Live Thread: Cavs vs Wizards
2016-02-28
The Cavs look to bounce back from Friday’s loss in Toronto, as they conclude their two game mini-road trip with a stop in Washington to face the Wizards. It’s every NBA player’s least favorite game — the 1pm Sunday matinee — but the John Wall/Kyrie Irving match-up will be a good test to see if the Cavs have anything in the works to keep opposing point guards from consistently having career nights against them.
Also, earlier today, the Cavs announced the signing of guard Jordan McRae to a 10-day contract. From cavs.com:
McRae (6-6, 185) was a 2016 NBA Development League All-Star this year after appearing in 29 games (all starts) for the Delaware 87ers and averaging 23.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals in 35.5 minutes per game. Against the Canton Charge on Jan. 26, he scored a D-League record 61 points on 21-34 (.618) shooting from the field, to go along with 11 rebounds and seven assists in 46 minutes. McRae also had two 10-day stints with the Phoenix Suns this season, appearing in seven games with averages of 5.3 points and 1.4 assists in 11.7 minutes.
Originally selected as the 58th overall pick out of the University of Tennessee by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Draft and traded to the Philadelphia 76ers on draft night, McRae played professionally in Australia in 2014-15 before joining Delaware for the season’s final 13 games. McRae will be available for today’s contest at Washington and will wear jersey number 12.
Go Cavs!
Update: Then, there’s this…
LeBron will not play today. Just resting.
— Jason Lloyd (@JasonLloydABJ) February 28, 2016
Richard Jefferson will start in place of James.
Where are all the “I told you so” people who popped up after the OKC win to point out how great Lue was?
I’m pretty tired of KI games where he puts up stats but has little effect on the game. There are a lot of guys I’d rather have at guard. Guards who play just one end of the court kill you in the NBA nowadays.
Didn’t catch it as I was driving back from Ft. Lauderdale. But really, 0 attempts from 3 for JR?
On the bright side, Jordan McRae was +15!
I think that, when the other players saw that LBJ was getting the day off, they all needed a day off too.
That is some weak sauce attitude considering they have a 2 and 11 record without him.
We all thought that LBJ had Blatt in his back pocket, in that he let LBJ do whatever he wanted and covered for him. Most people watching the post game interview would easily conclude that it’s twice as bad with Lue.
Here’s a preposterous thought – what are Vegas’ odds for LBJ not returning after this year?
Depends on what they do in the playoffs but if they do not make the finals or get swept, I think it becomes possible. Unlikely, but possible.
Don’t think his brand could withstand it, but it might be in play if they don’t make the finals.
Well didn’t see the interview but that was always a concern with this coaching change. Let us hope that is not the case.
All the talk about the Cavs being bad without Lebron… they are bad with him. It is a hostile work enviroment. The players are not having fun. Why has everyone looked paased this. It is always been about Lebron. He has created a monster and it is no fun to be around. Ask David B
It probably bears mentioning that Fedor pointed out on The Fan the other day, Lue is still technically an interim head coach because he never actually was inked to that reported 3-year deal…
He’ll get canned at the end of the season. Then they’ll bring Mark Jackson, who will set fire to the organization.
He will certainly set fire to it…after he pours gasoline all over it…good times.
Lue is their coach and they need to stick with a guy for once. Ride or die with Lue. It is time to build some continuity. It is on the players if they cannot execute or listen.
I picked a good game to miss, apparently. Even without Lebron, this team should be capable of competing with the Wizards of the world…but apparently not…
Good thing Lue secured a three year contract.
He can always slide back to defensive co-coordinator.
Griffin disputed that, but who knows what the truth is.
Well if the players play like this for two coaches including a guy they wanted and who was presumably hired to galvanize them, no coach will be able to do much with this team. At some point the players just have to become mentally tough on their own, start building good habits, and actually become a team rather than a collection of talented individuals. Hell James called them out after the Toronto game and he hasn’t always shown effort consistently since coming back either.
Hickson and Gooden are in for the Wizards. Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall waiting to check in.
Remember when we had high hopes for Hickson to become the athletic frontcourt player Lebron never had since Carlos Looser? Seems a lifetime ago.
Hickson has always sucked….he’s the perfect example of the NBA guy who sticks around the league forever on bad teams.
LeBron apparently has seen enough. Headed to locker room during timeout with 5:42 left and #Cavs down 27 — Lloyd
Can’t blame him there. This game is basically unwatchable.
Wait. This isn’t hockey.
This probably is feeling good for LeBrons ego. I know LeBron isn’t that mad they are failing without him. It’s his constant need to feel important. Sorry LeBron apologists, but this is certainly going to validate LeBrons ego
And you are butthurt to realize just how important Lebron is.
He’s important, but he’s not this important. This team *should* be able to beat the Wizards without LeBron. We should at least do better than this. But it looks like they don’t even care.
Well a 2-11 record without Lebron would contradict your statement about the degree of his importance. Beating OKC twice without Kyrie and Shump adds further proof to that.
I’m not talking about what this team does without LeBron, I’m talking about what they *should* do. A team with Kyrie, Love, and solid role players isn’t a championship team, but it’s a team that shouldn’t be 2-11 at any point.
If LeBron *is* that important to the Cavs, it’s only because they’re too mentally weak to win when he’s out. But what does that say about the team, the coaching, the organization? (And LeBron himself?) Nothing good.
It’s more than just mental weakness if you get blown out by a mediocre team just because your top dog is out. This loss just dropped the Cavs’ record to 2-12 without Lebron, so it can not be considered an abberation. It tells me that Kyrie and Kevin just don’t compute together, offensively and worse, defensively. It tells me that Kyrie is just an atrocious playmaker who couldn’t galvanize a team. His defense is equally inept and the worst part is his urge to try to outscore his counterpart whenever he is getting torched on defense (which is all the… Read more »
To me it is more important for the Cavs to get to play the way they need too (championship level basketball) than to finish first in the East. So I would sit LeBron a week and let the rest of the guys learn the what it takes even if it means losing the top seed.
What’s the point of having the first seed and getting to the finals if they are going to get destroyed anyways if the role players continue to play like this.
In other words I would pull a coach Pop lol.
I’m sure LeBron himself feels like going on strike against this team if this is how they show up without him.
I’m less concerned with the on court play than I am with the body language of the team the last two games. In the 1st qtr versus Toronto there was a sequence where LeBron has the ball and calls Kyrie to set a screen – who then REFUSES!!! LeBron gestures more aggressively, Kyrie seems to just sigh in exasperation and jog across. LeBron just walking off court come game end, everyone getting mad at Mozgov, people moaning at each other after each defensive breakdown, Smith today just dribbling it up twice in succession to launch two awful contested mid rangers… Read more »
I didn’t see the beginning of this game, but is there a reason Irving and Shumpert have played so much more than Love or JR?