sure
Cavs playing good D so far as well… need Kyrie to be a distributor more here early… then get his.
It’s been mentioned here and there, but I LOVE JR’s passing. He’s really good at finding the right open man… when he’s not just catching and shooting. Notice this mostly on fast break and transition opportunities…
Love with 10 points in barely 6 minutes. Plus good all-around activity.
KLOVE! Keeep it going Big Fella!!!
3 more Kevin! Sweet looking stroke.
Don’t two half-makes equal one make?
Sweet start by KLove!
Kaman is sooo bad… Moz, Love and TT should be able to eat him up
KLOVE!!!!! AWESOME THREE!
This is his chance I fugure. 4 quarters of featured offensive threat
Love off to an active start — a hoop, a couple of good defensive plays, that tough offensive rebound.
Who says he needs rest? (Well, I have repeatedly, but never mind.)
There you go KLove.
I LOVE KLove’s activity level so far!
He got up for this matchup against LA
Nice rebound by KLove.
Kyrie is going into bad hero ball.
Yes…. need to be feeding Love.
Glad they called that charge! Shoulda called the walk on Lillard before that…
Loving me some KLOVE defensive energy!
We should trade for Reggie Evans so he can grab Caveman in the nads again.
Good defense by Love on LMA
Great D on LMA from KLove
This is a second test of playing some games without LeBron. They failed miserably last time. But this is a new chance to show what they got.
Get out there and play ball!!
Raoul sez you can do it! (Cols probably sez it will be a cakewalk)
Love with some defense.
Kyrie and love can have a statement game without lbj. Their chance to show they know how to win. Kyrie and Damon with go at it I think
JR SWISHHH IS BACK!!!
I hear Blatt yelling keep it moving.
Heard that too. Also sounded like he said Noooo! when JR shot…
Allie reporting MRI revealed a sprain… I’ll bet he doesn’t play until next week
Someone better put that sleeping Caveman on his ass tonight.
I guess Lopez is injured?
That’s correct Arch.
As is his backup Freeland…
Matrix with the start
Starting line up: Irving, Smith, Moz, Love, and Marion.
Need good perimeter D from Kyrie, Shump, JR and Delly. Need Kyrie to be on like he was last night. Need KLove to step up and knock down some shots. Need Moz to be a beast down low.
It will be interesting to see what kind of effort the Cavs put forth tonight. Do they still believe they can win the game even without LBJ?
The Cavs team of the last four years would have given up before the game even started. On this win streak, we’ve been talking about how this new team IS NOT like the Cavs of recent memory.
Let’s see if Kyrie and KLove have taken a step forward in their leadership and try to will this team to victory tonight against a very legitimate team in Portland.
@JasonLloydABJ: LeBron James will not play tonight vs Blazers. Will be doubtful for Friday, per source
Looks like we will be starting a different type of streak.
Sacto and Minny they can handle. Blazers will be a tough one, but I still think they can win it…
The Kings destroyed us last time.
Didn’t have Moz last time to counteract Boogie
Check that… I guess we did….
Love and Irving have to find a way to lead the team when LBJ’s not on the court. Irving tends to go hero ball, and with Love’s health in question, it’s tough to guess what to expect tonight.
Also, wonder how much Shump will play now that LBJ won’t.
Wonder if they’ll start him or Marion at the 3
Was wondering the same exact thing, EG.
If this game gets ugly I want to see a brawl between Moondog and Lopez.
I’d put my money on Moondog. Lopez is soft and weak…
I have a feeling I’ll be slamming Kevin Love tonight and Cols will be slamming Delly.
Maybe you should do the opposite and mix things up ;)
HAHAHA… or neither???
I can feel it. Cavs are going to win this game. It might be a low 90s slugfest, but I think they pull it out and that it’s a signature defensive-driven effort…
The Cavs really need to prove they can win without LeBron. I’ll be disappointed if they don’t.
Totally agree… especially since the Mozgov/JR/Shump trade.
Though chemistry is probably still a work-in-progress for the Cavs at this point.
So I think that’s official.
Probably. CBH is usually pretty plugged into the real…
@ChrisBHaynes: #Cavs F LeBron James (wrist) will not play tonight against #Blazers, I’m told.
@RuiterWrongFAN: Humungotron at The Q still has 23 atop the starting 5 http://t.co/lHqJtS2CA1
There goes our win streak.
Don’t get all nihilistic now Arch…
It’s reverse psychology.
Reverse psychology worked fine for those of us who were predicting doom a couple of weeks ago!
@CSNNW: LeBron James OUT vs #Blazers #RipCity
Not sure if this is legit?!?!?
Not confirmed yet… although other outlets are now reporting his status as “doubtful”
Plus U-Dog is at the game tonight. C:tB karma in the HOUSE!!
Lucky U-Dog… tonight is Anderson Varejao Blanket Giveaway Night! (pays to have the Cavs App)
Joe Harris is active for tonight, which seems like a clue that LeBron will not play.
Could just be a reward for a job well done ;)
Nate said that he was gonna try and get to a Charge game to see Harris… wondered if he did and what he saw if he did.
I don’t think they play until tomorrow…
Oh yeah that’s right, my bad.
I have it on good authority that Joe Harris did his job and pulled the fire alarm at the Blazers’ hotel downtown 12 times last night (once each hour for his jersey number). Blazers will be sleep-deprived and cranky. Cavs win 111-101…
Okay. If LBJ is actually out for this game, I’m going to revise this…
STILL going with Cavs to win, but score predict will now be Cavs 92 Blazers 89. KLove wins it on a last second three…
I kind of feel like if LeBron doesn’t play we will lose. Kevin Love would need to beast and I just don’t see that happening.