Trifecta: QuickCap, Preview, and Live Thread

Sorry for the lack of a timely recap, the snow storms in Virginia took out power for nearly a week and it’s been a scramble to catch up on the time lost! Some thoughts on the game last night and the game tonight…

1. Mid-season Crisis

The biggest thing that stuck out from the game last night was how much the team misses Ricky Rubio. It’s not hard to think that the guys are all heartbroken for their teammate. The Cavs are 2-4 without Rubio, 2-5 if the New Orleans’ game is included. How the team responds to this adversity will shape the rest of the season.

The Cavs lacked competitiveness (outrebounded 54-42 and that was without Draymond Green) and unselfishness (outassisted 24-21). Ironically, the defense was still incredible with the Warriors shooting 40% from the field and only 23% from three. But Rubio’s leadership void, especially with his experience in big games, is a daunting basketball problem that they have to solve in order to keep their playoff status.

2. A solution to Lauri’s shooting woes?

These are the top five combos of the main rotation bigs: Lauri, Love, JA, and Mobley. The thing that jumps out is that three out of the top four lineups have Lauri playing at the power forward or center positions. It begs the question, “is Lauri at the small forward position the way forward for the best version of the Cavs?” There’s no question Lauri’s shooting this year the worse numbers of his young career. But the big three’s defense is near elite. A thing to watch going forward is if J.B. deploys Lauri at the 4/5 with more regularity to get his shot going.

3. A couple of great quotes from last night

Jarrett Allen on the Warriors outrebounding #Cavs 54-42: "First and foremost, I’m going to take responsibility for that. The offensive rebounds, the rebounding, I should have done better going out there. If anybody else takes the blame, they're just being humble. That’s on me."

— Kelsey Russo (@kelseyyrusso) January 10, 2022

#Cavs J.B. Bickerstaff said tonight's game was a learning experience for them.

"Our message to our guys is, we're good enough. So we're gonna find ourselves in games like this. And we have to be prepared to be more forceful and more determined."

— Kelsey Russo (@kelseyyrusso) January 10, 2022

4. Back to back in NoCal

Tonight, the Cavs take on a floundering Sacramento Kings that has fired its head coach and is looking to possibly overhaul their entire roster. It’s the perfect opportunity to erase the bad taste of last night’s beatdown. Darius Garland sounds like a “go” even though he came up gimpy at the end of the game last night.

In a contrast of styles, the Kings play no defense while the Cavs do. If the Cavs can stay gritty on the defensive end, they can win ugly. They may have to given the reality of dead legs on a back to back.

Tip off is scheduled for 10:00PM ET and will be broadcasted on Bally Sports Ohio/Great Lakes, GO CAVS!