Live Thread: Cavs vs. Wizards (#LueAgain)
2018-04-05
With just four games remaining in the regular season, the Cavaliers welcome back Head Coach Tyronn Lue after a nine game absence for health reasons. The team went 8-1 under interim Coach Larry Drew, but it has been reported that he was following the script laid out by Lue before he left. Ty has also been present for practices and shoot-arounds here and there over the past week.
Now that they have their coach back, all the Cavs are missing are their point guards. George Hill is still out with an ankle sprain, and now Jose Calderon will miss at least tonight’s game with some hamstring soreness. In response, Lue is inserting rookie Cedi Osman into the starting lineup. He’s also keeping Jeff Green as a starter, which will apparently be the case from here on out… even into the post-season.
Tyronn Lue says Cedi Osman will start tonight with Hill and Calderon out (meaning LeBron James will have plenty of ball handling duties vs WAS). He also said he plans to go with a starting front court of LeBron, Kevin Love and Jeff Green when the playoffs open up.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 5, 2018
Obviously, there will be some dissenting views on whether or not this is a good idea. However, the Cavs are still 7-3 when Green starts, and he does have a knack for guarding star players well (i.e. DeMar DeRozan twice recently). Still, I hope Green starting does not mean he has a green light to shoot more threes…
The Wizards are struggling mightily, having lost six of their last eight games to fall to the 7th seed (if the playoffs started today). They did get John Wall back three games ago, yet they lost the last two contests, with Wall shooting just 9-27 from the field since he returned. The Cavs should be able to take advantage of Wall’s rustiness, although it may be a sloppy game without Hill or Calderon to keep order on the offensive side.
Prediction: The Cavs eek out a win in Lue’s first game back… edging the Wiz in an ugly game 95-89.
Catch all the action starting in just a few minutes (8pm EST) on TNT… and as always, chime in below.
Lol at Scott Brooks…
Scott Brooks taking a shump at center court
JEFF GREEN WITH A REBOUND!
Cool make clutch fits.
Or not
+/- for Cavs this game is stunning
Holy garbage did lie just replace Korver with JR for defense??
Why are the fans acting like this is a playoff game?
Why not!?
James with the obligatory miss on the first free throw
C’mon Bron…
No need for a three. Would rather him hold it and win the game if he is going to do that. Saved by green
This matchup zone they play just seems to confuse the players and put them out of position…A straight up man to man with switching seems to be less confusing and more effective..
That setup by bron to Korver was gorgeous.
Nice shot, Wall. Good D. Better shot.
Why would you trap on that Morris layup. Dumb.
Why would LeBron leave Morris like that?
WHAT A CUT BY GREEN! LBJ WITH THE PASS!!!
Losing to a Morris is the worst way to lose. Let’s go
There’s no foul there. Love should’ve put him on the deck if they’re gonna call that garbage.
I thought the same…super cheap call there…
You don’t realize how bad JR and TT are until they’re off the floor…
LOL… great minds…
Tie game…
21-6 run…
GREAT STEAL, RODNEY!
Wiz crumbling… like the Wiz usually do…
GREEN MACHINE!
LBJ unstoppable to the rim!!! Getting JR and TT out of there really changed the game around.
James going nuts to salvage this one
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/982080977118814208
Bullets miss two point blankers. LeBron keeps attacking.
Wiz opening the door…
Is there a team lebron hates losing to the wiz?
LeBron James!
Cavs dodge a bullet on a Scott miss and LeBron cuts it to six.
How did Scott miss that?
Kev just stared at that rebound. Lucky they got a stop.
That would have been a big three from Korver…
nice attack, green.
How the hell does Clarkson have more shots up than Kevin Love?
It’s like Lue was never away. He’s picking up right where he left off with as many baffling decisions as ever.
damn. Tough shot by morris
Cedi’s hot from 3…. need him back. Let LBJ work.
If Lue was a good coach he’d bench TT and JR for the playoffs. Need Cedi to play and they should be the odd men out. Stay ready in case of injury.
TT and JR are fine in certain lineups…Drew seemed to have figured out the rotations that they worked best in and Lue decided to trash all the work Drew did to right the ship while he was out…
Was it against the wiz Lebron hit that bank shot to complete a comeback and send us to overtime last year?
Yes.
If Cavs don’t make it a game after this little run, that’ll be it for the night.
Lue is back, and we are screwed.
+1000
So many defensive breakdowns. Sometimes I feel our ‘good’ defensive games are just variance.
Opposition shooting variance that is
We’re going to play like mad. Get it within 3. And then Washington wins by 9-12. Mark my word
Three from Bron after a dumb shot by Beal cuts it back to 10…
Also, missing Calderon AND hill as primary ball handlers has weird ruined any chemistry we had on offense when lebron sits.
James cuts it to three.
Maybe Hood will jump start things.
Meanwhile BKN is gonna beat the Bucks…
Can’t wait for Playoff D from LeBron. His Regular Season D is not great.
Oubre is killing them. The should have retaliation fouled him on that dunk.
Clarkson lazy on the post entry pass. TO.
At least Hood is being aggressive…
This game is making me feel like a horrible person as I try not to think of terrible things that could happen to Lue to keep him out for the season…
Philly will roll us tomorrow.
Doubling down… lol
Larry Drew. The man deserves a team. Like the Cavs.
I can’t imagine we aren’t trying to save certain guys for tomorrow night. This late in the year a b2b against these two is brutal. Thank goodness Embiid is out.
They have won like three or four with him out and like 11 in a row. Won’t be easy.
JR with a stupid defensive play.
JR LOL… Still not benched yet.
Need Cedi!!
Clarkson is awul. Oubre is eating his lunch. He shouldn’t be playing.
I step away for 30 minutes and….what the actual???
WTF is going on. They waited a whole extra possession to put in LeBron turned it over again. JR gambled and then put in another three.
Rebounds: Nance 10, Love & Bron 5, Osman 2. No one else has more than 1.
TT and Nance on the floor together while Love was on the bench. Just malpractice
Bad night for JR…