Recap: Cavs 110, Pistons 101 (Or, WE’RE NOT THE WORST! TECHNICALLY!)
2011-04-11
Overview: The Cleveland Cavaliers won their 18th game of the season when they played the Detroit Pistons on Monday. The Cavs will not have the worst record in basketball this season, at least not outright. Also, Charlie Villanueva went insane.
It could have been worse, Charlie Brown Bullets:
– The Cavs came out completely flat on the road, Baron didn’t provide anything, and the team still managed to battle back and win the game. It’s hard to read into games that neither team actually cares very much about too much (with the exception of Charlie V), but that’s not something the Cavs have really showed this season. That’s promising.
The young players are kind of an Island of Misfit Toys, but everybody has something to offer. Hollins can finish around the rim and doesn’t take bad shots, but he gives silly fouls and can’t rebound. Also, he gets into fights sometimes. Eyenga is a shocking athlete who is in love with his jumper and can’t draw a foul. J.J. Hickson can score and rebound, but his defense is an issue. Semih Erden is tall and bad at basketball.
Even though Razor Ramon was legally murdered by Rodney Stuckey on the defensive end, he did a great job running the team on an off night for Baron. Props to him.
So if the Timberwolves lose or the Cavs win the last game of the year, the Timberwolves have the worst record in the league. I wouldn’t have believed it in a million years. Kind of amazing. That said, if the Timberwolves get the #1 pick and take Irving because Beasley couldn’t be bothered to make a free throw with 8 seconds left in a tie game tonight, I will eat a beehive. YOU MADE YOUR BED WITH RUBIO. NOW YOU MUST SLEEP IN IT. ALSO JONNY FLYNN. THE PICKS YOU FORFEITED FOR ILLEGALLY SIGNING JOE SMITH WERE MORE USEFUL TO YOUR FRANCHISE.
Anybody notice that we hurt both of our draft picks with this win? Detroit had a chance to match the Clippers’ record and move our second pick up to #7, but that’s now impossible. And obviously we had a shot at that 25% chance for the #1, but Minnesota is tanking masterfully so that’s not going to happen either. Now odds put our picks at #2 and #8, but hopefully not tanking will pay a karmic dividend.
Just a quickie compared to what I usually write. John is right that Erden is tall. I don’t agree, however that he is bad at basketball. He is very athletic for a guy his says, consistently sets up properly on the block, and is active on D. The biggest issue I have seen in his very limited time is that the dude is horribly out of shape. Many of his shots are short and rotations just a bit late. Assuming he has successful shoulder surgery and gets back into good shape, I think he will play a big role next… Read more »
Regardless what # we pick 1-5, and another top 10 pick, we’ll upgrade our talent. Obviously we’d like to have the earliest two picks possible (1 and 2 would be ideal but almost impossible), but I’m glad that the Cavs have not gone the rout of throwing games just to increase our chances at #1. We still don’t know who is/isn’t definitely coming out this year and it’s not like there is any one guy out there that will make us a playoff team istantly, Blake didn’t do it for the Clippers, John didn’t do it for the Wiz and… Read more »
It doesn’t matter what happened in the past when it comes to the draft. The math is quite simple: Worst record = 25% chance at the number 1 spot. 2nd worst = 19% chance at the number 1 spot. And so and so… So yes, having the worst record gives you a +6% chance at the number 1 pick. The math doesn’t care who won before or what odds they had, the worst record = the best chance. Flip a quarter 100 times and you could get 100 tails, that has no impact on what the outcome will be on… Read more »
Like I keep saying, I hope the Wolves pick ahead of us. They’ll take whoever is going to be the bust off the board.
i think the timberwolves are the worst team ever in just a general sense.
Are the Timberwolves the worst team ever? How can they even come close to the team that set the consecutive loss record, and was 1 overtime win away from 37 straight losses?
What Trey said!!
Jim, I think you are confused about how odds work.
Only two teams with the worst record have ended up with the first pick in the past 10 years (us in 2003 and Orlando with Howard). So the odds are on our side.
Kevin Garnett was right, Charlie V is, indeed, a cancer to the league. What is wrong with that dude? I seem to recall him choking Z a year or two ago. I’m so glad we never signed him. He can’t finish inside, seems to have anger issues, and shoots too many threes.