Recap: Cavs 107, Nets 118 (or, It’s the Same Old Song)
2022-04-09In what has become old hat in the post-Ricky Rubio (and Jarrett Allen) age, the Cavs’ defense was obliterated by Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets 118-107. The Cavs lost the rebound battle by 14, and the assist battle by 11. There’s simply no way the Cavs could possibly win against quality competition putting up those numbers. Let’s dive right in with tonight’s takeaways…
1. It’s the Same Old Song
Cavs’ net rating with Ricky Rubio: +6.4, ranked 4th in the NBA
Cavs’ net rating post-Ricky Rubio: -1.5, ranked 19th in the NBA
Cavs’ net rating post-Jarrett Allen: -4.0, ranked 21st in the NBA
This is the story of the Cavs’ season in a nutshell. The Cavs were a possible championship contender with Ricky Rubio, and have now become a lottery team without him (and especially once Jarrett Allen went down). What the absence of Ricky Rubio shows is how valuable the intangibles are in the NBA: competitiveness, unselfishness, experience under pressure. Of course Rubio wasn’t the best player on the team, but he was the heart and soul of the team. In the same vein, Jarrett Allen’s ability to defend the perimeter and bang bodies down low has become a much more appreciated aspect of Allen’s game since the injury.
The problem for the Cavs hasn’t been the offense since the Rubio/Allen injuries. It’s been the defense that has completely disappeared. Perhaps the most underrated player on the Cavs’ roster is Dean Wade. His ability to defend on the perimeter at a high level is sorely missed. One of the highlights of the Cavs’ season was watching Wade’s ability to compete with KD on the perimeter. The absences of Rubio, Allen, and Wade have cratered the Cavs’ ability to defend, there’s no way around that reality.
2. The Kids Weren’t Ready
Cavs’ net rating in Isaac Okoro’s minutes: -17.1
Cavs’ net rating in Evan Mobley’s minutes: -20.8
Cavs’ net rating in Lauri Markkanen’s minutes: -35.2
The Cavs’ young core outside Darius Garland struggled to handle the pressure of the game. Can’t blame them for anything, these are just the growing pains young players have to experience in order to grow. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff did try to limit Okoro and Markkanen’s minutes, but probably could’ve gone even further doing so.
3. J.B. Can’t Quit Rajon Rondo
Rondo was an abject disaster on the court, yet somehow J.B. tried to go to him twice. It’s easy to admire J.B. for his loyalty, but loyalty doesn’t win basketball games. Rondo simply cannot play NBA basketball on the offensive end of the court. The only times he should be in the game is for situational defense. The fact that J.B. hasn’t figured this out is of some concern.
4. Take a Bow, Cedi and Lamar
Clearly the two top dawgs of the game were Cedi Osman and Lamar Stevens. It’s unfortunate that J.B. didn’t stick with them more. Those two in combination with Kevin Love was a tidy +132.1 net rating in four minutes of action, the third most-used lineup in the game. Cedi’s shooting and playmaking was of particular note, at this point it’s hard not to give Cedi the backup point guard duty given what has transpired with Rajon Rondo (and Caris LeVert).
5. Darius Garland’s Scoring Blossoms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcpcn-fUsro
Darius Garland was clearly able to go toe to toe scoring with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. The show DG put on in the third quarter particularly was MVP-worthy. Unfortunately DG couldn’t find a way to be more effective with the pass, but obviously teams are forcing DG to be a scorer instead of creator. There will come a point in time where DG will have to learn how to go for 40 or 50 points in a game… perhaps that time is now.
6. Quick Note on the Nets
Right now all the rage in NBA talk is about how the entire Eastern Conference doesn’t want to face the Brooklyn Nets in the playoffs. Obviously with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving that’s easy to say. Count yours truly among the true haters, this Brooklyn team is food. They don’t defend and their team doesn’t appear to have the chemistry necessary for a championship run. It takes real courage to have fire takes, can’t wait for the Bucks or Sixers to wipe the floor with this team.
7. Play-in Picture
At the time of this writing, the Cavs are in the eighth seed with one game to play against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks have secured the second or third seed, and maybe looking to load manage and avoid a possible first round matchup with the Nets. The Cavs should be looking to win in order to secure two play-in games. Get ready for a wild Sunday afternoon!
8. Last but Not Least,
Love you Ricky!!!
LT up
Furthest that Milwaukee can fall is to 3rd as they own H2H with 76rs I think. They may well rest those starters and if they fall to playing the bulls all the better in the first round. Would be so sick to have 2 chances, even if we lose both, to see JB game plan for a do or die
Also the celtics play the grizzlies…both those teams might rest up as seeding for them isnt a huge deal
They’re resting everyone except Jrue, who has to hit contract incentives.
DG will have to outplay him, major task ahead.
Double/trap Jrue frequently and make guys like Grayson Allen, George Hill and Connaughton beat you.
Cavs better get up for this and not assume they’ll walk into a win.
definitely, a win is not a given even though they’re sitting almost everyone.
We need to end this regular season with a win at home to get some confidence heading into the playin.. just really want Cavs in the playoffs again..
100%
Here’s where things get wild: Brooklyn owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Atlanta, Charlotte owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over Brooklyn and Atlanta has the tiebreaker on Charlotte, all by virtue of a better division record. Cleveland loses the tiebreaker against all three other teams. If Brooklyn and Cleveland both lose, and Atlanta and Charlotte both win — creating a four-way tie — it will be Brooklyn seventh, Atlanta eighth, Charlotte ninth and Cleveland 10th. If Brooklyn wins, Cleveland loses and Atlanta and Charlotte both win, creating a three-way tie for eighth, it will be the same order. If Cleveland wins, Brooklyn… Read more »
So I’m rooting for the last scenario so we have atleast home court advantage in the playin.
We need DG to play a game like when Sexton took over against the big 3 on the Nets last year for a win at home.
wow! thanks for working that out!
Can’t take the credit.. found it on espn
https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2022/04/EC-Scenarios-04-09-2022.pdf
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33567713/nba-play-tournament-2022-schedule-projections-rules-explained
Pacers have lost 9 in a row and have given up >120 points in their last 8 games. Expecting the Nets to demolish them.
Hawks should beat the Rockets easily. Hornets have the toughest matchup of the three teams vs a Beal-less Wizards, but definitely are favored as well.
Looking at 10th if the Cavs drop the ball today.
Fwiw…I’ll believe it when I see it…
great cap, and love the Four Topps!
Thank you Raoul! That’s right, Four Tops goated.
I agree with CLF that I don’t imagine the Nets will get out of the first round. How Simmons got a major back injury without ever getting in a game is a mystery.
even money sez Simmons NEVER plays again.
Nice, welcome aboard the anti-Nets agenda Charlie!
not advocating for major change here but i think an intelligent discussion can be had on whether JB is the right coach for this team moving forward. i continue to get vibes of Mark Jackson at Warriors and Dwayne Casey at Raptors…they both changed to offensive minded and progressive approach coaches and everything changed…the issues of late are the same stuff from last three years, especially last season when JB spent more time bitching about refs instead of coaching his team.
Biggest criticism I have of JB’s performance this year is that he’s a short rotation merchant just like Thibs. Also, the offense is still below average in spite of having an arguably top 5 point guard in the NBA.
There’s no chance of a head coaching change unless they underperform next year to expectations. Luckily CavsDan has shown he’ll make a move in spite of the cost if it’s necessary.
Totally agree on the short rotations, although I am willing to give JB and his staff a little bit of a pass this year as they lost 2 of their top 7 rotation players to season-ending injuries within the first two and half months of the season (which is still crazy to think about), but, next season you have to give more players minutes and develop a bench no matter how much bench units can struggle at times throughout a season.
for sure, honestly wouldn’t even be mad about the short rotations if the Cavs took load management seriously, but they don’t as far as I can tell.
If there’s one thing I will give JB and the staff credit for this year is managing K Love’s minutes. The first season in forever that I can remember that he’s stayed healthy. He’s been extremely efficient most nights. Far less DNPs than I expected.
But I agree, the player to player variation is whack esp in regards to Cedi and Windler.
For sure re: Love… which begs the question why didn’t they treat everyone with the same diligence???
the whole top 8 should’ve been load managed either by minutes/games. Mobley averaged more minutes than Giannis, Embiid, or Jokic.
Looks like Goodwin and Windler are on the short end of the minutes stick this season… JB not using Windler really was insane, probably could’ve extracted at least another 400-500 minutes from Windler and distribute that for more rest at the top.
Let me amend my statement, because really the only guys who needed their minutes cut slightly are probably DG and Mobley.
The Cavs wasting spots on Ed Davis and Kevin Pangos along with the lack of Windler use is what should be criticized more. The Cavs probably threw away 500 minutes combined on those roster spots.
You look at a team like the Clippers who lost a ton of injury minutes, they gave a shit ton of minutes to the bottom of their roster, ~700 for BJ Boston, ~1500 for Amir Coffey!!!
The players love him, and most importantly, DG loves him. Looking at his growth and his interstellar ceiling, if DG is good with JB, so am I. He had a lot of coaching challenges, from covid to horrendous injuries…. Has he been perfect? No, but it’s our first winning record since the nineties without LBJ and stability is a good thing for this young team. We all hoped for a winning culture and I think we have the beginnings of that.
Biggest plus IMO about JB’s coaching style is the freedom he gives players and the ability to not put guys “in a box” as a player. Unfortunately, the freedom he offers each player varies too drastically.
A few players benefit from that freedom but I would argue a lot of role players benefit from a bit of a box. Knowing whats expected of you is a very valuable thing for a guy who lacks the confidence of a star like DG or an established vet like Kevin Love. Fully admit I dont like JB as coach…but the guy who set roles for our players early on seems to have been Rubio. That comfort level went away within a couple mins after he went down.
I KNOW I SHOULD REFRAIN FROM DOING THIS// BRINGING IT BACK UP AGAIN——THE GAME OF “WHAT IF “——–WATCHING RECENT BOX SCORES OF KPJ—35 PTS// OVER 10 ASSISTS JUST HAS TO MAKE YOU GO ……”WHAT IF “
will still be a blunder for Cavs FO and I think there will be tons more pressure if this season bottoms out and Okoro finishes with 7-8pts per game despite being a top 5 pick.
No worries NOMAD completely fine to bring up KPJ… but, he hasn’t done anything in Houston that would cause regret yet.
He’s largely the same player he was in Cleveland, that is to say, a young player who makes a ton of mistakes on the court. His defense is terrible (it wasn’t in Cleveland) and he’s not an efficient scorer.
He’s clearly a better passer than Sexton, but doesn’t bring anything else to the table.
There was nothing to be done with KPJ. Decent gamble. Didn’t pay off. No coming back from his actions in Cleveland.
He has had blowups in houston too. As CLF stated, he isn’t actually a winning or good player at this point. Not worth the trouble or toxicity.
Yep. Well said.
Totally agree. I find it difficult to look back at a single player that was traded/not resigned and say well what if they were on this team right now? In reality if the KPJ trade hadn’t have happened, many other dominoes could have fallen another way. Would the team have been in position to draft Mobley? Would they have even signed Rubio? Would it have affected DG’s development? Yes, KPJ has a lot of raw talent and his skill set probably would be useful on this team. But the move had to be made and this season has definitely been… Read more »
Such a huge Four Tops fan, that this has been my favorite CLF title pic.
This is incidentally my favorite Four Tops inspired song.
nice!!!!! Love it Nate!
JUST ASKING OUT OF CURIOSITY —–WITH “STEALTH TANK ” JOKINGLY IN MIND—-ARE WE NOW IN POSITION TO RETAIN THE PACERS PICK // IF NOT WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN —-PLEASE EDUCATE “OL NOMAD “
If they lose the play in and are eliminated from the playoffs the lottery protected pick will be the Cavs and next year the Pacers will get 2 second round picks as part of that trade. I think…
Not quite. If they fail to make playoffs this year, it’s a first rounder next year lottery protected. If they don’t make playoffs next year, it convert’s to two seconds in 2024 draft.
ah ok…thanks Nate!
so not great really, should have tried to keep it a first rounder only for this year. If we don’t make the playoffs next year, good health pending, there will be major organizational changes i would think. Still, keeping the pick this year, changing the fringes around the core, and firing it back with good health next year gotta have us feeling optimistic!
THANK YOU CLF !!!—DIDN’T WATCH GAME// REPLAY // GRANDKIDS DUTY —–LOOKING AT BOX SCORES// READING YOUR RECAP—–WAS ALMOST SPOT ON IN MY PRE GAME PREDICTION FOR DRUMMOMD—( I PREDICTED 15/15 )—-MAYBE I AM TOOO MUCH OF A “HOLY ” MOSES FAN —-BUT WE HAVE MOBES WHO HAS BEEN OFF FOR WHAT ALMOST 2 WEEKS // PLAYING HIM 35 MIN’S AND ” HOLY ” MOSES —EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE ALOT OF “HOLES ” IN HIS GAME THAT NEEDS IMPROVED—BUT AT TIMES HAS FILLED IN ADMIRABLY —ONLY GETTING 3 MIN’S AND OF COURSE WINDLER AGAIN A NO SHOW —–JB’S “TRUST ‘ ISSUES… Read more »
You’re welcome as always NOMAD!
yeah, maybe a few more minutes for Brown could’ve worked that’s fair to say.