Podcap: Cleveland 131, Toronto 108 (or, Big Game Hunter)
2025-02-13The Cleveland Cavaliers turned “We the North,” into “We the Nope” Wednesday night, barnstorming into Toronto and unleashing a rain of threes that saw them race out to a 41-17 first quarter lead. By the mid third, Cleveland was up by as much as 39 before Toronto got pissy and decided to be try-hards, to no avail. The Cavaliers utterly dissected Toronto this game with non-stop passing, ball movement, tough defense, rebounding, and balanced scoring. The Cavs posted seven players in double figures and pocketed 34 dimes to 13 turnovers. Jaylon Tyson and Craig Porter Junior rounded out the nine-man rotation and notched eight and seven points themselves. The wine and gold also won the battle of the boards 53-39.
There were plenty of stalwarts in this one for Cleveland, but the CtB hunting party piled into the podcast booth Canadian goose blind to discuss one exceptional marksman in particular, newly acquired forward, De’Andre Hunter. The Cavs’ second leading scorer, Hunter’s upgrade to the backup power forward position was palpable against Toronto as he dropped 18/5/0 and went 4-9 from deep in just 27 minutes. His J was high, quick, and feathery, while his D was long and imposing. Nate, Eli, and Chris all marveled at what an upgrade Hunter is and broke down his strengths, weaknesses, and how the Cavs will use him in the regular season and the playoffs. The CtB sportsmen all gave Koby an A+ on the trade.
After, the guys graded the moves from around the Association over the last couple weeks, slung some gossip, wallowed in some buyout slop, and then looked forward to a Cavalier heavy all-star weekend. Finally, with the sun setting over the hunting grounds, our riflemen went over the post ASB schedule, made some predictions, and tossed out their NBA finals picks. It was a tight 75, and no animals were harmed in the making of this podcast, with the possible exception of some pissy Raptors. (“They should all be destroyed.”) Go Cavs.
As always, catch us below, download the full audio file, or listen on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, or Spotify.
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BOTH KA’s CALLED — WANTED MY INPUT ——👍👍👍 FOR TOM” PUT ME “ LIN —— CAVS NEED TO START COMPENSATING ME WITH……… “ MORE 🍺 BEER PLEASE “ —- BEEN ON HIS BANDWAGON/ POSTING ABOUT HIM FOR 3 WEEKS OR MORE——- HOPE THEY GIVE HIM SOME MINUTES 👍🏀👍🏀
Still want a vet. Roco maybe.
Also, no Bogey.
Holla at ya man, NOMAD
got a CtB nickname yet? how about “NyQuil”?
Lol. That seems fraught
“very strong, works well at night”
hope he has been at practice this week, and can get some minutes against the Nets
Maybe we will get to see him tomorrow in Brooklyn?
Anyone who plays with a headband is OK with me.
MR STEAL HOW MUCH DOES MOBES WEIGH OR EVEN JA —— KID HAS AT LEAST 3 / 20 REB GAMES— TAKES REBOUNDING SERIOUSLY AS WELL AS DEFENSE— AND 36% —- RECENTLY LAST 10 GAMES PROBABLY CLOSE TO 38% FROM 3’s —- CAN ALSO PASS —-SOUNDS SIMILAR TO MOBES TO ME — PLAYING STYLE AND WEIGHT—- SO WHY NOT TRY A 10 DAY ——- JUST MY HUMBLE OPINION
i get that. he might ultimately be a better player, but for the next two months, I just like the third or fourth big being a big space eater as something we don’t already have on the roster (like an Alex Len).
That said, I’m not sure that archetype is available and I guess we have to choose soon, so why not? Either him or Thor.
Quick baseball aside: MLB will have challanges on ball/strike calls in most preseason games, and maybe fulltime in 2026. Two challanges/game, and only pitcher, catcher, or batter can do it, and it must be instantly. Hard to see how teams will implement this, especially given that a large fraction of calls are wrong, it is usually considered good if an ump has a consistant zone, which might not agree well the actual zone, no one calls high strikes, … . I might have preferred keeping the status quo, but firing umps who intentionally make bad calls, favor one team, are… Read more »
FTS HAS ADVOCATED WHAT I HAVE BEEN POSTING——SIGN TOM” PUT ME “ LIN TO A 10 DAY—-THEY HAVE HIGHLIGHTS OF HIS 35 / 19! GAME
He’s 210? Yeesh
that is a good analysis
THAT s EXACTLY WHAT I POSTED YESTERDAY ARCH —— “ GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE “ 👍👍
They should just cancel the all star break moving forward.
I’ve thought they should do away with the game for a long time. I think it’s worth still voting in all-stars. Just make it a weekend of events celebrating the game. Invite more players to it and make a bunch of different events where fans can meet/interact with them. Maybe make some 1 on 1 or 3 on 3 tourneys where active players can voluntarily sign up to compete in for a cash prizes. Keep things that work like the 3 point contest. Have a ceremony to celebrate the actual all-stars. There’s some version of that that could actually be… Read more »
And FWIW, I don’t blame the players. We’ve created this championship or bust billions of dollars industry where it’s not worth the risk of your franchise players to get injured playing a ceremonial game right as the season starts to get real.
I blame the players. There used to be games that didn’t suck and stars in the dunk contest. The 3PT contest is all that does not suck.
It was never all that great imo. Dunk contest had plenty of miss years, ASG was always three quarters of dogging it, three point contest sometimes lacked real drama like this year.
Every sports league has trouble getting the players to care about exhibitions.
Nah. It’s probably their highest revenue event in the regular season. They sell tickets to everything (I always wanted to pay for the legends brunch package)
Give the players a cut. I liked DG idea of paying the players a mill. Just limit that to the winning team.
GO 10 DAY ROUTE—— PLAYABLE BIG MOST NEEDED—- 👍👍
Cavs need to sign someone before Thursday… via Hoops Rumors Cleveland Cavaliers The Cavaliers’ situation is pretty straightforward. They went from 14 players on their standard roster to 13 as a result of their two-for-one De’Andre Hunter trade on Feb. 6. They haven’t made a roster move since then, so they’ll need to sign a 14th man by Feb. 20, this Thursday. None of the Cavaliers’ two-way players – Emoni Bates, JT Thor, and Luke Travers – have appeared in more than nine NBA games this season, so they don’t look like obvious candidates for promotions. The Cavs seem more… Read more »
It looks like auditions/10 day route to me.
But a playable big (Bamba, McGee) would seem in order. And some secondary ball handling/creation to help replace LeVert.
I am not sure, but I think we can squeeze 2 signings in and still be under the tax if we time it right/delay it some. 10-day, let it expire, then you get another window, etc. Tell me if I am wrong there. Morris was a buyout guy last year and played pretty well in the POs.
playable big is key need — CPJ and JT are OK in the LeVert role. as it stands, we are missing Niang more than LeVert.
Spot on about Barnes. He is a complementary guy but not a 1A team leader/scorer.
yeah, they need to get back in the lottery
I think you guys way underrate Niang. He does not give you much defensively, and for that reason is problematic come PO time. But he is a useful guy in the regular. And unlike Hunter, he’s always healthy. And better on the boards.
Vert & Niang went for 20+ apiece for ATL vs the Knicks. Both guys will be missed.
But I don’t trust LeVert’s shot or Niang’s D in the POs. Hunter is a much more natural fit as a 3/4. Excellent length. Hopefully Tyson/CPJ can step up & help make up for Vert’s departure. Still 10 deep.
agree 100%.
I also liked him because he reminds me of me as an older player: not athletic enough to cover really good players, but got back on D, cashed in if left open outside, and can act tough in a pinch.
LeBron to lazy to dress for ASG team photo?
https://www.si.com/nba/lebron-james-ripped-for-his-move-in-team-photo-before-nba-all-star-game
I love the guy, but WTF?
The take about the loss of ASG records was dumb. Certainly saw what happens when show producers are given carte blanche to get people watching an exhibition. Basically saying the actual basketball will be unwatchable, so throw in a bunch of other stuff. I think they should look at moving the ASG and the end of trade season in line with each other. Like, everyone in the league comes to the same city and just 20 transactions happening simulataneous to the break. feel like this would be awesome to watch play out in real time.
BIG O SAYS “ DRAYMOND HAS TO GO “ ———HAVENT WATCHED AN NBA ALL STAR GAME IN A DECADE—-COMPARABLE TO WATCHING “ FROWN – CLOWN- BROWN s “ —— BOTH VERY PAINFUL!!! — JUST SELECT THE ALL STARS / LET EVERYONE STAY HOME —- SOME NEEDED R&R !! ——- PUT YOUR RISING ALL STARS VS GLEAGUE ALL STARS ———- I WOULD THINK SOME GLEAGUE PLAYERS WOULD ENJOY SHOWCASING THEIR TALENTS—— PROVING TO SOME GM s “ YOU GOT THE WRONG RISING STAR —— RISING STARS WANT TO PROVE OTHERWISE “
The best moment of the weekend was the Big O absolutely bodybagging Dray.
Great comment.
Ouch!!!
tell it like it is!
Total unwatchable garbage. It’s scary to think the masses enjoy this crap. The only person who showed up all weekend and proved his worth was Mac McClung.
I’ll give Herro, Hield, and Garland props on 3pt.
Agree, for sure. Hated Reggie Miller covering it, though. So bad. That was about it. Also, glad the guy won that money for the half-court shot.
Oh man. I was so nervous for him. 100% Lillard was sandbagging too.
I don’t know that the masses enjoy it. But there’s nothing else on (sports related), unless you watch hockey or college hoops.
Lillard had a good idea for this ASG format. Instead of playing against Rising Stars, play against an All-Star Snub team.
Honestly, I thought the rising stars versus OGs was the best game.
There should be 15 all stars from each conference anyway. Add the top two vote getters from rising stars tourney to the last team and call it good.
Yes the 12 man roster has not kept up with the times.
Yeah. That was abysmal. Probably one of the worst produced things I’ve ever watched.
The ASG continues to be a joke.
2 teams. East v West. Tell these entitled wimps to put forth some effort. If the coaches think it is too lax, start benching people.
I don’t blame the players on this one tbh. The production was awful. The first teams played, world team won, then then the OGs beat the rising stars, then a huge long break, then like 15-20 minutes of game then another like 30+ minute break for the TNT fishing pole bs, then the world team was completely cold. There was just too much bullshit sandwiched around the basketball and the guys got cold.
NBA trying to blame the shitshow on Turner, guess we’ll find out if that’s true soon as they move to Amazon/NBC
The whole weekend felt very amateurish From CP3’s weird lawyerball take on the skills challenge to Kevin Hart, etc., it was really not produced well. And also, can we get rid of these awful courts?
Can’t wait till regular basketball to be back.
Just go back to the regular format.
I thought it was fine till the 25 minute tnt tribute
Mitchell 0-4 from 3!
Le sigh
That was fun.
ARCH —- GUESS I MIGHT HAVE READ ARTICLE INCORRECTLY—-THOUGHT I READ THAT HE QUIT / RETIRED ………. PROBABLY “ TOO MUCH BEER 🍺 PLEASE “ 🤪🍺
Whew. Glad that Dude made that shot. Was gonna be painful if he didn’t
RAOUL —- I AM CONFUSED- IS TT IS OFF THE CAVS ROSTER???
Why would he be off the roster?
dunno — the Times of India has some goofy stuff.
The Anthony Davis pranking show looks awful.
Herro was awful.
Kevin Hart ruining this
At least it’s not Nick Cannon.
SGA looked ready to smack him
Tyler Herro such a bozo
Mobley cherry picking.
Think Donovan’s team is stacked.
No LeBron in the AS game. No replacement either.
Weird
ASG’s would be wise to have a couple spare players — maybe rookies — on site and warmed up for such situations.
Rockers back?
https://www.fearthesword.com/2025/2/16/24366886/cavs-wnba-cleveland-rockets-expansion-nba-cavaliers
did AI write this story about TT’s role in AI?
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/nba/top-stories/cleveland-cavaliers-tristan-thompson-ditches-nba-why-is-he-calling-himself-ai/articleshow/118305987.cms
For n Saturday night respectable showing by our wine and gold.
Mac McClung laying to eternal rest the title of that Wesley Snipes/Woody Harrelson movie! Damn!
actually a decent movie
More than decent.
Strong first set by DG!
DG3!
Just wish trophies were awarded by the Ken Ganley Kia lady.
Clearly deserves a bigger role.
Cavs beat the Warriors!!!!
Draymond choked!
Cavs Warriors in the finals again!
Warriors won the skills challenge. Rigged.
Oh wait it’s not over
Lol Spurs disqualify
…
That’s pretty sweet
these eight guys would be a nice team to coach
GOTCHA PATRICK👍🤣
THANK s JASON —- TRY TO KEEP EVERYONE UPDATED ON OUR CHARGE PLAYERS——- TOM” PUT ME “ LIN STARTED SLOW—— EARLY MINUTES GIVEN TO “ MORE THOR “ / P NANCE——— LAST 10-12 GAMES HE IS A 25/ 12 MAN 38% from 3 ———— THE GAME I HAVE WATCHED THAT “SWISS KNIFE “TRAVERES PLAYED—- HE WAS CLEARLY THE BEST PLAYER ON THE FLOOR— HIS 3 PT SHOT IS IMPROVING………… DO YOU HAVE ANY STATS ON BERNARD— HE WAS PUTTING UP SOME REAL GOOD STATS UNTIL HE GOT SICK/ INJURED——NOT SURE WHAT HIS STATUS IS ON THE TEAM
s
You are the King of the Charge NOMAD. Your posts got me to look up the stats.
I don’t think any of those 4 are ready to help in any meaningful way. Travers is closest but can’t shhot 3s. Otherwise, he could be a player. I’d rate Tomlin 2nd. But they all need more PT/seasoning.
But I could see a 10 day.
FWIW, Charge guys: Regular + Tipoff
Player: G, PerGame: Min/Pt/Reb/Ast/Blk/Stl/TO
Travers: 7, 33.1/20.6/10.0/7.1/1.7/1.4/2.9
Bates: 13, 29.1/15.2/5.2/1.8/0.3/0.4/3.0
Thor: 20, 32.7/15.2/7.5/2.2/0.7/1.8/2.7
Tomlin: 35, 28.6/15.7/7.1/1.9/0.8/1.5/1.6
Player: Fg%/3PT%/FT%;
Travers: 56.8/31.8/81.0
Bates: 35.9/30.6/80.0
Thor: 44.3/28.4/75.4
Tomlin: 54.5/36.2/61.4
TRAVERS “ SWISS KNIFE “….25/18/10 …WOW ……….EMONI —33——7/15 FROM 3 SORRY EMONI FOR BEING SO HARSH ON YOU—- MAYBE YOU ARE GETTING HEALTHY/ GETTING CONFIDENCE BACK……. TOM “ PUTME “ LIN 27 / 5 STRONG DEFENSE !!
Looks like Johnny Bryant is coaching (assistant) one of the Rising Star teams.
READ ARTICLES ABOUT CEDI COMING BACK AND ALSO “ OUR SAVIOR “ MOSES 7’ — WILL DEFEND/ RUN THE FLOOR
only problem being that Cedi is signed and playing in Greece
Cleveland Cavaliers: A
According to BetMGM, the Cavs’ predicted win total for the season was 48.5. As of Thursday, they already had won 44 games and might reach 49 by month’s end. Cleveland is No. 1 in offense, No. 1 in 3s and No. 8 in defense. It made the most impactful trade at the deadline among the teams with the top six records in the league. Almost as an aside, the Cavs are, comfortably, the No. 1 team in the East. Yes, an “A” is on the card. — Joe Vardon
I forgot about Cedi Osman. Could we bring bring him back as a 14th man?
THANKS GUYS!!!!!! —— EXCITING RIGHT NOW —- PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME—— AREA COACHES DONT WANT TO PLAY US —— WE ARE SO FREAKING ATHLETIC ——- DEFENSE / ATHLETICISM. “ TRAVELS “ !!!!! ———-MY GOAL IS TO COACH AS LONG AS HUBIE BROADCASTED !!! 👍🏀💪
Careful about the traveling, coach
AGREED ARCH —- ALL THOSE TEAMS WILL BE READY TO SEND CAVS A MESSAGE—— HOPING WE DONT HAVE A POST ALL STAR MELT DOWN AS IN PREVIOUS SEASON s —— GO CAVS 👍🏀💪
Cavs have a tough schedule when they come back: Nets (not tough), Knicks, Grizz, Magic, Celtics. This closes out February.
Magic stink and I think Suggs is out? Memphis is really fun and interesting but a tier below with Ja having fallen off a bit (wild that DG might be the best player in the 2019 class).
Really want Ice and Wade back to give some minutes in all of those games though.
The Nets have won 6 of 10 including 3 in a row and 3 wins we failed to get recently (Rockets twice and Philly).
WE / OUR TEAM ARE SECTIONAL CHAMPS—- CELEBRATION HAS STARTED…………. “ MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE “‘ WHEN I GET HOME!!!!
Congrats, Nomad!
CTB COACH OF THE YEAR RACE IS HEATING UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOMAD!
#MOREBEERPLEASE
Congrats!
Minny gonna win. White flag raised. Cavs & OKC both go into the break at 44-10. Splitting the two H2H.
OKC waiving the white flag. Now tied w Cavs for best record.
Dante Exum with 27 on 11/13 FGs as the no AD, no Kyrie Mavs beat the Heat.
Heat were disgusting in that fourth v OKC
Minny spanking OKC
Without Rudy, Randle, Conley, and DDV. On a 2nd night of a B2B after losing to the no Giannis & no Dame Bucks last night. Under 6 min left.
wild season!
SGA missing shots. So is Ant. Chet is back, but OKC losing by 14 in 4th. Go Naz Reid!
OMG. TT just became the mayor of Evanto.
Re: Dunk at the end of game… “I think what Tristan did there was no class and disrespectful,” Rajakovic said (Twitter video link via The Toronto Star). “I’m not going to stand for that, for sure. I’m really glad that our guys, our players – Jamal, Scottie, and everybody else – that they stood up for themselves. I love when my team stands up for themselves. That was no class act.” TT’s response: “You wanna full court press with under a minute left in the game when you get cracked by 30 this will happen to you,” Thompson wrote. “Lose… Read more »
LEBRONTO CRAPTORS TAKES ANOTHER L
TT is an idiot and it is time to get rid of him.
all the people who are saying this was all right have never played team sports. stunts like that are looking for a fight in every gym in the world.
Did you read what he said?
Of course he didn’t, people just love to grandstand about shit they know nothing about, proud Amerikkkan tradition.
Ok, simmer down, Chris
NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cry more baby
I hope the Cavs were looking for a fight. They need to be.
get real. tied for the best record in the NBA at the ASB and you want to take a chance on an injury or suspension from a fight?
I didn’t love the decision by TT but I’m over it: the elder statesman role doesn’t really suit him given his past (and recent past! he’s a year off a 25 year suspension) but Darko crashing out over it was a little much too.
Just pre vacation goofiness. No harm, keep it pushing
Metaphorically. But also, yes. TT getting suspended would be fine. These Toronto guys are all soft. Nothing was gonna happen. I trust TT’s judgment on what needs to be done to get the Cavs to play with an edge.
Thank you Nate for being the only one who gets it… this blog has been complaining about having an enforcer and the second TT actually stands up for a teammate everybody all of sudden a pearl clutcher… THANK YOU NBA CHAMPION TT #LETEMKNOW
Niang had enforcer chops — getting in someone acting tuff’s face while smiling. TT dunked on an undefended basket.
Pressbreaker
undefended because the Craptor clown asses were pressing CPJ until he crossed half court!
I didn’t watch it, but if TT is accurate that Toronto was doing an all-out full court press on the final possession of a 30-pt loss – then to me that is every bit as much in bad form. Who does that?
Put him in a body bag, TT. F*** them kids.
Where was this?
Twitter and hoops rumors
Cavs 104 drtg with Hunter on the court… Cavs are unlocking another level defensviely with him.. just got to get him up to speed on offense.
Enjoyed the first half of the pod, so far. Obviously Hunter is a huge upgrade over Niang — but they traded Caris, too! Hunter helps tremendously with the physical strength and toughness of the squad, which has been a big issue in the last two playoff runs. It will be very interesting to see if coaching can improve his defense and rebounding to something like his collegiate levels. Koby has step by step been improving the matchups against athletic wings, where it used to just be Okoro, now we have Hunter, and some coverage with Wade and Strus. Building “around”… Read more »
yup
Raptors suck. They should have been forced end of game to line up and let TT dunk on each player personally. Let that be a lesson to suck less.
I agree go Cavs
I GUESS WE DISAGREE NATE —- SHIT HAPPENS!! —- JUST THINK WE SHOULD TAKE THE HIGH ROAD —— BEING MY SARCASTIC SELF ABOUT SMOKING GRASS
I used to believe in the high road. Now I believe in results.
I believe in TTs Canadian Doctors, if you know what I mean. Could be in store from some youthful friskiness in the months to come.
SMOKE GRASS 🤪
Can’t. Asthma. Seriously though, I’m fine with this. Cavs have to play with an edge, and sometimes to play with an edge you gotta stir the shit. As I said on the pod, “Don’t start no shit, won’t be no shit.” The Raps started it.
NOT A FAN OF TTs DUNK AT THE END OF THE GAME—- IF BARNES DID THAT AGAINST US WE WOULD BE SCREAMING IN THIS BLOG—- TOTALLY “ BUSH LEAGUE —UNPROFESSIONAL “ —- THAT SHOULD BE HIS LAST NBA BASKET!!!! —- CUT HIS A-S —- CREATE ANOTHER ROSTER SPOT FOR A LEGIT BACK UP POST————- I MAY TAKE ALOT OF GRIEF FOR MY OPINION—— DO NOT WANT THAT TO BE PART OF CAVS CULTURE!!!!
and his main role is “adult supervision”. last thing a team needs is your #last player starting a feud with a run-of-the-mill team
Touch grass.
TT has never been the sharpest tool in the shed. And though I tend to agree on the dunk, I tend to give a pass for end of bench guys who never play. That could be his only slam this year.
Now, when a starter/high minutes guy does it,,I get more upset.
nah, I agree with what he did, Toronto was try-harding the full 48 minutes, including bird-dogging CPJ and not letting him dribble out the clock.. TT was sticking up for CPJ.