Live Thread: Cavs Vs Trail Blazers
2015-01-28
The Cavs come home tonight for the second game of a back-to-back against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers will be unusually rested because their game against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday was postponed due to snow. Portland last played on Saturday and beat the Wizards.
The Blazers are trying to play through a few injuries right now. Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who has been averaging 24 points and nearly nine rebounds a night during January, has a torn ligament in his thumb but will still play. Nicolas Batum* and Robin Lopez, however, will be sitting on the bench for the evening. Lopez is recovering not only from a fractured hand, but also a fractured ego. After trying to go after the Moon Dog, he got bit. Check out this tweet from the feisty Cavs mascot:
No offense @rolopez42, but I only feud with the more high profile of twin brothers. No one remembers the mascot fights with Ed Mikan.
— Moondog (@CavsMoondog) January 26, 2015
I’m excited to watch the the match up between Kevin Love and LMA. Both players love playing from the elbow area and are not exactly known for their defense. I hope Kevin recognizes Aldridge is having some issues with his hand tonight and plays especially physical down low. Maybe when he slaps at the ball for a rebound, he can “accidentally” tap LMA’s thumb.
It will also be exciting to see Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard duel. Kyrie managed to hold DJ Augistin of the Pistons to 19 points last night after Augustin had a 35 point performance against Chicago on Sunday. Irving is going to have to fight over screens to stop Lillard from shooting the three ball. Lillard is taking 7.2 threes a night and hitting 37% of them. He’s averaging 22 points a game. If he goes off, the Cavs could be in trouble.
Also watch for LeBron James to do some serious damage if he plays. He is currently listed as questionable and is a game time decision. Nic Batum normally takes on the task of covering the King and for the season has caused players to average 1.2% less than their typical field goal percentage.
Finally, this is another revenge game. The last time these two foes met on November 4th Portland won it easily, 101-82.
I’m picking the Cavs tonight, 105-99.
*In a turn of events, Nicolas Batum actually started after experiencing less pain in his wrist during shoot around.*
@cavs: Y’all bring umbrellas? @KyrieIrving bringing a rainstorm tonight! 6-8 3PM (28PTS) #ThreesAllDay #MakeItRain
@trailblazers: @cavs Portlanders don’t use umbrellas.
@cavs: .@trailblazers we can lend you one while you’re in #TheLand!
I think Twitter will be relevant for a long time because the @ handle and hashtag use are so addictive. Facebook can’t really mimic it. Not that the 2 are similar social media outlet, but it is so clever.
While I’m glad Kyrie looked for Moz a couple of times inside, I think the two of them need some alone time to work on the passes… Maybe Kyrie just isn’t used to having a guy that tall to pass to?
Completely agree… because his pass at the end of the half was too low.
Yes I agree, found a couple times but moz fumbled at least one pass. Think you really have to hit him waist high or above bc I don’t think he has great hands. What I would like to see in the second half is Kylie using the hot first half three point shooting to exploit the crowding port will likey do on him to blow by defenders and hopefully set up either open corner threes or dishes inside the paint to love and or moz.
Well y’all know Lillard ain’t gonna shoot like this all game, so unless Kyrie DOES go off for 50, other guys are going to have to start scoring…
Wonder if jones or miller can show up and rain a few 3’s then sub out before they give up twice as many on defense.
Miller played well while he was in…. he’s a smart veteran, hoping his stroke carries over in the 2nd half.
Someone else on the Cavs will need to get hot for us to win.
Not to pick on him, but Love still hasn’t scored since halfway through the first quarter.
Love has 10, JR has 7. Nobody else has more than 4.
*Nobody else besides Kyrie has more than 4.
Now’s the time where Irving should facilitate, to get them both going. The Portland D is gonna key on him, he tried getting it to Mozgov on the final possession of the half, and that’s the idea, just need better execution.
Agree completely. exploit the fact Portland will have to crowd him on behind the arc.
At the game. Everything looks different from here. No one holds a candle to Kyrie. Gotta go.
U-Dog! Grab some extra Andy blankets!!!
So tell me about Lopez? His hair looks like sideshow bob or something. Beard looks like grizzly Adams. At
East on tv. In person maybe a Sasquatch.
How is Portland out shooting us with Kyrie going nova? I think our defense is pretty good, guess love got cold. Hope we don’t count on Irving hitting 6/8 threes in the second half, kind of doubt that is sustainable.
So I go to sonic to get my wife a batch of chili cheese tater tots! Yeah, don’t ask but she is not pregnant the sonic commercial came on. Anyway, Kyrie goes video game. Something seems to have stuck because I think he wants to win much more than under Scott or brown. Anybody else see it?
Moral of the story… don’t go to Sonic when Kyrie is going Supersonic…
Ain’t that the truth EG!!! HAHAHA!
True statement there. Maybe I positive jinxed it
Although it could lead to a good eating game (as opposed to drinking game) Kyrie hits a shot… eat a tot.
Weird stat of the night so far… Cavs shooting just 40%, but shooting 50% from three…
Cavs are playing great D, and great offense save a few possessions. Just need to keep defensive energy up, and the bench needs to come through like it did in the 1st quarter.
I want to see Kyrie get 50
Then U-Dog could say he saw the Kyrie 50 game…
Would be fine if he doesn’t score another as long as we win.
Alridge has bailed out his team a couple of times
Bad call that wasn’t a foul.
Cheap foul on Moz! Looked like he got all ball (but then my feed on my computer is tiny…)
No, I agree… only thing was the body.
I mean I know is kind of hero ball from Kyrie but it is really impressive!! O_O
Heat check! Kyrie taking over
TAKE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!
Damn Kyrie is going bananas.
Kyrie gonna drop 50 tonight
YOU CAN’T STOP KYRIE IRVING!!!
I really hate when we play a good 23 seconds on D then give up a basket with 1 second on the clock.
Lillard being affected greatly by Moz in the middle…
Man, Kaman is just a vampire. I feel like that dude has been around for 20 years…
Great setup by lillard there where Kaman got fouled. That is what Irving needs to focus on the rest of the game, setting up teammates for easy paint buckets. Let’s not fall into hero ball/ISos.
Course I guess if he hits threes like he just did it doesn’t matter
I don’t know HOW Kyrie got that ball in the hoop!
Gonna need Kyrie to start scoring again to finish the quarter strong. Would be nice to keep the 10 point cushion for the inevitable Blazer run…
Blazers are picking their defensive energy up.
Kevin Love is blowing it in this quarter.
Good timeout here to regroup for the last 2 1/2 minutes of the half.
JR had more time, he didn’t need to jack it up from 35…
Haha that was a really ugly possession.
Delly is really sucking lately.
Gotta take advantage of the 5-on-4 there.
Man, that was a bad play by Delly…
He’s not attacking off the dribble, looking to pass too much.
No confidence in his game right now
And there’s no reason for it… Blatt’s giving him minutes, and no one expects him to attack, he needs to go back to his St. Mary’s days and score!
If Love doesn’t score with this line up where will we get our points?
Love hasn’t scored since halfway through the first quarter.
Don’t think we do love any favors in the spots we get him the ball. No more stretch four. Needs to go back to post game. He also needs people to set him up, which is something this team doesn’t really do other than three point shots
Make Aldridge play defense against Kevin Love.
Offense is playing stellar against a top 5 defense in def efficency…. Defense is playing well, even with Miller in. This is pretty impressive so sar.
Come on Kev, we pullin for ya, do some thing effective
Just gotta keep shooting, rotation looked good on the 2 made 3s.
Love is 0-5 this quarter.
Damn… Love can’t BUY one right now. This is becoming a disturbing trend in second quarters…
There’s a reason why they stop going to him after the first quarter.
This line up we have in scares me right now.
Kyrie is in that same zone that Klay Thompson was in the other night…
Damn Kyrie! Going video game.
Love’s gotta challenge Batum on that drive, gotta provide some kinds resistance
Moz nicely under control on that closeout at the 3-point line. He’s pretty nimble.
KLove is still cold.
Cavs playing superlative defense right now!
KILL A MIME! IT’S MILLER TIME!!!
Yes Mike Miller! It’s Miller Time!
That was a tough pass for Moz to handle on the break
Agreed, not a good decision by Kyrie there… but intention was good.
KLove has gone cold.
Where would you rank Kyrie in the list of top PGs in the game?
The only one I think is better for sure is Stef Curry. I think Kyrie is as good or better than anyone else. But I say that as a completely biased Cavs fan…
I have Curry, Westbrook, and CP3 in a tier by themselves. But Kyrie is definitely in that second group of Wall, Rose, Lillard, Lowry, etc.
This game’s a big time character building opportunity for the Cavs. Hoping for a dominant performance from Love. Kyrie looking amazing so far.
Love has been no slouch so far either…
Kyrie is carrying them the last few minutes here.
He has 16 of last 18 points for the team…
Keep giving the ball to Kyrie and JR to shoot! Moneyball!!
Kyrie, JR, and Love shooting well, which is what they need! Great D, save that one play you mentioned. Matthews will make those though.
Ugh Mike Miller is in the game.
Maybe he’ll hit some shots *closes eyes and prays*
Prayer answered!!!
Great D until the end against Matthews
Leonard with a bill laimbeer hack.
Did Moz block that one??
Something happened there!
JR hitting again. Good to see…
That should be a flop on Robinson. Fine coming…
I think if Love had JUST one more try on that possession he woulda hit it…
I think he was shocked that it was there for the taking.
My 6 year old son ” why is the man in the suit angry daddy?” Uh that is Kevin Kurgis and its his job to be angry chasing ambulances.
Ball don’t lie…..
Good quarter though
Would like them to at least try playing through love in the high post. Would prefer to see love take the majority of shots this game.
Can’t complain about much that quarter. Aside from the one turnover and a couple of bad transition D moments, Cavs (with KLove and Kyrie leading the way) dominated
That last set where Kyrie got the hockey assist and the 3 was beautiful. He was sooooo wide open in the corner….
Other than that Aldridge/TT match up I was pleased with the first quarter. They will continue to go to Aldridge as long as TT is guarding him.