Recap: Nets 107, Cavs 114 (or, Signature Win)
2022-01-18In a hotly contested game with a great home court atmosphere, the Cavs took down one of the best teams in the NBA the Brooklyn Nets, 114-107. The formula was similar to the last win in Oklahoma City, with Darius Garland’s wizardry on offense and suffocating fourth quarter defense neutralizing the elite talents of James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Let’s dive into the game’s takeaways…
1. Kyrie Irving and Darius Garland put on a show
There’s no question NBA Champion and former Cavalier Kyrie Irving wanted to come out and play a great game and he did. However, Darius Garland took the challenge of leading his squad to the stat that matters most, a win. How did DG do it? With a spectacular double double scoring a team high 22 points, 12 assists, six rebounds, two steals, and a +5.2 net rating in 36.2 minutes on the court. The poise he maintained under intense pressure is what really stood out in the game. He’s figuring out how to not waste possessions and compete through the whistle. These are the lessons that need to be learned in order to win in the playoffs.
2. The Bench Mob finds their groove
The key difference in the game was the Cavs’ bench completely dominating the Nets’ bench unit. The top three Cavs in net rating for the game were, in order: Kevin Love (+24.1 in 19.9 minutes), Cedi Osman (+15.8 in 24.1 minutes), and Brandon Goodwin (+9.2 in 12.0 minutes). Love’s orchestration of the offense was sublime, scoring 14 points on only eight shots and adding five assists. Cedi’s aggressiveness and unselfishness helped out with the perimeter playmaking. Goodwin played a fantastic game considering the context, and frankly, Goodwin’s made the case to continue a 10-15 minute per game role even when Rajon Rondo’s healed.
Dylan Windler also saw extended action, with 15 minutes on the court and provided an ultra efficient nine points on four shots. He looked better in the first half than second half. One of the things he absolutely needs to improve is his competitiveness on the defensive end. He needs to use his length to pressure the ball while staying in front of his man. But at the end of the day, Windler’s finally getting some much deserved minutes, thanks J.B.!
3. Odds and Ends
It appears as though Evan Mobley has hit a wall in this game. He played over 37 minutes and was the second worst net rating in the game. Please J.B., give Dean Wade 5-10 minutes a night it’s a small request.
Major shoutout to Lauri Markkanen’s clutch three point shooting and defense. Chicago Bulls fans will regret rooting against this guy.
Welcome back, Isaac “Ice” Okoro. Ice scored an efficient 15 points and provided lock down defense on Kyrie Irving. The kid seems poised for a break out second half of the season.
4. Quick Notes on the Nets
As it was mentioned in the Live Thread preview, Kessler Edwards and Day’Ron Sharpe provide some energy that the Nets have been missing. It’s funny that it took Steve Nash a half-season to play the young, hungry guys. Blake Griffin is completely washed. There are apparently rumors that James Harden is considering all his options this upcoming offseason. It’s clear that the Nets are Finals contenders, but can they actually put it all together when it counts? One thing’s for sure, the vibes aren’t great!
5. Next up, a massive Central Division showdown
The Cavs will face off against the Eastern Conference’s top team, the Chicago Bulls in the Windy City on Wednesday night. It’s the perfect opportunity for the young guys to feel the intensity of an important game, on the road in a hostile environment. There is a major scrum currently for Eastern Conference supremacy. If the Cavs can score a major road win, they’ll insure their name stays in the conversation… GO CAVS!
YEP !!
live thread up
WOW JUST WATCHED// LISTENED TO AN INTERVIEW –(NBA.COM ) WITH WILT AND RUSSELL —IT IS A CLASSIC—IF YOU HAVE TIME —LOOK IT UP !!!
Is that the one where they are sitting together?
SO GREAT TO SEE KLOVE SET THE PROFESSIONAL EXAMPLE—–PRACTICING// SHOOTING 3’S AFTER THE NETS GAME ——HE IS SOOOOO ENGAGED WITH THE TEAM THIS YEAR—-GOOD TO SEE—UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS YEARS —-WONDER HOW MANY PHONE CALLS KOBY HAS GOTTEN THIS YEAR FROM TEAMS ASKING ABOUT TRADING FOR KLOVE WHERE AS RECENTLY WE PROBABLY COULDN’T HAVE GIVEN HIM AWAY
I screwed the pooch on that prediction. Before the season I was 100% sure he was going to try to force a trade and we’d be seeing tantrums. Nice being wrong.
We often jump to assuming the “worse case scenario” will happen. (Easy to do if you have been a Cleveland sports fan!). But sometimes things turn out good. Both Love and Markkanen are now in situations where they can make things happen.
Nobody was predicting the Cavs would be this good, this fast. It’s great to have Love (and now Rondo) in the locker room mentor these young guys about what it takes to go on playoff runs.
I think the contract is still prohibitive.
Though the Lakers would gleefully give us Westbrook, I am sure.
yeah, I think your Westbrook joke actually shows that his contract isn’t really prohibitive anymore LMFAOOOO I think it’s more that his impact far exceeds his trade value now.
Philly would take Love in an instant for Tobi Harris!
sure enjoy watching the Knicks and Celts battle it out for the last play-in spot!
Chicago game will be fascinating. The cavs defense isn’t like other girls…missing Lavine is a problem for them against good competition.
The nets hit so many well contested jumpers in this game I couldnt keep track. That is not a recipe for success most nights unless your whole team is Kyrie and James Harden and Kevin Dur…oh. Yeah. Anyway we won. The bulls are not likely to be able to replicate it.
hope not. this is obviously a big game, and away. but I like our chances.
The bulls were given leeway in a way no other teams was in terms of scheduling delays earlier in the season. Cavs d is about to expose them. This current cavs team doesnt need the crowd. They are currently better without it actually.
I’m salivating. Cannot wait.
The Bulls are down more than Lavine. Patrick Williams hurt his wrist and may be out all season. Jones Jr stepped in at PF, now he is hurt, too.
Causo just got out of protocals, IDK if he is back for this one or not. Ditto Lonzo, who missed last game.
https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/amp/kevin_love_practices_threes_after_cavaliers_defeat_nets/s1_13132_37013465
WORLD BFREE—YOU HAVE ME DOING A “CLF “—CONGRATS ON YOUR ‘FUTURISTIC ” SON-IN-LAW ICE —-IS YOUR DAUGHTER AWARE OF THIS YET —WHOM SHE IS TO MARRY :-)——WILL BE AT THE WEDDING SITTING QUIETLY IN THE CORNER REPEATING ……” MORE BEER PLEASE “
Ha! I would never push my daughter to marry someone she doesn’t love! She is 100% smitten with Ice. I’m so on board I am figuring out how to turn the pic of Ice dunking over three Rockets into a poster for her 11th birthday — and thanking my lucky stars her crush isn’t on KPJ!
LMFAOOOO Ice is a cutie pie!!!
Darius Garland is the second most efficient iso-scorer in the association (tied). Only Steph is a more effecient iso scorer.
DG is tied with KAT for 2nd.
https://www.nba.com/news/harden-durant-derozan-lead-top-isolation-scorers
Passes the sniff test…he hasnt been getting assisted buckets that often since Rubio went down…and he has shot far from poorly.
COMING IN LATE ON THE KPJ—-REALLY THINK IF HE IS STILL HERE –WE WOULD HAVE HAD MORE OUTBURTS// EPISODES// AND WOULD HAVE ERODED THE CULTURE KOBY WANTED TO PLANT—WOULD HAVE DIVIDED THE LOCKERROOM AS SOME PLAYERS MAY HAVE FOLLOWED KPJ’S ATTITUDE —-SINCE HE HAS BEEN IN HOUSTON WHICH IS ABOUT A YEAR —I CAN RECALL AT LEAST 3 EPISODES // OUTBURTS//NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR —POSSIBLY MORE —–WITH KPJ IT IS NOT ‘IF” HE WILL BE PROVKED AGAIN —IT IS “WHEN”—-THIS CREATES AN UNSTEADY/ UNHEALTHY//LACK OF COHESIVE ATMOSPHERE ——KOBY JUST DID NOT WANT TO “GAMBLE ” AWAY THE FUTURE OF HIS YOUNG PLAYERS… Read more »
Anybody else feel like the basketball gods were getting their revenge on Kyrie for leaving Cleveland (and just generally being a scabrous buffoon) when that three he launched popped out with 00:14 left in the game? As Nomad noted, it was almost a carbon copy of his legendary Game 7 GSW shot, except that it popped out in complete and total defiance of all laws of physics. On the slo-mo replay you could see it was 2/3 of the way down… then it truly looks like some invisible hand (the Ghost of Fred McLeod?) reaches in and goaltends it outta… Read more »
big time choke job by Irving and Harden!
Even if Irving makes that shot, we are still up 2 with the ball. No divine intervention needed. They were already beat.
so sad!
I dont quite understand the kyrie hate as he has been gone for years and all he has done is lost. That goat had an ego of his own and is not near blameless in the team’s breakup.
He said some pretty anti-Cavs stuff after he left, both in Boston and Brooklyn.
He is a flat-earth, anti-vaxxer.
Both things contribute to the anti-Irving sentiment. Though I suspect the former much more than the latter.
Much much much more the latter for me. Don’t care about the anti Cavs stuff. Dude is a detriment to society.
Dude is a detriment to society because he doesn’t want to take a pharmaceutical product. Now I remember why I stopped coming to this site, crackhead remarks like this.
Awwww. You’ll be missed.
Or maybe you left the site because everyone else behaved in civilised manner and you realised you didn’t fit in…..
Fwiw I feel that way because he has become a spokesperson for the willfully uninformed under the guise of complex thinking. We are in a period of time in which the general public has lost all interest in information literacy. Learn how to identify legitimate sources and vary them as you process. Kyrie has a massive worldwide following and spreads the exact opposite of that.
Fair point about LBJ, Scotch, but for all his tiresome drama, LBJ never threatened to get season-ending surgery if he wasn’t traded… has ALWAYS been respectful to Northeast Ohio (even when we were burning his jerseys)… and, to Bw’s point, has used his massive fame and wealth to advance social justice and education causes, not conspiracy theories and self-pitying indignation at being a public figure. LBJ is a drama queen, for sure. Kyrie is a cry-baby with the maturity of a 7-year-old girl.
100%
Remaining strength if schedule:
T1. Bulls (20th)
T1. Heat (14th)
3rd. Nets, 0.5 GB (6th)
4th. Cavs, 1.5 GB (30th)
5th. Bucks, 2.0 GB (1st)
6th. 76ers, 2.5 GB (12th).
I’ve always believed Altman to be a good GM, and to me his shining moment was the flurry of trades he pulled in the 2018 trade deadline to put a decent team around LeBron. I don’t think ever got the proper credit for flipping a bunch of undesirable assets and a first round pick for Clarkson, Nance, Hood, and Hill. That day blew me away. Sure the Cavs got stomped in the Finals, but those pieces would have been more effective if Coach Lue wasn’t a cadaver in the 2018 season. You can argue that the Kyrie trade was a… Read more »
i still think Altman was given this year to fix this team and make it a contender or that was it. The fact he pulled a lot together via FA and of course not over thinking a top 3 pick so quickly saved him. Its bizarre to see how in less than a year we’ve gone from is our GM and coach still going to be around to we might be a #1 seed soon. The only nitpick on KA is hiding after last season’s tumultous ending and then showing up nearly a month later and acting as if this… Read more »
He’s most definitely not perfect. There are some moves that can be nitpicked and we looked like a mess late last year. The Mobley pick can fix a lot of problems though and Altman has done a nice job finding other pieces. Overall I’d say that he’s a young GM and learning on the job, and that things look good right now.
The main critique is KPJ not working out. That was an obvious gamble — highly talented player who drops way down due to “issues”. Sometimes they get their sh!t together and it is a steal, other times they get worse, and it is a waste. KPJ might still work out, but it is not looking good.
For example, the Browns have taken some gambles: Josh Gordan – total waste. Malik McDowell – total steal.
Oops! Spoke too soon on Malik.
Yes, agreed. At the time we questioned Koby’s handling of KPJ. It was a total bummer to see him traded to Houston. But it seems now that Koby got that one right.
At that pick and for what he cost, KPJ was a good gamble. That type of gamble is what accumulating bunch of second picks should be used for. The picks aren’t worth squat on their own. Packaged together they allow a team to take gambles like that. If it does work out, well it cost some very low second round picks. And they cut ties when it didn’t work out. If you do what the cavs did and move on when they should of it ends up being a low risk/high reward type gamble. Basically I am not knocking Koby… Read more »
KPJ would have worked if there was the right veteran influence – he’s extremely talented but mentally just isnt mature – i think KA had no idea how to handle and just decided to cut bait for nothing and the Cavs are good w/o him but he’d be starting over Okoro if he has his head straight
I am not confident he will ever get his head straight based off things happening in Houston. John Lucas would seem to be a guy who would be a good mentor as Lucas went through some things himself and I think is highly respected for his work with helping athletes with substance abuse, an issue he worked through as a player. But there have still been issues there.
Agree. Lucas was in some deep crap but came out on the top side, and has helped many troubled youths since. Not much luck with KPJ.
Ain’t buying the “given this year” theory.
A rebuild takes a few years, and this one is working better than most.
I forgot to mention the Allen (Harden) trade. Damn that was a heist!!
Recall at the time, many said Altman should have kept Kyrie and made him play. How is that strategy working with Simmons?
Can you imagine Kyrie being on this team with this debacle about him not getting the vaccine? We as fans would all be miserable and so over it lol. Honestly think we all are over it anyways and he’s not even on our team.
The more time passes, the more it looks like jettisoning Kyrie happened at just the right time.
On TNT after their last game, Barkley tore into Kyrie.
Said he was sick of talking about this dude. And he hopes they lose. Amen, Charles.
AGREE WITH YOU SIMMO—-HAVE TO GIVE CREDIT TO KOBY FROM REFRAINING–SO FAR TO A “KNEE JERK REACTION TRADE// MOVE ” FOR INSTANT RESULTS BUT WOULD JEOPARDIZE THE FUTURE—-KOBY IS ‘FUTURISTIC” GOAL MINDED IN MY OPINION
Thanks Chris. I kind of smell a loss coming against the Bulls, but we’ll se who’s playing – if Caruso is out DG could have his way. This team surprises me every week.
Some of the Cavs players are improving every week (including Garland), and if the roster weren’t so thin I wouldn’t put anything past these guys. That Rubio injury is the bummer of the season.
Thank you as always MIke! Caruso Lavine are probably out, but it will still be a stern test… but their defense is definitely exploitable right now.
DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL THAT THIS TRADE DEADLINE—-THIS OFF SEASON WILL DETERMINE THE LEGACY// FUTURE OF KOBY AND THE CAVS OR AM I TOO PREMATURE IN STATING THIS—OPINIONS// THOUGHTS
No, simply because if they sit and let this group mature….re-sign Rubio etc….the future is bright.
Yes they could always screw it up, but in all honesty I am of the view that Altman has been building for the future for a while now in a disciplined fashion. I don’t think they are going to jeopardise this with a lurch toward a win-now mentality.
POST GAME INTERVIEW WITH D (AW ) G AND ICE WAS A CLASSIC—YOU C AN SEE// SENSE THE CLOSENESS OF THIS TEAM—–WOOF–WOOF WOOF
DID YOU HAVE TO “DRAW STRAWS—-ARM WRESTLE—-WHISKEY SHOTS ” TO SEE WHO WAS ENTITLED TO DO RECAP OF THIS GAME BECAUSE THIS WOULD BE A GREAT RECAP TO DO AND AS USUAL YOU DID A GREAT JOB—GREAT GAME// ATMOSPHERE YESTERDAY–SO GOOD THE MRS NOMAD STOPPED COOKING TO WATCH THE GAME—GOOD TO SEE WINDLER GET SOME RECENT MIN’S // WITH POSITIVE RESULTS // THIS WILL ONLY MAKE US DEEPER// BETTER —HAVE REALLY BEEN IMPRESSED WITH GOODWIN // WHEN RONDO GETS HEALTHY –REALLY ADDS DEPTH —SORRY PANGOS YOUR PLAYING TIME WILL COME WITH THE CHARGE
Amen to all of this, but particularly Goodwin – the dude has grasped his opportunity and should be rewarded.
LMFAOOO thanks NOMAD!
@ simmo agreed!
Even with Durant gone this Nets team is still loaded…competely forgot Blake Griffin is with them haha (what happened to that dude?)…anyways great win in a great atmosphere despite the weather. Cavs really come to play and even in tight moments they are finding ways to win. Not sure if ironic is right word but it was at least interesting to see DG match baskets with Kyrie down the stretch. DG was one of the guys last year who had untapped potential that was not always there, now it is. He’s the clear #1 on this team now. Can’t believe… Read more »
Massive ups to you Chris. Getting this up so fast and also capturing the major battles AND remembering point out Cedi’s contributions to good stuff even though he is in a clear shooting slump. I freakin love it. The Mobley wall was always going to be a thing…but i think JB has accelerated it by not playing Wade. I know I’m a broken record…but this is a classic young coach not knowing he doesn’t need to win every minute. An effective, energetic mobely makes up for the slight dropoff in talent when Wade is in. And also…Wade is not to… Read more »
Be the broken record. People will point it out when you are wrong. On the JB / bench trust issue, few will argue with you!
Though I will argue this: Mobes always looked ticked!!!!
Thanks scotch as always!
Yup, this is the time of year to keep legs fresh!