Podcap: Miami 106, Cleveland 98 (Or Tibiawful Loss)
2017-03-07The Cavs loss to the Heat was a footnote to Monday night’s news: Andrew Bogut broke his tibia when he collided with Okaro White’s knee 58 seconds after he entered the game. Cleveland had a hard time competing with Miami again, especially when LeBron was off the floor. The wine and gold were outscored by 22 in the 9 minutes LeBron was on the bench.
LeBron finished with 30 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, and +14 in 39 minutes. Kyrie dropped 32, seven, and three, but was complicit in the Cavs’ complete inability to stop the pick-and-roll or basic dribble penetration (his teammates weren’t much better). The Heat dissected them and dove and kicked all night. Dion pitched a 24 point first half and finished with 29 and five dimes while Goran Dragic dropped 21 and six. Wayne Ellington chipped in 18, and the Heat finished with five guys in double figures.
You’d think with the Cavs winning the rebound battle 52-38, they’d have won this one, but they lost the turnover war 17-7, missed 10 free throws, and watched Miami go 16-35 from three while only hitting 9-27 themselves. They did cut the lead late , but Miami was in control for most of the game.
John Krolik and Nate Smith hopped in the podcast booth to recap the game, the Andrew Bogut’s broken tibia, what it means for the Cavs, and where they go now. They also talked aout the league’s worst defense since the all-star break, and asked the hard hitting quetions. What happened to the Death Lineup/Wildcat Offense? Is Deron Williams helping or hurting? Is Derrick Williams? How badly do the Cavs miss J.R. Smith and Kevin Love? Will they be able to re-integrate quickly? Who does Cleveland want to avoid in the first round? And what’s up with Shump?
Around the league, the MVP race weighed heavy, Are the Heat a playoff team? What does the Durant injury mean for the Warriors? Are the Heat a playoff team, and, of course, how weird is Saint Weirdo (Dion Waiters)?
As always, we can be heard above, on the Allmighty Baller’s Podcast Network, iTunes, and Google Play.
John Kuntz, cleveland.com
I’m going to. R see. E be so hungover tomorrow.
Nice pod. It’s quite sad that once the Cavs got Deron Williams, the jumbo lineup died……
49 wins at 79% winning record, as lone all star, DPOY candidate should net Kawhi the MVP but again media is enarmored with Westbrook’s triple double average. My candidates for MVP in this order: Kawhi, Harden, Lebron and Westbrook. If Durant was not injured, he might have been #3 candidate on that list. Littlr known fact around NBA is how Kawhi is lifting his teammates like Dedmon and David Lee who were finding it hard to find a team last summer.
Eh. LeBron is still easily the better player who turns into Destroyer of Worlds LEBRON once the playoffs begin. As you saw firsthand last Finals when he led everyone in everything in route to winning the Title of a certain overhyped team from out west.
uh okay. May be you don’t know MVP is for reg season and not for playoffs. 73 wins+finals while defending championship teams are never overhyped. Stick to ‘variance’ as reason for Cavs losses.
LeBron is having a better season than Kawhi, shooting wise, rebounding, assists, etc. And yes that team was way overhyped. Strength in numbers still makes me giggle
That is your opinion. Durant is have put similar or better numbers than Lebron, at both ends of the floor. Lebron averages 0.6 bpg, durant 1.6 bpg. Of course, now you will move goal post to different things. Kawhi has won 49 games, his team is on top in defense, important numbers > Lebron’s. Lebron has two all stars along side him, got more help than Kawhi and takes games off, literally. Kawhi Leonard – 48% FG, 38% 3Pt%, 26.3 ppg, 6 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.9 steals, 0.7 block, 49 wins LeBron James – 54% FG, 40% 3 Pt%, 26.0… Read more »
I saw post on twitter that Spurs are better defensively with Kawhi off the floor. I don’t deny he’s one of leagues best, but I believe he’s a byproduct of system and coach. Regardless of MVP, he’s not the same level as LeBron and KD.
And who do we go with? Sanders? Dahntay? Moreland? Is there anyone else left? Any Jonathan Simmons’ like walking around in some gym somewhere?
I think Dahntay.
That would be astounding. His role filled by D-Will2, who is vastly better. I think it will be Moreland, who has a good chance of being on the team next year anyway.
Cavs should have one or two strong, thorough practices this week. It is imperative.
The new Williams boys don’t play very good D. This is known. Korver does a lot of things well but doesn’t have the same basic quickness and strength as JR. Shump is a minor dumpster fire this year.
Such a bummer about Bogut — I was really looking forward to watching him.
It is really really hard to repeat in the NBA.
Kawhi Leonard – 48% FG, 38% 3Pt%, 26.3 ppg, 6 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.9 steals, 0.7 blocks
LeBron James – 54% FG, 40% 3 Pt%, 26.0 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 8.8 apg, 1.3 steals, 0.6 blocks
So LeBron has better stats almost across the board with a huge advantage in FG%, rebounds, and assists with just 0.5 steals less. And the Cavs are 0-whatever when he sits. I think anyone that votes Leonard over LeBron does not follow the NBA.
Cavs need to get their stuff together on defense and pull out a really good record in these last 20 games. A fifth Lebron MVP depends on it.
Kawhi Leonard is at 74% in the playoffs for free throws.
Ya, and he’s missed several key free throws that could have closed out games.
Hey krolik. James in the playoffs is 75% at free throws. That’s good.
It’s mediocre. 80%+ is good.
Dahntay Jones would like to be a 2 time NBA Champion. Just sign him up
We might regret not having Bogut in the playoffs. With him, we would have been able to match up against any opponent. Having said that, even without him, this is still the most talented team in Cavs’ history.
The main opponent I think would be the Raptors. But Valancunias just doesn’t scare me anymore. He always seems to just disappear when the Raps need him to be present. I think the problem is that their most effective lineups/style of play, aren’t with Valancunias. I expect TT to have little to no problem guarding Ibaka.
I really miss Kevin Love and JR… I hope everything can go smoothly from now until the playoffs and we can go in healthy and playing as a team. If that happens, I think we’ve got a pretty darn good shot.
Man, nobody even close to Bogut available at this point. Sanders? Moreland? Sullinger? Not really any decent options…
Bad injury luck for the Cavs this year.
Indeed. We have been ravaged. My only consolation is that Bogut, knowing Lue, may not have played at all in the finals. It’s just a matter of avoiding injury for the remainder of the season. I’d still like to hang on to that 1 seed as well.
Well on the upside I got to watch this dumpster fire from a suite at the Q and meet Larry Nance and his youngest son – so still a good night!
Im not worried yet – defense requires effort and these guys dont give defensive effort in regular season.
Nice. I was sadly at the game too. Very painful to watch. Total matador defense. Last year we turned up the D from a better starting point. A lot farther to improve in 2017. But since we are last in D since the break we can only get better. Right?
I know Nate is going to complain, but it’s really smart of the Cavs to integrate Deron now when the games don’t matter so when the playoffs begin he has some chemistry with the team.
Deron will be the Mo Williams of this year’s playoffs. If they want to win, he’ll get the five minutes a night that neither Kyrie nor LeBron are on the floor. Sure, he’ll eat minutes in the regular season, but taking the ball out of Kyrie’s and LeBron’s hands in the playoffs is a recipe for failure. He’ll be mostly irrelevant then.
Do you realize you can have MORE than one ball handler on the floor at once?
Raoul, I think you just blew his mind!
This is a great read about how everyone loves playing with LeBron.
http://www.sbnation.com/a/lebron-james-playmaker-cavaliers-sunday-shootaround
Sucks about Bogut. Still have the #1 seed in the east. Should be no problem to flip the switch in the playoffs again.
I think you will see a new Cavs focus the rest of the season. With Bogut they would have had literally no flaws in pursuit of a title, other than focus. Now they are up against a wall, with no answer to physical big men and potentially the worst perimeter defense I’ve ever seen. It’s put up or shut up time. If I know anything about this team it’s that they thrive in this type of situation. If not, they are a massive failure and extreme waste of talent. My money’s on a focused team the rest of the season.
I think we’ll see even more losses. Lue indicated at the beginning of the season that this is when he’d start resting guys (Leb) with greater frequency. Just have to trust that their defense sucks because of effort and not something more serious…
It’s not terrible defense (worst in the NBA recently), it’s just ‘variance’…
Exactly. 3 point variance cost us. No big deal. We know what happens once the playoffs start.
That’s your quota on the word “variance” for the day. In fact, given last night, you’re well over.
It is funny how ever team that plays us is a variance game. At some point, it isn’t them, it is you. Our defense is terrible. Worst in the league since the ASG. We need practices & accountability. If you can’t play D, you must be tired, so I’m taking you out.