Live Thread: Mavs at Cavs
2019-02-02
The Dallas Mavericks come to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers tonight at Quicken Loans Arena. This will be a night of firsts and lasts for Cavalier fans as they get their first up close look at rookie sensation Luka Doncic, while Mavs legend and future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki plays his final game at the Q.
After a hot start, the Mavericks have fallen off, and currently sit at 23-28 on the season. Still, there’s plenty of reason to be excited in Dallas. Doncic looks like a star in the making, if he’s not one already. New acquisition Kristaps Porzingis should be the perfect running mate for Doncic once he’s healthy. The Mavs also still have Rick Carlisle as head coach and Donnie Nelson as general manager. They have the right combination of star talent and organizational structure to soon become one of the top teams in the NBA, as they were from 2001 to 2016.
Meanwhile the Cavaliers have begun their own rebuild in search of talents like Doncic and Porzingis. While they are just 11-41 on the season, there is a bit of momentum as the trade deadline approaches in Cleveland. The Cavaliers have won their last two games, and Kevin Love, David Nwaba, and Tristan Thompson should all return in the next week or so. While some will complain that the Cavaliers may hurt their lottery odds by winning a few meaningless games at the end of the season, no fan should feel ashamed to want to see their team healthy and not losing at a historic rate. Considering the new lottery odds, fretting about the first overall pick may be a fruitless endeavor anyways.
Make sure to tune in tonight at 7:30 to say goodbye to one of the true legends of the game, and be sure to share your thoughts here at Cavs: The Blog!
Hood was invisible tonight.
Maybe that could be his new nickname. The invisible Man.
Laker pups only down 5 to GSW at half sans Lonzo.
Suns host Hawks with a shot at a win.
Rockets at Utah. A loss drops Houston to 7th.
blerg…cannot believe the weirdness of this season. Nwaba back and Cedi immediately takes his place on the IR. come on man.
Good middle quarters. 1st & 4th, not so much.
Just got back from dinner. Cedi injured, eh? Yeesh. We don’t even have to try to tank.
Larry’s touch still a little rusty.
This was a winnable game with the Mavs so shorthanded.
True…losing Cedi didn’t help…
super cheap foul on Nance on the offensive rebound…
Agreed. Brunson does that every time.
Crap. Down 10.
Definitely making it harder for Doncic this half so far…
Both teams not scoring.
Not one of Clarkson’s better games…
Doncic on 4 fouls…
Wagner is going to be really easy to dislike for the Lakers…I had a head start, I already seriously disliked him…but he may well be traded soon…
Nice D by Nance on Doncic…
‘ankle injury’ for Cedi, apparently…a sprain, I suppose…
Jalen Brunson is a flop artist and a tool. He had one nice layup, but he constantly travels and clears out with his off arm on offense and just looks for excuses to fall down on defense.
As soon as a Cav’s player gets in good form, they get injured. Nwaba, LNJ, Cedi…
Hopefully not too serious. Throw TT in as well.
So damn frustrating. And without Cedi’s passing while Sexton was in our offense quickly stagnated.
Not going inside in the bonus irritates me. Especially with Dirk on Ante.
Guys who airball layups worry me.
Not sure that was a charge.
Nice YB ti Zizic pick & roll.
Nice pass Sexton, for the Zizic finish…
Parting of the Red Sea on that Doncic drive…
Nwaba going at Luka.
Nwaba is clearly one of the Cavs top three players…
Tonight he is.
Cedi will not return. Crap.Hood fouled there.No call.
This Laker game will probably be one of those where the Lakers lose by 25+, but Ingram will score 25 and some people will call him ‘good’…
I am betting Luka will not hit that many LONG threes this half.
Nice to see Bwaba back tonight. The cooler.
Caught the last few minutes of the first. Larry and Nwaba looked great Collin did… not.
doncic is 1 month older than our young costanza bull.. maturity, poise, talent, upside.. essentially no contest.. sad
and still not on my core cavs untouchables..
hats off to cuban..he has had his share of naysayers.. but seems to be going all in.. and making moves.. we shall see.. i think porz is a risk, but if he pans out.. dallas will be a nice turnaround
He was also arguably the top talent in the draft…pointless to compare him to Sexton…
Is there even an argument? Even at the time, it was obvious.
Luka is a PLAYER. Right now. All those other dudes are prospects.
Yeah, I was being generous…I would have taken 1, 2 and 3…
wow.. doncic lighting up the cavs.. impressive.. just an observation.. it appears that sexton always has a bad case of some costanza shrinkage when he is up against a higher drafted rook..
To be fair he has scorched many veteran defenders as well
Im more concerned with Sexton’s offensive mistakes. We don’t expect him to be a lockdoen defender but when he keeps wasting possessions by driving into traffic and throwing the ball away then we lose all momentum and confidence.
so.. acting like george costanza, right?
I hate Seinfeld, but sure.
We only have 2 TOs as a team.
When he hits those LONG stepback threes like that, no one is going to defend him…
Only Harden has made more this year.
Cavs on pace for 30 assists and the most anyone has is 3. Thats pretty solid team ball. That’s repeatable success
Yeah, 15 assists and only 2 TOs is REALLY great to see. That’s a trend to get excited about if we can keep it up.
Sexton just tossed a wrench in our offense and brought our streak to a screeching halt.
26 points for Doncic in the half…
Make that 28, and he scores again just before the buzzer…
Wait…are we good now?
What about when Love comes back?
I wouldn’t say ‘good’, but better than they were when they were playing a rookie and G league scrubs…
Nwaba putback…long time no see…
And another…Cavs have missed him…12-0 run for Cavs…
Nice herky-jerky move by Cedi to get to the rim, missed a tough shot, gets the putback. Maybe got banged up on the play.
https://twitter.com/GoodmanHoops/status/1091770751278084097
Holy moly. That is line some pre shot clock era nonsense.
Doncic 18 points after one…some of those were very tough shots…he must have read EG’s posts…
Doncic is scorching…
Is it just me or do the Cavs look like a real team so far?
I know we aren’t winning right now, but we actually just look cohesive and fun.
Helps wen you have Delly and Nance on the court…
And Nwaba back, and Cedi still on a hot streak…
Oof, Cedi gets stuffed at the rim on a great defensive play…nice break until that…
Yeesh, Doncic all the way…wish the Cavs could somehow have stolen him…
Zizic just owning fools inside. I do like these uniforms…
other people’s stupidity (and money).. re GMs created the Golden State monster when they weren’t smart enough to draft curry (’09 #7) or thompson (’11 #11) or draymond (’12 #35 !!) .. yes, durant joining them is problematic on several fronts.. but give them some credit.. they made the right choices.. that others passed on.. the cavs have only made good decisions when, in reality, they weren’t decisions.. re requiring serious deliberation and judgement..
re LBJ and kyrie .. obvious 1st #1s..
Cavs had shots at Klay (TT at #4) and 2 2nds ahead of Dray.
Cedi not returning.
I respect the hell out of their organization. Durant was just frustrating. More on his part than theirs. I mean of course you get Durant if you have the cap space. The fact they did is a credit to their management. It just ruined what could have been an all time rivalry.
https://twitter.com/MZavagno11/status/1091850165579862020
https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/1091849385304981504
NO APOLOGIES NEEDED JOHN B —I FEEL THE SAME WAY—AND IT IS NOT EVEN THE BEERS TALKIN !!—-IF THE CAVS NEVER GET THE DRAFT RIGHTS TO LEBRON AND IF LEBRON NEVER “COMES HOME “——-WHERE WOULD THIS FRANCHISE BE ——–SMALLER MARKETS DON’T STAND A CHANCE —-BUT YET WITHOUT THOSE SMALL MARKETS THE BIG MARKETS WOULDN’T THRIVE EITHER ———GEEEZ NOW YOU GOT ME RANTING—I NEED SOME BEER (S )———–OH BY THE WAY …GO CAVS !!!
Sorry if anyone saw my rant on the state of the league last night. The way the league is as far as contrived super teams now really gets to me sometimes, especially when I have had a few beers.
I think the source of the rant is valid. I sometimes think, “why do I even care about any of these thin skinned selfish little twerps.” And I ache for a hard screen/foul/elbow the next time they waltz down the lane.
Part of the frustration is that the outcome of the season, barring injury, has been and will be continue to be the same as long as the Warrior stick together. It seems like the media loves to prop up these stories about player movements and superteams – theoretical lineups generate more interest than the rosters that are actually in construction since nobody has a legitimate chance to beat the Warriors anyways.
That is part of it for sure.
Great headline on nesn.com: “Insufferable Nick Wright Piles On Celtics Fans Amid Kyrie Irving drama”
Was curious about Kristaps advance stats so I took a look. 20th, 24th, and 22nd in orpm among power forwards last three years. Even worse on basketball reference. Hasn’t topped 1.2 in VORP in any of his 3 seasons.
THE PRICE OF ADMISSION WILL BE WORTH TO SEE DIRK’S FAREWELL GAME AND THE “YOUNG SUPER STAR ” DONCIC ———-WILL CAVS- (WITH 3 DAYS OFF )–BE RESTED OR RUSTED ?——WILL THE YOUNG BULL FALL INTO THE TRAP OF TRYING TO OUTSHINE / OUT PERFORM DONCIC —IF HE DOES / IT WILL WORK AGAINST HIM