Live Thread: Cavs vs Timberwolves
2022-11-13Cleveland returns home after a five game road trip nursing a three game losing streak, and they’ll be without the benefit of two of their all-stars as Allen, Wade, and Donovan Mitchell are all set to sit out this game. The good news is that Raul Neto is reportedly recovered from injury. Additionally, Mimadi Diakite will be available for Cleveland, so we’ll see if the promise he showed in pre-season can be fulfilled. For Minny, only Naz Reid (OUT) is listed in the injury report.
I expect the Cavs to grind this one out, unless the team has really tuned out J.B. Given the losing streak, and J.B.’s propensity for doing more with less, and less with more, this one seems right in his wheelhouse. The reported startling lineup is interesting to say the least…
Lineup note: Cavaliers will start Garland, LeVert, Stevens, Love, E. Mobley on Sunday
— FantasyLabs NBA (@FantasyLabsNBA) November 13, 2022
I expect the Cavs to play a lot of Five out Offense with Gobert in the Middle for Minnesota, and I expect to see Robin Lopez get a good bit of run. The Wolves, incidentally, are smarting from their own three game losing streak. Stopping KAT and Minnesota’s dynamic backcourt will be key, as will the back line of the Cavs defense with Gobert as a vertical threat against their undersized starting bigs. We’ll see how the Cavs’ “City Edition” court and Unis look. Lots to take in. I hope I’m feeling more confident in three hours! Go Cavs!
lt up
DM is also playing. Wade is out.
Stevens starting tonight – Allen is obv out.
I WOULD LIKE TO SEE MOBES START TO ATTEMPT MORE 3’S—-EVERYONE IS SAYING HOW MUCH IMPROVED HIS 3 PT SHOT IS——–BUT HEY WE HEARD THE SAME BS ABOUT ICE TOO——” MORE BEER PLEASE “
DG was featured on NBA Today.
The only serious ‘flaw’ DG has is he struggles when guarded by lengthy defenders. Lot of guys struggle with that. Otherwise he’s the ideal PG for today’s game. Too bad he’s not 6’4”, that’s about it.
Kings may make the playoffs. they play ok defense and are effective on offense. Worse…it is Mike Brown’s defensive philosophy that will get them there. Where they will stand a fighting chance in any series just because the addage “defense wins championships” is real…and the top of the west is weak so far. Would be fascinating to see them sneak into the 2nd round. Worse still…JB’s cavs are riding early success into an overrated chant like nobody’s business. The d has been lotto level bad for more than just the last 4 losses…and allen will be out for a bit… Read more »
The Kings’ first half last night was almost a carbon copy of what they did against the Cavs. They seem better than the early-season perception of them (Sac). On the other hand – it’s hard to think of a game in which the Cavs played a good 1Q defensively. Any idea why that is?
A lot of things. First, it’s fair to cut them some slack for sluggish starts on the west coast trip and by extension, the first game back from a long road trip. DG is already a defensive liability at full strength, not sure how impacted his vision is but he can’t keep in front of anyone at the moment. The undersized back court /wing have given opposing teams the green light to bomb away and they’re shooting 3’s like they’re in an open gym. They don’t have a vocal leader on defense. Mitchell brings some of that, and Allen’s presence… Read more »
Also, things just snowball in the NBA. When the Cavs defense isn’t clicking, it impacts their offense. They start rushing and get sucked up in to hero ball. That further deflates the defense and things get real messy quick, as we’ve seen.
Can we get Larry Nance somehow? Like is there any way that happens? I’m not convinced he or dean wade can stay healthy for a full season but I am convinced they could basically replicate each other’s impact as a tandem. JB isn’t using the bench players we have…might as well ship some off for Nance.
No. We can’t. He’s playing great for New Orleans. Why would they trade him?
UPDATE ” MAN MERRILL ” 4//7 3 PT LAND ( PROBABLY HITTING ABOUT 55% FROM 3’S LAST 3-4 GAMES ——–COOPER 36/ 12
Could gone to that game. :(
“MY MAN MERRILL ONLY TAKEN 5 – 3 PT SHOTS TONIGHT—MAKING 2—S COOPER HAVING ANOTHER GOOD GAME –32 / 11 SO FAR —MENTIONED BEFORE HE MIGHT BE ” BENCH// ROLE ” PT GD FOR THE FUTURE
https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/35026194/will-real-cleveland-cavaliers-please-stand-up
Sounds like Allen is out due to an illness, not ankle.
POSSIBLY THESE GUYS COULD PLAY—BUT THIS IS ONE WAY TO FORCE JB GIVING THE OTHER GUYS MIN’S —-WHO KNOWS
GOING TO CATCH ME SOME “CHARGE ” ACTION—WATCH MY “MAN MERRRILL ” BOMB AWAY —-WOULD HOPE TO SEE ICE IN A CHARGE UNIFORM —-DON’T THINK THAT IS HAPPENING AS THEY ARE PLAYING IN MILWAUKEE TOMORROW NIGHT AND JA// POSSIBLY WADE NOT PLAYING
JUST READ ABOUT JA —-OUCH——5 IN A ROW LOOK RATHER OBVIOUS —-DAMN !!!—-I WANT ME SOME ” HARD ROCK ” AND OF COURSE ……..” MORE BEER PLEASE “
LONG LIVE ROLO!!! (But yeah, Hartenstein would look pretty nice right about now)
AGAIN THE CAVS// JB// KOBY SHOULD LEARN FROM THE WARRIORS—SENDING WISEMAN TO G LEAGUE—–ICE SHOULD FOLLOW HIM THERE ALSO
amen NOMAD!!!
Hard to see them winning without JA. Apparently been battling an ‘ankle thing’ since even before the season. Mysterious.
I’d bring Love off the bench and maybe start Osman?
I take it this means Spida is a go?
Looks like it. He practiced and traveled with the team.
Interesting story in the Athletic, DG and JB talk everyday throughout the day. DG commented on how coach encouraged him to keep playing and be there for his teammates through his struggles. Made me think that JB is playing a long game, the moment’s X’s and O’s aren’t as important as the psyche of his players, that mental and emotional acuity are what will matter when it counts come April and May and hopefully June someday. It explains Ice’s minutes that in the moment seem unearned, DG starting as soon as he comes back and obviously struggling…. JB has built… Read more »
good post WCC, yeah i think that’s pretty obvious that JB’s forte is managing a locker room, but I’d say the strategic part of coaching gets illuminated in the playoffs… it’s really where the NBA coaches make their bread and butter.
Just watched DG’s 4th quarter again and noticed something I haven’t heard anyone mention — almost every one of DG’s points was set up by a BRILLIANT PICK BY ROLO. Dude is a stud creating space for his guards. Too bad they canceled his Caveman TV show… Which goes to say, sure, JB was forced into it by Spida and Allen being out, but I actually thought he was super flexible and creative with the lineup. If I’m not mistaken, I think the near comeback happened with DG, Ice, Lamar, Mobley and RoLo on the floor. That’s hardly a predictable… Read more »
good point!
Sorry bout the lack of recap. We’re pretty slammed of late. Hopefully womething up tmrw.
Don’t think it’s entirely fair to throw JB under the bus for this skid. Tactical decisions aren’t getting them down by 20 in the first half. The roster, as feared at the start of the season, is incomplete. DG is a major defensive liability. The bigs can’t create. The bench is a mish mosh of guys who run hot and cold. And they desperately need an answer at wing.
Hard to take much of anything from this game. They had three starters/ big contributors out, and were missing their All Star center against a two big lineup. I was racking up a loss when I heard JA was sitting.
Only thing to take from this, really, is they kept competing, and DG is arguably their best player. Mitchell is a better scorer right now, but Garland runs the team. And that’s while still being impacted by a scary eye injury, and possibly still not over whatever bug he had.
Agree.
I’m broken-record’ing here, but I think they’ll still be a great regular season team as-is. Just wanted to counter some of the recent JB blowback, even if a lot of the criticism itself has valid points. There are a lot of factors converging to make these losses feel concerning but things will even out over the next 10 games or so.
They’ll be fine. And yeah this loss isn’t on jb unless you consider how the team starts to be his fault.
Biggest thing is the extremely short rotation at the beginning of the season even when everyone was healthy and some of the late game situations/rotations in closet games this streak.
That said I don’t know how he’ll be as a playoff coach.
Agree.
no kidding. the team has four players much better than the others. no reason to panic because they lost when two of the four couldn’t play.
Glad some common sense prevailed.
it is the nature of sports blogs. you ought to hear NY and Philly fans losing it over everything.
WATCHED THE REPLAY—2 GAMES I WISH// AND CAVS PROBABLY DO ALSO ARE THE CLIPS AND THE KINGS THOSE WERE 2 GAMES WE SHOULD HAVE WON —-SEEMS LIKE WE ARE THE TEAM TO “ENERGIZE–JUMP START SLUMPING TEAMS ” KINGS/ CLIPS/ WOLVES ——–WISH MY 4 GAME LOSING STREAK PREDICTION WAS GOING TO BE CORRECT AS BEING THE LONGEST OF THE SEASON BUT I SEE NUBER 5 COMING THIS WEDNESDAY——HOPE I AM WRONG—-GOOOOO CAVS !!!
Seeing the Kings hold on vs the warriors after our predictable 4th quarter collapse does not make this loss to one of the worst teams in the league feel better. Our defense sucked. Our effort on defense sucked. Our coach has us completely unprepared for any team that throws a curve ball because he approaches every game with the same 8 players and mins distribution, and relies on good players to perform up to an unrealistic standard. jB is not in year 2 right now. If he is a Thibs like problem we are freakin screwed. Folks will say “the… Read more »
He probably isn’t the right coach for a playoff team or a team trying to make the playoffs.
He doesn’t seem capable of being a very good tactical coach. The OOB/OOTO play issue that has been brought up ad nauseam since the beginning of his tenure is essentially proof of that. Bizarre/rigid rotations are another. The lack of creativity in sets is a third. Why our offense is utterly inept without a playmaker. The playmaker’s individual creativity and skill is the entire driver rather than effective set actions that create shots without the ball.
the analysists on NBA TV seen to think he is tops in set creativity.
Weird.
I agree with both of your points. He’s very likeable amongst the players, but maybe needs to hand over some of tactical play calling to maybe Luke Walton. I had concerns watching him try to navigate the play-in games last season.
Elite company for DG.
only 22 years old…. sheesh
Biggest thing they need to figure out is playing consistent d thru four qtrs. Doesn’t have to be lockdown for 48 minutes, but you can’t give up multiple 35 pt qtrs throughout a game. Just digs a massive hole that requires too mich to dig out of even if the o is scoring at a decent rate.
Exception of late being the GS game.
Basically 2 good quarters for 52 points and two bad quarters for 77.
wow.. garland 51 !!?? .. ok.. catching his groove (sorry i doubted you dude).. i didn’t have a strong enough stomach to watch.. highlights should be fun.. but there is message here, at least for me.. if DG can put up these numbers playing the big dog,, he don’t need no spida.. and spida don’t need no DG.. split them up.. 2 quarters each.. as an aside, looks like the eye magically became a non-issue in this game..
They have staggered them a fair amount. You aren’t just going to play those guys a total of 24 minutes each.
i agree with that.. add on 5-10 min for each to let them improvise together.. the existing data seems to strongly support that these guys do better running their own shows..
That isn’t too far from what they’ve been doing. Except JB plays DM about 5 minutes more than that. One of them is always on the court. You could reduce their minutes overall which would essentially reduce their minutes together since one of the always be on the court. And reducing their minutes overall should be a goal anyway.
I sort of doubt JB is going to go that route. He seems to just be riding guys as solutions to tactical issues.
12 missed free throws from the Cavs..
Good to see Garland drop that 50-spot. Hopefully that will get him going moving forward.
he needed that, saw him saw that vintage smile tonight!
Great effort, but given probability of coming back from that far down with 8 minutes left, predictably just short.
Cavs 84 points thru 3 is just fine, but very improbable to win against any team when you give up 40, 27, 37 for 104 points through three qtrs.
For many games this year cavs have played nonexistent d for about half the game and only turned up the defense in the second half. Today it was non-existent thru three qtrs and only turned up in the fourth. Fix that and you probably go some way towards righting the ship.
I’m a jinx. Sorry.
nah, just growing pains and shorthanded…. but they kept fighting!
Just really hard to recover from a garbage 1st quarter like that, and everyone played a part in that shitfest.
DG finally put something together tonight, it’s a moral W
37 given up points in 3rd too…
GOT DAMN IT LOVE YOU GOTTA THROW A BETTER BALL.
That was a horrible pass.. 6 seconds is a lot of time…
But you basically have to catch and shoot a three because of intentional foul
Yeah, I think that’s what Love was thinking. Pointless to pass it to DG or whoever in the backcourt, since they’d get mugged before they ever got a shot up.
Someone’s gotta come to the ball, ffs
Really tough down three in that situation, since they’re going to foul before anyone can get up s three.
I don’t understand why you don’t try to score down four with one timeout. Then foul. Then take your last timeout to advance.
Can’t watch
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
Lol. My wife just called Russell “Shirley Temple.”
You should never be able to take consecutive timeouts. It’s stupid.