Live Thread: Cavs @ Raptors
2022-10-19Good evening CtB and welcome to the 2022-23 NBA season!
The Cavs hopped over Lake Erie to the shores of Lake Ontario to take on the Toronto Raptors to open their 2022-23 NBA season. The Raptors will certainly be one of their main adversaries to securing a playoff birth at the end of the year, so the atmosphere should be absolutely rocking with a playoff-like energy.
#Cavs Caris LeVert won the starting small forward job and will be the fifth starter tonight against Toronto — and for the foreseeable future, sources tell @clevelanddotcom https://t.co/9aXucqwBO9
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) October 19, 2022
The mystery is no longer, Caris LeVert will be the starting small forward. I think J.B. made the right call and now it’s up to Caris to secure that bag. The one thing to watch for tonight? How about Evan Mobley’s Rookie of they Year snub revenge tour. This is the kind of situation in which Mobley thrives. LET’S GOOOOOOO!!!!
Tip off is scheduled for 7:30PM Eastern time and will be broadcasted on Bally Sports Ohio, Go Cavs!
(Be sure to check out the Over/Under pod and the excellent 5 on 5 article brought to you by CtB!)
Someone needs to give Trent Jr. a taste of his own medicine.
I posted a tweet below that hasn’t been approved yet, but in a nutshell he did it again to a Nets player tonight. Another eye slap. Geez!!!
Mil 90, Phi 88. Luvin it!
Many of the “experts” projected the Nets, Celts, and 76’ers to finish in some permutation of 1,2,3 for the EC — three teams that many of us at CtB don’t much care for (or, …, hate!).
The Raoul Projection is that AT LEAST one of these three teams will fall way out of the top three. And maybe two.
If all three fall out, I am buying!
Really confused as to why Grayson Allen is in the NBA…
cap is up!
Garland injury seemed like freak accident (lacerated eyelid?! crazy) DM is just way better than everyone else on the team. I know they want Mobley to be #1 and maybe he eventually will, but DM is best Cav. Okoro doing next to nothing like usual….this is the year for him to show up or show out. He was 2 yrs away when drafted and this is year 3, I mean he should know to score points, make stops, rebound, do something. His state line was embarrassing for how long he was out there. Gilbert having all that eff you money… Read more »
has Gilbert recovered from the major health issues he had a while back?
I haven’t heard any recent news on it, but from what little I could find last season, he still seemed to have a long road ahead of him. He did an interview on camera, and did ok but clearly wasn’t fully recovered. Any mention of him from the reporters I follow said he was pretty hands off as far as Cavs business goes, which is a drastic change for him.
could be why he isn’t taking charge of TV issues.
my take on game 1.. yes TOR is a nasty team, but if i were rooting for them i would love it.. but nastiness didn’t win the game for them.. they made outside shots.. 3s were falling.. the game is easy when those shots drop.. without garland (who was suffering in his 13m) it was going to be hard to make up for lack of outside shooting.. spida showing why cavs traded for him (that being said, mark going for 17, sexton going for 20, plus ochai plus the 3 #1s.. i did get that bad feeling in my stomach..… Read more »
I have strong feelings about the trade but I’m not worried about the players traded. Sexton is doing exactly what he would have done on the Cavs, get buckets with unit #2. But at his price tag it’s not what the Cavs wanted to pay for a bench scorer. Good on him though, go get Comeback or 6th man!
Okoro not playing with the right mix of fear and arrogance. Someone needs to hard screen, hard foul, elbow some guys or the Cavs are going to continue to get punked. When the Lakers go in the tank they need Pbev.
it was an inauspicious start for year 3 with a #5 pick.. he is a very big question mark going forward..
maxey (#21) is on the 3rd year breakout path.. okoro (#5) is not in the same league..
I just don’t see the value in Okoro. A defense only guy needs to be an elite game changer defensively to make up for not being able to score, rebound , or even handle the ball. He is a back end rotation guy until he develops a second skill.
the word “bust” comes to mind.. the clock is ticking..
Yep,they we’re getting moved around under the basket.They need an enforcer.
they need to hit outside shots at a professional rate.. buckets solve everything
The Cavs should have used Lopez in a thug/bruiser role last night.
He seems to happy-go-lucky to be a bruiser. Have to convince him the Raptors’ players were conspiring with the mascots.
From what I can gather, this sort of eyelid laceration is generally 1-5 games missed, most commonly 1 game. So that is good news, as it could have been much worse. DG could even play against the Bulls, but I sort of expect him to miss that game.
Yeah it sounds like he may just need to the swelling to go down.
Came across some of those aforementioned (in the pod) aggressive Toronto fans today online. I have saved their tweets, I have the receipts and will be reminding them of their hubris later in the season.
Just remind them that we own LeBronto!
Everyone is 1-0 or 0-1. Any surprises so far?
Appreciate the meditative quality of this take. Thanks Raoul!
and exactly half the teams are over 50% and exactly half the teams under! What are the chances of that?
The Nets getting cruched in Brooklyn by the Pels and Utah stomping Denver in SLC.
FWIW, Lauri with 17 and Sexton with 20 off the bench as Utah wallops Denver.
the Jazz are screwing up the tank.
The Sexton fanboys are already coming out of the woodwork. Good for him, but the stans can get bent with their nonsense.
This sample size is large enough to draw massive conclusions.
fine effort against a nasty opponent.. DG avoids a very nasty corneal injury (according to JB).. team is well constituted and will get better as the season progresses.. big question mark for me is okoro.. practice makes perfect isaac.. the larry bird approach (700-800 shots per day) should work wonders.. derozan didn’t break into the 20s until year 5, and had his best production in year 13.. very few come into the league as near finished products.. effort always rewards.. regardless of where on the journey you are
Tough game for the boys, but in some ways a good one because of the physicality and intensity.
Pressure on Mobley to turn into a superstar seemed to backfire with him forcing the ball in traffic and shooting 3s. Barnes was relaxed and played a fine game.
Still, with everything, this might have been a win at home.
Mitchell with a great effort.
mobes has an optimum group to work with as he grows.. still just a kid.. the attitude, muscle and skills will all grow throughout the year.. he doesn’t need to put the team on his shoulders.. that comes in a few years.. i have no concerns whatsoever about the young man
re garland.. at least it is not a corneal abrasion.. dodged a bullet there
Do we know what it is?
laceration on the inner eyelid.. not nice.. but an eye injury would have been 10x worse.. personally, all these guys should wear the james worthy glasses
How long is he out? Will he wear an eye patch?
agree
So good, thanks for the chuckle!
So…. Okoro was unplayable there eh?! Don’t think he played much at all in the 2nd half. Yikes
Caris was ok at times, other times tried to do too much. Cedi was a spark. JA was solid. Mobley honestly didn’t play great, kinda got pushed around too much. DON was phenomenal
Agree. The Okoro off-season workout hype articles had me optimistic, guy just can’t shoot :(
I do think that is an outlier opponent (I can’t remember a regular season game being that physical) but If Mobley is the guy to get us into title contention he needs to get stronger/tougher. 81 more, can’t wait for Saturday
I don’t know why LeVert made the free throw.
A quick foul on the inbounds (instead of a knock away) would have left us 4 seconds. If they miss one, that is enough time to get a shot and they cannot foul.
If they make both, you are back where you were before. Trying a desperation triple or trying to O board a FT.
I think the odds are better the way we did it. Or at least comparable. We just lost time on the inbounds & then couldn’t foul.
Get the o board…
Really loathe the style Raptors play. It’s a lot like those Pitino Kentucky teams from years ago — they didn’t play ‘great defense’ so much, as just press and slap at guys’ arms nonstop, because the refs aren’t going to call that crap when it’s nonstop. It’s essentially overwhelming the refs.
of course, these particular refs didn’t cover themselves with glory even aside from that. I will be furious if DG misses many games due to that eye slash.
Cavs probably win by 10 if DG plays the entire game.
They have their entire team back, we were missing Rubio and then DG. We are integrating 2 new starters and a new rotation. Then DG goes down. The refs let them get away with everything, and we still almost won.
Come spring, we’ll be the better team. Heck, with DG back we will be.
Man that game left me salty. I’m pissed about DG, I’m pissed the refs let the Cavs get mauled and then call bullshit l8ke Van Fleet’s flop. Ughhh.
Thatcwas both better (our play) and worse (DG injury, refs) than I thought.
Why Mobley was not on Siakam more, that really pissed me off.
What a crappy couple of Cleveland sports days. I’m gonna go stick my head in the toilet!
yeah — I was afraid the Browns stinking up the gym so bad would jinx the Guards and Cavs — and it did.
Bad defensive game plan JB! Gotta put Mobley on Pascal man, he is their best and biggest offensive player
It was weird. They set up with Siakam at the 5, OG at the 4, and Barnes at the 3. And we kept having Mobley on OG, LeVert on Siakam, and JA on the perimeter. None of those guys are inockdown shooters. Just go under & keep size on Siakam.
Horrible mismanagement by JB at the end there.
I see we’re going to have another year without JB using coaches challenges WTF?!
No TOs.
Can u challenge without one?
No. You have to call a timeout first and then challenge.
I don’t understand the strategy with that possession? They’re down 3 and need a 3. Why didn’t they take a time out?
They were out.
We don’t have any left.
They didn’t have one.
It looked like we had one left. Then my mistake.
No timeouts left
No time outs left.
Could have challenged
Though with no time outs it might be a technical
OK. Let’s go.
LeVert out to lunch there.
A miss!
Pelicans waxed the Nets
love it
I hte the two timeout rule.
Ol. Terrible call cause it looks like Mitchell didn’t even step out. But I don’t care.
Try to foul someont not named FVV.
I really hate it when refs let a team get away with constant fouling just because they play super aggressive and even dirty…
Makeup call.
Unbelievable. Van Fleet flop
This raptors team is going to get hurt or lead the league in hurting other players. Glad we don’t play in their division
Midget Van Fleet with a flop!
He turned his shoulder into him.
He also flopped.
Dg healthy we win easily
Same problem as last year. Offense struggles with only one guy to stop. A little bummed Mobley looks about the same in ISO situations. Need him to get a couple moves to score when it all breaks
Handle just too loose
Man,they seriously need some muscle, somebody to bust some heads.
The two 3’s off of offensive rebounds and a few fastbreak points off of turnovers killed us ghjs quarter… and clearly no one could have scored either so that didn’t help.
I didnt even realize stevens was on the roster. How the hell is he not playing for Cedi 2nd half?
Cause Stevens is one of the worst players in the league?
Cedi is trick or treat, but he’s a far better player than Stevens.
The refs have been a travesty.
I also feel like that floor is slippery, cavs have looked like they are slipping often in this 4th quarter.
yeah guys been slipping all night.
Only 15 points in the 4th.
Why is fucking Mobley not defending Siakam?! He just drives in on shorter guys and shoots over them
No idea.
great question DanK
That three was on mitchell who didn’t rotate.
Cavs can’t win when they’re getting half the foul shots.
Mitchell with a big bucket.
Damn, Trent 3.
Bubbles nurse.
Dpida cooling off lately.
Wow we caught a break!
Cavs need a thug.
Stevens might have to develop that part of his game
How about 1 bench guard? Are we really this thing at guard??
Where is Love? Offense has no spacing
Feels exactly like last season with Mitchell taking over for DG.
I officially hate the Raptors
Where is LeVert
Wow no call for Allen .. I really had to say wow out loud I was so shocked..
We need a TO.
Get LeVert back in.
agreed
Pretty tired of this physical Raptor’s play…’physical’ is being highly generous…
They are just dating the refs to call it and they simply won’t every time. So annoying
another missed call
These refs absolutely suck
These refs are straight trash!