Live Thread: Cavs @ Lakers
2015-01-15
Well here we go. You have to think that David Blatt is coaching for his job tonight as the Cavs take on the moribund Lakers, who’ve lost four of the last five. Kobe Bryant has only played in two of those games, and is only 5-31 in those two contests. Let’s hope that Kobe can go tonight, and that the bone broth that is succoring him in his twilight years has its desired effect. The Lakers are coming off one of the ugliest games in years, a 78-75 suckfest that they dropped to Miami. Let’s hope the Cavs rebound tonight, in every meaning of the word. If you haven’t checked out my article from earlier today, I gave Blatt tips on coaching from my years in Youth Girls Basketball. You can read it at halftime.
At the risk of stating the obvious (but not so obvious), I am now convinced that Kevin Love has been playing this season injured. There have been intermittent stories about his back spasms but I think the spasms have been more than intermittent. I think the dude is flat out chronically hurt and is just toughing it out.
Well good job by our medical staff for trading for a chronically injured player.
Boogie Cousins looks to be the new member of the Uncle Drew/Pepsi Max commercial.
Man, some of you are depressing. I think someone should check if Cols is still alive.
LA has been playing well of late. This month they’ve only had one bad game, @Clips. You’re all acting like it’s another Philly loss. So it seems we can’t give Blatt any credit for wins but we can pile it on for losses. Good to know. Good win, Cavs.
Agree, it’s a pretty sad group. It’s what happens when reality doesn’t meet expectations. There’s a nice little rundown of some of Blatt’s plays the team ran last night over in the FTS post-game thread. It’s not all hero ball.
Huh? I think a lot of us have been defending Blatt. I look at this as a stop the bleeding kind of win. It wasn’t pretty but necessary. BTW if Swaggy P hits any of those open 3s, I think we’re talking about another loss here.
I’ll be in attendance at the game tomorrow night at Staples against the Clips. Let me know if there’s anything you guys want me to watch for (like Tyronn Lue timeouts or counting how many times Blatt flashes a thousand yard stare), or yell at the Cavs bench.
Maybe I’ll just take signs like “Cols says you suck Delly!” or “Bench the Penguin!” or “Blatt Needs a 10-Day Contract!” or just “Stay Gold 4Evah!”
I’d pay attention to LeBron and Blatts body language with each other.
Welcome back to .500 Cavs fans!
Sorry I missed the win. But from the sounds of it, maybe it’s just as well. Doesn’t seem like they played that much better, just good enough to beat a bad Laker team. Well, at least Blatt gets to keep his job for another day. From this thread, I would have assumed that Kyrie didn’t play. That must have been the quietest 22 points ever.
Lebron played really well but I would have preferred a bit more real urgency and intensity, and not the playful one-on-one gamesmanship that he was engaging in with Kobe and the crowd, given the importance of winning this game. TT played awesome but Kyrie got kind of lost in the mix while Lebron did his thing. K-Love was tough but ineffective. JR was good. Mosgov was fine but crippled Love + Mozgove Yeah, glad they won, really glad Lebron looks like he’s got most of his old explosiveness back, but it was like watching a preseason game at times. Clips… Read more »
Sorry meant to say “Mosgov was fine but a crippled Love + Mozgov wasn’t the best look so he didn’t play much in the second half, not his fault though.”
Actually I take that back. Cavs are playing 5th road game in a week, it’s second night of back to back and it sounds like Love could be out. So I suspect Cavs will understandably lose, and if so that won’t tell us anything about the team unless Lebron hip checks Blatt into the second row or something.
I just realized… No Mike Miller or James Jones sightings tonight. Blatt only played 8 deep.
Chuck just gave a shout out to Cardale Jones. Says he’s got a fan for life for staying in school.
Chuck: You’ve gotta be in a coma to lose to the Knicks.
They truly are terrible. Teams like the Knicks are why I am skeptical of the Presti tanking plan – competent people tend to overestimate their ability to intentionally ruin a team as effectively as the incompetent and unlucky can unintentionally.
Nick Young finally drains a 3.
A little too late.
I do find it a little odd that David Blatt has the respect of the elite coaches in the nba and it is fans on blogs and wannabe journalists who are hacking away at him. He’s good, guys. He hasn’t received a lick of submission from Lebron and it’s costing us.
Scotch, with all due respect how did anything that was going on on the court tonight resemble coaching by David Blatt. Lebron basically played a rec league game against a really bad team and won, because he’s the best player in the world. Blatt was invisible tonight.
Blatt is invisible because that’s how Lebron wants it. Lebron was telling everyone who would listen in the summer “I’m the leader, I have to show these guys how to win, I have to demonstrate to the young guys.” So, we’ve seen Lebron not partaking in team huddles on timeouts, standing around on defense, only playing iso-ball on offense, and moping around dejectedly after turnovers. The team is watching him, and following suit. Blatt has been set up to fail. Lebron runs this team- just like he did the first time- and the team is following his “leadership”, and playing… Read more »
Co-sign. This is exactly the problem. Not Blatt.
Solid play out of the timeout there, actually. LeBron ices it.
Bogus call Marion.
I am so tired of the talk about whether Blatt is a good coach or not. It doesn’t matter. All you have to do is watch the better teams to know that the Cavs don’t run a good offense or play good defense. Who cares if he knows how to teach it if the players don’t listen. I personally think he is totally out of his league relative to the better NBA coaches. Watch the Hawks, Warriors, Blazers, Spurs, etc. to see how basketball should be played. And stop the talk about how Riley told LeBron that he had to… Read more »
Lebron’s exhibition game play almost cost the Cavs the win. If TT didn’t vacuum every loose ball and if Nick Young wasn’t terrible, they very well might have let this one slip away. I know he played well but Lebron needs to take this team thing more seriously.
double like
*rolls eyes at LeBron’s hero ball*
I’m so happy Swaggy P is playing.
TT is singlehandedly preserving the win.
TRISTAN! Fantastic screen, and then a putback!
Completely blindsided Kobe with that screen. Love it.
If this season has a turning point, Kevin Love taking that charge is it.
he seems determined to contribute and stay in doesn’t he. I at least like the effort
I’ll take any kind of win at this point. Even an ugly one.
Dude. Kevin Love just got a Tommy Point.
KEVIN LOVE!
What exactly was Marion doing on that play?
That’s a Delly Trey!
I hope the Cavs offense doesn’t stay like this the rest of the season.
Wow thank god for Nick Young. He is not good at basketball.
Is Lebron trying to prove he can beat the Lakers playing 4-on-5 iso ball with Kevin Love as a traffic cone?
Exactly, he is trying to put a show for Kobe to watch. Not a good thing to do IMO.
He’s not worth $13 million, but TT is one of the best switching bigs in the NBA right now. He’s been checking guards all night.
I know . . . I just wish we weren’t going to pay him $15 million a year.
I wish Cleveland hadn’t traded the best rookie prospect since Durant for a guy on a one year contract with back problems. We could be here all night.
I wish he wouldn’t take that 30 foot double covered heat check 3, but it’s a fair price for the two he made before that.
Cripes LeBron, you had 10 seconds and so naturally you walk into a pull-up 28 footer against two defenders to close the quarter.
He’s channeling his Swaggy Bron
Holy crap, 15 assists for Bryant!
LeBron missing Free throws is really becoming an issue for the Cavs.
An old man Marion alley op doesn’t seem like a wise idea. Good thing we got bailed out with a foul.
Carlos Boozer roasting the man who sneers at $13 million a year.
I never thought I’d say this but we are wasting the prime of J.R. Smith’s career right now.
Defense has gotten better but now the Cavs can’t get a score.
Mozgov is a difference maker on defense and n the boards tonight.
Hope he plays well tomorrow because if he doesn’t is going to be an alleyhoop show vs the clips tomorrow.
I feel like our rim protector who cost two first round picks should be able to alter Ronnie Price’s layup.
David Griffin was feeling generous because it’s close to X-Mas.
I like Mozgov and I shouldn’t pick on him too much. But Ronnie Price man. One of the worst, least explosive guards in the NBA.
Finally they take Love out.
Not to get all conspiracy theorist but the guy he immediately went to on the sideline was Lue, not Blatt.
Blatt’s substitution patterns are going from questionable to criminally negligent. Why is Love playing?
I’m tweeting that.
Stream is cutting in and out, how bad/injured is love?
Bryant running a clinic on how to be a floor general. Kylie should take notes.
The dude is hitting .161 in his last two games. So naturally, let’s double team him every play!
True, but to his credit and our detriment he is taking the utmost advantage of it.
I don’t get this Cavs team. Why the hell is Love even playing there?!
Smith can’t make two wide open ones, but hits a fadeaway with someone in his face.
He is really good at shooting off the dribble.
Gotta take Love out. He can’t move.
WOW! Kyrie looking like Tim Hardaway there!
Love is really hurting. Take him out coach.
Jesus… Jordan Hill!
Like the Cavs offense. Someone get Love out of there.
Yep Hill is destroying him.
Have we figured whether LBJ hijacked the offense or whether Blatt really doesn’t have a sophisticated offensive system, or whether the players cannot learn his offense? The one thing I cannot defend Blatt for is motivation and defensive effort. If he can’t get this team to play defense, then there really is no other option than to get someone who can. With that in mind, I certainly am not in favor of lue since he was brought in to coach defense and this team is worse on that end than offense. I also can’t imagine lue has much offensive cred… Read more »
Well, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck . . . like Sherlock Holmes said, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” It seems impossible to me they genuinely just don’t give a crap to this degree to a man.
True. Disappointing, not sure what you do then. Giving in to that kind of behavior seems almost counter-productive, but I don’t see what else they can do. Maybe ride it out. After all can’t see James being willing to miss the playoffs just to get his way. Then again I dunno anymore. I had thought/dreamed/hoped he had matured since his first go around in OH. Maybe not.
It does put the fans in the awkward position for rooting for secret unprofessionalism and sabotage, since otherwise it means this team is incapable of putting forth a consistent effort. It’s like your kid comes home with Fs and you hope he is lazy because otherwise he’s dumb.