Live Thread: Grizzlies @ Cavs
2016-03-07
The Cavaliers conclude their four game homestand tonight when the Memphis Grizzlies come to town. While the Grizz sport a very respectable record of 37-25, good for fifth in the Western Conference, they aren’t quite the Grit & Grind squad of the past few seasons. Despite their winning record, the Grizzlies have negative point differential on the season, meaning they are likely not as good as their record indicates. They have lost Marc Gasol for the season, traded away Jeff Green and Courtney Lee, and are without Mike Conley and Chris Andersen tonight. Although they are 7-3 over their last ten games, they’ve lost twice to the dreadful Phoenix Suns during that stretch, including yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers have won the first three games of their homestand, including an impressive come-from-behind-turned-blowout win over the Boston Celtics Saturday night. For the most part the team is healthy, and seemingly (hopefully?) focused on earning the top seed in the Eastern Conference and preparing for the playoffs. They’ve also played extremely well against the Grizzlies since LeBron James returned to Cleveland, winning all three of the previous matchups by an average of 22 points.
All in all, it looks like a matchup that favors the Cavaliers, but if yesterday’s Lakers-Warriors game taught us anything, it’s that there’s a reason you play the game. Be sure to tune in tonight to watch your Cleveland Cavaliers play the game and share your thoughts here at Cavs: The Blog!
Tony Allen with some dirty action.
It’s still a long way to go but this kind of game is the one that we need to talk advantage of to lock up the 1 seed early. Instead they want to go neck and neck with Toronto… Smh.
Nine turnovers in one quarter is downright embarrassing. And most were even ugly turnovers i.e. terribly lazy passes. A championship team just can not play this way.
A championship team can indeed play this way when they don’t have to play well.
As usual you are wrong
Which scenario works better: Come out and play hard from the start, and let the starters take the 4th quarter off, or come out sleepwalking and have to struggle the whole game?
Okay, I’ll be Cols. Completely not worried about lazy play on third game of three in four nights stretch. I truly think they’ll come out in the third and take the lead and eventually win. And even if they don’t, so what? Its all about playoffs. Now, we can still criticize the effort. They shouldn’t ever show up and be this bad. But honestly, I’m more annoyed that the coach doesn’t just sit guys during stretches like this. Especially LBJ, even though he’s playing well tonight. Rest him. Let the other guys figure it out or get embarrassed. At a… Read more »
I see James is awesome.
I wish I knew hot to embed links for everything is awesome video.
One assist, two turnovers, minus 16.
Well, they cut it to single digits at the half.
I missed most of the game so far, but there was some decent defensive effort there late.
Some tremendous cuts and ball movement in the halfcourt in the first quarter. Missed bunnies or lack of foul calls in addition to terrible d gave memphis the lead. In the second we got insanely sloppy with the ball which led to an unacceptably ridiculous amount of break points for memphis. We also sucked on d for most of the quarter, especially on cutting off penetration. Then we missed shots and tried to force way to many things. The d against chalmers and the absurdly optimistic passes leading to turnovers are what killed us though. One good takeaway was the… Read more »
HERE WE GO AGAIN AS SOON AS WE START TO FEEL GOOD WITH THIS TEAM —-THEY DO THIS TO US —–WE HAVE A UNIQUE ABILITY TO PLAY TO THE LEVEL OF THE COMPETITION —MAKE DUBS LOOK LIKE STUDS —-BLAME THIS ALL ON EVIL ( JUST KIDDING EVIL )—-C’MON CAVS WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT YOU / GET EXCITED—GIVE US A REASON TO DO SO !!
Pathetic showing for the Cavs! They should be ashamed of themselves!
Rename this franchise the slackers!
Yeah LeBron is not playing well.
Chalmers totally flopped there!!!
This is pathetic!!!!!!
Yeah, go ahead and sit them. If they’re not going to try, don’t play them.
They keep thinking “maybe we’ll get hot from three and we won’t have to try so hard on D” when good D is the only way to overcome bad shooting nights.
Take out Love, JR, and Moz!
Another freaking turnover wow!
We’ve got bad JR tonight!
CLE 10 turnovers for 17 points
MEM 5 turnovers for 6 points.
Games like this really made it difficult to cheer for these guys this year.
When’s the last time KLOVE hit a 3?
This is a trap game!
Ty Lue should absolutely pull all of the starters and not play them another minute. This is a perfect example of this team just not caring. Pathetic effort.
Complete cow-dung fest out there.
What the hell are the Cavs doing?????
Will Love fit in or fit out on Twitter? He isn’t raising his game to the level of LeBron and Kyrie:
Kevin Love @kevinlove
Apple Jack’s. Flip the bag over…3+ bowls…drink the milk at the end…
#NationalCerealDay #mondaymotivation #missthosedays ???’s
Chalmers is eating up Kyrie. This is sad.
Nomad, I agree that Love should cut his curls. Don’t know if Banana Republic will buy in, though.
Allen liked K Love’s shirt
This game is almost as lifeless as this game thread!
Good to see Shump containing to play well.
WISH THE CAVS WOULD ” HUMOR ME ” JUST ONCE WITH A FAST / AGGRESSIVE START AND PUT THE OTHER TEAM AWAY IN THE 1ST QTR / HALF ——GOOD TO SEE SOME ” FRYE TIME “
THE “LEBRON WHISPERER “
Shumpert should have to run laps for every shot he takes that isn’t a dunk or a corner three.
Lance stephenson has something to prove tonight.
Poor defensive effort against and over matched opponent. It wouldn’t be as troubling if it wasn’t so completely predictable.
They’ll get back in it and then boatrace them in the third and fourth quarters, but I just wonder about the mental part of it. Why not show up ready to go when you know you’re going to be a little fatigued to start? And is this creating a false confidence in them that they can start slow and still win most of the time? Because against the elite, that is going to really hurt you.
Channing Frye siting.
“Sighting”!!!!!!!!!!!
Cavs come out flat again. They are putting themselves into another situation where they’ve gotta play from behind.
JR is ICE COLD!!!!!!
LBJ is about to become the 13th all-time leading scorer.
Great, now LBJ will shoot 5 more 3 pointers because he made the first one.
All of our points have come at the rim. Not in the paint. At the rim. Dunks and layups. Keep going to the rim until they give up. They have no one to defend the rim. Then you can all sit out the second half.
Stop shooting jump shots when Ryan Hollins is your biggest defensive threat.
Griz shooting 50% on jump shots, we’re 0 for 4. This is tired legs. Don’t know why teams haven’t figured it out yet. Only Pop seems to understand the laws of biology.
sloppy and lazy. Come on guys. This is why you rest guys. Don’t ask them to play heavy minutes of 3 games in four nights and expect full effort. Just rest them. Why play them when they’re going to be sloppy and tired?
Too many sloppy passes.
YOU WOULD THINK BY NOW WE WOULD BE OVER THE ” SLOW START ” THING ——–JUST MY OPINION ON KEV—-CUT THE CURLS ( THEY ARE FOR GIRLS ) GO BACK TO YOUR RUGGED TIMBERWOLVES LOOK—SHORT CROPPED HAIR / SCRUFFY / THICK BEARD—SOMETIMES YOU PLAY LIKE YOU LOOK !
All Cavs ponits in the paint so far. They need to keep it up until its over. Settling for jump shots will be problematic.
Looks like the Cavs are still in warm ups. Maybe they don’t know the game started since none of Memphis’ starters are on the court.
Cavs playing down to the competition again.
Gonna miss this one have a meeting. The meeting is in London time. Cols, can you figure that one out?
EG DON’T JINX US ——COLS I JUST HAD A NITRO COFFE STOUT —-SMOOOOOTH MAN !!—-TAKING THE CAVS — GIVING THE PTS TONIGHT —–NEED TO KEEP ” THE MACHINE ROLLING ” AND ” THE TWEETS FLOWING “—HOPING FOR A BLOWOUT —REST THE STARTERS—PLAY THE BENCH—GO CAVS !!
I might read Phil Jackson tweets in Yoda voice from now on..
Do the same, I shall. Tweets from Delly, they will be
Okay guys… I’m out… good luck and GO CAVS!
Show ’em who’s boss EG!
EG, your streak will end at 3-0 since you’re mostly out on this one.
You turned out to be oddly prophetic RJ…
Lebron’s comments this morning on his tweets make me nauseous.
I will miss most of this one in meetings as well EG. May our presence not be needed against the Grizzlies who field 3 and a half players.
Stop scheduling meetings111111
But.. But Mario Chalmers!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, Kyrie just joined the cryptic tweet train. Any thoughts?
Sounds like he’s quoting Oprah or something…
LBJ is doing his best Phil Jackson impression. Kyrie was ordered sub-rosa by the commish to tweet in order to gin up drama just prior to the playoffs. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I prefer Surfer Rosa to sub-rosa…
LOL made me google that EG!!! Funny you mention this album, I was studying with a buddy of mine and heard an orchestral version of “Where is My Mind” while listening to Twin Peaks radio on Pandora/spotify/whatever music streaming service had it.
Heard Steve Albani on WTF. He didn’t seem to grasp that Surfer Rosa was a great album and kind of sounded dismissive about it. Unreal considering he was the producer!!
MAYBE WE CAN ORDER UP SOME “FRYE’S ” TONIGHT AND SOME ” ORANGE MAMBA ” —–SASHA HAS A 2 GAME SCORING STREAK GOING NEED TO KEEP THAT INTACT ALSO —–
Last year when we blasted Memphis by like 30 on the road, I think we all knew right there and then that we had a team that should win a ring.
Hopefully they keep their recent dominance of Memphis going tonight!
Well, considering more than half of the Grizz roster is out… shouldn’t be a problem…
It won’t be easy man. They have a top 10 point guard in Mario Chalmers. /s
LOL… if ever there was a night to rest guys… tonight would be it… wonder if Coach Lue will change his stance?
Yup. If I was lord of the team, I’d only play LBJ on two days rest from here on out.
That was my favorite games by this team. Every week I hope they get it at back together to that level again. Lebron, Kyrie, Love played so well, ball moved so well.
Random thought…
The front end of the year has been great for the underdogs/less favored in sports so far
Broncos
Nick Diaz
Meisha Tate
That girl that beat Serena Williams in the Australian Open
I hope it continues in June for the Cavs if they face the Warriors or the Spurs.
Leicester City, for any soccer fans here…
They haven’t won the title yet, but they’re in good shape to do so. Season wraps in mid-May, so they can add to the underdog juju before the Finals.
TIME FOR SOME ALES AND ” GRIZ BURGERS “———–SINCE IT IS ” NATIONAL CEREAL DAY “—MY FAVORITE/ RICE CRISPIES —–POUR SOME BEER ON TOP OF THEM AND LISTEN ” SNAP —CRACKLE …AND BURP !!”—I KNOW THAT WAS POOR NOMAD !!!
Made some shepherds pie today. And cleaned the bathrooms. And dusted the heck out of the house. And got the downstairs bedroom set up. And went to the library. And watched Danile Tiger. And made pudding. And ate some cashews. And drank some stuuff.
Overall, solid day.
You are special cols. Just super duper special.
I hope you made the Shepherd’s Pie prior to cleaning the bathrooms…
On a related note… when did this become Cols: The Blog? ;)
When I’m off work with a sick kid!!
Sorry to hear you have a sick kid… that’s never much fun for anyone…
But it allwed me to day drink!
Clearly…
That’s what I call great parenting. Staying home with sick kid. Give them Nyquill, proceed to get drunk.
Seriously… did you eat an entire box of Fruit Loops today?
Nope. No fun cereals in this house. We only have pumpkin flax granola, mini wheats, and ancient grains. I’m more of an oatmeal guy lately anyways.
Unfortuneatel I will not be able to live blog this for lack of access. And I need to do to dos some sort of stuff tonight.
Leb Leb Leb Leb Leb Leb Leb Leb
Andy Andy Andy Andy Andy Andy
Candyman Candyman Candyman Candyman Candyma… oh no!
I mean can you imagine rooting for such trash?
Oh yeah, we did that from 1995-2004 and then from 2010-2014.
I’m gonna have to miss this one due to work… I’ll be disappointed though if the Cavs can’t beat a starting lineup of Mario Chalmers, P.J. Hairston, Lance Stephenson, JaMychal Green and Ryan Hollins by at least 50…
Why are you working so late?
It’s only just after 3pm here… I have a 4:30 meeting across town that won’t finish up until close to 6…
Wait? 3pM???!!! Dude it’s 4:15.
You are on Mountain Time… I am on Pacific… did you not learn time zones at school?
We need to do away with time zones.
I thought it was always 4:20 where you are Cols, regardless of time zone.
It’s so much better to be a Cavs fan than a Grizzlies fan.
Z-Bo and Barnes out tonight too.
Wow… surprised that Vegas is allowing bets to be taken for this game.
Are we sure the Cavs aren’t just playing the Iowa Energy?
Good evening CtB! Here are your numbers for this evening:
CLE is a 12 point favorite over MEM with an o/u @ 203. Money is split close to 50/50 on both the line and o/u, but slight smart money bets are on CLE and the OVER.
I’ll take CLE over MEM 109-95… Vegas is banking on CLE’s vastly superior talent to overcome MEM’s mediocrity in what should be a blowout win for CLE.
I happen to agree with the smart money for once. Cle and the over.
I got you down for that 12B JoeyB!!!
Well, I’m not as sure as usual. Let’s make it 9B this time, just to be safe.
Smart man… hedging those bets like a real sharp!!!
In other news, the Warriors have not been all that great lately. It’s about time they came back to earth after playing at an unsustainable awesome level for a while.
I hope we get them in the Finals. And slaughter them.
Yeah… I can’t believe they lost their sixth game already… /s
Golden State is experiencing what a lot of us hoped might happen in their quest for the record – they are getting a little burned out. Now, they’ve been resilient and it might not matter come playoff time, but when you are trying to avoid 10 total losses, each loss, or the threat of a loss, eats at you more than normal losses. If you let it sit with you, it can wear you down. If you compare them with San Antonio, they don’t measure up as much better, if at all. They have had a lot of close calls… Read more »
I love this take.
have a take and don’t suck. Does rome still do that schtick?
Rome still does that schtick. I’m considering changing my take, however, based on you loving it. Can I amend my take and add Delly#MVP at the end? Does that help?
The Grizzlies suck. Gonna be hard to get up for this game.
You got your hat on, Cols?
Is that the hat Sea Bass had on in Dumb and Dumber? Played by Cam Neely?