Live Thread: Cavs vs Mavericks
2019-11-03Tonight is likely the Cavaliers biggest challenge yet to remain undefeated at home. This Mavericks team has come out playing better than even expected and have a lot of length in all the places the Cavs do not. Fortunately the Mavs have also had a bit of trouble in the rebound department so far and that is where Love and TT have a chance to really make their mark. Dallas’s leading rebounder so far has been Luka Doncic and if Cleveland’s bigs can keep him away from the boards the Cavs could generate enough of a rebounding advantage to cover up for the inevitable rookie mistakes.
The Cavs will have their hands full trying to guard Dallas’s longer perimeter players and this game will likely especially come down to how they can contain and or minimize Doncic’s plethora of skills on the wing. This will definitely be a huge ask from Cedi Osman and a test to see if he can really turn around his defensive reputation and establish himself as at least a competent defender when not being played out of position at the “4”.
In the end I’m predicting the Cavs have a chance tonight if they can make it about rebounding. Cleveland has had 11.0 offensive boards in victories and just 7.7 in defeats (per Dan Gilinsky of King James Gospel, referencing NBA.com stats). Expect a Boban Marjanovic sighting if the Mavs get desperate to slow down the rebounding of Love, TT, and Nance. Right to the buzzer expect a hard fought battle, but home cooking and rebound games (in both senses of the word) for several Cavs could help them squeak this one out and stay undefeated at home, Cavs 114 – Mavs -111.
Here’s hoping I get my first Live Thread prediction right, and as always, Go Cavs!
Nets win vs depleted Pels. Irving with 39. Ingram with 40 on 17-24 shooting.
Man, the Knicks stink. The team never made any sense to begin with, Randle has been terrible so far, and Fizdale sounds completely clueless. He also played Barrett 41 minutes in a blowout loss to the Kings, and basically said “He’ll be fine, deal with it” when he was questioned by their media. What will unquestionably happen is that the Knicks will have the worst record, GS somehow has the second or third worst record, GS will win the lottery and draft the next Tim Duncan, and the Knicks will drop to 9th and draft some future Euro leaguer. There… Read more »
I don’t have an issue with playing guys like Barrett at age 19 on a non-playoff contender a ton. Young guys used to play 38-40 mpg regularly until the Spurs rest revolution.
Other than that I agree. Certainly seems like a GS win the lotto type year. Of course the odds aren’t great now.
nance is likely near his ceiling.. like that he is on the team.. but he ain’t his father, and never will be.. but he has a motor and has a place on the team.. i hope he keeps working on the 3.. but i am not holding my breath
I just don’t think that is his game. At least right now. Square peg round hole. Unfortunately I think like most everyone else he functions best with love. But Love can only play so many minutes. Would be nice to see him on the high post with some more dribble handoff actions for the guards and more screen and rolls when Love isn’t in. Unfortunately probably a little crowded when it is him and TT which is why they likely have him around the perimeter so much.
I do enjoy Beilein’s patience
Well considering he is used to coaching college kids I think coaching a young team like this is probably up his alley as far as dealing with mistakes.
Huh. Must have missed a bunch of those. Did he hit threes in garbage time? I remember one not the other two.
the cavs need chucky,, he is the only offensive bench weapon.. you can hate him.. but no one else can put the ball in the hole on the 2nd team.. he will be very hard to replace.. without him.. this was a blowout earlier in the game.. now, if garland can find his shot at the lost and found, we may be in a different place.. i would not short garland here, as unbelievably frustrating as it is to look at the current production.. he will find his shot, and i will stop referring to him as “O-for”
kpj was a good #30 pick.. he has upside, and is producing at a reasonable level.. windler.. nice shot.. his bones may need more rehab time.. but he will likely be a nice producer from the #28.. sexton s no bust.. he will be a pro for quite a while.. not sure what his upside is, but he has one
I think Windler will help a lot off the bench just with spacing. I was/still am all on board the KpJ train considering the price and number of the pick.
Also Sexton won’t bust. Not sure how much of a winning player he will be, unless he becomes super efficient as far as scoring.
Kpj with garbage time bucket. Thoughts: KPJ ok as a help defender. Pretty awful on ball. Torched by his man on drives or off screens. Needs to go downhill on offense all the time. Garland much better tonight. Especially when the game was getting out of reach. Has some vision and willingness to pass. Seems like he regained his confidence. Still bad on d. Sexton has not progressed much since last year. Still has major blinders. Still a complete sieve. Takes bad angles, gets blown by, loses his man off ball. Gunner prime. Had an awful game as far as… Read more »
I don’t mean to sound negative. They kept it close until about 8-9 minutes in the fourth. Better than I thought they would. I enjoyed watching love a lot. Garland had a brief fun stretch. JC was fun and efficient. Likely probably needed to come in for Sexton in the fourth much earlier.
Divac should be fired for passing on Doncic, aside from everything else. If he stays healthy he’ll be a top 5 player in the league for the next 10+ years. It’s not like this was a secret at draft time.
Well I guess at least I was right that the losing team would have 111pts and that Dallas would need Boban…
Otherwise my predictions fell flat.
Don’t live the energy and body language right now. Cavs definitely frustrated.
Cook got cooked
WOULD LIKE TO SEE LNJ GET MORE RUN WITH KLOVE
Agreed.
If Henson gets healthy, the Cavs will likely play him in on the perimeter with LNJ at the elbow.
Love works with any of the other rotational bigs we have.
1) Love/TT: Love provides space for TT on O; TT takes the quicker player on D. Best board pairing.
2) Love/LNJ. Ditto. LNJ not as stout vs bigs defensively as TT, but a much better facilitator on O.
3) Love/Henson. Slower afoot. Best shooting combo. Henson’s shot blocking covers for our bad D.
If Henson can shoot a decent % from deep, he will work with LNJ as well.
Cavs should start Knight or Clarkson and bring Sexton off the bench. Just feel like you gotta separate the two youngsters.
MAVS HAVE A NICE YOUNG NUCLEOUS–JUST A COUPLE PLAYERS AWAY FROM BEING VERY GOOD
Not sure what Cedi was.doing that d possession. Seems like he lost track of doncic maybe.
What happened with Nance tonight? -28 in 23 minutes…
Just not really done much. Been in guard dominated lineups without Love. Basically he has been ineffective and the guards don’t run an offense without Love in. Also he just isn’t getting the ball on rolls much to my eyes. Nor are they having him at the high post where he had a decent two man game with guards last year. I think he has been neutered by being positioned on the perimeter.
He’s losing confidence.
Surprised we haven’t seen JC for Sexton.
Love with some bad tovs this qtr
I hate Powell’s game.
Jesus Sexton gave that to tt.at such a bad angle and wrong time. Thankfully TT gets a foul.
I think Sexton was afraid of eating more leather there…
Could be. But he.could have gotten deeper and easily.dumped it.
4 straight misses for tt
Sexton and Thompson need to run fast break drills
Garland deeeeeep!!!!
Garland getting a rhythm.
He looks really promising at times…like his herky jerky dribbling…
Garland with two nice dump offs to try and love.
Garland getting his chin up.
That layup earlier got him going.
Sexton with an ugly but effective possession
driving lane wiiiide open for Mavs
Nice move and pass for Garland…
Yep. He has some vision and willingness to pass
Good move, Garland.
Yep. Good hesitation and head fake. Wish Sexton would learn that instead of just barreling to the side of length.
Jesus. Sexton just trash so far this quarter.
Argh that was out of a timeout.
KPJ is such a better help.defender.than.on ball. Opened up entirely to allow baseline without knowing who was back there.
Yeah, he’s been getting beat off the dribble like a drum tonight…
Ugh. Everytime they seem like they righted the ship, suddenly things fall apart.
Man. It feels like you need a giant again in the NBA. Mavs playing two 7-3 guys
Wait till the Sixers…
Right? Friggin giants. Boban just stood there and shot right in Loves face.
I don’t know what’s worse for the youngsters, being out there now or watching film with coach B tomorrow. Ugly!
KPJ was solid in that stretch.
WTF is Sexton doing?
Channeling Michael Jordan…
Sexton goes one on 3
Blinders and blunders
KPJ is an athlete.
lovely drive kjp
Wish he would go downhill all the time. He has the step, strength, handle, and willingness to take contact. They need to coach him to use that to go to the rack.