Live Thread: Cavs @ Detroit (The Love Thread)

After a loss to the Nets less than 24 hours ago, the Cavs are on the road to take on Detroit. So far this season the Cavs have fallen short of getting a win.  They currently rank 30th in the league in 3-pointers made with just seven a game. They are 29th in the league for 3-pointers made by opponents per game with 15.0. They’re allowing 120.5 points a night and putting up a measly 106 a game.

They’re not good. That’s pretty obvious. But, they’re still our team. Repeat that, “they’re still our team.” I know, I know. That doesn’t make it any better. That’s our plight as Cavs fans right now though. This leads somewhere.

While typing up this thread, I accidentally typed “Love” instead of “Live” for the title. Right off the rip, I messed up, but hopefully my writing tonight goes better. That mistake isn’t something that I am going to allow to ruin my whole evening of blogging. And, I’m hoping the Cavs don’t let a rocky start ruin a season.

This question has been on my mind the past couple of days: How do you watch a bad team? I have one theory and we’ll try it on this thread. Give some love people. Before the game, post something positive. Let’s look for those great things this game.

3 Things to Watch

-Who on the Cavs can stop Blake Griffin? On Tuesday, the former Clipper put up 50 points and hit 5-1o from deep. In the post, the Cavs have a shot. Tristan Thompson is big. He can do some post defense. However, who gets Blake when he starts dancing with the ball. It won’t be Kevin Love. That’s because he is sitting this game out with foot soreness.

-The Cavs defense needs to run shooters off the line. I don’t care if they give guys open looks at the bucket. Trading twos is a lot easier to keep up with when your offense isn’t exactly lava hot.

-The Wine & Gold have lost big to lottery teams and played good teams tight. They play to the level of the competition. If a team is lottery level, they play lottery level. That doesn’t work when the lottery team actually shows up. They play heady ball when their opponent is good. That habit needs to stop. Right now Detroit is 4-1, so the Cavs might show up. If they do, Detroit fans should be excited cause it could mean their good start isn’t just lucky.

I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t offer up my positive thought for the game. It’s this: I love that Cedi Osman has shown relentless effort trying to run the break whenever he gets a rebound. And, I love that the guys dribble into long twos instead of going to the rim because that is a great shot and it lets you use the energy you didn’t expend driving all the way to the hoop for defense. That second one was from Austin Carr.

I’m picking the Cavs tonight. Without Love in the lineup, they might want to prove something. What that is, I don’t know, but I’m guessing it leads them to a 121-115 win.