Live Thread: Mavs @ Cavs
2022-03-30Good evening CtB!
Tonight is another marquee matchup of two playoff seeking teams, with the Dallas Mavericks traversing north to the shores of Lake Erie to take on the hospital Cavs. Things have changed a lot since the Cavs went to the Big D and handed Luka Dončić and the Mavs a thorough beat down 114-96. That game was dominated by Tower City along with Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love off the bench, all of whom easily rendered Dončić’s triple double useless.
Now, there are only two surviving players among those five: Lauri Markkanen and Kevin Love. And besides the decimation of the Cavs’ roster to injuries, the Dallas Mavericks are playing their best ball of the season and are a dark horse candidate to make a deep playoff run. If the Cavs have any designs on winning tonight, they will require a MVP level performance from Darius Garland, along with some vintage Minnesota Kevin Love and a dash of “Robert Horry clutchness” from Lauri Markkanen. Also, perhaps J.B. Bickerstaff will let Moses Brown loose on his former squad? Or is that too much to ask?
The calculator paints a very interesting picture about tonight’s matchup. One could argue that these two teams are mirror images of each other. How are the Mavs winning this year? By slowing the game down to a crawl with lockdown defense and “good enough” offense. This game will be decided by which defense can impose its will on the other. Another key matchup will be on the boards, with the Cavs’ 11th ranked offensive rebounding rate versus the Mavs’ 11th ranked defensive rebounding rate. Can the Cavs manufacture some extra looks? Stay tuned.
Tip off is scheduled for 7:00PM ET and will be broadcasted live on Bally Sports Ohio/Great Lakes, Go Cavs!
Awful stretch.
Jesus, two uber sloppy turnovers in a row leads to two easy buckets
Cavs getting caught up in the Mavs game, good timeout JB
Cmon Ice remember to get air under that ball
Ice pushed that shot,
DARIUS COOKING
Man. Can’t be fun to guard him. Unreal
GREAT PASS DG! GREAT FINISH LAURI!
two of best defensive teams in the NBA both getting absolutely shredded LMFAOOOOOO
Good game..Moses is looking good.
DENIED BY OKORO
that play was utterly satisfying
Darius filthy.
Brown likes to dunk.
Takes the ladies tennis style to it too lol
I am not sure I wanna know what this means.
Moses parting the sea
CARIS FOUL HARDER
Luka’s deceptively strong. gotta tackle him.
Moses with a scream to part the red sea!!!
CARIS CANNOT BE STOPPED
Boom boom Brown. That made me smile!
DG TO BROWN X3
Nice to see DG’s three falling after a really rough stretch of games from the arc…
DARIUS GARLAND ZONE BUSTER
Great lead pass LeVert
Great pass Caris !!!
Really thinking the Cavs need to find a way to keep Brown and try to develop him…freakish size and athleticism…
Goodwin -13, DG +20 in their mins. That’s…quite the fall off. But gotta stick with it…DG needs rest.
Yeah BG has been rather bad lately, but he also has been given no chance to get into any sort of rhythm with these rotations
Could’ve gone more Windler/Caris IMO
Minnesota gonna do us a favor and hold their lead against the raps? Would be a huge boost for us to swap win/loss tonight
Up 15 mid way through the 2nd…
Watching that NY/Cha game too. Would be nice to avoid the Nets in the play-in
I’m actually all for beating the nets in the play in in Cleveland.
Not much defense tonight, I see
Cavs actually played pretty good D…dallas got bailout calls galore
Gotcha. Not surprised at the Luka 1st half double double.
Windler with 5 min. And we talkin’ ‘bout trust?
SPEAK ON IT SIMMO
Haha I think it’s mostly matchup based/situational – rolling with Okoro and Stevens more tonight to guard Doncic. And LeVert has been on
Yeah I know but I had to use the line.
This is the best worst halftime show I’ve ever seen. I’m waiting for will Ferrell to appear any second.
It’s something alright
DG >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Luka
LUKA OVERRATED
Caris just needs to be a pure scorer, which is why starting him is a good move and Koby dropped the ball on another backup PG.
Yep. Caris can channel his inner Jamal Crawford for all i care. Just give me points on O and hands up on D baby.
Meh. He’s what they need right now.
Moses earns the halftime interview! Love it!
Vert!!!!!
LeVERT ON FIRE
“Horses for courses” and this is Caris’s course.
Good thing Levert is playing out of his mind…need the points badly…
DG TO STEVENS LMFAOOOOOO TOO EASY
Fortunately Powell wasn’t on the other end of that Will Smith slap, he’d be out for two months
lolol
Cavs playing against more than 5 again tonight.
THATS A MOVING SCREEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOT DAMN BOZO REFS
OKORO TO DG GREAT PLAY!
Almost dropped. Lauri shooting well from midrange.
I think Levert’s inconsistency comes down to literally inconsistency…he never shoots a free throw the same way, doesn’t have a consistent set of spots to get to in order to get his midrange shot off, and doesn’t use the same spots on the board to finish drives. He is in a rhythm tonight…but plays like a really talented college player rather than a professional.
His shot form is all over the place…
GREAT HUSTLE ON THE BOARDS
Bad challenge. Low EV.
BALL DONT LIE
They need to add a 4th ref who just sits in the booth for reviews. Guys on the floor are never going to want to overturn a foul call they made.
Quick, someone check on JB. Acting weird, calling a challenge.
Keeping DG minutes down, playing Brown. He definitely listened to the podcast
JB has done a much better job managing DG’s minutes in the 1st half.
Jalen Brunson every time he’s near a Cav tonight.
HE’S A RAT
Good challenge JB. The hell with saving it. Keep the momentum rolling and close out the half.
JB using a challenge in the first half what is going on ?!?!
Mavs certainly have the personality of their star…they all foam at the mouth and chatter at the refs every damn play.
THATS A CLEAN BLOCK
God, these refs are weak…
LeVert had his guy beat and then faked again. Luckily Lauri bailout option in effect
“HOLY” MOSES ALMOST WITH A FIRST HALF DOUBLE// DOUBLE —–WHAT TOOK JB SOOOOO LONG TO “UNLEASH THE BEAST “
Cavs winning the physicality
GREAT PASS CARIS
That foul was on the catch. Garbage.
makeup call LMFAOOO
Brown doing a good job defending Doncic when he gets in the paint…
Good Caris game let’s go !!!
ICE FINISH!
Moses on one end and Brown on the other!!!
Lol. Pretty weak call for brown. But I’ll take it.
GREAT DEFENSE BROWN!!!!!
CARIS STEPBACK JACK
Break your mama’s back
CARIS MUST READ CTB ALSO—–‘COMING OUT PARTY ” TONIGHT —WHAT WE ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR —-ALL IN FOR THE CAVS ALREADY TO SIGN ‘HOLY ‘ MOSES TO CONTRACT FOR NEXT YEAR —-THERE IS ALOT OF UNTAPPED RAW TALENT THERE
He was a legit solid option on a terrible OKC team last year. I was shocked he was available. Definitely worth a couple year contract he can back up allen any time.
Goodwin getting fried on defense, WHERES WINDLER JB!!!!!!?????
Yes he’s far too friendly 😂
Obvious walk by doncic.
He’s at the level where it’s never gonna get called…