Live Thread: Cavs Vs Celtics
2019-11-05The Celtics are in Cleveland tonight looking to pick up their fifth win of the season. They are currently on a four game win streak behind the efforts of Kemba Walker. Walker is averaging 26.2 points a game to go with 5.2 boards, and 3.8 assists. Jason Tatum is a fine second stud putting up 22 a night and hitting 3.6 3s a night. Kevin Love is running the Cavs with 19.2 points, 15.3 boards, and 4.3 assists per game.
The Cavs should present a decent challenge this game. The Celtics are small and are a center by committee team right now with Enes Kanter (he has played just one game this season and is a game time decision), Daniel Theis and Robert Williams the III (currently day-to-day) all getting some minutes. None of that group are defensive stalwarts, and just one is taller than 6’9” (Kanter). Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson should do some work.
The Celtics are without Jaylen Brown.
The Cavs are without Kevin Porter Jr. (One game supsension), Ante Zizic, Dylan Windler, and John Henson.
Three Things To Watch
1.The Cavs have to play big tonight. Who on the Celtics is covering Love? Tatum? Love should be able to bully him near the hoop and draw enough help defense, so the ball can get kicked out to open shooters. And, rebounding matters. The Celtics and Cavs get roughly the same amount of boards per game, but the Cavs get more contested boards.
2. Kemba Walker has to cover someone tonight, he’s very small. Collin Sexton and Darius Garland can get shots against him. They just need to be wise about how they do it. No one on the Celtics is a rim protector, so Sexland must attack the hoop. There’s no reason to be heaving long 3s over a 6’1” man.
3.Cleveland must take care of the ball and get back on defensive. The Cavs are averaging 15.2 turnovers a night, which is a middle of the league number. That’s great. Here’s the problem though: 19.3% of possessions against them are coming in transition, which is the highest frequency in the league. The Celtics are hyper efficenct in transition getting 1.23 points per possession, which is third in the league. So, the team needs to channel their inner Delly and commit the, “opps, I’m slow, and am going to take a foul before the break even starts” swipes.
The Celtics probably think the Cavs are a joke after stomping them in the preseason, twice. The Cavs really aren’t though. They’ve been competing on a nightly basis and are watchable. They’re trying and have enough talent on the team that it keeps things interesting. A nicer fan would think that all the players on these two teams who previously played with Kyrie over the past years will be bonding over the trauma of having to hear how flat the earth is; I, however, am hoping Love and TT talk about flat earth stuff and emotional health the entire evening to force Tatum and Gordan Hayward into thinking Kyrie is on the court and that they are only allowed to take passive mid-range jumpers.
Cavs 110, Celtics 101
i am loving the effort garland makes in transition.. barely trotting..
You’re in timeout for the rest of the night. You’re ruining it for the rest of us.
Kinda wish they would leave Garland on the bench for stretch run. They aren’t dead yet and likely better with JC out there. Sexton will not fail, he may never be an all star but dude plays his ass off
Why the heck does Love continue to get fewer shots than 4 other players?? I get we are developing talent and his is already developed, but arent we also trying to play a tiny bit to our strengths?
Cavs guards don’t run fast breaks well.
sexton may be inefficient, but he is athletic.. he can get to the hole.. and he has shown that he can hit the 3 at 40%.. i have no problems with him.. a lot of folks rag on him.. but he has grit.. he was draftable just based on what he did in that short-handed game in college..
Ugh. One game means nada. I am sort of neutral on Sexton, but that is nonsense.
That’s a good foul
Cedi with two sweet plays in a row.
edwards.. 13m 13 pts..
3/4 on 3s.. and he was a f%cking 2nd rounder !!!!
Well guess the Cavs made a mistake by not drafting him 5. Listen to yourself and get real.
He is waaay better than Garland at the moment.
OK. Time to go in timeout.
Delly. Looks better. Thank God.
Lol. Clarkson with awful d on. Guy that lit him up in the preseason. I’m a firm believer you need to hard foul good three point shooters more often.
edwards is a little stud.. his shot is money.. he is playing like a high 1st.. and garland is playing like he does not belong on the court
Also 2 years older. Call me when Darius is 21
Anyone see Delly box out Williams? Wow.
LNJ needs to put a hard foul on Hayward rather than letting him shoot that floater over him.
Yup.
who here would trade garland for carson edwards.. i would
I would trade you for Carson Daily
Let’s just assume everyone here, and I mean EVERYONE, is well aware of your opinion on Garland. You can stop talking about him now.
Zauntee? Buck should be railing against the bumper music instead of Garland.
Hahahahaha
That music made Garland look like an all star
Carson Edwards is playing with a far better team. Come on, Buck, Garland has a lot of promise.
Had to take off for a bit. Back to see a decent run.
Nice to see LNJ hitting threes, but I’m not expecting that to be a major pattern…
carson edwards 9m 7 pts.. garland 21m 4 pts.. this is the first game i have watched in real-time.. i have no idea why garland was drafted.. none..
Thanks for this observation.
a few days ago i said i would not “short” garland here.. now i am not so sure,, stocks and busts can both go to zero
You are ridiculous
Guess you should root for the Celtics, or Heat, or Golden State and watch them. You’d probably be happier.
Nice play, Collin.
LNJ! Red hot!
Just matador d on Hayward
Cavs competing…
ONLY 9 ASSISTS —BALL IS “STICKING “—MOVE BALL / MOVE BODIES
Celtics foul a lot. Cavs hitting a lot of freebies. No dimes on free-throws
Ugh. The score isn’t THAT bad…the game just feels worse than the score.
Feels like Cavs will be within 5-10 points until the late 3rd or early 4th but might not get it back to single possession.
Not a great way to finish the half…
4 point swing.
Not even making Hayward work. Not like Hayward is super quick. Just blowing by matador d though.
Garland should maybe cut down on the 30 footers.
If TT played all his games against the Celtics he’d be approaching Chamberlain’s numbers.
Garland like Sexton has a learning curve as far as finishing inside against length.
Cavs with a nice little run. Garland hitting some floaters. Sexton with a Trey.
Garland looks more confident with the rock tonight…
JC at power forward?
This might be the smallest lineup in the NBA.
Cavs going to struggle against “try hard teams”. Just don’t have the experience to hang with vets playing in November like it’s May.
Yep. Have a feeling very few other teams would be doubling love this early in the season and scheming for him right from the start of the game.
Garland looks very small and he’s trying to drive…dude needs to shoot outside shots
I am fine with him going inside but he has to have a plan/see the defense.
Could have used that love transition trey
JC makes a layup after dribbling around a ton. AC is right that if he dances a bunch he better be going to the rack.
Clarkson back to jacking contested shots. This game is going to snowball this qtr.
Love hurting the double that time.
Someone needs to knock Hayward on his ass.
Is LNJ injured? When doesn’t he dunk the ball in Tatum’s face. God he looks soft.
Yeah he does this year. Feel like he has become a finesse player.
Cavs interior defense stinks…Hayward doing whatever he wants….having Delly guard Kemba is not working….see how second quarter goes with lineups
Good Delly, bad Delly. Nance on Hayward might be worse than Cedi on Hayward.
Finally a stop on Hayward
Nance has taken a step back as a finisher this year
Man, the Cavs made Hayward look like MAGA Jordan that quarter…need to stop the ball…
Alphonso!
McKinnie!
Delly dime!
Leave it to JC to get Love open
Cedi has not been good defensively this far. Lost Hayward a few times. Got caught on screens. Backdoored. And just getting blown by. He is pretty slow laterally, not very good agility.
Yeah. Not very focused.
Clarkson with an open three and a nice drop to TT.
Cavs so much better when Garland and Sexton aren’t on the floor together
LOVE NEEDS TO HAVE MORE THAN 1 SHOT ATTEMPT IN A QTR ——-GD’S NEED TO WORK ON THE ART OF “FEEDING THE POST ” —GETTING THE ANGLES TO MAKE A PASS
Boston is doubling hard. They have to get him moving or screening.
Jesus! They didn’t call that travel on Hayward!?
https://twitter.com/johnschuhmann/status/1191872507177054209?s=20
Boston has a good game plan I am surprised other teams haven’t used. Just quick and hard double love every time he gets the ball in the post. Because why not? Garland with some nice vision to Cedi under the hoop and then an on the money kickout that Cedi didn’t take. Also Garland with a 28 foot 3pt attempt early, which was maybe ill advised.
Considering he had love inside? Yeah. Bad shot.
Have a bad feeling about this game given how badly they throttled Cleveland in the preseason
Cavs started out nice but Sexton and Garland started getting hungry for shots and breaking out of the offense.
Way to attack the bucket
Get it to love in the post
Garland had love wide open and didn’t pass
brick it “o-for”..
Seriously?
Sextugh
Cavs a bit cold
Get the ball to Thompson early. Nice to see.
Looks like we might see some Dean Wade tonight.
If he hits a few shots, think someone might call him the best rookie on the team??
Hawks lose Collins for 25 games for PEDs. Pretty big blow. Interesting that Ayton and Collins go down. Wonder if the nba testing is more rigorous this year, or random chance two guys using just happened to get tested, and/or whether more guys are using.
Celtics are still trash.