Recap: Cavs 120, Kings 127 (or, Roadhouse Blues)
2022-11-10The Cavs’ defense did a no-show in Cow Town as the Cavs fall to the Sacramento Kings 120-127. In an ironic twist of fate, it was the scrappy dawg Kings’ defense that out-stocked the Cavs 16-5, leading to a 18-9 turnover margin that favored the home team. Let’s dive into last night’s takeaways…
1. Roadhouse Blues?
Much of the post-game discourse on the Live Thread was parsing out if the loss was just a natural result of west coast trips being hard on east coast teams or whether it was indicative of something more serious. As Nate Smith and yours truly stated on the last podcast episode, 2-3 or 3-2 was a predictable outcome for the road trip given the opponents, locations, and time frames. Apropos, the Cavs’ game against the Golden State Warriors will determine whether the trip ends 3-2 or 2-3.
So, it’s probably a mistake to read too much into a cross country November road loss… *Steven A. Smith voice* BUT!
2. Bad Habits Forming? Arrogant Basketball?
Coach J.B. Bickerstaff has always been a guy that chooses to withhold criticism 99% of the time. So, it raises eyebrows when J.B. started the press conference off by saying the Cavs were forming bad first half habits and playing “arrogant basketball.” So for those who think the Cavs troubles are “deeper” than road legs, it appears J.B. agrees with them, at least for last night.
3. Questions for J.B (since no one else will ask them)
Since J.B. saw it fit to undress his team publicly, how about a little accountability for the coach? What’s the deal, J.B., why are you running another essentially 8-man rotation again on a brutal road trip? Did you know that the only two Cavs with a positive net rating last night were Dean Wade (+29.1 in 14 minutes) and Cedi Osman (+3.2 in 15 minutes), for whom you couldn’t find more than 30 minutes of action??? Where’s Raul Neto? He might be the best perimeter defender on the team, don’t you think Neto could’ve been useful for that trash defense last night? Where’s Lamar Stevens??? Isaac Okoro has been giving you almost nothing all season, isn’t it time to create some competition?
Credit where credit is due, thank you for pulling the plug early on Robin Lopez and Ice, they clearly didn’t have it last night. But you dress 13 players every night, you’re allowed to play them J.B.!
Bonus Question: *old man voice* why the hell are there a half dozen journalists at every press conference asking absolutely nothing of substance? I’m longing for the days of Joe Vardon and Jason Lloyd, Lord help me…
4. Donovan Mitchell still put on a show
Unfortunately, the Cavs wasted a virtuoso offensive performance from Spida… but, what’s nice about Donovan Mitchell is he always puts on a show win or lose, so enjoy!
5. Quick note on the Kings
Former Cavs coach Mike Brown has his Kings playing scrappy, but unfortunately for him the Kings front office has probably the worst reputation in the NBA. Passing on Luka DonÄŤić, trading Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield for a limited player in Domantas Sabonis, the record is sad. And as good of a job Brown is doing, the Kings are headed for the worst possible case, a .500 record and bad lottery odds for the famed 2023 NBA Draft class. Maybe the Cavs can take advantage of a trade deadline fire sale of Harrison Barnes or Keegan Murray? Stay tuned…!
6. Next up, the struggling defending champions
The Cavs will finish their west coast swing with a visit to the Bay Area to take on the struggling Golden State Warriors. The Warriors will surely be up for the game, needing to build confidence especially for their young bench, who are an abject disaster so far this season headed by draft bust James Wiseman and overrated Jonathan Kuminga. The Cavs have a golden (pun intended) opportunity to take advantage and end the road trip on a winning note, Go Cavs!
7. BONUS: Darius Garland’s struggles
One of the narratives coming out of last night’s game from the media beat is the struggles of Darius Garland. Personally it’s not at all surprising that he’s struggling, after all he’s only 22 years old and dealt with a serious eye injury to start the season. There’s one number that easily explains his struggles last night: 18.1% usage rate. He played way too passively, not attacking the defense with enough ferocity. And for the record, all the young players are struggling to start the year. Here’s the Cavs rotation players sorted by net rating:
Notice the three names at the bottom, they just so happen to be the Cavs’ youngest players. Young players struggle in the NBA, but luckily they usually get better. So don’t worry about DG, he will be just fine, Go Cavs!
LT up!
I agree with the coaching aspect..you have a bench for a reason he has to trust his guys how will they develop if they don’t play Lamar?..Raul??…K love has been brilliant but you have to find a way to get minutes for those other guys
heck yeah thanks Calvin!
I POSTED RECENTLY—( WHEN CAVS WERE ON THEIR WIN STREAK ) —THAT THEY WOULD ULTIMAYELY HIT SOME ‘HICCUPS “—POSTED I DIDN’T THINK THEY WOULD HAVE A LOSING STREAK ANY HIGHER THAN 4 GAMES—STILL STICKING WITH THAT —COMMENTS// OPINIONS ?
I like 2. Cavs also haven’t beaten GSW for a while. Nice to get this one.
Dean’s defense got highlighted on “Lowe’s 10 things: Boston’s small-ball rebounding and Karl-Anthony Towns guessing wrong … a lot”
1. On the list is “ Dean Wade and the Cavaliers’ perimeter guys are defending (so far)”
https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/34998708/lowe-10-things-boston-small-ball-rebounding-karl-anthony-towns-guessing-wrong-lot
I think he’s their best bet right now at the 3 spot. I said that even when things were rolling. DG/Mitch/Caris line-up worries me a ton defensively. Against some teams they will cook no doubt, but in the long run feels way too undersized. Again, this is not a shot at Caris, who is playing his butt off. The fit just feels off.
That said, they probably need to give it 5-10 more games before making a move. Knee jerk reaction is rarely a good thing (even though I never liked this from the start).
So far Cavs are 4-0 when Dean starts (including the road wins over Celts & Knicks), 4-3 when he doesn’t. Still a small sample, but I also think it’s just logical that he would be the better fit in a lineup that has two smallish but offensively supremely gifted guards (and Donovan of course plays much bigger than his height).
I FOR ONE REALLY LIKE THE CITY EDITION UNIFORMS
grown on me a little, but still grew to love the serial killer letters from last season
actually two years ago.. also what happen to the throwbacks??????? they were the best!
Love ’em too NOMAD. Ordering some of that merch ASAP!!
I’ve never really embraced the nickname “the Land”. Was that a thing 5-10 years ago? Seems like something I’ve only noticed over the last few years. Feels pretty blah to me, but hey if people dig it, then go nuts.
I do really like the statement jerseys now though, even if the shorts are a little meh.
“the Land” has been around for at least 50 years, although never real common.
Interesting. Like it a bit more of if there’s some history there with it. Felt manufactured to me.
I used to hear it in casual conversation, like “where ya from?”, “Cleveland”, “Oh, ‘the Land’. “. Similarly, people would refer to Pittsburgh as “the Burg”.
tftc!
*salute* aye aye TOJ!
WILL BE EAGER TO SEE WHAT THE CAVS DO WITH ICE WHEN THEY RETURN HOME FOR A STRETCH—-CLF YOU HAVE BEEN ADVOCATING FOR ICE TO “DO TIME WITH THE CHARGE ” –I AM IN FULL AGREEMENT ——THINK THEY ARE SO ENAMORED WITH ICE BEING A # 5 PICK THAT THEY CAN’T// DON’T WANT TO ADMIT HE WAS NOT WORTHY OF THAT PICK—–DOESN’T HELP WHEN YOU SEE HALIBURTIN AVG 20/ 10 OR OTHER PLAYERS THEY PASSED ON
smoking the hopium..
DEVIN VASSELL GANG RISE UP!!!!
stop the pain! any number of guys drafted after him are doing really well….
LMFAOOOOo sorry DanK!!!
Hey Koby, good rule of thumb: make sure the draft prospect is good at basketball before drafting them!
MAYBE THE CAVS NEED TO GO ” BOWLING ” AND OF COURSE ……” DRINK MORE BEER PLEASE “
the need to “fly-a-kite”
I don’t think they are at the bowling phase of dysfunction, but it couldn’t hurt. Right now they are probably resting off their feet as much as they can.
“ELDER ” MOBLEY HAD A REAL NICE HAME LAST NIGHT—THINK SOMETHING LIKE 26 / 10 —IF THEY AREN’T GOING TO PLAY STEVENS —-MIGHT WANT TO LOOK AT ” ELDER ” MOBLEY–HE BRINGS MORE OFFENSE THAN STEVENS AND PLAYS GOOD TEAM DEFENSE——–GOING TO CONTINUE TO THROW OUT THE NAME—SAM MERRIL –HE CAN “LIGHT IT UP ” FROM OUTSIDE—SOMETHING “FOREIGN ” TO ICE
Love it NOMAD keep the Charge scouting reports coming!
they can’t bring themselves to deal with the potential applicability of the “b” word regarding okoro.. so, whistling past the grave yard
LET ME THROW THIS OUT THERE —IF LAURI CONTINUES AT HIS ” ALL STAR ” PACE DO THE JAZZ MAKE HIM THE “FACE OF THE FRANCHISE ” OR STAY OPEN TO TRADE OFFERS—I AM SURE IF HE CONTINUES AT HIS PRESENT PACE—THE JAZZ COULD GET A NICE PACKAGE IN RETURN
I guess they’ll get their answer soon, but if they keep this up Lauri’s gonna be an All-Star.
BUCKAROO YOU THE MAN !!!
THANK YOU CLF—-MY REPONSE—-CALL EVIL FOR THE ” INFAMOUS EVIL PANIC BUTTON ” AND …….” DRINK MORE BEER PLEASE “
LMFAOOOO
Yeah I’ve long wondered about the lack of poignant questions asked during a presser. I mean we are in the age of minutes police these days aren’t we? It’s just ridiculous not to rely on your bench a little more, especially when they are playing well!!!
Yes sir, preach it DanK! and totally agree with pressers, basically the writers/journalists have pre-conceived narratives and ask questions to get quotes for their angle rather than be curious/inquisitive and let the narrative emerge from the actual game. *shrugs*
Chris.. you just earned some uncle buck bonus points.. doors baby !! NOMAD bro.. the doors wrote one of your anthems, right ? “woke up this morning and i got myself a beer…”
YES SIR BUCK LETS GOOOO!!!!
Thanks Chris. If DG has the same kind of cold I just got over, I completely understand his play. I felt like garbage for two weeks and could barely drag my self to work.
Just too many sloppy turnovers in this one combined with pretty hot Kings shooting.
DG probably should have sat if he was really sick.
Yup, agreed Mike and thanks as always.
if you refresh, added a bonus section on DG.