Live Thread: Hawks @ Cavs, Play-In Tournament
2022-04-15Tonight along the shores of Lake Erie, the Cavs welcome the Atlanta Hawks to a do or die game for the right to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. It is another “game of the year” for the young Cavs, who have been under playoff race pressure since the All-Star Break. The Cavs have a chance to keep a magical season going, or could be left dazed and confused wondering what happened to the magic. To add to the tension and drama, major breaking news:
Cavaliers All-Star center Jarrett Allen plans to go through pre-game warmups with the intention of playing vs. Atlanta in the Play-In Tournament tonight, but will make a final decision at gametime, sources tell ESPN. He’s been out since early March with a fractured finger.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 15, 2022
It looks like the Cavs are doing everything possible to keep playing, including giving Jarrett Allen a shot, which wouldn’t happen if there were a long term risk to his injury. It seems to be a matter of pain tolerance and conditioning as to whether Allen will play and how much.
From a basketball standpoint, there is plenty of intrigue about this game as a classic “strength vs. strength” battle between the Cavs’ defense and Hawks’ offense. The Hawks come in with one of the best offenses in the NBA, and the Cavs have consistently been a top defense, though everyone is well aware of the post-Rubio/post-Allen drop off. The obvious question of the night: How will the Cavs scheme for Trae Young? Will they blitz the pick and roll? or will they drop and force Trae to go for 40 or 50, of which he’s entirely capable. Conventional wisdom would dictate that you’d rather force Trae Young to score than pass, but who knows how Coach J.B. Bickerstaff will play it.
From a statistical standpoint, it’s actually interesting how these teams mirror each other with exception of one important category: turnovers. The real question for the Cavs is overcoming their youth and lack of experience.The Cavs have no playoff experience outside of their veteran role players. It will be an enormous mental and emotional challenge for the Cavs to stay positive in the face of mistakes and adversity. If the Cavs are to compete and win, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Love, and Caris LeVert will have to do some heavy lifting in order to ballast all of the youth and inexperience.The Cavs are going to make mistakes, they need their junkyard dawg mentality for 48+ minutes.
Tip off is scheduled for 7:30PM ET and will be broadcasted live on ESPN, Go Cavs!
JB has these guys bought in to playing hard.
He is one of the worst Xs and Os coaches though. Just no plan at all.
Zero passing game, lazy O. Not going to get it done, so why is JB allowing it?
Cavs not in sync on O here in second half, not a lot of movement
Bench just can’t do anything tonight.
Too much iso ball and no ball movement .. so barely any open looks.
Are we watching this season wither away with Caris just wasting possession after possession…
We need to defend now!
FRIGGIN WASTED POSSESSIONS—-COULD BE UP AT LEAST 8
Get into your offense!
Way too much hero ball LeVert
Dumb, Caris…
Love the increased physicality in the 4th from both teams. So much more fun when the refs let them play.
Hawks owning Cavs on D. Signs ominous.
JB starting the quarter with DG on the floor while Trae sits…
Probably planning on playing DG the rest of the way…
Rondo in…
Completely different game on both ends when Markkanen isn’t on the floor.
In the words of Fred McLeod… “it’s sweaty palms time”
Hawks outscored us 33-23… Trae with 16 points..
Is Lauri ok?
3 fouls. Hopefully he starts the fourth. We need him.
The refs absolutely refused to let the Hawks go quietly.
12 minutes… defend for your life.. All or nothing..
Dumb foul from levert.
Agrewd
NBA needs to ban the late whistle.
“DITTO”SIMMO
This is only the 2nd time he’s been on the line.. that’s still pretty good .
My concern is that we now end up in an iso battle, Levert and DG trying to do it all to match young
Keep making Young defend.
Trae takes so many garbage threes…but when he makes one, he looks like a hero…
Caris v Trae
CARIS LEVERT HUGE BUCKET
Seriously? Totally losing composure.
And that is what I was worried about
STILL NERVOUS ABOUT YOUNG—-ONLY GOING TO STOP HIM SO LONG —-WATCH THE EFFFFING REFS START TO GIVE TRAE THE FOUL CALLS
Exactly
If we lose this game JB needs to absolutely unleash on this trash officiating in the postgame. The refs have single handedly kept the hawks in it
he could try unleashing Cedi first?
It’s so egregious that the refs are favoring the Hawks
yeah you could feel this lull coming. garland can’t just try the same thing for 40 mins in a row. gotta move bodies.
These last 2 minutes are crucial to keep the lead and extend or a bit to 8-10 if possible..
Get the crowd back in as well.
We have gotten so incredibly fucked by the refs this game it is unbelievable
WASTED POSSESSIONS ARE GOING TO COST THE CAVS—EASILY COULD BE UP DOUBLE DIGITS
Rondo…why why why Rondo if you’re not gonna rest DG?
Where is cedi.
failing to play him drops the ceiling of the teams’ offense a bit…but it tanks the ceiling for the bench units.
It’s a matter of trust. (Thank you, Billy Joel)
are you effing kidding me refs?!!? no call for Lauri and then no jump ball? Bullcrap man
Can’t watch but hoping for a good outcome.
Lauri got pushed in the back and nada.
Cavs need separation soon. Do not allow Trae’s offense to become a factor down the stretch.
Refs are out of control. C’mon now
Stinger I hope
HOLY CRAP LAURI
Wow, Lauri!
Ugh, Rondo coming in…
Okongwu fouled him after he’d already dunked!
Trae blaming his teammates
There we go!
Garland playing sneaky good defense this game
Offense too hesitant
Walking it down the floor…
Huerter gonna have to sit down? finally have it back on.
oh crap his replacement is Bogdan.
Gotta shoot that, Caris.
Mobes has to take Huerter every single time h’s on him…Huerter is one of the worst defenders in the NBA…
MOBLEY WITH THE DUNK SAVER
Evan, you are something else!!!
mobes!!
Gotta love giving home court advantage to all the teams that come to your arena.
Gotta start exploiting the mismatch, JB
CAVS GETTING DUNK AFTER DUNK KEEP GOING
not watching…did they reverse it?
Yes
Yup
All 3 of the reviews have gone against us and 2 of the 3 have been terrible calls
IF THEY REVERSE THE CALL THE FANS ARE GOING TO GO NUTS
Elbow contacted chin…doesn’t matter how hard.
Refs ruining the game. Make the call and move on.
I’ll take it against this team. Hawks ain’t gonna win this challenge.
We need to get some momentum right now with a run.
Levert’s passing has been on another level this game
And ff that call. Should’ve been a Flagrant if not an and 1
can’t do that in the NFL after 5 yards either!
Four point play?
Is it possible that the Cavs finally have some luck go their way this season?
Ugh. Can’t give em free points.