Live Thread: Blazers @ Cavs
2022-11-23Good evening CtB and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Tonight the Cavs will welcome the Portland TrailBlazers to the shores of Lake Erie for a primetime showdown. The Cavs will be looking to take advantage of a Damian Lillard-less Portland team, extending their win streak to four games and keep the heat on the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics for Eastern Conference supremacy. Portland has enjoyed a frisky start but now are mired in a three game losing streak amidst a brutal schedule. They’re going to be a hungry and desperate team, just like the Cavs were a few days ago.
Along with Lillard being out, Portland will also be missing Gary Payton II and Keon Johnson but will have Josh Hart back. The Cavs will welcome back Dean Wade but will not start and be on a minutes restriction. Caris LeVert and Kevin Love will both be out, along with usual suspects Ricky Rubio and Dylan Windler.
Judging by some of the numbers, the Cavs should look to pound the offensive glass and take advantage of a mediocre rebounding team in Portland (ranked 15th in defensive rebound rate). Also, the Cavs would do well to force turnovers and get out on the break for easy baskets. Yours truly expects the Cavs to handle their business by double digits.
Tip off is scheduled for 7:00PM Eastern time and will be broadcasted live on Bally Sports Ohio, Go Cavs!
Kevin Love set an NBA-record with 34 first-quarter points on this day in 2016 🔥
POR/CLE, 7pm/et, League Pass pic.twitter.com/CUlbI8s6k9
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) November 23, 2022
Pistons beat Jazz, with Jazz starting Sexton. The Sexton super fans will have to deal with his -11, in his first start. No routing against him either. Just think he’s a backup
Lauri 13 & 8 on 4 of 13 FGs, 3-7 on 3s.
A rare off noght shooting for Big Finnish.
I didn’t see the game, but Sexton had 17 points and 12 assists (no rebounds, though) on pretty good efficiency…looks like a decent game. The Sexton superfans can go pound sand, though, agreed.
He is not a PG.
He is a 6 ft SG. If they let Clarkson run the show, it could work.
Clarkson is also a SG. They didn’t have Conley tonight, who is there true PG. Clarkson was -12 with 24 points.
Bulls beat the Bucks which is surprising
Bulls can only beat milwaukee and boston LMFAO
Yep. Bucks have had an easy schedule so far (in top 3 softest). Got Connaughton back recently. Still miss Middleton, though.
We are only 0.5 games behind them.
People need to chill on the Luka MVP talk. The Mavs are in 10th..The raw numbers are huge, but the Mavs have no one else. I’d go with Giannis & Tatum ahead of him.
We need Dean Wade to chase Lopez off those 3s
Pistons leading the Jazz by 3
big win for pistons, ivey coming along
Warriors destroying the Clippers
No PG or Kawhi for LA tonight.
DG with 12 dimes & 2 TOs. That is more like it.
We still had 16 as a team. JA with 6, Spida with 4.
Still, it was nice to see JA get rolling offensively. 10-12 FGs (TOs aside).
I’m not sure how they count turnovers but some of those were just bad passes. Who is responsible for a turnover on a bad pass?
the one who threw the pass, which is why JA had a lot of them… had a lot of near misses actually don’t mind them esp in this game where they had control all the way thru.
It felt like Mobley had more than Allen, which is surprising
both were learning on the job IMO
Agree, Chris. Getting a big/efficient JA game was big. 10-12 FGs. More important to get him going than fretting about the TOs.
Hopefully, he will gain some more confidence and the TOs will diminish.
It should be the guy who threw the pass, but sometimes they give it to the receiver if he has a chance to catch it.
This is a serious thought. DM should be in the running for most improved player. He was good before. He has been on another level this season as far as scoring and scoring efficiency. His TS is an obscene 6% higher than his best TS in his career. 6% is a huge leap relative to TS%.
If he keeps going like he’s going (and we are around 25% of the way through the season), he will be one of the favorites for MVP…
I thought he’d be good on the Cavs, but he’s been better than I ever would have dreamed…
He should be in the running for both. I mostly point this out because you rarely see a jump in production like this when a guy is 26+. Usually by that time you’re sort of peaking or nearing your peak in raw production. Only thing I could think of similar was curry, but I attribute that to kerr unlocking curry rather than curry suddenly becoming wildly more skilled.
Me, too. I mean, I had some concerns about how his last year in Utah went. But, he has been a 50 pt guy in the POs and the facillitator of one of the better offenses in the league for years.
And I’m still surprised at how well this is going. Apparently, Mitchell was ticked about last year, too. He still fades a bit on D from time to time (Loved Stevens calling him out). And can go a bit too hero ball at times. But. DAMN. Off the charts.
I feel like they typically give it to less visible players
They do but he has legitimately made a massive enough leap this year to be in consideration, which is wild to think about.
I vision more of a MVP award
Yeah he is legitimately in the running for that. My point being to illustrate how much better Mitchell has been this year than he ever has in his career.
I am confused by the award. How could a player who averaged 25 ppg and was traded for 3 first rounders and three players “improve”? As much as I love your sentiments, he does not fit the criteria of the award. He is already a star–next gen stats don’t sway voters.
He won’t actually get it or even be nominated. I never meant he would actually be in the running, but most improved to me should mean most improved. Not oh this guy wasn’t a star and had a breakout year. Most improved should just mean most improved no matter how good someone already is. Of course that is not what the press considers the award.
The point is he has played at regular season level that he hasn’t come close to before. Caveat being it’s early. But if it sustains, it is a wild level of improvement in scoring efficiency.
Wow… Pistons beating the Jazz.
Sexton a starter tonight.
No Saddiq Bey playing for the Pistons
Or Cunningham. Pistons beat Denver their last game.
Wow!
Factor in defense…wade is probably creeping into the top 10 sf if mostly healthy this year. His impact is getting harder to say small sample size about
Yes!!’ Also think Lamar has looked solid as hell in his minutes this year
2 guys that just know and play their roles
PREACH IT DAN!
DEAN WADE AGENDA UNDEFEATED
You guys are nuts. I like Wade as much as anyone, well, apparently not. Just a reminder of some starting SFs in this league:
1. Tatum, 2. Durant, 3. Butler, 4. DeRozan, 5. LeBron, 6. Kawhi, 7. Ingram, 8. Wiggins, 9. Porter Jr, 10. Barnes, 12. Bridges, 13. Bogdonavic (Det), 14. Grant, 15. Wagner, 16. Hunter, 17. Barnes, 18. Anunoby, 19. Kuzma, 20. H. Jones 21. Brooks.
That’s 21 easily over Wade.
Scottie Barnes (Tor), Harrison Barnes (Sac).
Yeah, I like Wade, but he’s a solid role player, not in the same class of a lot of those other dudes..
Hype train!!!!
Factor in defense and get back to me
that’s right talk to ’em Scotch!
more than half those guys you listed are listed as PFs
I feel like Dean Wade is more of a PF playing SF, which works with our system. Not sure I’d rank him a top #10 SF though, which doesn’t really have a true starter at SF.
Said if he is mostly healthy this year he gets there. He is a vastly better small forward than power forward option
Guards w only a few TO’s each
What a game from JA. So strong all over the floor.
I need to take my kids to the game so JA can wave to them pre-game.
Man this team, what a complete game
Everything was working tonight, Tower city double doubles, DG doing his best CP3 impression, Spida is the next MJ
Jarrett is the cutest! What a sweetheart
My wife and I love him so much.
Same! Such a genuine seeing human
Announcers praising Kevin Love in the Celtics/Mavs game
He leads the league in defensive rebound percentage. Or did prior to last game. His +/- is off the charts.
I didn’t catch all of the comments but they were praising him for bringing awareness to mental health issues.
DG leads the way with +24, JA is next with +19
Great win!
Happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans. 😁
What’s the Australian equivalent?
Honestly …. Don’t think there is one. We still have loads of public holidays though, so don’t feel bad for us!
That’s great! The closest I’ve come to Australia is Bali, which was pretty sweet.
Where I live, Bali is the holiday destination of choice – short flight, same timezone. Drop in next time.
For sure! We stayed in Ubud!
Happy Thanksgiving! great win
THANK YOU SIMMO! GO CAVS!
Okoro With confidence!
ICE MAN COMETH!!!!
Ice+1!
TOWER CITYYYYYYYY
That would have been one hell of an atomic slam!
HOW TO CLOSE: DG CREATING, SPIDA FINISHING.
DM just takes this team to a different level. Based Koby!
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
POUR ONE OUT FOR THE 30TH PICKS WE SENT DANNY BOY
If Utah is actually pretty good, the swaps are not worth much. And ours could seriously be 25th+ for a while.
Makes a lot of shots.
DG TO SPIDA PART DEUX
Okay that’s game!
DG TO SPIDA!
Man it’s nice to have JA finishing. Cavs have needed that.
RAGE TIMEOUT
JA THROWS THE HAMMER DOWN
Statement slam!
STUFFED
good drive Stevens
Make someone other than Simon’s beat u
OK. Shut the door.
Blazers have 7 wins from behind, with down by 10 in the 4th
that’s impressive
Need one more mini-Cavalanche!
I don’t understand why JB didn’t challenge that?
DG done for the evening?
James Dean Wade!
This is a good game.
Fairly complete performance, aside from a few lulls & TOs.
JAMES DEAN WADE WITH THE REVERSE LETS GOOOOOOO
Cedi leads with +23, Wade with +22, Okoro/DG with +21
Cavalanche!
DG MASTERPIECE TONIGHT
Indeed!
EASY MONEY JA
Ja again.
Chones must be enjoying the team play?
Made it to the winking lizard.
AIR BALL!
SOMEONE LEFT THE WINDOW OPEN!
Third time the charm for Darius.
3 times a charm! Nice rebounding Mobes!
Come on Mobley! Pass better!
that was awful LMFAO
Been a bit sloppy tonight
WHAT A FINISH DG
Eubanks is a pest
Portland has a good team.
WOW JARRETT ALLEN OFF HAND OFF THE GLASS TEXTBOOK
JA is so mobile and fast on his feet at the defensive end. Incredible.
JARRETT ALLEN DOMINATION
WADE LOOKS AMAZING LETS GOOOOOOOO
Mitchell’s burst to break the double is special.
WADE INCREDIBLE DEFENSE!!!!!
Blazers hangin tough
Cavs been just a touch shaky when DG’s out.
Always liked the Nurkic game.
nurk is good, injuries ravaged his career so sad
DG not icing…good sign?
PRAYING
Geez…Mitchell like he’s playing against high schoolers…
DONOVAN MITCHELL UNSTOPPABLE TO THE RIM
Mitchell putting on a show
Garland lip reading, “got my calf”
OH YEAH MITCHELL IS BALLING NOW
OH NO DG GOT A BAD CHARLIE HORSE, I’M SCARD IT LOOKED BAD