Live Thread: Heat @ Cavs
2023-01-31Good evening CtB!
The Cavs welcome the Miami Heat to the icy shores of Lake Erie for a massive Eastern Conference battle between two seeded playoff teams. The Cavs will be looking to put distance between them and the sixth seed Heat while the Heat are making their second half charge up the standings to prep for the playoffs. A hobbled Jimmy Butler and Gabe Vincent are giving it a go, which should tell everyone how much this game means to both teams. It’s the time of the year when playoff teams get serious about winning, and as everyone knows last year, this was the time of year that the Cavs faltered down the stretch. Hopefully they can start a new trend this season.
What do the Heat want to do tonight? They’re a top five defense with a bottom five offense. They want to make the game ugly and slow. The Cavs should look to push the pace on offense and try to disrupt their passing on defense. The Cavs will also need to clean the boards as the Heat aren’t a great shooting team.
Tip off is scheduled for 7:00PM Eastern time and will be broadcasted live on Bally Sports Ohio/Great Lakes, GO CAVS!
Despite the move to get Mitchell and some changed rhetoric, I think that fundamentally JB has the approach of a “developmental” coach, and that he has treated this season as preparation for seasons to come. They are trying to thread the needle and have a competitive season, since getting a taste of real competition is crucial. The most likely scenario for improvement is for Mobley, DG, and Okoro, and maybe even Lamar Stevens to raise their games a notch, and begin to really compete with more veteran players in meaningful games. I think there are good signs that DG’s shot… Read more »
good points.
yup, agreed
My immediate thought when they signed JB to a multi year contract was ,,,,,,what, wait.He’s an interim guy and he’s good in that role, but he’s clearly not the guy to take them up the ladder.We witness this over and over.No one is fooled, surprised or disadvantaged by anything they attempt.We are.I thought Garland probly should’ve gotten a 5 second call, they gave him a break…Great to see Mobley asserting himself, but it’s a process.Probly not the guy to be taking the last shot…..Good to see Okoro hit one, but clearly they need more.No bench scoring.Caris great on the chase… Read more »
The problem with that philosophy, in my opinion, is that the way you learn to compete for a title is by competing for a title. They can’t be satisfied with getting experience. The experience has to be trying to actually win, no excuses. If what you’re trying to do is develop, then that’s all you’ll ever do.
Until the Cavs FO realizes they can’t be super loyal to guys they drafted or signed that aren’t moving the needle, this is who the team is. Trotting out Okoro for 25 minutes to score twice (at beginning and end of game) is not helping this team. Not playing any of the G-league guys who are routinely scoring 20+ points down there as a joke is in itself a joke. Not thinking long/hard that maybe JB isn’t the right coach for this team because he can’t coach offense and worries too much about defense, can’t challenge properly or diagram an… Read more »
meanwhile, the guys we got are the guys we got. things are going fine on the several year trajectory to be a top contender.
Despite the loss, Mobley looked really good tonight. Led team in plus/minus, had 19 points and 2 blocks. He’s truly a beast defensively.
he’s had a pretty super January. It’s made us look better than we have any right to look. Nice to see more than Mitchell and Garland able to raise their level in the clutch. But need more than one guy a game to do that or…well or you end up going less than .500 the rest of the way and near the play-in
His hands in defensive situations are amazing. A big reason Cavs got so close to winning.
FWIW, Cavs regular starters have a +12 net rating per 100 in 90 mins in January. That’s their most used lineup when Mitchell has been available. It’s really the inability to find a workable bench unit that sunk us this month. Looking at 3 man bench units, the Love/Levert minutes have been a complete disaster. Our three worst 3 man units (of at least 50 minutes) feature those two. Those units simply can’t score. KLove on his own is in 8 of the 10 worst 3 man units lol.
It’s actually wild how few of the Cavs regular lineups have a negative rating in a month that most of us would consider at the very least disappointing. You could make an argument that playing KLove regular minutes was the sole reason for a down month.
You could…but at some point they had to play him with the folks that were available. If only Cedi could rebound…
yeah missing Wade was the reason Love powered thru
Agree, the KLove regression has been a massive hit to the team. It’s fair to wonder if the front office really considered if his 21-22 season production was more an outlier, especially considering his health history the previous seasons before that.
Love hasn’t been right since that injury. He needs to sit until after the AS break.
agree
When last have we won a close game? Feels like a long time ago.. but actually was a few weeks ago. Felt we won a lot of close games at the beginning of the season. Started some quick research.. .probably not complete but gives an idea.. 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰: 𝟑𝟏-𝟐𝟐.. 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝟏𝟏 (𝟏-𝟗 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭) 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 (𝟖 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝) Basically, all of our close wins have been at home, except the road win against the Pistons. We need to learn how to close and win on the road. 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝟏-𝟑 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬:… Read more »
We are 14-16 against 0.500 teams.. 2nd most losses in the top 10 in the East.
Close losses are in part the responsibility of the coaching staff. Regardless of the excuses people like Fedor like to make.
It’s funny too because Fedor used to trash the Cavs when he wasn’t covering them. He’s the definition of a shill!
It would be nice if the assistant coaches could help JB get out of his way.
Maybe they haven’t earned his trust.
Mitchell disrespected himself tonight. When somebody is up on him on the three-point line, he can’t step back and try and shoot it. Take that fool to the hoop. Miami was begging us to beat them inside, and these guys wanted to be heroes from the three-point line.
Yeah not his best performance.
Still making late game mistakes. Growing up is hard.
This team just can’t get on any sort of roll, been almost .500 ball since that 8-1 start
Pretty much!
We had a shot.
JB used that one time out for a challenge that he couldn’t challenge on, and now we are out of time outs.
Cavs need to pick up a 3 point shooter. Badly.
Probably glue him to the bench like Cedi
Seems likely.
I hear Sexton can be had for multiple firsts.
He doesn’t like shooting threes.
Come on he’s basically another Donovan Mitchell.
This was a poorly executed joke on my end
He’s a slightly lesser Mitchell, true.
haha!
3 offensive rebounds in the last 2 minutes.
Garland with a 3! I thinks it’s too late.
DG3!!
Game over. We aren’t going to win with Mitchell 6/16 (2/12 from 3) and only 1/2 from the line. Two free throw attempts for the game is ridiculous
is mitchell a chucker?
He was this game.
His #s for January are pretty bad
9 assists tonight
I’m predicting the Cavs will win the next game, because they seem to win every other game these days. But it’s against the Grizz so wouldn’t be surprised if it’s another “L.”
Are we going to stay in the top 6?
Not with this coach.
Just another coaching meltdown by JB.
Oh look, he’s drawing up a play now the game is over.
Cavs need to find another gear.
TOs, poor shot selection, poor FT shooting, wrong guys taking 3s, and giving up offensive rebounds.
Not a great last 2 and a half minutes. Deserved loss. We are the 6th best team in the East.
A game, like so many this season, that was incredibly irritating to watch.
That’s the exact same thought I had.You can just see it coming.Levert with another 4 point foul at the worst possible moment.Turnovers,missed foul shots.They deserved to lose.Miami imposed their will on them and they don’t seem to have an answer for that….and that’s irritating.They play just good enough to lose.
Another tough loss man
Game over
50% from the line
…and we only took twelve to Miami’s twenty-five. Not getting calls, or not being aggressive?
And another offensive rebound by Miami..
Adabadasad killed us again with the offensive rebound
Game
Forced shot by Evan.. bad shot..
Hate watching full games and seeing the Cavs just kill themselves with dumb stuff..leading to a potential loss.. frustrating.
We are young but damn if we haven’t lost lots of close games this year
The FT percentage showing it’s ugly head
just how you draw it up – 3pa by mobley lol
Mobley corner three is a very low percentage shot
Not only that .. but the defense was draped all over him too..
A mobley 3 attempt when cavs had to score? Please….
Not sure a contested Mobley 3 was the best option there
Turnovers in winning time is losing time
In the last minute: 2 TOs, a missed 3, and given up an offensive rebound for 2.
Even to down 5.
we’re young?
Missed free throw, too,