Live Thread: Cavs vs Warriors
2016-01-18
It’s here: the Cavs’ only remaining chance to enact some measure of Finals vengeance until a possible Finals rematch. The Dubs are in town on a cold Cleveland night. And Cleveland appears to be at full strength with Mo Williams rejoining the team after a death in the family. Mo and Draymond Green though, are still listed as day-to-day on the injury report. LeAndro Barbosa is out for Golden State.
The Cavs are coming off a drubbing off the Rockets, and the Warriors are coming off a tough loss to the Pistons. To say that there’s been a lot of chatter leading up to this would be underselling it. Kyrie Irving noted that the Cavs have to “make a statement.” Steph Curry’s comment the other day that he hopes the visitor’s locker room “still smells a little bit like Champagne” rubbed some Cavs the wrong way. Meanwhile national hyperbole cages this as a “must win” for the Cavs to be taken seriously. I hope they play like it, but as long as they play hard and smart all game, I’ll be happy.
But in reality, the game pales in comparison to the holiday, Martin Luther King Day, the day we can come together and celebrate how much we’ve grown as a country since the civil rights leader’s life and death, and how much farther we need to go. I for one am happy that I get to watch two teams of exceptional young men play a sport against each other and get paid exorbitantly to do it. What matters in the NBA is not what color, nationality, or religion you are, but how well you play and conduct yourself on and off the court. I hope both teams take the occasion to remember that we all can improve as people and work harder to be better people and to lift up those around us. Hopefully this game, regardless of the outcome, uplifts each of you. “Keep moving forward.”
That’d be a 40 point differential.
Okay with 3:14 to go in the 3rd and Green just easily running in for a layup, I stop the game and will close this window. Horrible game. Horrible effort. Absolutely no coaching and the Cavs are the laughing stock of the sports world tonight.
They are supposed to be better. They shouldn’t lose at home by 30+.
Mother f’r I’m pissed off…
I need more beer ;)
You will miss the come back. ;)
Calms down people. It’s one game.
One game is one thing, beaten this bad is another.
Having fun challenging myself to determine point differential without a calculator! Keeps the mind fresh!
Awesome block by LeBron after that Delly brick.
There is no reason Delly should shoot less than 5 threes a game. He’s deadly and always open
Nice for Delly to finally do something. His defense got is killed earlier.
Actually, LeBron’s lack of defensive rotation killed us earlier… just so you know…
LeBron and JR came to play. The rest of these guys got out of rhythm early. Nice to see LeBron still battling.
LeBron played almost no D in the first half, rebounded like poo, and hijacked the offense.
Yeah, he pretty much sucked tonight. As LBJ goes, so go the Cavs.
You meant JR and Andy came to play.
it be nice to get last year’s Kyrie, but even with last year’s Kyrie, they get smoked tonight.
We have turned into the 76ers tonight or worse
I think the Cavs never adjusted since winning game 3 of the finals. Thinking that’s the SOLE solution of winning against GS. The Warring did, and they won the rest of they way.
We’re clearly capable of going speed or speed with them. Didn’t even try.
We thought we can match them going small with Love. Never happened.
We thought Kyrie could take it to Steph by attacking him. He didn’t
We thought we could match the ball movement and explore mismatches. Until Lebron chucked.
What could we get for Love in a trade?
Are you for real? Please name the player out there that is going to fix tonight’s game. Maybe if they could get 90’s MJ for Love.
Oscar Roberston. Or Lew Alcindor.
Maybe some players that can play both sides of the court?
Seriously?
C’mon Refs! Stop this favoritism!!
losing is one thing, but tonight, we lost worse than how Browns lose… and that’s saying a lot…
total wussies tonight by so called “big 3″… nothing big about it other than big losers tonight…. no matter what our payroll is, we aren’t good enough to beat SA or GS at this point in a finals series… only hope is Irving gets a lot better… unfortunately loving isn’t getting any better on defense…
LOL on Curry’s blatant moving screen that gets called a foul on JFJ.
Free breakfast all round!! Winning.
Now they are just having fun with the Cavs.
AGREE WITH STEVE ” THE FAT LADY ” SANG IN THE 1ST QTR ——-REST THE STARTERS ——-WONDER HOW BLATT / PLAYERS WILL ANSWER QUESTIONS / RESPOND TO THE MEDIA ABOUT THIS GAME —–THE ONLY ” STENCH ” IN THE ” Q” TONIGHT IS THE ” DUMP ” THE CAVS PLAYERS LEFT ON THE FLOOR
Starters don’t deserve to play. Finish with the bench
I’d bench the starters.for.the rest of the game. The efforts of Bron, love, and Irving were awful tonight.
I am beginning to really dislike the Warriors though. Their brand of basketball is very unpleasant to watch.
o c’mon man.. if we were winning like that and killing other teams, you be a happy trooper…
to the fan of the opposite team, yes it is very unpleasant.
Team offense rather than one-on-one?
As opposed to the Cavs one on one brand? That is a delight to watch…
They Win. They shoot 3 pointers like layups. Love and LeBron can’t hit wide open 3s. Everyone on the warriors hits their shots (at least tonight).
But the refs not calling contact underneath – and calling flagrants on incidental contact when Smith tries to stay on his guy… doesn’t help.
sit the starters and let subs play.. this game is over… not sure what’s to prove… too bad for paid fans tonight… shame on Cavs for the effortless POS game…. shameful
I mean the Cavs were top 5 in offense and defense coming in. I’m. It panicking because of a rough night.
What does the stats say about our lack of heart?
they are winning by 30 and hustling more than us… what’s wrong w/ our players’ mental? or is it coaching?
Mozgov will prob be traded… too bad, i liked him last year.. but this year, i feel like he’s got some mental issues.
He’s actually been trying though tonight… still missed some easy ones, but at least played physical…
Mozgov just cannot finish tonight.
Delly was pretty bad. We miss Mo.
I hope Mo plays, we need someone who can make a shot.
Yeah. The Cavs need another guy who can only iso.
Not true. Mo can play off the ball and make jumpshots. His defense is shit but Delly hasn’t done anything either.
He hasn’t gotten the ball.
Dude we are watching the same game, yes he has and hasnt done anything.
I’m not disagreeing
I dont understand why we overreact so much to a simple Curry high screen. Let him get his so that the others get out of the flow of the game. Pretty much what the Pistons did.
Exactly. Back to back same plays and you fall for them.
Back to back? They have been doing that the entire game and all of the finals.
So no more Andy for the night?
Let’s let Moz bonk a few more first. /s
Blatt NEVER deviates from his cookie cutter fool proof plan on “Ony 1st Half ANdy” because I can’t handle anything else
The only thing I’m upset about right now is JR getting tossed. The refs should be reprimanded for that by the league.
See they are reading the Cavs defense way too easy and the Cavs are not adjusting.
Blatt doesn’t know how to lead this team… loving is defensive liability – Irving isn’t back to his old form… lebron is in his 30’s and need a lot more help…
worst game i’ve ever watched…. unbelievable…
Blatt knows. Lebron is the one who doesn’t
Right now is so obvious that the Warriors have a huge mental edge over the Cavs. The Warriors excellent shooting is affecting the Cavs shooting that just can’t keep up with them.
People. The season is still fine. We are still going to the Finals. And if we play like last years Finals but get air if and Love we have a good chance.
Chill out
Remember when the Cavs had cojones?
Did someone send them all to get neutered?
No. The Warriros went nuts.
The Warriors played their typical game
EVIL IS IT TIME TO SERVE UP ” THE PANIC BUTTON ” YET ——GAME OR SEASON ?
LeBron should just shoot threes the rest of the game. He gets no calls going inside.
Wish it was as simple as that.
Come on guys settle down here. They are getting smoked in this game but one game doesn’t equate a season or the playoffs.
Exactly. This sucks but you can’t extrapolate it forward.
Eh. Tough game. Warriors went nuts and Cavs couldn’t shoot.
Remember when Irving was good?
14(?) games in from a major injury.
Remember when Lebron was great?
From this day on we need to play dirty. Doesn’t matter if someone gets a flagrant every game. We should be the one punking the league
Cavs aren’t winning this year!
And you realised that today?
Are we adifferent team from yesterday when you thopught we had a good chance?
Dont overreact.
The diehard fan in us will always bring us to the extremes at times.
Well except for one I know..
My goodness man, that is such a bad shot by Lebron. I feel like I’m going to go crazy.
Just bench the starters. This is unacceptable!
LeChuck special.
We’re done without JR.
Can’t believe he got tossed!
Wow… flagrant 2… officials hate JR more than the Manitowoc sheriff’s dept. hates Steven Avery…
Isn’t this the second time that JR has gotten a flagrant two for fighting through a screen? Aren’t you supposed to fight through screens? He was guarding Curry for f&cks sake… and he was just trying to stay on his guy. Flagrant 2?
Wow that is a pretty bad call and they looked at it on replay.
unfreaking believable we got the shaft there. They should all get td up
CHris webber disagrees. More ref revenge against JR.
Bull****. That was a complete reputation flagrant.
thank you for jr smith
Refs trying hard to get JR a flagrant
who can get fouled out first?
I stopped watching. Its getting worse?
Smith gonna get a reputation flagrant.
That’ll probably get JR tossed… given his rep… /s
In thought Kevin love was an All-Star!?!?!?!
Pass out of bounds… KLove airball three… Five easy points for Thompson on the other end… probably not how you want to start a comeback…
Only way Cavs win this, is if the Warriors come out of the half drunk on champagne.
The good thing is Cavs:the Blog is in the fifth stage of grief.
Everybody has accepted their fate.
I feel a players only meeting on the horizon.
They need to stand the efff up with Lebron.
PML here….NBA Leaguepass feed has gone dark. Actually, white – just a white screen.
It’s an improvement.
OBVIOSLY WE ARE NOT GOING TO WIN THIS GAME ——WILL SEE WHO HAS THE CHARACTER / FIGHT IN THEM TO COMPETE THE ENTIRE SECOND HALF —I AM A HUGE LOVE FAN BUT DID NOT ENJOY SEEING HIM SMILING AT THE END OF THE 1ST HALF —” ALL IN BABY “
I saw that too. VERY BAD SIGN (CAPS IN HONOR OF NOMAD)
The Cavs have no offensive system. And that is not Blatt’s fault.
I agree it seemed like Kyrie and Lebron sabotage anything.
Isn’t it though? He either a) hasn’t installed one that works, or b) doesn’t have enough respect and trust from his players to buy into it and run it…
That’s nonsense. What do you need John Wooden to coach? No. You listen to your coach apply his system. And the thing is they have done it before, in low pressure situations. It’s on the players to maintain that, they are accountable.
No… that’s coaching… If guys aren’t running sets, you sit them down or chew them out… coaching 101…
Will you sit down Lebron? Honest question..
I would if it was me… but it’s not me… and I’m not an NBA coach…
That’s not coaching. That’s insubordination, which cripples any organization’s chances of success.
And I agree. I can honestly say that Lebron isn’t 100% all-in with what Blatt is putting in.
Then, and I say this being a fan of Blatt, they should probably get a new coach…
Changing a coach is not going to solve a damn thing if Lebron thinks he’s the coach.
And that’s believeLAND’s point EG. Doesn’t matter who’s on the seat. As long as Lebron’s the boss.
Hate to say it, but Spolstra got him to buy in… it might have been at Riley’s urging, but there you go…
And, I don’t believe that’s true… LeBron has NEVER had anything other than a relative rookie coach…
MJ and Mike both had Phil… You can’t say LBJ wouldn’t respond to a vet coach like that, because he’s never had one…
So what if it’s a rookie coach, you have to buy in anyway. Hate it when all goes well, it’s lebron’s coaching. When thing goes bad, it’s Blatt’s fault.
Before they won it all, Phil was a no-name. Same with Spo. The thing is, MJ and at that point Lebron, buy in to the what they bring. Adjusted enough for the greater good.
And who could we honestly bring to get Lebron to fall in line? Lebron knows no one is available before he came back.
If Lebron buys everyone follows. He had the bigger hands on everything.
Win the second half by 20 and end it with some dignity.
Maybe this is some grand plan by the Cavs to lull the Warriors into supreme overconfidence… /s
Big 3 for the Cavs have played poorly… role players are doing alright. LBJ with 3 TOs and shooting inefficiently. Kyrie and KLove shooting horribly. THey have to be superstars if the Cavs want to win against elite teams.
You can not shoot well when you’re playing 1 on 5. Every possession, the player with the ball is just going one on one.
Maybe all of this is a plan conceived by Lebron and Blatt, so that we dont show them ANY of our offensive sets.
Pretty clever.
I don’t have problems with isolation as long as your picking on the right defender… which the Cavs are doing inconsistently at best.
Love definitely needs to add more than 10+ rebounds/game. He needs to contribute on the offensive end. I think that the team/coaches also need to have better offensive sets for him and other players.
Love and Kyrie are the keys…. they have to produce on the offensive end. Kyrie coming off injury has been inconsistent. Love has disappeared after a strong start to the year. Part of Love’s problem in my opinion is that he has limited moves on the post.
Well if nothing else, how awesome will this methodical comeback be!?