Live Thread: Suns at Cavaliers
2015-03-07
The Wine and Gold return to balmy Cleveland looking for their 13th consecutive home win. After allowing 36 first quarter points in the road loss to the Hawks, the Cavaliers will likely come out ready for opening tip. Fresh off a dramatic overtime victory in Brooklyn, the Suns come into town only a game and a half back in the tight race for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
On January 13th, the Suns extended the Cavs’ losing streak to six. It was the first game that the current Cavalier starting five was intact. The Suns and Markieff Morris fought back a tough Cavalier rally to pull out the victory. Since then, the Cavs went bowling, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas were shipped out East, and Brandon Knight made his way to the desert. Knight has struggled with his shot since being acquired via trade. Still, a backcourt with Knight and Eric Bledsoe has the potential to be very good.
The Suns are a tough bunch. P.J. Tucker has traveled the hoops world and has come back with all sorts of international nasty. Both he and Bledsoe have been on a tear lately. They always bring it on the defensive end, but their offensive numbers have ticked up in recent games. The Suns are second in the league in pace. They might not be quite as quick as they once were with the Dragon, but the home team better be prepared to get back in transition.
LeBron and Kyrie combined for 13 turnovers the last time the two teams played. Look for that number to be much lower, especially after the turnover fest in Atlanta. One would hope the Cavs would make ball-security a point of emphasis going forward. Sound off.
Update: Alex Len is out with a sore ankle. Earl Barron will start.
Idea.
Two Rotations
(1) Kevin Love&TristanThompson(F) LeBron James & Kyrie Irving(G) Timothy Mozgov(C)
the “small spell” – obviously, not all at once
(2) J.R.Smith, Iman Schumpert, James Jones, Shawn Marion, Kendrick Perkins, Matthew Delladova
The Hawks lost to the Sixers tonight. And Miami isn’t even a top 8 team in the East.
Incorrect it looks like Miami is an 8th seed.
The 2-4 seeds and the 7-8 seeds are going to change often from now to the end of the season.
So Kendrick Perkins had one skill – the refs allowed him to set mean illegal screens. They took that away when he donned a Cleveland uniform. He’s now the worst player in the league.
Yes!
Hands of Stone!
No reason why they shouldn’t get to the 50 game win mark.
LOVE / T.T. / MOZ COMBINED 15 /23 F.G. ATTEMPTS —–AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE WHY THERE WEREN’T MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THESE 3 AND THE 4TH QTR MOZ DISSAPPEARANCE HAS ME TOATALY BEFUDDLED AND FRUSTRATED —-AM HAPPY FOR THE ” UGLY ” CAVS WIN AND THE SCHEDULE GETS EASIER BUT THERE IS A NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS START OR WE ARE IN TROUBLE
Atlanta lost to Philly. Bulls have a back to back tomorrow and Monday against San Antonio and Memphis
WHat???That is so random. They will occasionally lose to a Hornet, Pelican or Celtic team
It wasn’t always pretty, but Cavs get to the 40 win mark…
That was like the worst quarter from them I’ve seen all year. Fatigue is an issue. NBA scheduling is brutal
Refs wanted the Suns to cover, and they did by one point… oh well!
Riddle of the night: Mozgov 6-8 FG 7-8 FT (and the FSOH player of the game) was on the bench for the final 15 minutes. He and TT overwhelmed Phoenix when they were in together.
Yeah I guess it doesn’t matter on a game like tonight – but Moz needs more burn in general.
I heard two theories about this recently, can’t recall where but it seems like Blatt tries to match up with the other team instead of forcing them to match up with us, Or, its because TT brings a lot of energy and hustle in the 4th and Moz is kind of winded/worn out by then.
The first one makes no sense, the second one (if true) has a bit more validity to it.
Moz MVP of the first half… TT MVP of the second (8 offensive boards!)
TT kept this one from getting away. Wish Joe had gotten some actual running time.
Must be weird to cheer a 9 point fourth quarter… smh
They should get some rest next week with only 3 games all week.
An ugly dominant win . . . only the Cavs.
Yeah I think the team is just gassed after 5 games in 7 nights.
There we go Blatt!!! Get Harris in there!!!!
Fortunately the Suns are pretty inept so the danger was never all that real…
And that should do it!
And that should finally do it…
Still stagnant on offense, but LeBron made the shot.
We’ve got 5 points now.
And now 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LBJ and Kyrie are a combined 8-26…
Cavs still on 4 points for the quarter with 2:38 left.
The Cavs are tired. I think they just want this one over.
Still no excuse… the bench guys shouldn’t be tired…
This is just an awful display… I’m not even recapping, so there’s just no call for this Cavs!
Oh wow, Lebron.
That was a bad pass by Love.
JR Smith with the play on defense!!! NICE VET WORK!
The Cavs stopped playing in the 3rd quarter.
Cavs have a grand total of 4 points this quarter…
Where is Moz??!! What is the reason behind him not playing in the fourth quarter of every games?
I have never seen two teams so gassed. I would be a big fan of a 70-game reg. season over same period of time. Spread these trips out more, give teams more practice time.