Live Thread: Cavs @ Hornets (#WatchTheStingers)
2016-02-03
The Cavaliers flew into Charlotte yesterday for the second stop on this quick road trip tonight against the Hornets. It’s actually the last time the wine & gold will be away from their own hive at the Q until the 21st of the month, and one of just three remaining road games for all of February (well, everyone that is, except for LeBron, Tyronn Lue and the Cavs’ coaching staff who will be traveling to Toronto for All Star Weekend). On the surface, this looks to be a fairly easy buzz through the Queen City for the King and his men… especially given that the Hornets’ starting PG, Kemba Walker, will likely have his wings clipped for this one with a knee injury.
Charlotte may also be without Nic Batum (toe), but will have a few members of it’s colony back with Jeremy Lamb and the fully healthy Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The Cavs would be wise not to look past this Hornets team, even without a healthy Walker, however. Charlotte certainly still has the ability to slow the Cavs in transition and protect the rim. According to ESPN stats, they are second in the NBA with 38.5 points allowed in the paint per game and are among the top 10 with 11.8 allowed on the fast break. Even when the Cavs swatted them 95-90 in a win at Charlotte on Nov. 27, both teams had just six fast break points each, and the Cavs owned only a 40-36 advantage in the paint. Of course, Kyrie Irving didn’t play in that game, and without Kemba to stay with him, points may be a little easier to come by.
On the Cavs’ side, LeBron himself was reportedly dealing with the after-effects of a stinger (of a different kind) that he suffered during the third quarter of Cleveland’s overtime win against the Pacers on Monday. He is expected to play, although Matthew Dellavedova has been called a game-time decision by Coach Lue, as he’s apparently been dealing with a sore hamstring for the last week. If Delly can’t go, expect to see some rare Mo Williams action. And, on that topic… while the Cavs really need to work on shoring up their recently honeycombed defense, this may not be the game we see it completely jell with the potential change in the back court. Still, they should be able to push their winning streak to six games.
Cavs likely starting lineup includes: Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith, LeBron James, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. And, for the Hornets: Jeremy Lin, Nicolas Batum, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marvin Williams and Spencer Hawes.
Game time is 7 p.m. (EST), and the action can be seen on FSO, or heard on 1100 WTAM.
Prediction: Cavs take a few stings, but outrun the Hornets 108-101.
Commence buzzing…
Never thought the Cavs cannot win without Delly.
Oh yeah. Just look at last year’s beginning of season when he was injured and missed about 15 games. They lost about 6 of those games. He made a difference even then. Of course they are capable of winning w/o him but it’s tougher. His defense and passing the ball are very good. Delly does makes his team mates better on both ends of the floor.
Kyrie doesn’t nearly over dribble the ball when both he and Delly are on the floor together. They have to have some burn time together Kyrie gets in a better rhythm and gets more engaged on defense when he sees how intense Delly gets I don’t know what the magic minute time is but they need some time together and without Lebron somewhere in the 2nd half.
Watching TWolves/Clipper game. Very close. CP3 got a tech from the female ref. You should hear the outcry from the announcers. This is the same female ref he got in trouble with a yr ago in Cleveland. He said she didn’t belong. I think she remembered. LoL Anyways Clippers lose tonight 108-102. Good game
On AmicoHoops.net: Lack of hustle, lack of focus, Cavs lose. @JKaslerHoops gives his take. amicohoops.net/2016/02/kasler…
Amico compares LeBrons shooting to Dion. Lol… But hard to disagree.
LeBron’s also missed his last 13 3-pointers.
It was a good read, He (Kasler) didn’t give Lue a pass either. The honeymoon from the local reporters with the new coach seems to be waning. He & the team has to do better in the 3rd quarter.
I missed a lot of the game. Did Lue go with TT too long? Was Mosgov a worse option? There are match-ups that TT just doesn’t do well. It’s not many but there are a few.
Lue’s line ups are a mess.
Well he has Blatt’s blueprint. Huge advantage of becoming HC midseason on #1 seed team, He needs to go with what works and slowly incorporate changes he would like to see. 3rd quarters have always been a problem area for the Cavs.
I don’t understand why Lue rolls out line ups without one of Love, Kyrie, or LeBron? He has all 3 sitting at the same time…. WTF?
True he should know better and having Love as a center against This team is never a good idea.
Chicago is getting Dunleavy back.
RJ was the only player in the positive +/- with a +1. LeBron and JR and LeBron had the worst at -8. TT was at 0. Everyone else in the negative.
The rebounding numbers are almost unbelievable. Almost makes me wonder if this was a bench revolt game after halftime, a la Blazers game. Lue really needs to get a handle on player minutes.
If players are really continuing to revolt, especially the bench, then they need to go. Bye Mo, AV, RJ, JJ.
I don’t believe that happen at all. Lue is struggling on tougher match-ups.
I was mostly being facetious, but being outrebounded that much by a poor rebounding team is head scratching.
Sorry my bad. I missed that. But, yes you are right. There are certain teams TT is pretty bad against and Blatt had to get creative using Mosgov or whoever else he could to counter the other team on that front. I’m sure it was challenging to get the rotations right in those scenarios.
The key in the last two games has been our inability to get a dang rebound. Guards need to remember to box out. We tend to go as our rebounding numbers go.
And guys…there is def a little more than disappointment in this thread lol.
I am less disappointed and more frustrated at the reversion over the last 4 games on increasingly relying on iso and 2 man p and r. And yes I know they scored very well against spurs and pistons. However, both those games featured far more iso than the two previous games. Also while there was some instances of possessions with multiple passes and cutters leading to wide open shots, many of those made perimeter shots in those games were from one cross court pass that led to a partly contested or fully contested shot that guys made despite the contest.… Read more »
I thought that they’d maybe have a shot against the Warriors by junking it up, sort of like last year, and even over X-Mas. But the Warriors and Cavs are parting in different directions right now. I’m not sure that installing a motion offense would really matter a whole lot, unless Kyrie can play on par with Curry. Tonight he struggled playing on par with Linsanity, so he has a ways to go.
Yeah, unfortunately I no longer think even junking it up is going to beat that team in 7. They are better offensively and maybe defensively this year. Think you really need to have a decent halfcourt offense to have any chance against them and obviously have to have an incredible defense. Additionally, a more complex offensive system does not necessarily upping the tempo which plays into their hands. Of course you do risk more turnovers with more passing but I think their D is too good to try iso ball again against them for 6 plus games.
Curry amidst another casual 51 point game on 11-16 shooting from 3.
I mean I am not surprised considering he is having the by far by far the most efficient shooting season for a player scoring over 30ppg of all time. Also may end up have the highest PER of any season by the end of this year. He has changed the game because of his three point shooting ability. Cannot guard a guy who makes 40% of his shots beyond 30 feet.
Jason Lloyd @JasonLloydABJ
#Cavs were outscored on this brief trip 63-32 in the two third quarters combined
LeBron: “We’re shit in the third quarter right now. We need to figure it out.”
My positive rationalization is that after the all-star break is when LeBron usually starts to dial in to get ready for the playoffs. So maybe the four good games they played before Indy were a preview of coming attractions, and a way to make sure the pressure didn’t pile up on Lue right away. And now Leb is back in chill mode for a couple weeks.
This is true. He is more dialed in.
TIME TO DIG OUT THE PANIC BUTTON EVIL —BUT HOT SAUCE YOU GOT TO ADMIT THE ” REPEATED EXCUSES ” ARE GROWING OLD ——” COACH DIDN’T HAVE A COLLECTIVE LOCKERROOM / WE NEED TO REVIEW FIM TOMORROW / WE ARE IN THE PROCESS / JUST DIDN’T BRING THE ENERGY–NEED TO REGROUP —-IT IS THE SAME OLD BULL SH——-!!—WE PLAYED AGAINST A CHARLOTTE TEAM THAT HAD A COUPLE OF THEIR KEY PLAYERS OUT —-I KNOW I MIGHT TAKE SOME HEAT FOR A NEGATIVE BLOG BUT THIS IS A GAME IF WE JUST GIVE 80 % EFFORT WE COME OUT WITH A… Read more »