Recap: Celtics 104, Cavs 103 (Or, This Isn’t Even Fun Anymore)
2016-02-06Watching the Cavs is a great experience at times. When the team runs the floor, gets penetration, whips the ball around the perimeter, and plays defense like they’re all tied together at the waste, I get tingly. I picture a clear path to the Finals, imagine a Stephen Curry injury, and think about whether or not I’d cry if the Cavs won it all.
That tingly feeling isn’t happening as much as it should these days. Early in the season, I’d figure out a way to explain away the Cavs’ miscues, all of the Iso-play and random defensive snafus that led to automatic buckets. I just don’t know anymore. This team is out of excuses. Kyrie Irving is back. David Blatt is gone. The team had a players only meeting. Every guy is supposedly down with Tyronn Lue. Yet, the Cavs are still playing the same way they did under Blatt. When the going gets tough, the tough stop passing and defending. Maybe, there’s a bowling trip to be planned, but I’m not seeing it. The team keeps getting beat in the worst ways, just see Avery Bradley’s game winning 3-pointer above for some proof.
And, I’m getting really worried because even the good times feel like they aren’t real.
The Cavs opened up the first quarter on a 14-2 run. J.R. Smith scored first, draining a long two pointer (which was initially ruled a 3-pointer) over Isaiah Thomas off of a Kyrie Irving pass. I made a note after that bucket saying that the passing felt forced. It was as if guys were told they had to throw the ball around before taking a shot.
J.R. hit a 3-pointer the following play, after LeBron came down the floor and continued barreling towards the basket before passing the ball out to the perimeter. The next Celtics possession Avery Bradley missed a gimme shot, and Jared Sullinger missed a put-back because Smith came from behind and seemed to influence the balls’ trajectory. The King followed that action a few plays later with a steal for an unconverted and-1.
https://vine.co/v/iJLmPV7aL79
During the opening run, Love also hit a three, and he got a dunk by pump faking and driving by Jonas Jerebko. His dunk put the Cavs up by 12 points and forced the Celtics to call a timeout with 8:25 to go in the quarter. Looking at the score, I should have felt super excited. And, I was to a degree. But, in the back of my head, all I could think was that the Cavs were getting lucky.
The Celtics had three turnovers, and the Cavs were making defensive rotations that could not have been planned. On one play, Avery Bradley set an off-ball screen for Thomas. Thomas went around it and J.R. and Kyrie got confused. Kyrie was behind Thomas as he came baseline and Smith stepped up to stop Thomas. Meanwhile, Avery Bradley, who was J.R.’s man, was on the other side of the court wide-open. Love dropped down off Jerebko at the top of the key to deter Bradley from driving, while LeBron sprinted out to Jerebko, who just received a pass. Then LeBron and Love switched assignments again and Love managed to get back into the paint to draw a charge on Jonas. There were so many absurd switches.
The Cavs coasted on their good luck for much of the quarter. After the Celtics made a mini-run led by Jared Sullinger muscling Tristan Thompson for four quick points, Avery Bradley then drained a three. Kevin Love responded by throwing an out-of-bounds pass the length of the floor to Kyrie for a layup.
Any time the Celtics got a transition opportunity the Cavs were able to run the floor and thwart it. When Kyrie dribbled the life out of the ball and threw a layup off the board surrounded by three Celtics, Iman Shumpert stole the ball back. After one quarter, Boston had eight turnovers and the Cavs shot 57% from the floor. Love and James both had eight points. Cleveland held a decent lead, 32-20.
The Celtics started the second quarter scoring five straight points, but the Cavs had some good bounces to keep their lead. RJ successfully did the worst looking hop step spin move ever witnessed outside of a pick up game to get a layup. J.R. threw the ball away, and Iman stole a pass, while Boston tried to bring it up in transition. The good swings didn’t last though.
Kyrie started to dominate the ball a little when the shots stopped falling. He had six points, two from a floater, and four from mid-range jumpers. None were assisted, and all involved plenty of dribbling. Kyrie also managed to dish out just one assist despite playing 10 minutes during the quarter and being the lead man on the floor. LeBron clearly yelled at him after he drained one of his mid-rangers and ignored the entire floor while doing so.
The most troubling part of the quarter though was Evan Turner. Turner got off three assists because the Cavs kept letting him keep his dribble alive while penetrating, despite the fact they had two defenders committed to stopping him. He got six points, none of which involved him having his shot contested.
The Celts went on a 12-4 run the final six minutes of the quarter. The Cavs led going into the half, 43-49.
The Cavs just couldn’t hit their shots in the third quarter to put the game away.
The third quarter started poorly. Amir Johnson beat the Cavs for four quick points and forced Tyronn to call a timeout. After the timeout the Cavs weren’t much better. Sullinger blocked the King’s layup, and then he got an offensive rebound on the other end of the floor. The rebound led to an Avery Bradley 3-pointer which gave the Celtics their first lead of the night, 50-49.
After Isaiah Thomas beat Irving down the floor for a layup off a made basket, and TT got scored on in the post by Sullinger, Tyronn Lue pulled them both. The Kings saw this as an opportunity to go to work in isolation. He drove to the hoop for an uncompleted and-1 play, which was fine. However, he just couldn’t resist dribbling into a step-back three a play later to get himself yanked.
The Cavs moved the ball a little better the rest of the period with the King leaving and coming back in. Mozgov got an offensive board that led to a J.R. 3-pointer, and he threw down a beastly dunk off a J.R. pass. J.R. did a great job of sucking in Mozgov’s man to allow the rim to be punished without any interference.
https://t.co/2Y8k8QaC4F
Kevin Love took a hit from Marcus Smart in the hip and left the game with about three minutes of action to go.The Cavs shot 38.5% in the quarter and went into the fourth still holding the lead, 65-73.
Boston went on a 12-2 run the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to get caught up with the Cavs. Isaiah contributed eight points to that run and had 12 points in the quarter. Boston then traded baskets with the Cavs up until the five minute mark. Zeller was helpful for the Celtics scoring six of his eight points in the first half of the fourth, Timo had a nice dunk for the Cavs when he set a wrestling esque screen on Jerebko, but the Cavs couldn’t get anything too substantial going to take a commanding lead.
https://t.co/VngNZxoXyA
Kyrie got called for a clothes line style pick he set. James pushed off on Marcus Smart and Mozzy got called for a loose ball foul while rebounding.
Once the five minute mark hit, the Celtics turned on the jets. Jared Sullinger got three the hard way when he saw J.R. was matched up on him down low for no apparent reason. Evan Turner then ran the length of the floor off a Smith miss and got two without any trouble to put the Celtics up seven with 4:03 left. The Cavs fought holding onto LeBron’s back. The King got an And-1, dished out two consecutive 3s, hit a layup, missed a shot that TT put back, and dropped 3-4 freebies in the final four minutes to put the Cavs ahead 99-94 with 59 seconds to go. He scored 13 in the fourth shooting 50%.
https://vine.co/v/iJlmmqnpUaO
Look at the King’s and-1 play. It’s hard to believe Zeller didn’t go down after LeBron laid his shoulder into him like that.
With just 24 seconds left, the King bricked a 3-pointer. However, J.R. Smith got the offensive rebound running from the other side of the court and passed the ball to Kyrie. Kyrie was fouled and hit both of his free throws to put the Cavs up, 96-101. Jae Crowder then hit a 3-ball, which was his only bucket of the game, and the Celtics fouled Ky again down by two. Irving hit both, and the Celtics called another time out. Out of the timeout, Evan Turner hit a layup and barely got fouled from behind by J.R. Smith who was trailing him. It was an irritating play, but I thought, “even if Turner makes the layup, the Celtics will still be down by one point with just four seconds left.” Turner scored nine in the quarter on 4-9 shooting.
Unfortunately, Turner missed the free throw, and Timofey Mozgov and LeBron were unable to secure the rebound. The ball went off of them both, and the Celtics got another chance at their end of the floor with four seconds left to tie or win the game. Brad Stevens ran a beautiful play to free up Bradley for a 3-pointer. In the play, Thomas got the ball after taking an off-ball screen from Avery Bradley to go get open in the corner. After Thomas caught the inbounds pass, he dribbled towards the paint and Bradley ran back to the corner. Thomas then passed to Bradley, who dropped a 3-pointer over Iman Shumpert to win the game, 104-103.
Gripes
1.The ball must move. A game plan is for four quarters, not just however long you feel like doing it. Kyrie and LeBron dribbled the life out of the ball at times and it killed the offense. Although the Cavs had 21 assists on 37 buckets, it felt like a lot of the assists were from from two man action. The offense didn’t move together as a group tonight.
2.LeBron isn’t a 3-point shooter. When will he learn that the step-back 3-pointer is open for him every time he wants it for a reason? He was 0-5 from 3-point land and scored 30 points on 9-23 shooting. He had seven boards and four assists.
3.Cleveland shot 21-35 from the charity line. Boston hit 21-25 from the charity line. A few free throws could have won this game tonight.
4.J.R. was the only one hitting 3s for the Cavs. He was 5-10 from deep, while the rest of the team was just 3-20 (15%).
5.The Celtics shot 43.2% from the field tonight, but it felt like they were missing shots. The Cavs didn’t play good defense. Evan Turner and Isaiah Thomas both waltzed to the rim on far too many occasions tonight. ET had 19 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists. Those are LeBron level numbers. Thomas had 22 points, but he was 5-19 from the floor. He had to earn his points at the line, which is all you can hope for with him on most nights.
6. Mozgov needs to figure out what’s wrong with his hands. He didn’t cost the Cavs the game by himself, but losing that rebound to secure the win at the end certainly didn’t help any.
Smart was initially supposed to foul mozgov intentionally. Decided not to when he thought he could get the ball.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) February 6, 2016
7. Love wasn’t involved at all this game. After scoring eight points in the first quarter, Love had two the rest of the evening before getting injured in the 3rd.
8. The Cavs shot 57% in the first and 37.9% the rest of the game.
Hypes
1.J.R. continued his solid shooting from downtown hitting five 3s, and he played pretty good defense, despite the Cavs switching haphazardly all evening. J.R. did get called for the foul that set up the Turner free throw rebound the Cavs couldn’t secure;however, if you watch the play J.R. barely touches Turner. He has bad luck with the officials.
2.Iman Shumpert had five steals, but he gambled a little too much at times. Thomas blew by him on several occasions.
3. TT ended up matched up on Thomas tonight out of the pick and roll. He did a great job keeping Thomas in front of him, so he could contest him at the rim.
4.The Celtics spared Cavs fans the misery of another quarter tonight by winning the game in regulation. I don’t think I could have handled overtime with how the Cavs played in the fourth.
5.The Cavs host the Pelicans tomorrow night. Kevin Love may play. His thigh is bruised.
SO WITH BOTH DELLY / AND LOVE NOT PLAYING —“(C) LUE (LESS ) ALREADY HAS A BUILT IN EXCUSE FOR LOSING —HE WILL BE TOTALLY ” WHITE HAIRED ” BY ALL STAR BREAK !!
Delly is a pretty tough dude. He must be really hurting.
Cavs net rating w/Delly on the Court is +11.5 and they actually -0.9 with him off.
The Cavs are Warriors Spurs level good when he plays and Houston Rockets, Sacremento Kings level average when he doesn’t.
http://stats.nba.com/vs/#!/advanced?TeamID=1610612739&VsPlayerID=203521
I don’t like to complain about refs too much and feel like the Cavs really in the end blew this game on their own, but the continuation allowed on the JR Smith foul was absurd. The whistle blew and Turner dribbled the ball one more time then went up for the layup. Turner had absolutely not gathered the ball for the layup prior to the foul being called. Not to mention there was no contact. But this ref obviously does not understand the continuation rule.
This has been going on too much. Why doesn’t NBA refs get fined for getting it wrong like the MLB? NBA refs have a lot of protections to do whatever they want.
Love out with quad contusion and Delly out tonight as well…Love is day to day.. — McLeod
Blowing up the team is not the answer. It is utterly ridiculous and in absolutely no way does it guarantee beating the warriors this year. Irving needs to remain a cavalier. Trading him would be extremely shortsighted. More so even than firing Blatt. The best teams in the NBA, think both long term and short term at the same time, eg the spurs. The guy is 23. Curry didn’t become a good defender until the last few years. He also didn’t become an all universe player until last year. Kyrie is not even close to his prime. Getting Paul or… Read more »
We may not see a fully recovered, consistently back-on-his-game Kyrie until next season.
I’m thinking the same.
We had 3 exact guesses of # of burgers sold: 583. Randomly picked 2 winners. Congrats @EricAnder34 & @Jack_Globie33! @cavs will be in touch. — Dan Gilbert
—- Gilbert giving away his seats a lot lately. Don’t blame him.
I think Kyrie is playing the worst offense of his career right now and he’s never been a plus defender so it’s hard to stomach. That said there are only 2 or 3 guards in the NBA that I would consider trading him for and Mike Conley doesn’t make the cut. Westbrook – yes Kyle Lowry – maaaaaybe Chris Paul – probbbbbably. John Wall – doesn’t shoot well enough but I’d entertain a conversation. No one else has Kyrie’s upside. I do like Mike Conley though. Kyrie can take over a game. He’s not going to get traded. Cavs need… Read more »
If Kyrie could hit a 3 hed be able to relent a bit on the nauseating dribbling fests.
They are not bad individually it’s just when he starts stringing them together it takes the rest of the Cavs out of any rhythm and the D learns to adjust.
Terry Pluto noted that Kyrie is a step slow recovering from injury. Suggests maybe moving him to SG.
Totally agree… honestly wouldn’t trade Kyrie for any you’ve mentioned.
His best attribute is his jump shot… that’s what’s off right now. As soon as it’s back on, he shoots better than any of the four.
The question is though do we want a guy that can take over games or do we want a guy that can guard his position, run the offense, use screens to set up both his shot and the role mans, set and use his abilities to set up others. I think we want the second which is Mike Conley. But I still wouldnt do it because Conley is a year too old. But if I could find 27 year old Conley I would pull the trigger.
Ok let’s make something abundantly clear. Kyrie should be a Cavalier his whole career. When it’s Game 4 of the ECF and we’re down 2 with 1 minute left, who do we look to get a bucket besides Lebron? Kyrie of course and not Ricky freaking Rubio. Wanting to trade him is absolute madness and yet some people think we can’t get it together after a couple of disappointing losses. I’m sure a lot of Warrior fans wanted to trade Curry after his early years cuz they only thought he could shoot and do nothing else! Again, just madness…I really… Read more »
I’d give it to the Delly TT Pick and Roll
Delly to TT at the buzzer…that might work.
Kyrie has played good defense one game of his entire life. I’d trade Kyrie to get a better team in the process
I agree… Conley or Rubio would never be worth trading Kyrie.
As long as NBA being accountable, note Cavs missed 14 FTs, failed to secure vital reb. & allowed Avery Bradley to get open for game winner — Windhorst
Haha. I’m progressive circles I believe this is called “Blaming the victim”
LOL. Well played
NBA announces JR Smith was incorrectly called for a foul in final 5 seconds last night that set up Celtics 5-point possession to beat Cavs. — Windhorst
That’s good he is vindicated. Doesn’t do us any good though. Will Bill Simmons stop the name calling?
He’s a child, so no. Unless someone gives him a pacifier, maybe.
Guys, ya’ll are acting like the players on other teams would thrive under the kind of pressure Kyrie is under to perform. They mostly play for teams that are expected to suck. It’s a heck of a lot easier to perform under those conditions than it is to be expected to win. Every pg you can think of to replace Kyrie with right now would struggle on this Cavs team more than he does except maybe mike Conley. And if Kyrie finds his three point shot again, then the only thing we need is conley’s defense, which we get from… Read more »
You say this but his back up is playing better than him. I don’t want to just get rid of him. But if we could get someone who provides what we need then the Cavs should pull the trigger. I don’t think there are many trades that would work if McCullum can play defense I would kick the tires on three way were we get him. I don’t watch him enough to know if he can play defense. The ideal would be Klay Thompson imo but thats impossible.
His backup knows his role. Kyrie doesn’t. And it again comes down to expectations. The expectation from Kyrie is 20 points 6-8 assists every night, in addition to running the offense. Delly is expected to run the offense, and knock down open stand still shots. He is a better scheme defender than Kyrie.
And honestly, this is just another reason Delly is so much more special than he gets credit for. But to say he’s better than Kyrie is over simplifying basketball.
He’s not better than Irving. If I’m taking a player to start a franchise with I would consider Irving way before Kyrie. But if I have Love and Lebron and I need a point guard to hit open shots and move the ball I don’t think its crazy to say Delly fits better. Here is the crazy thing. I think Delly is a better pick and roll player than Irving this year
I must say I am surprised after watching this game that the response on here is to trade Kyrie. Even the game threads didn’t reflect that sentiment . I didn’t hear him point fingers at JR or SHump or proclaim he didn’t care what his 3 point shooting% was.
I’m surprised, too. There are things that Kyrie can improve on, but other things he does nobody else can do. The minute you trade the 23 year old is the minute you have to start looking for someone to replace what he can do. Personally, I don’t think he’s a true point guard. Wish we had the luxury of being able to have Delly on the floor with him more.
Lebron is untradeable and he helps the team when he’s on the floor. Irving’s back up is better than he is
That’s really the biggest thing. LeBron can’t be traded. With that as a fact, the pragmatic approach must be to find players that complement LeBron as much as possible. Warts and all. It is a bummer, but the truth. Kryie, Love, and Blatt are all very talented at their respective jobs, but it doesn’t matter unless that talent maximizes LeBron’s strengths and minimize his weaknesses. Blatt is probably the best of those three and he has already been shown the door. It is only a matter of time before the other guys are out too. At least we should hope… Read more »
Agreed… it was LBJ who had the CRAPPY game until the 4th quarter. Just straight garbage… whole team was carrying his out of shape butt.
I really like Shump…
This was the most realistic trade I could come up with:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zjqsqvy
I’d even throw in Billy Manziel!!!!
Haha, good one!
Who says no?
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zygsfof
Duh!!! The Cavs! They don’t know how to handle success.
This trade gets the Cavs by the Warriors. Get on it, Griff.
Good recap, DW… Despite the heartbreaker ending, you could just feel it coming. Cavs are a one-half team right now, and the ASB can’t get here fast enough. Probably the worst thing about last night was that guys that took the brunt of the blame (Moz, J.R. and Shump) were actually the few guys out there playing with fire and trying hard last night. Taking a step back for a minute, one positive note is that this is all happening now, and not in April/May. Sure, things could continue to spiral, but I don’t think they will. There is certainly… Read more »
I don’t think it is? How many games have the Cavs won by just out executing the other team? When you play Golden State you know exactly what coming and they do it to you anyways. Its the same every night. When you play the Spurs you know exactly whats coming and they do it anyway. When you play OKC you know exactly what coming. When you watched the Heat you knew exactly what they were going to do. When you watched the Big 3 Celtics, Both Lakers teams, Birds Celtics, Jordan’s Bulls there was a game plan that remained… Read more »
You are confusing good execution with something entirely different. The Spurs (who we recently destroyed, btw) are good at executing their offense creatively. You know that they will execute, not WHAT they will do. Big difference. And that’s the goal for this team…find comfort zones in which they can execute creatively.
But you know over 48 minutes that they will have 10 post up mismatches, 6 pick and pop mid range jumpers from Duncan, West and Parker. 10 open spot up 3s from Green and Leonard, at least 4 of which will come from the corner. Several Pick and roll baskets and more coming off that action. You know the general things they do. I think we agree here but are just defining things differently
The podcast tonight should be the sound of a babbling brook, and we should all meditate for 45 minutes and focus on our breathing.
Tyronn Lue and the team have until the end of the regular season to make much needed improvements on offense and defense. Let’s go Cavs!
It’ll be tomorrow. I’ll see if I can cue up some ambient sounds.
I’d use the soundtrack from “The Omen” as the backing track.
Per 48 minutes +/-
Delly needs to start and this is why RJ and Mo fell out of the rotaion
1 Matthew Dellavedova +11.2
2 LeBron James +9.5
3 Kevin Love +8.5
4 Tristan Thompson +7.6
5 Anderson Varejao +7.4
6 Kyrie Irving +7.2
7 Iman Shumpert +6.1
8 J.R. Smith +5.4
9 Timofey Mozgov +0.7
10 Jared Cunningham -1.2
11 Richard Jefferson -2.5
12 Mo Williams -3.6
13 James Jones -7.8
It’s important to note that LBJ, Love, Kyrie, TT, & JR spend a lot of time on the floor together – boosting each other’s +/-.
RJ, Mo, Timofey are frequently on the floor together in pairs or threes – depressing their stats.
But all this points to how astounding Delly’s +/- is.
Very true. Also makes Shump slightly more impressive. I think JR’s has greatly improved since Jan 1st.
Interesting that Blatt found time for Cunningham… yet cLueless hasn’t yet… And JC’s defense and hustle is more valuable than the poo poo platter of geriatrics who are conspiring to throw games intentionally (Champ not included)
I guess we’ll need this button on the site in the re-design…
Also my theory that firing Blatt caused a brief high and that it would quickly go away and all the old problems would reappear was wrong. It went away and all the old problems are worse. At least we played great defense with Blatt. And we had rotations that made sense and he managed Lebron’s minutes a lot better. Lebron has Played 36 minutes or more in every game Lue has coached besides the Spurs and Suns blow outs.
I still like the position we are in. Team is clearly struggling, but they have so much time to sort it out. Too much talent on this team for them not to figure it out — just like they did last year.
I’m not joking. Delly should absolutely start when’s he’s healthy. He’s been the Cavs second best player all season and the last 2.5 games have proved it. I think he played 2 minutes in the second half of the Pacers game. This has easily been the worst 2.5 game strech of the season. The ideal trade would be Irving for Klay Thompson but thats not happening. Irving and TT for Conley and Gasol if they weren’t so old would be Ideal. Irving has such a high ceiling its just frustrating because it looks like he’ll never reach it. He hasn’t… Read more »
It should be ‘waist’, not ‘waste’.
Cavaliers Fall To Celtics In A Cry For Help via @CRS_1ne
clevescene.com/scene-and-hear…
– a good read
Kyrie is not the problem to this team. He is still the future. It’s the collective chemistry between him & Lebron is not good in some of these games. We are not seeing a Durant and Russell Westbrook dynamic here. We need Kyrie’s 3 point shot to return, better ball movement and better defense Lebron has trust issues with his team mates and denial issues within himself of what kind of shooter he really is. I have more faith and confidence in Kyrie’s upside than Lebron’s. Last year still felt like it was Lebron and Kyrie’s team. Since his injury,… Read more »
I disagree about Kyrie. Kyrie is primary ball handler/volume shooter in his ideal world. He is a 1 on 5 player with the talent to score in any situation. He is not a good point guard. A good team has consistency because they follow as system. Kyrie will never, ever follow a system. He is probably one of the top 5 pure scorers in the league, but unfortunately the game has evolved, a system will always defeat great individual play(with apologies to his 57 point performance against the Spurs last year). That is why I laugh at all the talk… Read more »
I did enjoy your counter points and you did it in a respectful way. Thank You. They made sense. My remark that Kyrie isn’t the problem means he is NOT the sole problem. I thought people just knew that. I’m glad you pointed out Delly. Because Delly is like a “peace maker” for lack of a better word between both Lebron and Kyrie. He takes the ball out of their hands from the over dribbling. They completely trust him because they know the ball will get swung their way. Blatt understood this very well and strategically placed Delly in those… Read more »
TV, Thanks for the respect, good back and forth here. I think you made some excellent points. My take on Kryie is not that he is a bad player, or even a bad team player. We saw an older Kyrie in the later Wade/Lebron era. Thing is, despite the 2 championships I didn’t think Wade was a huge part of that run, and that formula certainly wouldn’t beat the current Warrior’s. Like Kyrie, Wade needed the ball, felt he could take over a game, but often did so while the team watched, not as part of an offensive system. Spoelstra… Read more »
I love the points in your last paragraph and totally agree. This is why Lebron has been better sometimes with lesser teammates. I think Bosh and Love and Delly, Shane Battier are the perfect Lebron Teamates. What we really need is Jason Kidd Dallas version as a point guard and Delly is really close to that. Elite shooter, gets the offense moving can create occasionally.
Yep, when Lue called out JR for the foul, he should have said LeBron didn’t cover Crowder. As mentioned by Ben above, LeBron’s defense was mediocre at best last night. His comment that “I don’t care what I shoot for 3s” is also alarming, and that is why he is 0/18. I sure hope Lue tells him to cut back on his attempts.
It wasn’t a foul! It was a complete crap call.
How about that for a statement?? This is coming from the leader of the team? Good Luck coaching that mentality
LeBron James is in attendance as Norris Cole’s number is retired by Cleveland State at the Wolstein Center. #Cavs #Vikings
I wouldn’t mind Norris Cole. Can’t shoot though.
It would fit perfectly for the Rich Paul AllStars!
If Delly is good to go tonight, I’d start him over Irving. Or play Irving at the 2.
How about Lue says, “I’m starting players who I can trust to give full effort.” Then he rolls out this starting five:
Delly, JR, Shump, TT, and Andy
Run a couple Delly/TT PnRs, get JR a couple looks from the arc, and let them defend like hell for three minutes. Then tell the “starters” to go match that intensity.
This isn’t a serious proposal–LeBron ain’t coming off the bench–but something needs to be done to communicate the message that effort matters.
I would LOVE this. But never in a million years…
It’s “national trade machine day.”
Didn’t mean to post this here!
I’d include Love. I think he gets constantly screwed playing with the “ball-hog mafia”
Kings Strongly Considering Firing George Karl: basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/240690…
Trade Lue for Karl?!?!?!?!?!?
Maybe, but don’t throw in MDN!!
Lue and MDN for Karl and Boogie!
Did you try that in the trade machine?
Here’s my first random trade proposal:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=horxcpc
Interesting. But if you trade KL+KI for a troop of forwards, you might want to keep MDN and trade Mo.
Anyone have any guesses if Mo can still play? Maybe he has been injured? Otherwise, I go with MDN, at least he can play some D.
I’m fine with that…. Just threw in MDM for…. Really just the hell of it.
Well this is extensive. That pretty much blows the big three apart.
It’s “national trade machine day.”
Not enough ball handlers.
Wonder if Minnesota will take a Love for Wiggins straight up trade? :-(
I was big in favor of keeping Wiggins, but he has not played well at all this year. Who knows what he would be like on the Cavs. If we had him rather than the injured Love in the finals, a Cavs title would likely have happened.
Love is a pretty nice player, but when we were debating the impending trade, those in favor were all claiming Love was “Top 5” player in the NBA. Those against (including me) said he was about top 25, and injury prone to boot. As it turns out, I wish he were top 25.
Wiggins is having a disappointing year for Minnesota. Similar to Kyrie, he has been scoring some and making highlight reel plays – but no rebounds, few assists, making nobody around him better, bad +/- . . . and not the defensive player everybody thought he was.
Most of his stats are down from his rookie year.
Love is not the issue. He is coachable, has a sweet stroke, fights for rebounds and is still young. Wiggins is nowhere near the player at this phase that Love is. Wiggins is a good athlete who gets a ton of touches as the primary scorer for a mediocre team. He would not get nearly the attention in Cleveland and his stats would show it. Kevin Love defines stretch 4 and really is one of the few in the league who can actually stretch the floor at that position.
Coachable is a key word. I think Kyrie is too. Lebron is not. He is too stuck in his old ways.
Imho Kevin Love looks like he is in his early to mid 30’s. I just don’t see his body holding up for a whole season. Watching him play is painful. He might put up some decent numbers, but I’m not a fan of his style of play at all.
Agree that Love is not an issue for me. He actually generally plays hard and unselfishly. If he is a poor fit at times, that’s not really his fault.
In the last six games, LeBron is ZERO for 18 from three. Since Wade went 0-4 in early NOVEMBER, He has shot 18 threes total. Early in the 2011-2012 championship year, LeBron and Wade started the season with a strict order to stop shooting threes. They were devastatingly effective. Wade seems to accept that he is not a good three point shooter and has taken it out of his game. LeBron needs to do the same. It is blatantly absurd that he takes more than one or two a game. LeBron’s defense against the Celtics was awful. He blew multiple… Read more »
Agree especially on Lebrons defense. Never boxes out, didnt stop the ball for an ET layup, and is lazy with switching on defense, and still usually yells at teammates after the ball goes in
A telling quote from LeBron last night that he’s not a 3-point shooter but he’s going to keep taking those shots: “I could care less about what I shoot from the 3. It’s not my game. Like I tell you guys at the end of my career they’re not going to say, ‘LeBron was a great 3-point shooter.’ I’m going to continue to take them. I work on them. If they go in, fine, if not I’ll live in the paint. So I’m not a 3-point shooter, I never will be a 3-point shooter. If I shoot it well, cool,… Read more »
Great post, Ben. I love your trade idea – it’ll never happen, but I agree it’d give the Cavs a better shot in the finals.
Is Lebron still that hungry for a ring anymore? I know that he wants to win one for his home. But if you read The Letter, it’s perfectly filled with excuse once he doesn’t win a title again. Sorry if I had to ask this. I hope he doesn’t underachieve.
Last night was a fiasco in many ways, but LeBron not playing hard is NOT one of them.
Playing the starters extended minutes MIGHT be good in the long run (by getting them in better shape), but it will lose you some games because no one plays as well when you are exhausted.
Last night would seem the obvious time for Andy to play after Love went out. OTOH, RJ was decent.
LeBron absolutely did not play hard on defense. Multiple lapses throughout the game with the worst being not covering Crowder on the 3 at games’ send.
I don’t hear many talking about Lebron, but wtf is up with his jump shot? I get it that people think he’s declining, I disagree, physically he moves great, dunks explosively and runs the floor with the best. No, I don’t think it’s physical. I’ve seen him go on stretches where he shot back to back 3’s or jump shots, and I don’t think that is just him being too dense to drive, I think he’s wondering where his shot is, and searching for it. Look, watching Lebron in Miami, you know, the basketball player, Lebron, not the community leader,… Read more »
LeBron has never had a good looking jump shot. He is such an astounding athlete that he makes a lot anyway. But generally guys who are consistently good jump shooters have a high sweet shot.
Tell that to the Spurs. Lebron has never been a sweet shooter, he is fundamentally challenged in that he is a victim of his own success. Because those off balance late shot clock pound the ball shots have always gone in at a 40% clip or so, Lebron has always stuck with that. He needs to rework his entire mindset, keep his whole body behind his shot, and quit shooting jump shots off balance. But he was a very effective mid range shooter with Miami. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Lebron, moving downhill off the ball,… Read more »
Yep. LeBron is infinitely better when he takes only one or two dribbles. He does not use his dribble to get him into rhythym at all, his handle is quite terrible. If this organization has a brain and if LeBron is held accountable, we would see him playing the same as with the Heat. Trying on defense, moving off the ball not only to get a dunk, rather than standing 4 ft behind 3pt line wiping his jersey repeatedly and watching the team struggle
Yea, that pretty much sums it up. Good teams don’t take turns watching their ball handlers go to work and then bail them out late in the shot clock to take ill advised shots. Kyrie and Lebron play an awful brand of selfish basketball and nobody will hold them accountable. Pat Riley had it right, “the disease of me.”
Sounds like a Linkin Park song.
I was such a big fan of Linkin Park back in high school.
Used to listen to Hybrid Theory every day on the way to school in my Saturn S-Series.
Ha Ha I still like them. They have done some remixes to put in a dub step twist to it. I like that as well. Very talented group.
TV, did you get my email?
No sorry. I’ll check. I’m really lazy looking at email I am the worst! LoL I check on a monthly basis.
Sorry I did not get the email. You can try TLVuletich@yahoo.com if you still have trouble. Sometime embarqmail takes an extra day to get . I live in a very rural area. There are more cows than people in my township. I’m serious. lol
In which I learned TV were your initials, not ‘Television’ as I had always thought!
The mystery unfolds. LoL
Who knows about his jumper, never been that great, but it’s been trash since late last season. Maybe it’s partly physical (old legs, maybe back related), but I definitely see decline from him as far as athleticism. He’s getting blocked at the rim waaay more than he has in the past, and he doesn’t have the first step to get by the best defenders anymore. If he wants to be a great player for the next few years, he’s going to have to get his jumper to an acceptable level. Bottom line.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=gpzgua2
I also want to make a bad trade. Yeah lets just dump Kyrie!
You are hilarious.
McCollum or Rubio???? Come on guys
McCollum is better than Kyrie, and frankly so is Rubio.
I wouldn’t do the Rubio trade, but McCoolum is a stud….I’d ponder that one….
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hxhntzd
Kyrie for Mike Conley. Cavs doing this move as a huge gamble win now gamble that Conley doesn’t walk. Memphis does in case he does.
I’ve been one of Lue’s biggest supporters here and right now it feels hard to justify but I’m still giving this team till after All Star break to really judge them. Also, enough about Klutch and LeBron plots and all that… Leb has proven he can play championship calibur ball — are we sure it’s not Kyrie who’s been the real issue on the team? I mean, Byron Scott, Mike Brown, Blatt, Lue… None of them have gotten the kid to play smarter… At least JR and Love, two of the people folks were most skeptical about the Cavs acquiring,… Read more »
Kyrie played very disciplined under Blatt. Very hard in the playoffs. Very high on him and credited him a lot last year. He said not so good things too about Blatt but all of it was basketball context, nothing with hidden agenda.
Everybody is just thinking too much. Even the fans. Just go out and play basketball.
In Windy’s post-Blatt-firing podcast, he was clearly saying that LeBron didn’t like the Kyrie signing right before The Return. I wonder who GM LeBron had in mind for his point guard. Chris Paul was a year into his new contract with the Clippers at that point, so he wasn’t an option, barring some huge trade.
Wow. That was news to me. How’d Windy knew that?
I’d make a joke here, but I’d have to fire Myself.
He was talking about LeBron and how not everything is hunky-dory just because Blatt is gone. He said: Who’s the one big piece who’s still here who was here before The Return? The moderator said Kyrie, and Windy said (roughly), “I’m just saying. That extension was signed before The Return.”
There was additional hinting and suggesting, but it didn’t take any reading between the lines to get what he was saying.
Of course, it might have been a large dose of inference and speculation on Windy’s part.
If we’re going to take something from that, what does Lebron & Klutch really want to happen?
* happen to the Cavs organization.
From about 8:30 to 11:00 here: http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=14671694
From my listen, I think he was maybe more implying that Kyrie wasn’t that crazy about LeBron coming back or playing with LeBron.
You might be right. I tend to assume drama begins with LeBron. I guess the one thing that’s clear in what he said (however accurate it may be) is that LeBron-Kyrie is a fraught relationship.
What? Lebron didn’t like Kyrie’s signing ? That really is hogwash. If anything, he pushed it Kyrie was key to get Lebron back to Cleveland . Throw in Love and the deal was done. He wanted assurances to have a BIG 3. Unsigned Kyrie and you don’t even have a conversation with Lebron.
Yeah. Windy never said that. He said Kyrie didn’t know LeBron would sign, and that maybe Kyrie would have chosen differently had he known.
He’s insinuated on more than one occasion that Kyrie is not overly fond of LeBron even if heasnt come out and said it.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zckoxrg
I don’t love Kyrie for Rubio and Martin. But I don’t hate it either.
Reuniting Love with his buddy. But I don’t like that one…
Rubio can’t shoot, but he can play point.
The Lebron 3 pointer that came simultaneously with Crowder’s foul on Timo should’ve count. He clearly is on shooting motion when it happened. I have a strong feeling that would’ve been the game there. That sequence was followed by a Lebron layup. That is a 7 point swing. These refs really sucks.
Agreed.
Have you ever seen a home court that has a worse “home court advantage” when it comes to refs?
Well our home team can’t even use it to their advantage too.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=zojbk2n
This move makes sense for all three teams. Sort of.
Sort of. I think Portland would be the only of the three that might actually do that trade, though.
Why? I they’d be least likely.
With Randle and Russell, two young guys who might improve a lot. (I’m not that high on Randle, but Russell could easily be a really good player in a year or two, and the Blazers are rebuilding) it would depend on how much they like CJ…I like him a lot, personally.
So Do I. Jim Buss is a starf***er. He’d do that deal in a heartbeat for Kyrie. Cavs least likely cause it’s a smart move.
J Buss would love him some Kyrie… especially with Kobe’s endorsement of KI…
That kick to the gut by Brad Stevens hopefully was felt by Griff and Gilbert. Would Thibs even like it in here?
Lebron wants to be coached by a former player. That’s bull$hit. I know he’s just repping Mark Jackson.
That Blatt quote from Stevens was from. Jan. 18th. Taken a bit out of context last night.
Still. I believe the coaches are irked by Blatt firing. They just brought job security of coaches to a whole new low. I expect more to come.
In what way is it bad for coaches to have more of them getting paid big at once?
Look on the bright side, CtB readers, if the Cavs lose to the Pellies, that will make for an epic Sunday podcast!
Gotta get Cols involved in that one.
Our definitions of ‘gotta’ differ….
Yeah, but if you really want epic… It could be the podcast of the season. The podcast to end all podcasts.
Notice how quiet Cols has been the last several days, since the Eurogenius is looking pretty smart on his rotations and strategy in his 1 1/2 on the job.
Really? Where is he coaching now?
The better question is “where is he coaching next year?”
That would be pretty epic…
If I’m Cavs Dan, I’m hiring Thibs.
Maybe he can set the record for number of head coaches he’s paying at once. That would be something to hang your hat on!
But if it’s comic sans Dan he would fire Lue and promote Larry Drew.
But seriously, if they see this year is a bust, I’d fire Lue after season then hire Thibs. He’s the only man who I can think stand up against Lebron and Klutch.
Agree on Thibs. It will we sad chapter in Cavs history if this year ends with Lue’s firing. If they keep playing so far below their potential, it’s inevitable. I just can’t fathom since Lue allegedly pulled the defensive strings before, what the heck has happened to our defense?
YES WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF EXCUSES ( CLUELESSES ) AND THE OTHER EASTERN TEAMS KNOW THIS AND ARE GAINING CONFIDENCE —–WE HERE AT CTB ATTEMPT TO BE VERY POSITIVE BUT ALSO WE ARE VERY HONEST AND OPEN —-EVEN THE MOST DIE HARDED CAVS SUPPORTERS ( FRED / A.C. / CAMPY / AMICO ETC ) ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THE PRESENT PLAY ——GRIFF… IF YOU HAVE “THAT RABBIT IN YOUR HAT ” BETTER PULL IT OUT NOW —–WHAT IS REALLY DISTURBING IS THIS IS THE HIGHEST PAYROLL AND THE PERFORMANCE IS FAR LESS ( CAN YOU SAY BROOKLYN ) —-AND… Read more »
George Karl may be available soon. Just sayin’…
I know you’re joking, but, boy, he’s not been good with the Kings…it sounds like the Nets loss may get him canned. Then after their interim guy gets replaced this offseason, some poor guy is going to make a lot of money being absolutely miserable coaching that team next year.
Have to say, I do feel for Kings fans.
If a Griffin Hail Mary trade is in the works, what do you all think it would take (and also be realistically possible to achieve) to jumpstart this team in time for a run for the chip?
Kyrie for a real point guard. There. I said it. Take a huge gamble on Mike Conley?
I highly doubt CP3 will make our offense fluid, what more if it’s Conley. Besides we loose a lot scoring w/o Kyrie.
This maybe impossible but
– Tyson Chandler
– Brandan Wright
– Courtney Lee
– Omri Casspi
Those are the top that comes to mind
I’m sure casspi wants to come back.
#FREECASSPI!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe some of the Israeli’s will hate us less.
As a GM there’s no way I’d do it but as a fan I can admit being a huge secret admirer of Conley for years. It would be perfect if he was a couple years younger. Kyrie’s ceiling remains so much higher, though, and that’s what we should want.
I’m not convinced it is. Also Conley is perpetually underrated. I don’t think Hollinger is dumb enough to make that move unless he’d pretty sure Conley is walking.
What about KI and TT for Conley and Gasol?
With so many question marks to this team a title still seems so far as the days come by. * I haven’t seen the “13 action” play all night. Thought that would help in attacking their weakest defender in Isiah Thomas through the switch. * I don’t know the stat but we’re absolutely not an elite 3pt shooting team. Outside of JR, whose streaky at best, all the remaining guys are average. Kyrie’s 3pt shooting worries me more so than Lebron’s. And we need a lot of shooting since Lebron is gonna start to decline. * Speaking of Kyrie, there’s… Read more »
Lue is actually now a pedestrian 5-3, and I believe the team is worse than under Blatt. The defense has had incredible deterioration, and most of the offensive issues remain the same. The Cavs used to lock down fairly solid in the 4th quarter, but that defensive intensity and success is gone. 39 4th quarter pts at home against the Celtics !!!
I gave the Chicago game a pass since the dust hasn’t settled then.
OTOH, they were lucky to get out of Indy with a win.
I thought Kyrie had a real solid game last night. A couple crappy turnovers but every point guard has those in each game. What more do you want from him than his production last night??
Let’s start with less ISO. Knowing that Delly is sitting, he should’ve known that he needs to be more traditional PG and involved the team more but then he goes ISO galore. Setting up the tempo instead of walking it down the court just to go ISO again. Also could be more attacking rather than launching dion waiters long 2’s.
Is that too much to ask?
I thought that after the first 5 minutes he was terrible. He is terrible at using and guarding screens. He constantly snakes screens on offense so much so that the defense just sits on it. He ignored the fact that Issiah Thomas was guarding JR Smith the whole night. He never makes quick passes. Between him and Lue’s awful rotations I was sure we were going to lose the whole second half
In Dave McM’s good summary of the game, he highlighted the beginning of finger pointing. Lue himself critized JR for the marginal foul, and LeBron pointed to Shumpert for even allowing the game winning three pointer. Of course, he didn’t mention his own failure to cover Crowder on the previous three pointer. Dave McM said finger pointing starts when things unravel that badly. I don’t recall Blatt – or even any of the players – being that blatant. Blatt would say something like “….one play doesn’t win or lose a game.” The finger pointing sure isn’t indicative of connectivity or… Read more »
Pretty sure there’s a guy in Israel who thinks this is fun. If he were paying attention but he’s most likely not anymore.
Lue needs to step down from Allstar weekend and concentrate on what to do with the team he was just handed the reigns to. If he’s as good a coach as Lebron thinks, there will be plenty of Allstar weekends in his future.
Actually he has had meetings in Atlanta at the Hawks facility. Just being friendly they say.
I didn’t watch the second half, so I can’t comment . . .