Live Thread: Knicks @ Cavs, NBA Playoffs Game 5
2023-04-26Good evening CtB!
The Cavs welcome the New York Knicks to the shores of Lake Erie to stave off elimination from the 2023 NBA Playoffs and send this series back to New York and add pressure to the Knicks to close the series. The two main stories of the series has been the putrid offense and defensive rebounding of the Cavs to this point. The Cavs have shot the second fewest threes among playoff teams and have made only 31% of the attempts. Somehow the Knicks have been a worse three point shooting team, but make up for it with their hustle on the offensive glass.
The Cavs’ shooting stinks in general from the field because the Knicks are constantly packing the paint with all five defenders to prevent attempts at the rim. If the Cavs want to get to game six, they need to start bombing away from three… particularly Darius Garland, Caris LeVert, and Donovan Mitchell. That’s how they won game two, and that’s the only way to get the Knicks to stop collapsing to the paint on defense. Also in that game, Danny Green played 20 minutes. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff might want to think about riding him to space the floor.
Tip off is scheduled for 7:00PM Eastern time and will be broadcasted live on Bally Sports Ohio/Great Lakes as well nationally televised on NBATV, Go Cavs!
This is setting up for a dramatic finish.
This is the most excitement I’ve experienced this evening :(
Damn!
what in the ever living weirdness was that?
Jump ball!
Great game!
Brutal way to end the season. Can’t say I’m surprised. But getting ousted in five games by a 47 win knicks team even if it was a bad matchup does not bode well going forward. Changes need to be made. Don’t think you can just run this back after this. Personnel is pretty much locked. You’ll likely lose more than you gain via a trade of one of the core. The signs were always there for JB given OOB plays, game management, game planning, rotations, etc. I wanted to see how things shook out in the playoffs, but the answer… Read more »
Huge foul call, Love stewing.
Love got screwed on 2 of his 6. heck of an effort but look out for offensive boards with him sitting.
Strus completely blew up great defense but pushing out to Giannis at the 3 point line. What are you doing dude??
Jimmy Buckets prowling…
Love with 5 threes…
Would love Heat to win this.
NBA Champion Kevin Love knows how to deliver in the playoffs
Wow,I’m kinda glad I couldn’t watch tonight.All my worst fears coming to fruition.
Love is having a huge impact. freaking ridiculous.
team high +7, clearing the defensive boards like a champ, 4-8 from 3. 10 defensive boards. We didn’t have a single guy get 10 TOTAL boards tonight
WTF was going on with JB/koby re KLove ????? we tell him he will not get playing time because wade and stevens are stronger for the anticipated rotations.. and then we sit wade and stevens in the back half of the season and in the 1st round against the knicks ?? this is f&cking INSANE !!!!!!!!!!! my head is exploding and i did not watch 1 minute of the travesty..
Incompetence at its finest! Both should get the boot!
He’s going to have played starters minutes this game. and produced like a boss too. As if JB didn’t look like enough of a buffoon in round 1 before now…
The timing is beautiful.
Seriously – there is no consistent logic to anything JB does! What you describe is Exhibit A. But I would add to that not using your best and only good defensive matchup against Brunson more often, or at least going back to it after Thibs adjusted to your trapping strategy; never making much use of Neto throughout the season, including in this series against Brunson, even though he was an excellent point of attack defender; having a lot success with Levert as 6th man the second half of the season, then abandoning that role in the playoffs.
TV MOGUL S ARE REJOICING THE KNICKS WIN I WILL PREDICT A KNICKS / CELTICS EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
SAME HERE ARCH CUTTING THE “ EXTRA CABLE PACKAGE “ ——INFORMED THE MRS NOMAD WHEN THE CAVS SEASON IS OVER THE “ EXTRA “ PACKAGE OVER WHICH CARRIES HER FAVORITE HALLMARK MOVIES —- I LIVE A DANGEROUS LIFE —- WISH ME LUCK GUYS AND IF YOU DONT SEE A POST FROM ME FOR OVER A WEEK SEND THE LAW ENFORCEMENT 🙏🤪🍺
LMFAOOOOO
Oh no…
Hopefully this doesn’t neuter your love life!
KLOVE 2-4 from three, 6 rebounds in 13 minutes, +1 on the game.
This makes me so mad. But I’m not sure JB would’ve played Love correctly so good for KLove.
Just saying…it was Steph’s 5th season or so when Kerr got thr head coaching job in grossland. Garland turns 5 seasons next year. Dray was in his 3rd season…so will be Mobes.
There is this guy out there named Mark Price…
Coaching name to keep in your back pocket: Jordi Fernandez. Mike brown assistant strong Cavs ties, plus links to Rubio/ Calderon with team Spain.
You’re hired
Love it, lets gooo
remember how much CtB hated Brown?
I remember hating Mike Brown for overplaying Larry Hughes and not giving enough time to larger defenders when we got beaten by the stupid celtics in 2009. I don’t remember Mike Brown running off a hall of famer in the middle of a season because he was still healing from a thumb injury AND NOT playing the guys who were supposedly going to take that hall of famer’s place in the lineup once he was gone.
But fair point about the grass is always greener…we should be careful what we wish for. JB ain’t it though either way.
oh geeze it was Delonte that year not Larry. clearly i remember this well.
HEY AT LEAST WE HAVE THE NFL DRAFT TOMORROW NIGHT—-UNLESS OF COURSE YOU ARE A “ FROWN CLOWNS” FAN ………” WHO DEY —-RIGHT CLF “ 👍😀🍺
😂😂😂
Hell yeah go Cincy!
I’m cutting the cable and will wait and see if it’s worth buying into the Cavs next season.
WHO DEY NOMAD LETS GOOOOOOOO
And just like that the 12 series playoff win streak against EC foes comes to an end.
New era of Cavs basketball.. without Lebron.
https://twitter.com/MZavagno11/status/1651403123360153601?s=20
the dice on koby’s big gamble just landed.. snake eyes.. yeah, spida was exposed.. wasn’t this the line on him on utah ?.. look for .500 next year.. if that.. wait a minute.. we still have windler, right ??
Is everyone just gonna ignore how crappy donovan Mitchell played in this series?? We just partially blew up an up and coming team for his playoff help for us to make a leap. Instead he gets outplayed by Jalen Brunson in a 1st round demolition of a series? We lost to the knicks 7 times out of 9 this season. The team that wanted Donovan! What kind of scary mediocre hell did we just throw ourselves into?? If JB is coaching this team in the season opener Dan Gilbert should be forced to sell the team. The is NOT the… Read more »
Love it
Yeah no argument here.
well said!!! Yeah Donny Basketball was not the best player in the series. Simply put he was outplayed. Not sure he was even the second best (Mitch Rob? no joking)
Mitch was doing what needed to be done: sacrificing his glory to get a new coach.
Phase 2 is demanding a trade if Bickerstiff isn’t released
He’s probably texting Gilbert right now.
I don’t know how “with it” Gilbert is. He’s in a wheelchair and is not the same guy with that short fuse.
Spida deserves the slander of course…. but when he’s saddled with 2 to 3 non-shooters all game every game, the heat comes off of him a little bit.
Since they lost this series JB needs to award the Knicks the Junk Yard Dog award.
https://twitter.com/KenCarman/status/1651386636545167361?s=20
This was a very likable team. Really a bunch of great young guys. My wife loved watching them and became a devoted fan, something that had never happened before in 33 years of marriage. We watched almost every game together, which was amazing.
They can improve next year. Mobley, DG, and Ice will get better. Ricky has a chance to get back. They have a little money to sign a couple new faces.
mine too! she is not listening to my crap about trading her fav JA
We refer to JA as, “the son we never had”. Love that kid. He is great too, except against the few guys in the league who are bigger and stronger — Embiid, Time Lord, Mitch-Rob, Steven Adams.
for sure, so likeable. but not when is getting punked by MitchRob!
The dude retreated. I wonder if this series can change him a bit. He is, as you note, a fun guy who enjoys the game. Will this series stick with him a bit? Maybe motivate him to improve, be more aggressive? I hope it does…
Yeah my son came of age and suddenly became a huge NBA fan. I talked up the Cavs and we’d at least watch the Youtube highlights. He bought some gear with his own money. This series was such a huge letdown. He was more positive than I was in the end.
Going into this I thought the major deficiency was bench. Our starting center and power forward can’t score unless it is uncontested dunk. This series exposed this more than than ever. Game after game. There is hope mobly comes back bigger and stronger. Also He needs an offensive coach to teach him footwork and midrange jumpers . I don’t know what happened to JA. My goodness this guy makes over 20 million per year
Coach destroyed his confidence.
100 percent agree on new coach. I don’t think that’s even debatable. I’m concerned with the rumors he is coming back next year no matter what
You maybe think about it, but I don’t think nows the time. Build his value back up.
If this was last years team, that got this far, I wouldn’t be disappointed. But you made that major trade and it accelerated the timeline. I can’t see it any other way but a failure of a season. I don’t know how you can keep this group together going into next season.
yes.. they are psychologically compromised.. they are talent limited.. they are perhaps too “nice”.. not sure who gets moved.. i would say whoever brings in the bigger haul of decent upper-mid level consistent pros.. and i mean “whoever” .. the “milk and cookies” front court needs to get a little atittude, and more muscle.. and JB gets fired tomorrow..
To me it’s not the personnel, it’s the coach.
i am not sure how you can say that when you saw how terrible our bigs were in the series. and how awful out shooting was. not talking about offensive sets or anything. we just don’t have enough good shooters or strong rebounders
Not worth arguing about tonight. Regardless, you’d be selling low at this point.
Agreed, to an extent….but when it’s just about everything, and you are the higher seed…isn’t it the coach? Did they look ready to play any of these games? The worst matchup of this series was Thibs vs. Jables…
Yeah I mostly agree. Although the coach axed the personnel that would have been helpful in this series.
Yeah if you’re saying that at least some of the Cavs non-Core can’t even be fully evaluated right now until we see how they fare in a better offensive system, I agree. Someone like Cedi is a known commodity, but . . . for example . . . setting Wade up to be the guy who looked like he “took Grandpa Kev’s job” probably didn’t help his confidence.
REALIZE WE WILL DISCUSS ALOT OF WHAT IS BEING POSTED TONIGHT WHEN THE EMOTIONS CALM DOWN. DO WE KEEP //. SIGN CARIS
Sign him and you could always dangle in a trade.
Yes. Run it back with a coach who knows what he’s doing.
have to sign him i think, otherwise we lost that asset. could explore a sign and trade but i doubt it
WHAT WOULD JA BRING IN A TRADE
Not as much you’d think… probably would have to take on a bad contract and get a pick from it.
maybe though? i bet we could get some stuff for him
He’s a solid player, but non-shooting, non-passing big who constantly gets exposed with physicality can be had for pretty cheap in the NBA…. would you rather have JA for 20 or Walker Kessler or Mark Williams for 1/4 of the price?
you right. but those guys were nice draft picks in the lottery, those don’t always hit.
True, but given how they’re undervalued in draft models, the threshold to obtain them I think is relatively easy.
It’s no time to blow it up. Gotta get a new coach and figure it out.
i think its time to ship out JA honestly
JB saying all the right things in the presser. Not disappointed in the team. Physicality of playoffs was too much, motivation for the offseason etc.
DG seems crushed.
DG will bounce back
DG just had his towel over his face while leaving the court… sigh
Let him. This should hurt. The NBA championship is truly earned.
One reason I “hope” the Cavs will seriously reevaluate the coaching is I think Mobley’s and even Okoro’s development of their offensive skills risks being stunted. If JB has any calling-card as a coach it’s supposed to be developing young players, but on the offensive side, is he really? (Can’t knock the defensive results, at least in regular season).
Memphis fired him specifically because his offense stunk… afraid it’s happening again in Cleveland.
KLOVE with 4 rebounds in 8 minutes, equaling what Jarrett Allen got in 36 minutes LMFAOOOOO
It was actually enlightening to watch KLove during that spectacular Heat-Bucks Game 4, with rebounding on my brain after watching the Knicks own the boards. When a shot goes up, he is never ball watching; right away he’s looking to see who he’ll put his hand or body on to establish position. If the Heat advance it will be interesting to see if they can do better limiting the O-boards.
yup, one of the best to ever do it on the boards.
WILL THROW OUT THIS QUESTION—-DO WE STILL THINK THE JA CONTRACT WAS A BARGAIN// GOOD CONTRACT??
Nope…. didn’t do what he was supposed to do when it actually counted.
agree. modern NBA isn’t two bigs. Ship him out for shooters/rebounding bigs (i.e. stretch 4s like KLove) and move Mobley full time to the 5
Yup, Tower City got exposed hard this series by a team that was able to play 4s that could should but still rebound.
JA’s form appears schizophrenic to me. He is either awesome or he stinks, but it’s not a game to game fluctuation. It’s month to month, and heavily influenced by injury/time on the court. His disappearing act this series was baffling to me.
He’s young. Cavs need a better coach. It’s one thing if you don’t have the x’s and o’s. JB didn’t motivate or execute tactically this series.
Yes. I didn’t hear any questions really prosecuting him on tactics at all.
There are a few bad matchups for JA — basically guys that are bigger than him, but many teams don’t have that guy.
“ MORE FRIGGIN REBOUNDS PLEASE 🏀😡”
I THINK THEY ARE STILL GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS—-BUT UNLESS MOBES // JA MAKE HUGE LEAPS OR ICE IF HE IS STILL A CAV AND IF RUBIO CAN RETURN TO 2022 FORM —- ALOT OF “ IF S “ —-BUT MAGIC WILL BE CONTENDING AND IF THE PISTONS GET THE BIG MAN THEY WILL BE PUSHING US at ALSO
This was actually the most lopsided game of the series in terms of rebounding. 48-30. Mitch Rob and Josh Hart by themselves matched the entire Cavs team with 30. Wow.
God, that’s just ridiculous…
THE CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS WITH ICE WILL BE INTERESTING SEE HOW “ IDIOT AGGRESSIVE “ HIS AGENT WILL DEMAND
My bold prediction is that if this group stays together – including the coaching staff, then they won’t make the playoffs next season.
Who’s your coaching dream? Miner’s TY Lue right now.
I wanted Quin Snyder but Korby decided to roll with Bickerstiff!
Dream? Not sure. I’d take Vogel, I’d take a lot of guys. Heck, I’d take Stotts.
DITTO WHAT DANK POSTED PLUS WE HAVE NO DRAFT PICKS OF WORTH TO SPEAK OF // OTHER TEAMS ARE GOING TO IMPROVE THE OFF SEASON THRU DRAFT / FREE AGENCY
DID WE SEE THE LAST OF RUBIO IN A CAVS UNIFORM-/—HOPING IT WAS THE LAST FOR ROL – O – VER ——THE GREEN EXPERIMENT WAS A TOTAL FLOP — SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN A BACK UP POST
he is signed for 2 more years i believe
Yes, he is signed, and I assume they will look to him to come all the way back from his injury next year. We’ll see.
They have him next year. Prob the last of Neto who couldn’t get any playing time from our stiff of a coach. #Bickerstiff
I thought Rubio joined the Cavs for 2 years & planned to retire. Surprised to hear he’s signed for more.
i think it’s 2 plus either TO or PO ?
2+ team option, pretty sure…
it’s been a helluva fun season guys! I am not terribly optimistic as we are completely cash-strapped and it is blatantly obvious we need to make some roster changes. But more so, not optimistic the Cavs will change the coach
MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE AND WENT TO MY GRANDSON S BASEBALL GAME —— “ MORE FRIGGIN 🍺 BEER FOR ALL OF US “ LIKE NATE SAID WILL MISS THE CTB BROTHERHOOD
Hopefully Road Warriors will show up again in the late game. Would so love to see Sacramento take that.
mobley had 6 pts.. allen had 4 rb.. robinson had 13 pts and 18 boards ?? whoa.. did these well-paid children just give up ? is the cavs clubhouse like a kindergarden ? does JB bring them milk and cookies at the practices ??
I know what will solve all their problems, let’s dangle a junk yard dog around their neck.
Well shit. I was working on new 2023 Kingless playoff edition t-shirts. Seem dated now. Any theme ideas?
23-24?
Honestly I still have my 2016 shirt.
Wearing mine right now.
Actually, my 2015
Love that one, looks good & feels great.
A proud possession for sure.
Well I was thinking about taking orders this weekend. I owe some folks some tees. Can just do a word cloud with the names of the staff and commenters.
https://twitter.com/MZavagno11/status/1651395419212218368?s=20
Would have been better to get swept…
Seemed to me for the most part Knicks packed the paint on D and Cavs just kept missing from outside. Confidence never got going except in game 2.
Mitchell Robinson with the best games of his career.
I expect that we’ll get another year of JB, and the focus will shift from player development to real contending. Cavs really need an “energy big” like Andy or Tristan.
Thibs loves packing the paint. He did that, and let his guys like Hart just own Mitchell.
Should we have went out and got Hart? He was available….
Knick fan here. Thibs dares teams to hit 3s. The only way Knicks can win is if their opponent misses a ton of 3s. It happened all the time in 2020/21. Not so much last year. If beyond frustrating watching opponents hit 3 after open 3. The Cavs were a dream matchup for a Thibs coached team. They can’t hit 3s and have bigs who can only score in the paint. Mobley needs to develop a midrange.
Thanks for the input. Garland and Mitchell can hit threes…just not in this series, apparently. If you mean leaving the corner three open, then yes…we are your team.
Yup, that’s what I saw too…. congrats hope you beat the hell out of the Bucks or Heat.
we therefore commit this body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life.
Amen.
This Memphis game is just as depressing.
I’m sad
LeaguePass is now showing a highlight package of aggressive plays from Spida this season. Facepalm.
Kind of amazing the Cavs didn’t get swept.
Pretty good season, but disappointing run at the end. Mobley will get stronger. Lots to look forward to. Next year will take it to another level.
I am still not sure of this. This debate happened last year. I still don’t see his frame adding twenty pounds of muscle and retaining his quickness and versatility.
Would love to sit down & and have a therapeutic beer, but I now have to go to work and pretend to be happy.
Hey man be happy we got to share it. I’m gonna miss watching games with u all more than anything.
Seconded
https://twitter.com/SportsBoyTony/status/1651395229482725376?s=20
Fitting they played Stevens this game. He might have been useful to match toughness at some point.
I’m sad because the year is over more than I am sad about them losing. I’ve enjoyed spending spending 87 games with you guys.
And I’m sad for Sweetchi seeing their first playoff game and not getting a good one.
Yeah that sucks for her.
I’m sad for the guys. I wish they’d played better. Long term I know it’s better for JB to get exposed here, but it still sucks.
It’s the stage of the game where LeBron is gassed and is bricking lazy threes…
Passing grade for LeVert. Anyone else?
He was fine. Cavs need a new coach.
Time to replace Mark Jackson to Steve Kerr Cavs version.
Okoro box score looks ok.
He was about the only one who was nails in this game…
Didn’t play enough.
Wait. How were they able to advance the ball?
Timeout in last 2 min of quarter
They’d already dribbled with the ball in the backcourt. Shouldn’t have been able to advance it.
They called a second timeout. Pay attention
Grizz went on a run to close the 3rd, up 18 going into the 4th…
DG gone
Losing KLove turns out to be disastrous. Dean Wade was supposed to fill the gap but not on the court.
There are multiple times in this series that his shooting, or at least the threat of spacing, would’ve been so valuable in altering the defense of nyk.
Plus im sure he could’ve given some advice in adversity in the playoffs with this young team.
We let him go a tad bit early.
Really thinking objectively about it – someone in the organization should have paused to consider the wisdom of cutting the one (former) rotation player with experience starting in 3 NBA Finals, for this very franchise no less, right before the postseason. On a roster where most of the core had little or no playoff experience. It is mind-boggling.
If this coaching staff isn’t gone next season I’m boycotting.
Knicks have second to get it over half court.
And they probably will.. that’s how this game has been
This coaching staff should be fired, but they won’t be.
yup JB singlehandedly killed this season the moment he refused to play Love, one of the best defensive rebounders in NBA history.
LMFAOOOOOO pathetic… great job JB! Glad you thought Kevin Love wouldn’t help!
Well, for the most part it’s been a fun season guys. Not sure what the future holds for this team, but the fallout postseason will tell a tale.
Agreed.
How are you not boxing out at this point?
Because your team is soft as charmin
Just embarrassing.
Fans are booing and started to leave…
Rebounds is the story of this game.
Cavs left a while ago
Now or never.
Never.
Soft