Live Thread: Cavs @ 76ers
2023-02-15Good evening CtB!
The Cavs have traversed to the banks of the Delaware River to take on the Philadelphia 76ers in a primetime nationally televised game, the last game before the All Star Break. Both teams come into the game with winning streaks and hot streaks over the past few weeks. It’s clear both teams are part of a top tier of teams separating themselves to make a run in the playoffs and beyond. This is the classic measuring stick game, although there’s a chance Joel Embiid will be ruled out of the game, he’s a gametime decision. For the Cavs Cedi Osman and Ricky Rubio have been ruled out.
So what does calculator say about the Sixers? It’s say they’re a very well rounded team, with a top 10 offense and defense, just like the Cavs. They are also a very slow paced team like the Cavs, and they were a terrible transition defense team last season. The Sixers move the ball well and are decent rebounding team, although there will be opportunities to crash the glass against them on offense. What will the Cavs have to do win? The main thing is to NOT FOUL any shooters. Embiid and James are elite free throw merchants. The Cavs can’t put these guys on the line.
Tip off is scheduled for 7:30PM Eastern time and will be broadcasted live on ESPN, Go Cavs!
Noone has mentioned Kate Bock’s preference for warm weather.
FiveThirtyEight is predicting the Cavs to finish tied with the Sixers at 51-31.
do you know the tie breaker situation?
We’re 1-1 against the Sixers this year, so the last game between us will decide the tie breaker.
Love is betting on himself on this one. He wants to play and believes he has more left to give. Obviously, the Cavs disagree at this point. Love is in the final year of his deal and needs to play, and play well, if he’s going to get another contract. At his best, he’s a floor-stretching big who is a terrific 3-point/rebounder combination. But he’s a liability defensively and has to make shots to stay on the floor. After nine years, he’s leaving the Cavs under some tension with the coaching staff, but it’s nothing that a little time and… Read more »
totally agree.
Love is a very likable guy, and his best moments were in Cleveland, and he will be back to retire as a Cav.
Can’t blame him for wanting a last shot, and going for it.
Until my late 30’s I did OK in pickup games with mid major basketball and football players. But then I couldn’t really cover anybody in “middle court” games anymore. That is very hard to accept and it is easy to be an a$$hole — been there.
Miami has really good PEDs
not as good as Orlando used to. recall they knocked the Cavs out of the playoffs in an ultra close series, and got busted soon after.
It’s such a heavy thought to realize he was the last member of the 2016 title team still there. Not too long ago, he was thinking about future contracts in Cleveland and retiring a Cav. In the span of a month, he fell out of favor with coach J.B. Bickerstaff, and the signing of Danny Green — an aging shooter off the bench — was too much for Love to bear. — Vardon
“Bickerstaff said he reached out to Love but has not had an opportunity to catch up with him yet.” — per the Athletic
😂😂😂 Which tells me Love was not a fan of JB’s plan to move him from the rotation. Good luck catching up with Love JB 😂😂😂😂
Cowardly and no class on Love’s part if he doesn’t respond. The entire Cavs front office has said nothing but glowing praise for Kevin.
Or JB’s better management of the situation could have prevented this from happening. I’m not blind to acknowledge Love was playing like crap. But it was idiotic IMO to tell him he was out of the rotation. At the very least you don’t want to send him to rival east team. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Pat Riley circumvented NBA/CBA rules to bring in Love behind the scenes, much like he had with LeBron in 2010. Anyways, I don’t think it will be a big deal in the end of this season. But definitely something to monitor.
gotta tell him. nothing is worse than lying.
It’s not a lie if you believe it to be true – George Costanza
haha!
anyway, Love probably asked “why ain’t I playing”, and you got to tell the truth at that point.
The truth is he was injured, was never a great defender, but can/could shoot 3s and rebound, and under the right scheme, makes sense off the bench. JB should’ve said “let’s make sure you’re 100%, and get you ready to lead this squad to the playoffs.” I see no lies. You have to be able to manage personalities while setting expectations, which is tricky but possible.
not disagreeing with your points, but my overall take is that if you are honest with him, and he really wants to give it one more shot, ya gotta say “OK, Good Luck, Bye, See ya when we retire your number”.
MERRILL STAYED ON 🔥. REPEATED 1ST HALF PERFORMANCE FINISHED 10/14 FROM 3 PT LAND ———-“ MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE FOR MY MAN MERRILL 👍😀🍺
I don’t know who that is? But bring him up if he can drain 3s.
Stumbled upon a DG Interview with JJ Redick titled “Darius Garland On The Cavs Title Hopes, Donovan’s 71 AND The Coaching Series w/ J.B. Bickerstaff”
SAM “MY MAN”MERRILL IS “ON FIRE 🔥 “ 5/7 f FROM 3 s — 1ST HALF
WCC YEP MY FRIEND AND I SAID THE SAME ABOUT KLOVE —-COME PLAY-OFF TIME HE WOULD HAVE BEEN UNPLAYABLE—AGAIN I AM A KLOVE FAN //WISH HIM THE BEST // JUST NOT AGAINST THE CAVS
CBSSPORTS top 50 NBA Players so far this year:
42 JA
37 EM
33 DG
12 DM
11 LBJ
all Cavs exceed preseason ratings. LBJ: not so much
MY FRIEND HAS SOME RELATION WHO WORKS FOR THE CAVS —–RUMORS BE WHAT THEY ARE— THEY SAID KLOVE DID ‘ ALOT OF POUTING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS ” SOMEWHAT DEMANDED THE CAVS BUY HIM OUT——AGAIN THIS IS ALL 2ND// 3RD HAND INFO —WHO TF KNOWS FOR SURE —–BUT A ‘ DISHEARTENED // UPSET ” KLOVE COULLD HAVE BEEN A HUGE NEGATIVE IN THE LOCKEROOM ——-NOT TRYING TO GET YOU “FIRED ” UP NATE SO DON’T GO ” SLINGING ” DARTS AT ME
The Cavs responded to his buyout request almost immediately, you have to believe something was brewing beforehand because on paper it didn’t make sense to let him go. Again, I like Kevin, but we’ve witnessed his misbehavior on the court, it’s not a stretch to imagine his locker room pouting and acting out to be even worse.
The fact that they let him go and let him go to an EC playoff rival is evidence that they think he’s washed.
This was also recently reported by someone in the NBA media, forget where, and I totally believe it. If he’s going to raise a stink, move him. Appreciate everything Love has done for the Cavs as a player, but when he wants to be a PITA he’s very effective at it. It was the same in Minny.
POSTED LAST WEEK —-CAVS SHOULD ALSO BUY OUT ROLO —CREATE ANOTHER ROSTER SPOT —–YES WE SHOULD PURSUE A BACK UP ‘C” WHO CAN GIVE US “LEGIT ‘ MIN’S IN FOR WHATEVER THE REASON—-ROLO JUST DOESN’T ‘ CUT THE MUSTARD —FILL THE ROLE
probably waiting until they have someone better lined up.
I think the Cavs should definitely be looking at a backup big in case of a Mobley or Allen injury. Maybe they’ll just sign Diakite or Isaiah Mobley for the rest of the year.
I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this, but would there be any interest in picking up Tristan Thompson for the rest of the year?
I know a good back up big. Kevin Love… oh wait we let him go to the Miami Heat because JB refused to give him minutes. 🤦♂️
I definitely wanted Love to stick around, but not giving him minutes did coincide with a 7-game winning streak. I don’t put much of the blame on the Cavs for Kevin wanting out. I think it was unprofessional on his part to ask out (after the trade deadline) with 20 games left in the season when he could have signed with anyone he wanted after the season.
I don’t think the 7-game winning streak had much to do on not playing Love. Of course he was playing like crap, due to injury. The coach should have never told him he’s out of the rotation. I don’t blame him for wanted to leave. If he lights the Cavs up in the playoffs and the Cavs lose to the Heat, JB should be shown the door.
disagree: he was out of the rotation, and the coach SHOULD NOT have lied about it.
if someone lies to you, you have a legitimate beef
Agreed the coach shouldn’t have lied, and he also shouldn’t had said I’m taking you out of the rotation
Agree on all points. And it’s not like he wasn’t given an opportunity, he played 41 games.
and he made a couple extra $M by doing this
remember all the crying about the Cavs losing close games?
you can only have 5 guys on the floor at a time.
who did you want to take out to put in an unplayable guy?
I don’t think you accurately captured our input
Love would have been a great insurance policy if one of our bigs has an injury. That said let’s hope he’s starting for the heat and we see them first round. We’ll put Kevin in PnR situations where he has to switch onto DG or Mitchell and they’ll smoke him for forty a piece. He’s virtually unplayable come playoff time. Remember when you all were crying about getting worked over from the 3pt line in January, a big part of that was Kevin being too slow to contest. None of those limitations have anything to do with his thumb.
good point
Good stuff in Pluto today: https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2023/02/what-happened-between-cavs-kevin-love-the-awful-all-star-game-hey-terry.html
BARTON BEING BOUGHT OUT BY THE WIZ. —-SHOULD CAVS PURSUE—- WHAT ARE CHANCES WE GET HIM IF WE DO GO “ CALLING “
I didn’t watch the live, but looking at the highlights, good Lord, just not even pretending to try. It’s just meaningless. MVP of the shoot around!
haha — shootaround MVP !
One of the complaints about the NBA is that the season goes too long (I don’t accept this premise, sport should never end in my opinion). But it could be shortened by removing the all-star break. Probably never happen, but ask yourself – would you really miss it?
I def wouldn’t miss the game, but I like all the spectacle around it. I went to the rookie game and skills challenge last year and the atmosphere was so great. Super fun experience.
Rose was probably jacked up on speed.
You can play hard in a basketball game without much injury risk. Or at least be fundamentally sound. They just don’t want to.
?
Basketball and football all star games are total SUK. But baseball ASG are usually really good.
Insurmountable difference is that in baseball you can play really hard, and no one is likely to get hurt
Unless Pete Rose is in the game dealing out career ending injuries to cement his legacy as the worst asshole since Ty Cobb.
Preach!
Yep f pete rose.
ASG has been bad for years until they went to the target score, which prompted some defense in the fourth quarter. This year it was embarrassing. I wish I could find the clip of Embid turning his back on Mitchell and walking up court before Mitchell has even taken the layup.
Mike Malone agrees with me & NOMAD:
https://twitter.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1627522940840312832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1627522940840312832%7Ctwgr%5Ef92bcc60a2ed985916aa1bc91dfd295c57089118%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.goldenstateofmind.com%2F2023%2F2%2F20%2F23607368%2Fdub-hub-daily-warriors-links-for-2-20-23-2023-all-star-game-called-worst-basketball-game-ever-played
AGREE ALL STAR GAME IS A SH T SHOW / HAVEN T WATCHED IN YEARS —— I COULD SCORE MY AGE WHICH IS 70 +👍🤪👍🤪👍🤪🍺🍺🍺
Didn’t watch the All-Star game this year. I watched a little bit of the rising stars game. Total cheese ball fest! Looking forward to getting back to the regular season.
I also didn’t watch the slam dunk contest. Can’t stand listening to Kenny Smith and his hyperbole after each dunk.
Cooper & Mobley played well in the W for Team Luka Garza. Cooper had 27 & 8 dimes on 12-17, 2 of 4 from deep. Mobley had 16 points, 7 boards, 4 steals, and a block on 7-10.
Again, it is an ASG, so grain of salt. But these guys have a bit more incentive.
The ASG is total garbage now. I could get 30 at age 50. 20 at least.
https://twitter.com/AmicoHoops/status/1627670908079943680?s=20
This generation/LBJ ruined it.
Eh. We’re all products of our environment.
What does that mean?
That denies individualy agency. Partially products of our environments, and what you do with your own choices.
Are you saying the environments that produced today’s players (who ruined the ASG) did not exist previously?
Yes only 264 points in that game we are truly a nation in decline
?
There was SOME D. 264 is a 133-131 game. You could get that in a competitive game. With ASG level talent, 130 apiece is acceptable D. Or at least not garbage.
There were 359 points scored last night. Almost 100 more. To be pedandtic, 95 more points. 95/264, 35.98% rise.
To act like the two things are equivalent is just just not close to accurate. I used to watch the ASG religiously. Now, I check in for a couple minutes, fight down some vomit, & change the channel.
right. as long noted, the younger generation has been going to hell for thousands of years.
they have finally got there.
Yep.Ruint.
If Tatum didn’t went off, Mitchell would have easily won MVP!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjN8A2r_NAM
40 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
This live interview in game is terrible.
Giannis took up a roster spot to score 2 points and leave for the game? Bruh…
I love KLove, but I’m a Cleveland fan first. I hope he sucks for the Heat and they’re worse off for taking him. It’s not the first time Kevin threw a fit or went about pouting because things weren’t going his way. Yes, he has mental health issues. You could also surmise that he lacks the mental toughness. If he had the patience I’d expect from a grown man and put the work in to get back to his 2021-2022 sixth man self he’d be with the Cavs, getting his full salary, and certainly getting all the minutes his body… Read more »
I despise Miami, so I hope it doesn’t work out!
Yesssssss. Let the hate grow! Go Cavs!
Yeah, I also have no desire to see him succeed with Miami, but I also don’t have the spite for him asking for a buyout (nor the spite for Koby et al and how they handled it that some here seem to be showing. The dude was told he wasn’t going to play because they want to develop Dean Wade. He wants to play and so asked for the buyout. I don’t think it’s any accident that he asked for the buyout after the deadline since he didn’t want to be traded somewhere crappy for an expiring contract. That’s the… Read more »
same
I agree. And I also have to wonder if Love leaked the buyout “request” to the media to put pressure on the Cavs, so they would have to get it done…which probably wasn’t necessary at all. It just seems like a lot of hoops to jump through with only 20 games left until he would have been a free agent anyway. There’s a reason there aren’t many buyout candidates coming from playoff teams. Because most players enjoy being on good teams. If he wanted more playing time…maybe get better at playing basketball. The Cavs want to win now. They’re not… Read more »
agree
Amen to Chris, west coast cav and Ten Thosman Maniacs. Telling it like it is.
Sometimes new situations and new coaching approaches can rejuvenate careers. Certainly could be the case of KLove in Miami. Wishing him the best.
Hope the younger players getting his minutes use them to advantage, too.
YEAH IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE HOW SPO UTILIZES KLOVE—–DIFFERENT PLAYERS SURROUNDING HIM ALSO ——————————WONDER HOW RUBIO TOOK THE NEWS——-UNFORTUNATELY WE NEVER GOT TO ” RELIVE ” THE MAGIC HIM AND KLOVE HAD GOING LAST YEAR
SWEETCHIE–I AM GOING ” GREEDY “—I WANT 55 WINS :-)——-IF THAT HAPPENS ………..” MORE BEER PLEASE FOR EVERYONE AT CTB ” !!!
I’m all for it.. shows the East is getting better in terms of total wins for the top 4 teams.
2021-2022:
1) Miami – 53 wins – 64%
2-4) – BOS, MIL and PHI – 51 wins
2020-2021:
1) Philly – 49 wins – 60%
2) BKN – 48 wins
3) MIL. 46 wins
4) KYK – 41 wins
We’ve got 21 games left.. and a 38-23 record right now.. would love for us to go atleast 12-9 so we can have a 50 win season this year.
Book it. The last 13 games are soft, schedule wise. The batch out of the ASB is tough, though.
Love is headed to Miami
No state tax and a mid level exception option helped too .. atleast he went to a team that is below us.
Good for him. I am sure Spo will find a way to get productive minutes out of him while still playing decent team defense. Or at least give him the chance to prove he can help.
After a day to mull this over, my original thought stands:
HoopsDogg is an idiot.
He who throws mud loses ground!
that’s good! gotta remember it.
Your original thought being “We’ll see.”
haha — that is what I said while thinking over “idiot” — you can’t unpost something.
Sure u can. But I stand by what I said.
HAS WILL BARTON BEEN BOUGHT OUT BY THE WIZ—IF SO IS THAT A PLAYER CAVS SHOULD PURSUE ——-JUST THROWING ALOT OF OPTIONS OUT THERE
STANLEY JOHNSON WAS ANOTHER NAME THROWN OUT THERE THE CAVS MIGHT PURSUE—–NATE ALREADY VETOED IBAKA AND LEN —–WHAT’S YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT JOHNSON NATE ——–WASN’T MA CLUNG A CAVS FOR A BRIEF STINT ??
Johnson plays hard and is a nice size combo forward. Amazed he couldn’t stick in LA. Or Detroit.
He cannot shoot. That 3PT% this year is likely a fluke. But if we wanna have a look-see just to see if it isn’t, I’m OK with that. But he is basically Stevens.
If we go with another wing, Bartin is probably the best if what’s around buyout wise.
NATE IS FIRED UP TODAY —-BEWARE !!!…………” MORE BEER PLEASE FOR NATE “
https://twitter.com/oldseaminer/status/1626992938717704194?s=20
we’ll see.
We’ve already seen… we’re winning games without him, the team’s metrics have all risen and Dean Wade is getting minutes that he would otherwise have to share with Love.
And you have to ask yourself, will JB be the coach of this squad in 2 years?
a lot of teams will have a different coach in two years.
any hobbies other than hoping for bad luck?
What’s luck got to do with it? He either coaches well in the playoffs or he doesn’t. We’ll see.
Hoopsdogg is either contradicting itself, or confuses understated with overstated.
Gosh darn it. You’re right.
Sorry Nate, but I just don’t see it being a bad look for Cleveland. I love Kevin, but he’s been richly compensated for years without the production to warrant it… and that’s okay. They were paying him for the past, for continuity and mentoring young players. When he wanted out Koby facilitated his wishes against what’s probably best for the team. Honestly, I’m a bit disappointed with Kevin. Put your ego away and earn your minutes back if you think you still got something in the tank.
WCC couldn’t agree more. I hoped Kevin would stick with the team and mentor the youngins through the playoffs. Once his shot disappeared he became unplayable. The team undoubtedly improved once they stopped committing minutes to Love and the awful bench units he was dragging into the muck. He’ll go down as an all-time Cavs great. But he also has shown numerous times that he’s prone to pouting and discontent when things get even moderately rough. Not sure how you can put this on the team. They gave him a huge contract he never would have gotten anywhere else, and… Read more »
Agree to some degree. If he was never part of the plan, he could have been flipped for something, anything. Why the buyout?
He had no value as a player, and nobody was really looking to dump salary. And I doubt the Cavs were looking to take on any long term salary.
Bingo. If he had been playing well in the rotation, like last year, he might have had some value. But ince he cooled off adter the thumb injury and got benched, he had no value.
The best we could have done was used his deal as an expiring to take on bad salary longer term. Hayward or Simmons types. Even if the Bees/Nets were willing, I am not sure we were.
I did want JB to give him a shot before the deadline to enhance his value & maybe find his form. That is the only part that bugged me a bit. And I think he could have helped us as a mentor and a shooter in the POs.
But again, I do not think we are at true contender level. If we do get there this year, Love was not gonna,be the driver of it. Mobley, Garland, and Okoro taking leaps will.
FANSIDED HAD AN ARTICLE FOR CAVS TO PURSUE ALRX LEN OR IBAKA ANY OPINIONS ON THAT MY FEELINGS THEY ARE AN UPGRADE FROM ROLO
No. They’re not. Len was washed two years ago and Ibaka couldn’t get time when Giannis was hurt. He’s done.
Agree.
The frontcourt is weaker than the wing. Slim pickings. Sign Mobley or Diakite. If not, then maybe Will Barton. We need more scoring punch.
Grimes putting on a show
Mobley made a nice showing in the first game. He disrupted a lot of shots.
Mobley had 2 dunks early on and a nice no look assist just now and now a block. Always feel proud seeing Evan doing well.
Mobley about to play for team Noah.
I didn’t realize Kenny Lofton’s son play for the Grizz
Nevermind. I misread it.
No you didn’t. He does.
Not related
For the playoffs, the Cavs desperately need to figure out what to do when Allen sits . . . in ROAD GAMES this season, the Cavs are: +14 pts per 48 minutes with Allen but not Mobley on the floor, 36% opponent 3pt% (314 minutes total), -6 pts per 48 minutes with Mobley but not Allen, 41% opponent 3pt% (460 minutes) +4 per 48 with Mobley and Allen together, 39% opponent 3pt% (528 minutes) -4 per 48 with neither Mobley nor Allen, 29% opponent 3pt% (143 minutes) The good news is the Cavs haven’t suffered too many road blowouts: they… Read more »
oh yeah, #2 most under-acheiving team in nbastuffer’s ACH stat and the Pythagorean Win Expectancy currently at 67%. Have written about it a couple of times.
Good news is the Cavs’ roster is awesome, bad news is that they’re choking a shit ton of road games.. which great teams don’t do. Boston’s record in road games is 18-10 I think, Cavs have a losing record.