Live Thread: Cavs vs. Wizards
2015-12-01
I realize that not everyone who reads this blog is a fan of all Cleveland sports. In fact, I know many of you live in far reaching places around the country and even the globe, and have rooting interests elsewhere for other sports. But for those of you who are still recovering from last night’s latest Browns debacle… take heart and embrace the above banner. Though it looks like it might be a while longer to wait for a Superbowl (or at this point even a playoff) contender, there’s nothing like seeing the King and all of his men in action to clear one’s palate and memory banks. And, fortunately, we don’t even have to wait a full 24 hours, since the Cavs play host to the Washington Wizards tonight at the Q.
The Wiz (6-8) have fallen on hard times lately, and come to town on a four game losing streak, including a tough 84-82 loss on Saturday to the Raptors on a Cory Joseph buzzer beating triple. But, at least it was an improvement over their previous three games where they lost by an average margin of 21.3 points. It doesn’t get easier for Washington tonight, as they take on a Cavs team that’s beaten them 12 of the last 16 in Cleveland, and is 29-1 at the Q since mid-January.
The Cavs are coming off of a buzzer beating thriller of their own on Saturday against Brooklyn when LeBron hit a spectacular running jump-hook with two seconds to play to keep them a perfect 9-0 at home. The wine & gold have won five of their last six, and look push their home winning streak to double digits against the Wiz.
Cavs probable starting lineup: Mo Williams, J.R. Smith, LeBron James, Kevin Love and Timofey Mozgov. Wizards probable starting lineup: John Wall, Bradley Beal, Jared Dudley, Otto Porter Jr. and Marcin Gortat.
In other Cavs’ news, David Blatt was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for October/November, after leading the Cavaliers to a 13-4 record. This is the second time Blatt has earned Coach of the Month accolades (March 2015) as he becomes the fourth coach in Cavaliers history to win the award more than once, joining Lenny Wilkens (three times), Mike Fratello (two times) and Mike Brown (five times). Blatt is the first coach in Cavaliers history to win the award within the first month of a season.
Even with the recent troubles of the Wizards, expect this to be a fairly competitive game, as the Wiz are yet another young team gunning for the reigning EC Champs. The Cavs should ultimately pull this one out though somewhere in the neighborhood of 103-95.
GO CAVS!
I thought Ernie Johnson was only on TNT… when did he start doing NBATV games?
Mo’s defensive issues really stick out against fast/good PGs…
Mo’s defensive issues really stick out against any PGs…
fixed it for you.
Exactly it has really become an issue for the Cavs.
Wizards on pace for about 120 points.
Jared Dudley is so underrated. I really wanted us to use the exception on him last year.
Yeah, he’s finally getting back to playing shape. great pickup for them.
Go to the post with KLove. If the Wizards can sustain this pace for the whole game the Cavs are in trouble.
I think we’re better off with Danger Ninja and Delly over Mo right now. He’s too much of a liability defensively. He can’t handle Wall or Beal or even Sessions.
It sure would be a good night to try Ninja for a few minutes and see how he does.
I miss da intensity I saw in the playoffs on defense
Prob not gonna see it completely until Shump is back tho…
And not even then. Teams that play with playoff intensity all year burn out. See Chicago Bulls under Thibs.
Can’t the coaches figure out how to get Love open? They are fronting him in the post with Dudley for chrissakes.
They’re grabbing him a lot underneath…
Wall having his way so far.
He will continue to do so if Mo Williams is guarding him.
Um, stop the ball, ok?
Semi/Mini Kraken…
Or maybe a “mid-range” Kraken since it was just under the foul line instead of the baseline…
Haha EG we almost thought alike
I almost owed you a Coke… ;)
LBJ with a TT-esque offensive board that time…
That was a sweet power move off the break by Lebron.
WOW ENERGY LEBRON!!
If the Wizards keep this pace the Cavs will have to use a small line up all night.
Smart move by Wiz probably because we are shorthanded in the guard rotation. We might need some Danger Ninja.
Was that JFJ serving the ball to James like a butler? “Your dunk, sire.”
My bad, it was Mo.
The “Semi-Kraken”
A mini-kraken! Love it!
And we have no FT attempts in this game aswell, shows that we are not being aggresive and getting to the rim
I WANT MY “BREW GARDEN “MOZ BACK —-HE HAS BEEN GETTING ABUSED BY ALMOST EVERY POST PLAYER THIS YEAR ( UNDERSTAND THE OFF SEASON SURGERY —BUT HOW LONG CAN WE KEEP USING THAT )—–LIKE ONE OF LEBRON’S QUOTE ” NEED TO PLAY WITH RAGE ” HAVEN’T REALLY SEEN THAT ON A CONSISTENT BASIS THIS YEAR
He needs to go to the NOMAD finishing school…
Even if the Wizards are playing fast but damn man its a layup drill for da Wiz, force them to outshoot us
Some crazy pace from the Wizards …..
They are nearly as fast as those Nash led Suns. Could work if they had a few more shooters
Their pace has been biting them in the ass this year, but they have it working tonight.
This game screams for verajao. A few charges for the fast paced wiz will go a long way
Great point, Scotch!
Not bad after spotting the Wiz 10 points…
RJ almost got that one…
WOW! That bounce pass was a thing of beauty!
It was so Magic Johnson!
that was sick. You can’t even see the ball he throws it so hard.
great pass by LBJ
Thank god that was RJ. If it had been Moz, he either would have lost it out of bounds, or missed the layup.
Hahahhaa boyyy you so right
Hard to believe the pace they play at. At least they are using Wall’s strength.
I’m shocked Randy Wittman is still a coach in the NBA…
Beal got down the floor super quick… I didn’t realize how fast he was…
Huh. You can’t foul from the front and have it be a clear path.
Somebody needs to give lebron his headband back
Great D by Delly on Razor Ramon!
I got to hand it to Razor Ramon, he’s really survived in this league. Nice career all things considered.
That is what TT does better than anyone. Just goes after the ball.
It seems to me we should be starting Delly, J.R., LBJ, Love, and Thompson. Let Mo, Moz, RJ, and Andy handle the second units of other teams.
That has been their closing unit most of the time. I agree it is their best five right now.
Gargamel is killing them.
Smart hustle play by RJ…
what the hell I seeing here, no DEFENSE and at home to boot, not acceptable !!!
Maybe they watched the Browns game as well last night.
Was that a “no-look” teardrop from Delly?
Wizards have 16 points in da paint from their 24 points, we need to protect the paint man, damn its frustrating to see
Notice how Tristan helped slow the pace of the wiz. Watch when Mo sits and Delly comes in and their pace becomes a difficult thing to manufacture.
Thank goodness no can still shoot
Delly should really be starting. Let Mo taken on the second string PG.
In the immortal words of Sasha Pavlovich… Mo’s offense IS his defense…
He’s got to hit a three pointer every possession to not be a net loss on the court. Can’t wait until Kyrie is back and Mo can be clean up guy.
We’re on pace for 40 turnovers.
Gotta pick up the pace. The record is 45.
On a lighter note, my wife keeps calling Gortat, “Gargamel,” which is hilarious.
And also probably factual.
That is hilarious… we would have also accepted “Zangief”
That was maybe one of the worst sequences of the year… Moz with the fumblitis and then JR fouling on the fast break… ugh
Moz needs to start catch concrete blocks in practice to soften up those hands. Yeesh.
Mozgov is a confidence guy. He plays better the more he has. Now we see the inverse of that characteristic.
He’s playing about like Charlie Brown plays baseball.
how da hell Gortat get a dunk off a made shot? Our defense is horrible and Mozgov looks just sad out there. I miss da Mozgov from da finals
Mozgov needs to get pulled. He stinks right now.
Good god, Moz, freaking flush it.
Moz never seems ready though…
Lebron looked annoyed at Moz over that. Don’t blame him.
Damn it Mozgov!
Mo Gotti! At least he’s scoring early to offset the shoddy D…
Moz got smoked on that pick and roll…
Mozgov is so soft. Please get him out of the game
Super sloppy… super lazy… team has to stop expecting teams to just roll over for them early…
Bring in Delly since he’s not an open door like Mo.
Well that sucked. This backcourt is a nightmare for Mo.
I expect to see Delly very soon. Maybe after this TO.
What an awful start. Lazy passes and Moz just seems like he can’t jump over a cup.
Cavs better buckle down soon, it’s been a layup line for the Wiz so far.
So many turnovers. Every game. Getting real old.
Wow, the Cavs are sloppy so far.
Moz really seems weak underneath…
He looks like maybe his rehab ended early. Knee and shoulder…those take time
Yeah, probably should have taken more time to recover…
Oh man I’m reLly opposed to these uniforms. We look like Cincinnati and West Virginia had a baby.
IDK… I like the throwback look…
I love ’em. But it may be a generational thing.
Like AC says, you gotta throw that down, Moz.
I was just wondering about Nene
I’m getting use to these uniforms. I love the Cavs Train! LoL
The Wiz defense has been terrible so far this season, and Wall hasn’t been playing that great. After a couple of days off, one would hope that the Cavs can win this one somewhat comfortably.
I blame it on Kyrie. He’ll get his fire back when he’s playing once again