Podcap: Cavs 107, Trail Blazers 104 (or, Finding the Sparks)
2021-11-04Tonight, Nate Smith and Chris Francis enter the CtB podcast resort studios to revel in the Cavs’ victory, a gritty 107-104 win over the reeling Portland Trail Blazers. Jarrett Allen put together another superstar, MVP type of performance alongside some sharp shooting and passing from Darius Garland. Nate and Chris break the game down from all angles including breaking out the calculator and dissecting all the numbers.
The CtB duo also reminisce on the week that was in Cavs-land, discussing the brutal schedule and how competitive the Cavs have looked even at their worst. They also discuss the stench coming from Portland, which began well before the season kicked off. Nate and Chris also take a step back with a survey around the NBA, discussing some of the surprises so far in the early going.
And finally, it wouldn’t be a Cavs: the Podcast without the pitches. Chris and Nate discuss the cinematic phenomena that is Dune, and Nate finishes with a deep cut documentary on the Sparks Brothers, one of the great unsung musicians of pop and rock scene for the last 50 years. So sit back, relax and enjoy… the Cavs have found a spark!
Listen below, download the full audio file, or check us out on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Spotify.
live thread posted if you want to hop over!
Looks like Scottie Barnes is playing tonight, so it’ll be a rookie-off.
AGREE WITH YOU MIKEO—( ICE BEING OUT )—-DO NOT WANT TO SEE OTHER PLAYERS INJURED DUE TO “HEAVY MIN’S ‘/ ESPECIALLY EARLY IN THE SEASON—USE YOUR BENCH J.B. —-“TACKO TIME ” FOR 4-5 MIN’S
The NBA loves them some Laker-Thunder matchups.
Adam Silver for prison!!!
Late Shai 3 from the logo…THE LOGO!! Lebron out a couple of weeks with the ab issue, this team is borderline lottery without him. Enjoyable.
Hell yeah!! I fell asleep but Shai, Giddey, and Bazley looked pretty damn good!
Atlanta looking fraudulent… losing at home to Utah without Mitchell.
chucky clarkson with 30
Utah is still good without Mitchell, esoecially 9n night Captain Band Aid goes for 30 and Ingles goes 7-9 on FGs.
yup
tatum doing an 0-for (0-7 in 20m) after big closed-door meeting with his teammates..
almost at half-time.. about the only thing cade has done is hit a few FTs.. 1-8 (0-4 on 3s).. holy scheit are the cavs lucky kolby didn’t do something dumb like trading up for the #1.. he likely will not suck forever, but imagine the horror of watching your #1 perform like this.. come to think of it, cavs and fans know EXACTLY what that feels like.. visions of gumdrop’s flab bouncing in the wind
cade making the 2nd half respectable.. even so.. long on big ‘mobes
Good point. And recall how EVERYONE hade Cade picked to be the #1 pick. Shows that projecting the future is not so easy.
I was never super impressed with him. Still not. Could be wrong. Long season.
Just really sucks because it means continued overdoses of minutes for the other available players.
Nice read on the big 3 article, here’s the data on the big 3 with guard combos over 5 minutes of court time:
DG and Rubio + big 3: +38.1 in 11 minutes. 142.3 offensive rating
DG and Okoro + big 3: +1.4 in 8 minutes. 112.5 offensive rating
DG and Sexton + big 3: +0.7 in 67 minutes. 95.0 offensive rating
Rubio and Sexton + big 3: -3.7 in 37 minutes. 87.2 offensive rating
Rubio and Okoro + big 3: -48.6 in 8 minutes. 40.9 offensive rating
SexLubio lineup is now -30.23 in 18 minutes
5 man lineup with SexLubio + Tower City used in 4 games, 9 minutes: -66.9 net rating
LMFAOOOOOO J.B. what you doing???
I don’t think there is anything wrong with experimenting early. Maybe it gets better over time, maybe they are working out strategy. Especially with the players you are paying the most. 18 minutes and 9 minutes isn’t much data to make a decision on. Maybe check back come January, maybe they need time to gel, come up with a gameplan for that lineup that works.
I think it’s a conceptual fail… Rubio is just not a great off-ball player and Tower City is struggling on offensive side of the ball, and the eye test is matching the stats.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with experimenting, IMO there are other experiments worth exploring than this particular one.
A minor critique of this blog is there seems to be a tendency to overreact. But maybe that is just the residual effect of awful basketball years.
that, and those off their meds
LMFAOOO uh, I’d say overreaction in fandom is a feature not a bug!!!
haha, fair point. Make the highs high and the lows low.
You know it!!!
last I looked, people were astounded with J.B.’s success so far.
nice article in the ringer on the towers..
good read
thanks for the tip buck!!!
looks to me like baker and the bunnies might win one more game (vs detroit, although no guarantees).. so likely looking at a beyond-pathetic 5-12 record.. go bunnies !! time to start interviewing for the next coaching staff and figuring out which QB to draft.. going to be a dark next several years as the wheels come off this wreck.. they need to put bunny ears on the helmets after each loss.. take them off when they win again.. repeat.. until they build something decent..
You literally make me lol sometimes, buck! Keep the faith! Stef and Berry (and likely Baker) are here to stay for a while.
Berry is absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the best GM in football, and might well go down as the best ever.
Stef is having a so-so year, but certainly worth getting a couple more tries.
Baker bounces back and forth between mediocre and kinda good. You gotta like Baker’s attitude and grit, but there is little reason to suspect that he can grow into one of the very few guys under 6′ to be an elite QB.
I’m no football expert and I just followed the Browns since Baker’s arrival. First taste of real success for like decades and then some adversity hits then many fans wants to do a reset again. Some fans need to have faith lol. I totally agree about Berry man. He’s a real GM. Stef is here to stay. Let’s not forget this guy is COY in year 1. I’m having little doubts about his schemes but in other aspects like preparation and taking the guys at the same page, he’s top notch. Lastly Baker, I want to keep the faith but… Read more »
This is the way.
And….short memories! Things were looking pretty damn good end of last season. That was without OBJ…
the other players are starting to speak up.
Key points are that OBJ always was a loner.
And he is like Chad Ochochino in that he was always open because he never ran his routes and just free lanced, and made a stink when the QB threw the ball to where he was supposed to be.
JACOB VERY GOOD POINT ON THE MIN’S—–STILL YOUNG IN THE SEASON—-DON’T RUN THESE KIDS INTO THE GROUND OR WORSE YET INJURE THEM—–USE THE BENCH—MY GOD IF WINDLER HASN’T EARNED THE MIN’S BY NOW HE NEVER WILL —EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO USE ” IT’S TACKO TIME ” FOR 3-4 MIN’S / GAME —DO IT
Tower City on/off:
Both off: +12.37, 27 minutes
Evan on, Jarrett off: +4.24, 121 minutes
Jarrett on, Evan off: +0.58, 101 minutes
Tower CIty: -6.71, 183 minutes
Sexland on/off:
DG on, YB off: +21.47, 88 minutes
YB on, DG off: -1.42, 134 minutes
Both off: -1.91, 72 minutes
Both on: -13.24, 138 minutes
net rating thru 9 games:
Rubio +6.4
LOVE +1.9
DG +0.9
Ice -0.9
Mobley -1.4
Cedi -3.9
Lauri -4.2
Allen -4.5
Sexton -6.8
____________
End of bench guys:
Windler +8.5
Wade +4.5
Stevens +16.5
BPM updated:
Allen +3.3
Cedi +2.6
Love +0.9
Lauri -0.2
DG -0.2
Mobley -0.7
Rubio -2.3
Ice -3.3
Sexton -4.2
___________
End of bench:
Windler +8.5
Wade -2.2
Stevens -10.4
10% of the season has been played already. Some thoughts. 1. Evan Mobley era is here. 2. Jarrett Allen is a homerun and will be just entering his prime next year or two. Good job Koby. All star guy. 3. Thank goodness we are watchable. We won’t win 40+ games, maybe, but we are entertaining to watch. I have to admit that initially I felt there was no plan or direction to what the team was doing in this rebuild but I was wrong. It was surprising to see what’s happening even though we will go down at some point… Read more »
good stuff RJ, I like the idea of developing chemistry and maintaining continuity to create a better team.
Nice pod cap and happy to see Allen getting going. He’s playing a lot of minutes even fir being a young gun. Running out starters 38-40+ min is not sustainable. Hoping Lauri Love and Ike can get back soon. Also impressed to see “next man up” contributing. Slotting Wade in and he was solid. Etc. go cavs!
Love the “team” aspect of this team right now. The good communication is obvious. Wade has hardly played, yet in the 1st quarter Rubio brings the ball down & gives a simple point to the left corner. Wade runs there. Rubio hands the ball off, moves around the arc then runs what looks like a deep cut only to stop and screen Wade’s guy just as the ball finds Wade. A beautiful moment that underscores that this team is most definitely being taught some fundamentals.
Thanks for listening Jacob!
Yup, Windler and Wade really stepped up to the occasion!
Cavs need to keep Cedi EXACTLY where he is. Don’t touch anything. Don’t even talk about it. Nobody move!! Okay, you can breathe a little bit.
We’ve seen what happens when Cedi is spread too thin. Let’s keep it light.
LMFAOOOOOOOOO touché Simmo!
” i am in treatment “—CLASSIC LINE BUCKAROO —-WILL JOIN YOU “INTREATMENT SOON ” :-)—————WOULD,T SAY SEXTON LOOKED GREAT LEO —GOOD BUT NOT GREAT NOT WITH HIS CONTINUED FRUSTRATING TO’S ESPECIALLY AT CRUCIAL MOMENTS OF THE GAME
yeah five turnovers is crazy LMFAOO
watched YouTube highlights of the game. Allen and Sexton and Garland looked great. Mobley had a few moments and Cedi still hitting outside shots. Team still struggling to close out games, I do think if not for Rubio there would have been another loss or two for this squad. Think Dame and McCollum are stuck in limbo unless they decide to leave or ask for a trade. They are getting little help from cast. Kinda makes me wonder if you switched Dame/McCollum with Sexton/Garland might be upgrade but it seemed like Cavs were getting easy buckets regardless. Next game vs.… Read more »
We know what’s CJ and Dame’s ceiling is. So we are not winning a title with SexLand. But I’m fine with them staying here for the year as they are part of the whole team that gives Mobley a good surrounding to be in as a rookie. I will not rush this sh*t man just to have a ceiling of 2nd round exits. I want what happened with Giannis and Milwaukee.
Agree
Amen to that RJ!
yup 100% agree Leo, we’re losing these games without Rubio.
Gotta disagree on Dune as far as where they ended it. As far as the book, perfect place to end the first movie as the rest of the story is Paul’s maturation as a leader of the Fremen. I did miss the Emperor/his daughter stuff in the first part of the book and am surprised we didn’t meet Feyd Harkonnen (sting’s character in the movie) yet unless they are combining Bautista’s Raban Harkonennen with Feyd, which would be a mistake. To be honest the best version I have seen of the book is still the scifi mini series with William… Read more »
Agree wholeheartedly. Nice to meet another fan of the Dune universe :)
damn, didn’t know there was a mini series!
is griffin still GM in nawlins ? if so, ROFLMAO.. another undeserving imposter.. probably more loathsome than his boy-kolby
Top two players out. Whatcha gonna do?
be better than 1-8, and don’t lose 5 in a row.. very pleased that he was the one who tripped over the zion grenade.. gumdrop karma.. i love bad news.. i am in treatment
LMFAOOOO “i am in treatment” that was pretty good buck!
He should’ve never got rid of Gentry. Let the guy coach! Thought he’d be a good fit for them long term.
true, good point Nate
Always thought he was a fraud, feeling vindicated right now LMFAOOO
I don’t think he is a fraud because I never thought of him as top flight GM. Kudos to him for being competitive at least during the Lebron stint.
Agreed, definitely not a top flight GM but did get the job done.
GUMDROP… one of the worst #1 picks in the history of the NBA, and a permanent stain on the franchise..
That’s Chris Grant