Live Thread: Cavs vs. Heat
2021-03-16The last time these two teams met, Kevin Porter, Jr., broke the spell that Miami had over the Cavs (seven straight wins over Cleveland stretching back to spring 2018), splashing huge buckets down the stretch and leading the team to an overtime victory in front of a big downtown crowd.
It was a game which is worth a full rewind, coming as it did a week after the ouster of John Beilein as coach, and against a team that would go on to become Eastern Conference champions that year.
Tonight, J.B. Bickerstaff’s honeymoon with the team is (it’s surely fair to say at this point) over, KPJ is in Houston, the Cavs’ new acquisition from Detroit has been displaced by a new big man of the future, and Kevin Love is out.
#Cavs Kevin Love is OUT tonight.
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) March 16, 2021
However, in spite of being in an 0-3 funk since having lost a tough game to Indiana just before the All-Star Break, these Cavs are still a better team, record-wise, than they were at this point last year. While it may be a long shot to get to the playoffs or the play-in, for incrementalists the Cavs’ “magic number” right now is six — which is the number of wins they need between now and the end of the season in order to surpass their performance in 2019-20.
(Should anyone need a reminder, last year the Cavs ended their truncated and bubble-exiled season 19-46, one game behind the struggling Atlanta Hawks.)
While it seems unlikely that they will right the ship against a sound Spoelstra-Reilly enterprise that has won nine of its ten last games, stranger things have happened in the NBA. And if the Cavs can scratch out more than nine points in the third quarter (see: New Orleans game) and avoid cratering again in the fourth (see: forthcoming Atlanta recap), they might give themselves a slightly better shot at an ugly win, if not recapturing the weirdly nostalgic days of a lost season — and lost talent — gone by.
Miami exploited us a lot on d. Just lots of miscues. Exploiting switches. We can’t hit threes with people closing out or anywhere near us. Really can’t hit threes in general. Except for dg.
HEAT HAVE PUT TOGETHER A NICE ROSTER—-THINK THEY WILL CAUSE PROBLEMS THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR
bench is ice cold except for McGee. may as well try Dotson or Cook.
YOU KNOW IT DAN………….” MORE BEER PLEASE ” : -)
WADE HAS GONE COLD—–HEAT ARE GOING TO THROW ALOT OF DIFFERENT ZONE LOOKS AT CAVS TONIGHT —CAVS DON’T RECOGNIZE /// DON’T KNOW HOW TO ATTACK
Sexton with no handles, ends up a broken play.
Down 11 after one… More beer please!!
Oh boy Windler with an unnecessary switch compromises the d.
Man until Windler actually makes shots outside of two red hot games….I’m not sold that he is a good shooter. The shot looks good, but it does not go in?!
Windler wide open can’t hit.
Heat picking on Javale on the perimeter.
Good call.
Good to see the Cavs execute a press breaker.
Mcgee blew that. His man was olynck.
nice pressbreak.
MIAMI’S ZONE GIVING CAVS PROBLEMS —( AMONGST OTHER THINGS )
3/2 trap gave us some issues but left the boards open. Good on mcgee
Damn, Iggy with some veteran clutchness right there.
Herro with a move the Cavs never use: hard diagonal cut to get his teammate an easy corner three.
Wade wide open couldn’t hit.
Iggy found money with those 3s…
WOW, McGee lucky he made that, took away a pass for Windler for 3.
MCGEE WITH THE HUSTLE!
I LOVE IT !!! MCGEE HAMMERED HIM!!!
Man, McGee would be a better defender if he just kept on his feet more. He gets a lot of pointless fouls like that.
Cavs committing bad fouls here.
Eh. on the floor. Not that bad. Then fouled in the bonus next play. Ugh.
Yeah that was not good. Windler.
Garland with a nice catch and shoot. Nailed it right in butlers grill
Jimmy Butler getting star treatment.
He’s a star…
Wade is at least an average defender for his position. I’d say better than that.
Okoro just drive and kick, too passive.
passed it back to Cedi who can do nothing with it.
His offensive game is just about a 0, just passes it around
wasting a whole year not developing his drive game.
Damnit dg you have to be able to make the entry to allen with that big of a mismatch
GREAT BALL MOVEMENT!!! DG 3!!!!! CEDI GREAT PASS!!!
nice feed, cedi to DG!
Miami trap works for once
Another phantom foul for butler.
Miami d leaving a lot of openings. Good to see cavs actually exploiting
Allen had a mismatch and DG never saw it.
Sexton with an awful turnover… can’t pass out of the double.
tough shot, Bam. You live with that.
Nance really opening lanes with his pass.
Sexton having trouble passing out the double team in rhythm… never does it consistently.
Cavs easily exploiting gimmicky trap by heat.
You know the Heat would love to have Nance…he’d fit like a glove on that team…but it ain’t happening…
LOL. Why would you keep doubling Cavs, when you can just play them straight up and wait for elbow js?
DG TO NANCE ON THE BREAK!!!! WAY TO RUN IT KID!
WHAT A FINISH OKORO!!! GREAT PASS NANCE!
Sexton miss was precluded by some decent actions.
Where was the foul?
nice defensive activity Sexton
GREAT PASS DG!!! ALLEN EASY MONEY!
Sexton wide open, in and out.
Heat announcer called LJ “Kevin Love, Jr.” in the flow of the game — which would have made more sense if it was Dean Wade. Not a bad start for the Cavs
Heat don’t respect our shooters LMFAOOOO
Nance with some nice passes. Cross court setup the allen bucket.
Blow by Sexton!!! Rage TO!!!
Okoro sharp tonight early.
2 rebounds early!!!! about time!
9-0 run Cavs. OK.
After an inauspicious start, Cavs playing really good basketball.
great passing and sweet hockey assist nance to dg to allen.
GREAT PASS DG!!! ALLEN WITH THE EASY MONEY!
HEY DG FROM DEEP!!!!
nice drive and finish Okoro!
YEP THE GREEN GRASS IN NE OHIO // AND SUNSHINE ARE REFRESHING ———– I AM GOING TO THROW SOMETHING REAL WILD OUT THERE —( AND I HAVEN’T OVERLY CONSUMED BEERS YET )——-DOES ANYONE THINK ICE COULD COME CLOSE TO A JIMMY BUTLER—–SAYING THIS DUE TO BUTLERS EARLY ANEMIC START///AND BOTH HAVING SIMILAR BUILD // ATHLETICISM——–I KNOW THIS IS ‘REALLY OUT THERE —OVERLY OPTIMISTIC ‘
Now that was a pretty opening set by Spolestra.
LMFAOOOOO uh oh
Some progress on offense would be cool. Would be damn near impossible not to have better offensive showing than the last two games. Ideally they also come in ready to defend.
Love: out. Delly: out. Prince: out. Green grass in NE Ohio: in. If you’re like me, you’ve seen the grass greening up this week, it’s filled you with a little bit of joy. Hopefully the Cavs can play with a little bit of joy and energy.I don’t give them too much hope tonight, though against a hot hot Heat team that won 10 of the last 11, and four straight. Jimmy Butler is back to his old ways as one of the best two-way players in the association, with a 25/7/9 line in that stretch. (Can you believe this guy… Read more »
I HAVE A WINE CELLAR “IN THE BASEMENT ” MAY SPEND MOST OF THE NIGHT THERE ——-HELL I MAY END UP SLEEPING THERE
NEWS FLASH—MIAMI MAKES IT ’19 ” HOME WINS / ROW VS THE CAVS —–SCORE ( AM BEING NICE ) 111—93 ———HOPE I AM TOTALLY WRONG AND HAVE TO “‘EAT CROW “——THE DOG AND MRS NOMAD ARE JUST HOPING FOR A CLOSE GAME AND I STAY TO WATCH ALL 4 QTR’S
Beatdown countdown.
My expectations are in the basement for this game, so mundane competence would be a pleasant surprise.
LMFAOOOO yup, we’re gonna get annihilated