Live Thread: Cavs vs Pistons
2016-02-22
The shorthanded Cavaliers are coming off of one of their more cohesive victories of the season after trashing the Thunder 115-92 on the road last night to extend their winning streak five in a row. With Kyrie bowing out early in the game to flu-like symptoms, LeBron James and Kevin Love picked up the slack and combined for 54 points, 18 rebounds, and 15 assists. The victory hurrah will have to be short lived as they are naturally playing in a back to back tonight at home against their Central Division rival Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons have a streak of their own, as they’ve lost their past five games in a row, coming up short to the Pelicans last night after Anthony Davis’ NBA 2K performance of 59 points, 20 rebounds. While the Pistons trail the Chicago Bulls by 3.5 games for the final playoff spot in the East, a pair of trade deadline deals should improve them immensely going forward. Tobias Harris was the biggest name dealt in the past week, is on a reasonable contact, and his age (23) fits perfectly with the core of Drummond, Jackson, and Caldwell-Pope.
The underreported deal of theirs that I really liked was them picking up Donatas Motiejunas. He abused the heavily favored Wiggins, Bennett, and Blatt Cavs summer league team in 2014 losing me a $1,000 on the final leg of a summer league parlay in the process. I may overrate his potential because he single handily cost me a grand, but he’s since he’s developed an legit outside shot, and could become the rare stretch big with the bulk to battle in the paint if his back troubles don’t keep flaring up. If Stan Van’s pharmacist is out of prison, they could become a big problem in the near future.
As @ShamsCharania reports, Motiejunas deal has fallen apart. Detroit isn't passing him on physical, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 22, 2016
And you can completely disregard the previous paragraph. I’m relieved in a way they don’t have Donatas going forward.
The printer for tonight’s injury report may run out of ink as Mo Williams, Iman Shumpert, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Anthony Tolliver are listed as out. Even if the Rockets deal isn’t voided before the game Marcus Thorton, and Motiejunas are all listed as out according to ESPN.com. Kyrie is listed as probable, and we should see Channing Frye’s Cavalier debut tonight. Tip off is at 7:00 on Fox Sports Ohio. Let’s dish!
Man, I would love to see KCP in the wine and gold. Like his game a lot.
I hate the stupid Pistons!
I see people are going to lose it tomorrow. Remember they can’t win them all.
But we can’t criticize the team?
Criticize away. Just remember that what you see tonight will have no bearing on how they will play in the post season. It’s OK to lose a game here and there.
I understand your point Cols. And you are correct. They will be rested-ish, and more motivated. But habits still matter. when you’re exhausted in game 5 of an annoying series against a team like the celtics, who you should have beat in four but who decided to play rough, you can only fall back on habits. if they’re good, you get to the finals injury free and less tired. if they’re bad, you rely on talent to get you to the finals, but you’re tired and lacking confidence.
OK but you don’t win 50 out of 55 losing all the justifiable losses. There is a certain cognitive dissonance between you saying Cavs are better than the Dubs but saying it doesn’t matter that they cannot nearly play consistently as well.
Eh. They don’t need to win them all.
We haven’t scored in the 4th quarter. WTF
Cavs 0 for 8 this quarter. I think its time to fold up the tent. A win isn’t worth the effor at this point.
Ha. Always love the Kyrie hate on this blog. Cavs just look exhausted to me. They played 8 guys yesterday in an intense game and they still only have 3 guards in uniform. The only guy that looks fresh is Love and that’s because he’s still running on those all-star snub fumes.
Man how soft do we become. Suck it up.
Love played 38 mins last night. He’s just the only guy who knows what he’s supposed to do on offense. everyone else is second guessing themselves.
Yeah. I really wish Lue would rest guys that need it. If you’re going to suck, don’t risk injury. I wouldn’t play LBJ in a single back to back the rest of the season. Or Kyrie, after his injury. Or Mozgov. If you’re going to lose, lose big.
Well, at some point the excuses have to stop for a team that wants to be taken seriously as a contender. In the playoffs the rotations will grow even shorter, and they will be playing on tight schedules for a month. They have to figure it out soon. Do not want to be this inconsistent come April.
Just treat the rest of this game like practice and run plays.
that couldn’t possibly be a defensive foul. delay was there for like 10 minutes before detroit player jumped
Cavs continue to get hosed by the refs.
I keep yelling “foul! that’s a foul! There’s a foul! That’s also a foul!” nothing. its like the refs can’t even hear me.
Stick a fork in this one.
This game isn’t fun!!!!
Frye isn’t making me forget Andy. Terrible start to the 4th with KI running the show. Almost unwatchable today.
It’s been a pretty poor exhibition of basketball for sure.
Not sure I have seen a game with more wide open threes for a team. And by wide open I mean nobody within 15 feet of a Pistons shooter. Crazy. There have to have been at least 10 instances of the cavs not even trying to close out on shooters. Amazing we are not down more. Disappointing that even with starting slow, once again this team regresses after halftime in the third quarter. I cannot figure this team out. It is as if they think teams will just let them win every game. Strange mentality. Hopefully they start rolling and… Read more »
Yeah, this one is developing a certain stench…
cavs…remember to pass it. and wth is love AND lebron doing on the bench lue?
Lebron shouldn’t even be playing these games – second night of a back to back after playing 38 minutes. Why play him, risk injury, when he can’t recover like that anymore. He’s always worse on a back to back now. Just rest him, screw it.
I think most guys are worse on back to backs, but maybe you’re right. sure is hard to watch. i suppose as long as we are gellin come may…but man kyrie looks lost
What in the heck is Kyrie doing? Cavs played so well yesterday cause he wasn’t in the game.
AC sees ‘Panic’ in the Cavs….too bad they aren’t as calm as CtB…
Cavs need Varejao tonight.
He’s putting up some sweet numbers tonight.
We can go to 4-5 straight NBA finals, but with the way the Warriors are playing, I don’t think Lebron will win a championship for Cleveland in the near time.
Jeez, how about we worry about this year. Even the Bulls in their prime never matched the 72 win year.
lebrun gets no love from refs at all sometimes…jr gets pure acid rain hatred from them. ha so ridiculous that that wasn’t called a foul
He doesn’t get called for contact on his drives at times, but the refs also swallow their whistles on all the forearms and shoves that he gets away with on those same drives….it’s a wash, IMO.
frye just pulled a prototype verajao move. love it.
Drummond fouls keeping Cavs in the game right now
jr smith should be shooting a lot more when we are behind. obviously take good shots, but kid can light it up like a dumpster fire gone right.
JR definitely got nailed on the wrists on that drive…
JR Smith has replaced Delonte as my all-time favorite Cav.
NOT PUSHING PANIC BUTTON COLS BUT EXPECTED A BETTER PERFORMANCE—–DO NOT WANT TO MEET THESE PISTONS IN THE 1ST ROUND (OR AVOID THEM PERIOD ) OF PLAYOFFS –SOME REASON WE JUST DON’T MATCH UP / PLAY WELL AGAINST THEM
Another terrible pass….if the Cavs lose, they should know exactly why…
Nice ISO Kyrie!!!!!
Warriors are playing 3rd game in 4 nights and they are handing Atlanta on the road. I know Cols doesn’t like these comparisons but you should be comparable to the team you are supposed to beat in a 7 game series.
Uncomfortable facts make Cols stabby
Speaking of which the FX series on OJ is really good. Also responsible for one of the funnier jokes on the Nightly Show when Wilmore pointed out that Cuba Gooding Jr (who played Ben Carson in a Lifetime movie) is cornering the market on playing real stabby brothers.
I haven’t watched the OJ series….is it worth watching for someone who was an adult when that crap actually happened? I mean, I remember the real events very well…
Yeah, it’s actually a blast because it is such a perfect snapshot of the world we lived in, in 1994. As someone who lived in Southern California at the time and went on to live and work in West LA/Century City it is especially eerie. But there is a lot of stuff in there that we didn’t that went on behind the scenes. Highly recommend.
I’m really enjoying it other than the Kardashian forced parts.
Cut to to 10 by the 4th please.
Getting hosed on th calls tonight.
Is this Leb’s worst game ever?
Gotta be right up there, so far.
This is looking the the game against the Pistons earlier this year….fun times…
Looks like Drummond got fouled by the rim.
Man, lose ball turns into 3 for the Pistons.
Lots of wide open 3’s for the Pistons.
Drummond is killing us on the boards.
Cavs are sucking ass!!!!
Hard to believe this us the same team as yesterday. LeBron in chill mode for sure.
Live Thread is dead! Just like the Cavs.
It is annoying as heck that the Dubs got Varajao. I wonder if they will also hire Blatt as a consultant, just to twist the knife that much more.
The Cleveland Cadavaliers…
CAVS ON 5 GAME WIN STREAK AND AT HOME ( AFTER PLAYING THEIR BEST GAME OF THE YEAR ——PISTONS 5 GAME LOSING STREAK —-I GUESS ODDS ARE IN PISTONS FAVOR TO WIN ——YEAH IT IS SOMEWHAT FRISTRATING BUT NOT ” READY TO PUSH PANIC BUTTON ” ——WOULD BE NICE FOR OUR GD’S TO ATTEMPT TO PLAY SOME “D”
This team is so weird. One of the strangest teams I have ever watched. Best win of the season yesterday where we truly got a peak of this team’s potential. But today, they are so sloppy and slow with rotations and cutting off penetration. The defensive issues of that are probably due to the back to back, but the sloppiness with the ball is just carelessness. They are the basketball Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. If they clean up the turnovers and tighten up their d in the second half they should be fine though.
It’s because they played so awesome last night verse a team that matters. It’s hard to get up for a team like the Pistons when you know if you meet in the playoffs you’ll just blow them away in four games.
It’s hard but it’s also what championship teams do.
The Warriors have certainly had the same problem all year…
Maybe, but I cannot understand why they would mess around with teams like this instead of trying to obliterate them early and subsequently getting to rest. What you are talking about happens to all elite teams at points in the regular season, but it seems to happen with the cavs all the time. Maybe it is a product of them being in the east where the weakness of their competition affects their killer instinct and focus against other east teams.
I think it’s mainly that they aren’t good enough to beat teams when they are half assing it. Unlike the truly elite teams, who can win even half assing.
Teams take on the personality of their best players, and it just isn’t in Cavs Big Three to bring it every night. Compared to teams like Dubs and Spurs ceiling is competitive but consistency is not. Say want you want about Draymond Green but he doesn’t have a Chill Mode. And Curry only has Chill Mode, which is what is scary about him…
Uh oh, someone activated the Cols bot…
Meanwhile AV’s first game with Dubs vs Hawks on NBATV.
Any panic going on?
AV is drilling 3s for the Dubs!
It’s rare when it’s so obvious just from team stats on Gamecast what the problems are. Cut down on turnovers and fouls and Cavs win by double digits. I expect they will make the necessary adjustments during Half.
Point guard defense sucking is not a Gamecast stat. Irving and Delly both were torched by Jackson penetration, and Delly gave up about 10 points to him in 4 minutes.
I am at work and can’t watch the game… Fair enough, but Cleveland shot better, rebounded better and handed out as many assists but have double the fouls and turnovers. Torched on D or not it would seem if they played with more discipline they wouldn’t be down.
For sure that would be a big help; Most of the turnovers were of the careless variety as well.
LBJ passes it for a change before the buzzer, but waited a couple of seconds too long. And a not wide open Delly not the best choice…
Delly had a pretty bad half. Got roasted by Jackson.
Seems like Jackson always kills the Cavs. At his HOF induction, it will be all Cavs highlights. /s
yeah he did. Got scared to shoot at the end too.
Nice pass from LBJ to JR…..but the Cavs are really playing some boneheaded basketball this half….they could easily be up by 10, going to be down 5-7 at half.
Yeah gotta get it together. Can’t have an 8 second violation.
Stupid call…. Feels like a reputation call against Delly.
Except the announcers agreed with it and no one on Cavs complained……
Because the announcers are always right….
Well I’ll believe AC and Campy especially when they are for a call against the Cavs…..
Can’t blame ’em, you can’t really foul a guy mid air with no way to protect himself
Yeah if only it were that consistent with big men. I doubt Timo gets the same treatment.
Agreed. At least he missed both free throws
Cavs have been REALLY sloppy with the ball….keep trying to make impossible passes…
Yeah these bounce passes into 4 guys have to stop.
Cavs beating the Pistons in pretty much every facet of the game except turnovers – 10 for the good guys vs 3 for the Pistons
And well, uh, the score too.
Finally back to Love in the post…3 point play. Run that until the figure out how to defend it
Um, that wasn’t a ‘chasedown’ Fred….the rim blocked the shot…
LeBron with the FILTHY chase down
Give Love the ball please
Mozgov with the stuff followed by an haphazard attempt at running a break and an errant pass after a give and go with LBJ…
A couple of pretty poor passes to Moz….even Kareem wouldn’t have reeled those in…
Baynes looks like a kid who cut his own hair.
One funny part of my travel woes today: Spotted Motiejunas strolling solo through the Cleveland airport tonight. — McMenamin
I was never that high on Motiejunas, but I’m pretty happy that SVG doesn’t have him.
Kyrie with back to back threes – that second one was at least 2 feet behind the line in transition… no hesitation, nothing but net.
No idea how Steve Blake is still in the NBA.
KI out with the bench bunch to start the second, which includes our first time seeing Frye
Delly fronting baynes.
Frye is getting fried on D
2-2 from three, 5-7 overall for 14 points. Let’s see if they keep feeding him throughout the game and how that relates to Kyrie’s rhythm for the game
Cavs making an effort to get Love the ball in different spots tonight and he’s delivering!
Love dominating early. National media narratives will never take note.
/sadly “The Cavs will never figure out how to use Love”
Never mind that he should have been an All Star this year. (over Horford)
YOU ARE SO RIGHT ARCH—-THEY PLAY ” MIAMI VICE THEME SONG ” WHEN THEY INTRODUCE ME—GETS THE STUDENT BODY FIRED UP !!!—-” MIGHTY MAC ” WILL BE GETTING SOME AIR TIME ON A LOCAL CLEVELAND CHANNEL( DON’T KNOW WHICH ONE ) –DID AN INTERVIEW WITH HIM TODAY—AGAIN THANS TO ALL OF YOU FOR RECOGNIZING ” MIGHTY MAC ‘
Good stuff Nomad!!!!!
FIRST I HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT EVIL’S(FAMILY ) CHALLENGES —–YES WE ALL MISS YOU AND YES OUR PRAYERS / SUPPORT FROM THE CTB FAMILY ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU !!
Nomad, were dressed as Don Johnson from Miami Vice, in that video Tom posted?
Look forward to a good game tonight and your write-up, Corey. Please alow a brief shout-out to EG, who has been sorely missed on CtB. Looking foward to his witty and educational return. Best wishes, EG and come back soon !!!