Live Thread: Cavs @ Hornets (#WatchTheStingers)
2016-02-03
The Cavaliers flew into Charlotte yesterday for the second stop on this quick road trip tonight against the Hornets. It’s actually the last time the wine & gold will be away from their own hive at the Q until the 21st of the month, and one of just three remaining road games for all of February (well, everyone that is, except for LeBron, Tyronn Lue and the Cavs’ coaching staff who will be traveling to Toronto for All Star Weekend). On the surface, this looks to be a fairly easy buzz through the Queen City for the King and his men… especially given that the Hornets’ starting PG, Kemba Walker, will likely have his wings clipped for this one with a knee injury.
Charlotte may also be without Nic Batum (toe), but will have a few members of it’s colony back with Jeremy Lamb and the fully healthy Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The Cavs would be wise not to look past this Hornets team, even without a healthy Walker, however. Charlotte certainly still has the ability to slow the Cavs in transition and protect the rim. According to ESPN stats, they are second in the NBA with 38.5 points allowed in the paint per game and are among the top 10 with 11.8 allowed on the fast break. Even when the Cavs swatted them 95-90 in a win at Charlotte on Nov. 27, both teams had just six fast break points each, and the Cavs owned only a 40-36 advantage in the paint. Of course, Kyrie Irving didn’t play in that game, and without Kemba to stay with him, points may be a little easier to come by.
On the Cavs’ side, LeBron himself was reportedly dealing with the after-effects of a stinger (of a different kind) that he suffered during the third quarter of Cleveland’s overtime win against the Pacers on Monday. He is expected to play, although Matthew Dellavedova has been called a game-time decision by Coach Lue, as he’s apparently been dealing with a sore hamstring for the last week. If Delly can’t go, expect to see some rare Mo Williams action. And, on that topic… while the Cavs really need to work on shoring up their recently honeycombed defense, this may not be the game we see it completely jell with the potential change in the back court. Still, they should be able to push their winning streak to six games.
Cavs likely starting lineup includes: Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith, LeBron James, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. And, for the Hornets: Jeremy Lin, Nicolas Batum, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marvin Williams and Spencer Hawes.
Game time is 7 p.m. (EST), and the action can be seen on FSO, or heard on 1100 WTAM.
Prediction: Cavs take a few stings, but outrun the Hornets 108-101.
Commence buzzing…
Cavs offense has been at a 112.3 efficiency level in last 7 games. They had a couple games where their offense was efficient in terms of points scored and also passed the eye test in terms of really moving the ball and just as importantly moving themselves offball. The games against the suns, twolves were examples of this. This is backed up by their assist rate in those games which was well over 60 percent. The pistons and spurs games assist rate is around 50 percent which is actually pretty low. I broke down each possesion in the spurs game… Read more »
Oh no! Panic is back!! :)
Seriously guys – we showed last week that when we are focused and try hard we can whoop the Spurs. Yes, it’s frustrating they didn’t bring it tonight. But I am truly not worried. Look at last year’s playoffs – there were like 3 extra gears they turned on.
Yea, it’s perfectly okay to build really bad habits
I love how people throw the word “panic” around… How about disappointment? Is it really too much to ask this team to win games they should against probable lottery teams with their star out injured? I mean seriously…
It’s pretty annoying. Guess no one should discuss anything till June, since ‘the Cavs will turn it on in the playoffs’.
Well said, EG. My comments aren’t indicative of panic rather an utter disappointment that a team this good can play this bad. And not breaking our bad habits is disconcerting.
The panic is on the court. When things get tough, they fall back into panic iso ball.
We are 35-13. We have some bad habits, but we have LOTS of good habits and LOTS of talent. AND we have lots of room to get better. Playing a bad game after a pretty intense stretch of games while adjusting to a new coach makes perfect sense to me. That’s all it is. If they slap 3, 4, 5 of these in a row, I might worry. But I am pretty sure we will win out until the break (especially after this clunker), and then get a week off with a 37-13 record. Not bad! And that would include… Read more »
Well at least they’ll be home for like the next three weeks. Finally get to put in some decent practice time.
THE ” LUE WHITE HAIR METER ” IS GROWING ( AND IN MY OPINION WILL CONTINUE TO PROGRESS RAPIDLY AS THE ” PROCESS ” REGRESSES )—-WE ALL KNOW ABOUT EXCUSES( ARE LIKE …..) —EVERYONE HAS ONE
Must be nice to be Blatt right now….
Might be nice to be him the rest of this season’s run…..
Check out @JacobLRosen’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/JacobLRosen/status/695075371566256128?s=09
MKG in 2014-15: 10.9 pts, 7.6 rebs, 28.9 mins
MKG in 2015-16: 13.5 pts, 11.3 rebs, 33.4 mins
I’m shocked and amazed.
This was his 3rd game this year. Stunning.
Cavs seemed very immature with a low basketball iq tonight
What’s the excuse this time?
Cavs couldn’t even put the defense in “indefensible” tonight…
Its very troubling. They are a step slow with everything. How can they not know the system by now? Its been two years. This team is out of excuses.
Can’t wait to hear what Lloyd and Haynes have to say this time. Pretty soon they are going to have to admit that even though Blatt was an a-hole, he was a good coach.
Ha Ha NEVER WILL THEY DO THAT!! They really hate him. But yes it sucks they just get so discombobulated.
The best thing about the Blatt firing is that they truly are out of excuses.
That hasn’t stopped them from giving them…
Blatt always gave Lue credit for the improved defense. But I wonder how much of that was really Blatt directing Lue?
No Delly no W.
Good defensive pressure from Charlotte for significant stretches. Nice shooting too.
:-(
Yeah…if anything the game is vindication of how important Delly
Really. If we had Delly this game but no Irving, would the result have been different? I think yes.
Delly would have stopped the Linsanity…
And. He boxed out.
Delly has been better than KI this season. So far, anyway.
James plays 39 minutes, Irving plays 37, love 36 a day after all playing 40 plus. WTF. Ridiculous. This team looked terrible tonight and Monday. Horrible offense both games. Defense has been slipping for awhile now.
Very concerned about how bad the defense has slipped. Campy is telling like it is. An AC is saying embarrassing.
What is bad is they are getting tired in the 3rd and really start getting sloppy. The dig yourself out of a hole and I’m not calling time outs isn’t working. You’re right they have abandoned the fundamentals in defense.
Yeah part of the strategy of calling time outs is to draw up plays that will get easy shots and possibly call some sets going forward. No point in letting guys just keep doing what they are doing if it isn’t working. Now if guys aren’t listening during timeouts or are not running sets that Lue wants, then I could see Lue’s approach working to teach them a lesson in film sessions that their way doesn’t work.
Good point! But Lue will have to bench one of these guys this keeps on. Just do it and get it over with. Hopefully those same mistakes will not keep happening.
Not about this game, or even specifically this team, but it seems like the East was really doing well against the West for awhile, and in fact had a winning record against the West. Seems like the tables are turning the past couple weeks. Thoughts on why? Was the East overachieving, or was the West underachieving?
Think both. Bottom of the west playoff teams were terrible at the beginning of the season. Played better since then, though still not as good as last year.
Cols gets awful quiet when Lue’s Cavs are this bad. If the Eurogenius was coaching, as he sarcastically calls him, the critical comments would be flying. It is simply hard to believe they played this bad. Mo, RJ, Shump and TT were awful.
This performance was far worse than Golden State humiliation.
Love’s shooting was pretty damn bad.
Seemed like they gave him less of his type of touches we’ve all been talking about this game though. Plus, he did hit a pretty big three at the end there without having shot basically all quarter…
They fed him generously in the 1st half. He kept missing
I saw a lot of missed 3’s not a lot of inside misses.
So is that the team’s fault and he gets a pass?
I don’t know. But he can’t pass himself the ball in the post. Whether its because he didn’t get good position or they weren’t looking for him, this game wasn’t Love’s fault.
Sorry but this mantra and excuse making on Love is old. He has opportunities to make things happen. There is more concerted efforts to get the ball to him. Shall we give him a butler with the ball on the platter for him too? He is accountable too.
Agreed. All of this whining about him not getting the ball in the right spots. He needs to move off the ball – same as LeBron and Kyrie – and they need to make cuts so that others see that they have an open look at the basket. All of this standing around wanting the ball is total BS.
The challenge for Lue/Griffin/whoever: how to get this team to play with urgency for more than the final 3 minutes.
They need a better offensive system than this in the long run. Do not even care about tonight. Just will not win in a few months playing simplistic p and r two man games and back down iso. Also, defense needs to get back to being consistently great.
There isn’t a coach or GM in the world that can manufacture heart. Its been missing for a long long time. They showed it in the Finals, but its been missing all year. I don’t know what’s up, but LBJ is not a leader. Its never been him and he still hasn’t learned it. You don’t become leader by being the best player. Kyrie, Love, and Lebron – none of them has the leader gene in them.
Wish Delly’s heart could be put in Lebron’s body.
A tough coaching lesson for Lue. He had his hands full tonight. Digging out the hole philosophy didn’t work.
This was disgusting to watch… maybe one day we’ll learn to stop all this BS…
Well that was depressing.
That was embarrassing. I’m just glad the players are happy in the locker room though.
Kyrie Irving needs to learn how to an point guard again. He was garbage this half.
Absolutely. Not Lue’s fault (or Blatt’s). Come on Kyrie!
Why are the starters still in? Lue should have yanked them…
Yeah it is getting ridiculous. What happened to the larger rotation?
Yes!! Big reason you got the job was you would be tougher than Blatt, then do it! No lip service
Lue is obviously trying to win every game at the expense of the long haul.
One of those points where I feel like it’d be better long term if the Cavs lost.
Yeah. It would have been better long term if they’d lost to Indy.
This team is in trouble.
GS has 74 points at half, mercy.
The Warriors really take care of business. I respect them for that.
Red card for that fan!
For touching LeBron. Who got a butt tap from a fan a couple weeks ago? That fan didn’t get tossed.
Kevin Durant got yelled out from a fan to get out of the way. The butt tap was on Mosgov I think from Denver. That was soooooo weird.
Yeah why didn’t they make Lin go left?
weak. weak. weak. weak.
Argh. LOVE. Read the gd scouting report. Lin hasn’t been able to go left his entire career.
Wow hornets with some awful breakdowns last couple possesions
Guess you need a Wombat to stop the Linsanity…
Not sure how thats a foul on shump
Are you freakin joking??? Zeller fouled shump!
Need stops…
That’s why you can’t dig yourself a hole.
Where was this drive and kick game in the third?
JR!!
Bad shot, Ky…
That was dumb though. Absolutely no reason to reach there. Lin had nothing to do but cover up.
Bad call… that was good D by Ky… all ball…
Amazing what defensive effort does to a not so good team
Love with the big 3
LBJ woke up!
Hornets tightening up.
BIG time three from KLove…
A year ago on gotbuckets we studied four factors APM and Delly was one of the top guards in the league for improving team rebounding while he was on the floor. I never believed that stat till now.
Again JR is the only Cav fighting back. Even though he got the tech he is the only who’s showing some fight.
Yeah Love that about JR
Bout time we got a run out. Somebody get MJ a Cavs jersey
I know the Cavs aren’t winning, but if love to see Jordan’s reaction if the Cavs pull this out.
So would Craig Ehlo…
two steps forward, two thousand steps back…
Get some stops guys…
Pass, JR, Jesus.
Love is playing center??
I agree with AC 100% and it keeps happening game after game. The Cavs need to make opposing teams respect them.
This game is over.
AC is right, hawes has been using those elbows an awful lot today…
Jr with the tech . Fred said league rescinded one of JR’s tech’s this yr
Thank god for JR smith…hawes acting tough is a joke and is dangerous cuz he doesn’t seem to know how to control himself
45-24 on the boards, and 25-13 on assists. And this is no Walker
They’d be winning by at least 20 with Walker….he’d torch our guards.
But also no Delly…
I said earlier no Delly was bad karma. But the diff on boards/assists is beyond pathetic.
TT has been awful…
How can that be a foul on Lebron?
It’s not… offensive foul on Hawes… T on JR…
I think the officials actually got that right, which is a surprise given that JR was involved. But it was just a push.
The Cavs learned nothing from last game. This is just ridiculous.
Actually think the last game and this one were not that much of an outlier. Spurs game had more iso and one pass made threes, simplistic pick and roll than you might have thought. Broke down the possessions. We had some nice off ball movement and subsequent ball movement on several occasions in the half court, but we also killed them in transition and guys made a bunch of contested one pass and shoot jump shots. Will post the numbers sometime today or tomorrow
Dammit JR. That was dumb.
1 step forward 3 steps back.
35 steps forward, 13 back.
Maybe that will get them pumped up.
JR def gonna get ejected
He’s already got 5 fouls anyway…
Throw Hawes out!
https://twitter.com/realcavsfans/status/695063815969509377
The next time LBJ blocks out will be the first time he blocks out.
Leb gotta leak out to get easy buckets…blocking out is for the little people…
Delly must be the MVP… Cavs are nothing on D without him…
Hope Delly gets well soon
They deserve to lose as simple as that.
Only 13 assists more than halfway through the 4th quarter.
Hard to watch. Cavs look awful. When are we going to stop having games that look like this?
Now would be a good time for a timeout to actually run some non-iso non-simplistic two man sets.
You mean there are other plays than the two man high pick and role? /s