Live Thread: Cavs @ Mavs
2016-01-12
The Cavs are making moves again for the first time since the Brendan Haywood, Mike Miller trade with the Portland Trail Blazers that resulted in sizable trade exceptions. According to Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com, the Cavs sent Smokin Joe Harris, cash, and a 2017 protected second round pick from the Sacramento Kings to the Magic. Orlando is giving the Cavs a 2020 second round pick, which originally belonged to the Portland Trail Blazers. Haynes also mentioned these key details:
The deal will save Cleveland approximately $3 million in luxury tax payments and open up a roster spot.
For players who obtain a buyout, Cleveland would have room.
The Cavs play the fourth game of their six game road trip against the Dallas Mavericks tonight. The Mavs have been a surprising team this season. They are currently in fifth in the West with 22 wins. After losing Tyson Chandler and Monta Ellis in free agency during the off-season, many people thought they would fall out of the playoffs. However, they replaced those two with Zaza Pachulia and Wes Matthews and haven’t looked back since.
The Mavericks are posting a net rating of 1.7, which is 11th in the league, and Dirk Nowitzki is still playing at a very high level, despite being 37 years old. The German is grabbing 6.7 boards a night to go with 17.7 points. He’s hitting 39.2% of his threes this season. Kevin Love will have his hands full, as he tries to stick to every single Dirk screen without giving up an easy driving lane to the basket.
The Mavs are 3-3 for the month of January, but this veteran team is the only team to beat the Warriors besides the Bucks. They know how to capitlize on every little mistake a defense makes. If there’s a lane to the hoop or an open shot, they will take advantage of it.
Three Things To Watch
- The Cavs have trouble making multiple rotations down low. As Dirk pulls Kevin Love away from the hoop by setting screens, will Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov be able to slow the Mavs’ ball handlers down so the Cavaliers’ guards can stay in plays? If they can’t, the Cavaliers’ bigs will fall victim to easy dump offs down low, as the they have to commit to driving Dallas guards at the rim.
- Kyrie Irving scored just eight points against the 76ers and took 15 shots. He needs to show up tonight against Deron Williams and J.J. Barea.
- LeBron scored 37 points against the 76ers and hit three of his five threes. The 76ers couldn’t sag off of him at the three line. If the King can continue shooting 57.8% from the field like he has during his previous six games, the Mavericks are in for a tough game. Otherwise, they can sag off of him and give him all the shots he wants, much like they did in the 2011 Finals.
Mo Williams will miss the game tonight to deal with some family issues.
Well… that’s how you right the ship… 15-0 run
Dallas can’t rebound.
Lebron singlehandedly bringing back the raise the roof
Well that escalated quickly!
If first you don’t succeed — Delly Trey!
OH NO! THERE GOES DELLY-O!! GO GO MOZILLA!
Delly the real MVP
Delly and moz have changed everything already
Maybe Moz heard the trade rumors and decided to shape up.
Another good series of plays by Mozzy. Hes not goin anywhere.
Sweet Delly-Oop to Moz!
Delly bringing the goods on the oop
LBJ scored or assisted on 11 of our first 15 points.
Is JaVale McGee doing anything this year
Oh he’s doing something, I’m sure….probably not much in the way of basketball, though
JR the safety valve.
Delly tre coming shortly
Another slow start from the Cavs. Hope they fix it and don’t play from behind all night.
Either that or just call it a night and send the starters to San Antonio to practice.
I believe in the podcast you guys mentioned Love’s footwork. Despite his poor shooting, you can still see how great it really is. Pretty impressive with his feet.
Thought Blatt waited wait too long to call a timeout there. Might be time to move Shump into the starting lineup.
If we aren’t going to look for JR early there’s no reason not to swap them
That might also be an over-reaction to 7 minutes of basketball.
JR’s D was total garbage.
I don’t doubt that, but he’s been a willing defender all year and has shot beautifully as a starter with KI, LBJ, and Love drawing all the attention. Just saying I don’t expect him to be the cause of 10-0 runs every night at the start of the game.
Need more of that kind of aggressive move from Love….good chance of getting fouled, anyway…
Smartest thing kevin has done on offense in a long time
Don’t panic… here comes Mozzy…
Moz to drop incoming pass under the hoop in 4…3…2…1
Pachulia was a good pick up… But I still hate that guy!
This is one of those games against a true center that Moz would’ve been a good starter for.
That’s the last time they practice a Mo Williams’ Gym
Finally. Cripes.
Love needed that one…
He needed it bad, real bad.
By all means… jack up another three Bron…
Jeez. That was the garbage they ran out of a timeout? Terrible play.
Stop shooting contested 3’s!
Yikes. Just shaking my head in disappointment. Not a good start to our Texas trip.
Get Shump in the game and get Love outta there. Slide Timo onto Zaza and LeBron onto Dirk. Shump on Parsons.
Bring on the dellave-NOVA!
This is ridiculous! Put in Delly and Shump… Maybe they’ll play some defense!
Starting to resemble the Portland game unfortunately…
Jesus. Timeout already. Mass subs.
Starting out as a stinkeroo.
WTF, Kevin. You can get a better shot then that. Work the offense.
This team looks lost on both ends of the floor and unable to put the ball in the hoop. Someone needs to get hot.
Kevin is icy…
Love and Kyrie look like garbage!
Nobody playing defense as if they read the scouting report.
This is the lousy defense from JR that Tom was talking about.
Is it me… or does nobody seem to be moving on Cavs’ end?
Come on Love! I thought you were a good shooter?
No defense whatsoever on the court for the cavs.
Think we should see Andy. He has always played Dirk well.
Cavs just getting outhustled to start…
Nice compressed form by Bron there. Nowitzki was better though.
Kyrie’s shot isn’t back yet!
” RELAX AND ENJOY GOD BASKETBALL”—I WOULD IF IT WAS GOOD —-I AM ON THAT N.O.M.A.D ALE—THANKS EVIL—IF YOU LOCATE BEFORE ME ( GOOD CHANCE OF THAT HAPPENING ) LET ME KNOW
That timeout didn’t really help…
Finally we get a damn bucket!
Prediction : Cavs 110 Mavs 97
Go Cavs!
Note: watch out for Wesley Mathews that guy’s streaky.
Looking ahead to the Spurs?
Mavs take a quick 6-0 lead, you don’t try to force a difficult pass to Tristan Thompson to stop the bleeding. Got to be smarter than that.
I thought moving Moz to the bench was supposed to prevent cold starts like this…
Mavs just got back Parsons… maybe he’s settling in better.
Well… guess I was wrong about Dirk…
So easy to count the old guy out…
The only guy who can stop Lebron is named “Mr Illadvised Pocketpass”
He’s a tough one! HAHA!
I was, too. He’s been pretty good this season.
So…guess we forgot their was a game today?
Cavs sleep walking to start.
Super lazy pocket pass from LBJ…
Not a great chance at completing that one, Lebron.
May need to put Moz on Dirk tonight.
Love that Cavs practiced at Mo Williams Academy…anyone know what mo’s connection w Mr Peanut is?
Does he wear a monocle?
Haha I have never seen him wear one.
He said it was his nickname when he was a kid.
I AM OBSESSED WITH CHRISTMAS ALES AND MRS NOMAD ( NOT IN THAT ORDER …..WELL MAYBE IN THAT ORDER )
And you’ll have the Cavs on, so you’ll have the trifecta.
You should try and track down some of this, NOMAD…
@Chris Francis: Blatt has cinched up the rotations and rarely has a full bench unit on the floor anymore. For better or worse, we don’t really need more than a handful of points from our bench because our starters are so potent. If we ever get a solid 35-40 points from the bench it’s when we score 125 points.
Don’t disagree that Blatt’s reduced the rotation. Our bench struggled to hit double digits at times and it’s no wonder: Delly, Shump, RJ, and Mozerati just don’t give too much offensive juice… they’ll struggle to hit 20 collectively at times, which puts a tremendous burden on the starters, not that they can’t get 90 on the regular if they wanted.
BTW, agree with everything you’re saying… just saying our bench is hard-pressed to score 20 every night.
IS MARKEIFF OUT OF THE ” PHOENIX DOG HOUSE ” SEE WHERE HE IS GETTING PLAYING TIME TONIGHT ( AND ACTUALLY DOING QUITE WELL ) PHOENIX SHOWCASING HIM FOR A POTENTIAL TRADE ?
I think you are right on the money.
Man… you are obsessed with Markieff, NOMAD… ;)
Or obsessed with Donkey, which leads to obsessed with Markieff. :)
I think Markieff’s Donkey wrangling skills are overrated…
HAHAHA… agreed!
This should be an enjoyable week. The Cavs are no where near as good as they will be in June if they stay healthy. Does anyone really see the Spurs getting better? Maybe a little on offense but they are already 95% of what they could become. The Warriors are a tad nicked up but they aren’t getting much better either. They are 85% of what their Max is. If the cavs can stick with/beat these teams now come June we will handle them.
I do think they can get better with Aldridge and West becoming even more comfortable… also, if they can get Kyle Anderson comfortable and better, that’s a big boon to their bench scoring/playmaking.
GOING TO REFERENCE TO THE ” EVIL NEW YEAR RESOLUTION ” RELAX AND ENJOY THE GAMES !!!—–AGREE I CAN SEE US GOING 4-0 —BUT ALSO 0-4 —–SIT BACK AND WATCH SOME GOOD BASKETBALL / DRINK SOME ALES AND WHEN I HIT THE POWERBALL –I AM CALLING AND MAKING UNCLE DAN AN OFFER TO BUY THE CAVS —YOU ARE ALL HIRED AS MY ” SPECIAL CONSULTANTS ” ( EVEN YOU COLS )
Make Cols GM!!!
Haha make Cols and Nate GM and President. Their working relationship would become a Cavs reality tv show
I smell a hit!!!
I smell what you guys are taking a hit of if y’all want Cols as GM, lol.
It’s so Cols can show off how much better he is than Ferry!
Make Cols the Moondog wrangler.
Or buy the Browns and make Cols walk Swagger.
Guys guys guys…we are not going to lose to Dallas. They are a middling team with a great coach but we will overwhelm them by the end of the 3rd. Lebron wants desperately to remind the NBA he is still the best. Who on the mavs is going to stop him tonight? Who? As for the rest of the trip, Kyrie is primed to go OFF during this stretch of the season. He looks more and more comfortable with the team, and his triples will start falling. We are 26-9 while not having played our best yet. It’s about to… Read more »
They should win, but they haven’t played a ton of good teams on the road yet. Dallas is a pretty good team. Just saying it’ll be close, because I don’t think they’ve worked out all the kinks just yet… Even if they lose a close one, I’m okay with it…
Heck the Cavs haven’t played bad teams well on the road HAHA!
@ Scotch… I don’t think anyone predicted a loss if I understand correctly. I agree with EG, Dallas may be undermanned, but they are well-coached.
We have Kyrie back. He is lethal on the road.
True… but I don’t think that’s the issue. To me, it’s our bench scoring or more accurately lack thereof.
im seeing an 11 point win, Lebron goes for 30+ with 8 assists, and we get 20+ from at least two other players. Dallas just doesn’t have anyone who can keep Lebron from getting whatever he wants.
Hey I’d take that…. just don’t think it’s likely. FWIW, computer models are more in agreement with you so there’s that! :)
From now on I’m only dating computer models
HAHAHA… can’t disagree with such a policy!
I don’t think Dirk will be the killer, but guys like ZaZa, DWill, Matthews and Barea seem to have good games against the Cavs. Gonna be a close one tonight, and I think both teams will struggle to get to 100. Gonna say 95-92 Cavs, although that could easily flip…
I’m a little nervous about the next four – I wouldn’t be surprised if we lost them all. Dallas is sneaky good and this team hasn’t shown it won’t look past teams. They may already be thinking about San Antonio. And Houston, though a much inferior team, will face a Cavs team on the second night of an awayu back to back against what will likely be an exhausting game against the Sprus.
I don’t think we will go 0-4, but I wouldn’t be surprised. 2-2 or 3-1 is probably how this ends up.
That back to back is the issue and it would not be a bad idea to pull a Pop that night and rest a few just to not risk it with Houston where last year it got really chippy. Harden kicking James in the balls if I remember…lol
LOL… yes Harden most certainly went there! I think EG was calling for it too re: resting against HOU as well. I wouldn’t be against it.
Definitely seems like a potential rest day against the Rockets… Much more interested to see them compete against the Spurs and Warriors…
Amen to that… that has to be game plan one would think for Blatt & Co.
I thought the same thing JoeyB…. thinking that DAL will push CLE hard and there’s the slight chance CLE is gearing up mentally for SAS and DAL is a “trap” game of sorts.
Totally agree… I’m smelling a semi-playoff type game from these two teams.
ESPN CALLING THE NEXT 4 CAVS GAMES ( DALLAS / SPURS / ROCKETS AND GOLDEN STATE AS A TRUE “LITMUS ” TEST FOR THE CAVS TO GIVE THEM A BAROMETER OF THEIR TEAM —–MORE IMPORTANT ( THESE GAMES ) TO THE CAVS THAN THE TEAMS THEY ARE FACING—WHAT’S YOUR OPINION —-GOOD LUCK SMOKIN JOE —GO CAVS !!
More important to teams we are playing. Cavs still have alot of room for improvement. This as a good as the Spurs get an we are pretty close to the Warriors ceiling. If Cavs can handle them now when they are 65% of what they will be it bodes terribly for them
Good evening CtB! Here are your numbers for tonight:
CLE is a 5.5 point favorite DAL with an o/u @ 198.5. Smart money is on DAL covering and the UNDER with the public going heavy on a CLE cover and the OVER. Betting trends favor the UNDER especially lately with these two teams.
I’ll go with CLE in a close one 101-97 over DAL. I think DAL has a great shot tonight to win outright… I am banking on some superstar heroics from LBJ, Kyrie, or KLOVE to lead CLE.
GO CAVS!!!
Well, I”ve pushed twice in a row. Three’s a charm:
DAL to cover and the OVER. No one plays defense tonight.
And instead of betting billions, I’ll go a little smaller tonight. 1 dollar.
Oh, and you still get the 10% CLF.
HAHAHA! JoeyB! You sure you don’t wanna plop down that powerball ticket???
You’re a gentlemen and a scholar.
I already won the Powerball!! Since any ticket I purchase would lose, I won 1 dollar by not buying one!
I guess I am a little more optimistic of our offense and hopeful for some defensive intensity. Cavs cover and the OVER, 110-102. First real night that all 3 of the Big 3 are hitting their shots and JR continues knocking them down.
I think tonight is important for cavs to start the texas trio on a good note and then go all-in on Thursday and then if needed rest for Houston, who cares about them:) GO CAVS!
That would be somewhat similar to last year’s performance against the Mavs… when the Cavs played a great game there and KLOVE went off.
Thing that concerns me: CLE’s bench scoring… especially against DAL’s bench.