Podcap: Cleveland 121, Nuggets 109 (or, Turning Corners)
2023-11-19What a difference a week makes. After a moribund loss to the Kings last Sunday, the Cavs bounced back in a big way, winning three straight. To be fair, two of those wins were against two of the worst teams in the Association: Portland and Detroit, but it all becomes moot when you win against the defending Champions without killing the poor soul doing the Man vs. Nuggets challenge.
Cleveland delivered a convincing victory against Denver Sunday, and most importantly, Jarrett Allen looked healthy and explosive again. JA outplayed Jokic with a 15-5-5 night, and sent Jokic to the bench in the early third. Jarrett was clearing getting under the big man’s skin, and after scoring on Jokic four straight times to start the third, Allen drew two consecutive offensive fouls – one of them flagrant – which earned the Joker five fouls and a seat on the pine. It was great to see JA back to his old self and the big-to-big game was in full effect, starting out with Evan and Allen in a 4-5 pick and roll.
Elated about the win streak and Kevin Love’s and LeBron James’ return to Cleveland this week, Nate, Chris, and Eli piled in the podcast booth to gush over the win and take stock of the week. First up, Max Strus who came into Sunday night’s game leading the NBA in on-off differential, and has been a very solid starter all week. Add to that Mobley who’s averaged 16/11/4 over the last week with two stocks. Darius Garland has similarly turned a corner too, shooting over 40% from deep over the last five games, and is hopefully getting his turnovers down.
The guys discussed the key to the Cavs turning the corner, and many theories were floated. Did the Cavs just need to beat up on some scrubs to get their confidence back? Is it just Garland (26/3/6 Sunday) and Allen getting health? Have the Cavs been winning because Craig Porter Junior and Dean Wade have been supplanting Garland? CPJ was a monster, Sunday: 21/4/4 on an array of moves to the basket and pull-ups. Add three stocks and one turnover in 25 minutes, and Craig looks like a keeper.
Meanwhile, Dean Wade quietly put up a double digit rebounding night, and the Cavs killed Denver on the glass. Everyone seems to be doing their part to rebound, and its showing. Dean wade though has been a huge key: he gobbles up rebounds and hits corner threes. The guys discussed whether Okoro should be in the rotation when he returns, whether that rotation should include Niang, and if Ice can play the four.
Finally, the guys looked ahead to the coming week, which features some Cleveland royalty returning to the shores of Lake Erie. A regular 2015 reunion might be in the offing with TT, LeBron, and Kev all in town within a day of each other. The guys roasted Nate about his wife’s Kevin Love obsession, gave us their favorite thanksgiving food, and picked their MVPs for the week. All-in-all, we have a lot to be thankful for.
As always, listen below, download the full audio file, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, or Spotify.
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https://twitter.com/AndrewDBailey/status/1726682109711163824?s=20
DG and JA getting back to normal should result in a massive leap
I hate lineup data with small sample sizes, I think it is virtually worthless. But, FWIW, most used: 1. 60 min: DG, DM, MS, EM, JA: -3.2 2. 31 min: DM, CL, MS, GN, EM: +21.1 3. 24 min: CL, MS, IO, DW, EM: +7.9 4. 23 min: DG, MS, DW, EM, JA: +21.7 5. 22 min: DM, MS, IO, GN, EM: +7.1 6. 21 min: DM, CL, MS, DW, EM: +24.4 7. 19 min: DM, CL, IO, GN, EM: +21.2 8. 18 min: DM, MS, IO, DW, EM: -37.1 9. 17 min: DG, DM, CL, MS, EM: +28.2 10.… Read more »
Lot of much maligned guys in positive lineups.
Only 2 negative lineups in the top 11 most used.
For gits & shiggles:
10 min: DM, MS, DW, EM, JA: +47.4
9 min: CPJ, MS, CL, GN, JA: +66.7
On Love, we trusted Wade over Love. That was the decision.
Niang / Mobley lineups seem to be working
As for lineups, DG has been awful all year. Way too many TOs. 32% from deep.
He & Spida should be staggered. One on the court at all times.
Playable or better: DG, Spida, Strus, Mobley, JA; CPJ, LeVert, Ice, Wade.
Borderline: Jerome, Niang.
Not: TT, Jones.
As for Ice, he CPJ & Niang play different spots.
CPJ is a PG. Niang is a backup stetch 4. Okoro is a 2/3. Too small for a 4.
When healthy: DG, Spida, Strus, Mobley, JA; CPJ, LeVert, Ice, Wade.
Hey Chris, Okoro’s rebound rate is higher than Strus’.
I was talking about defensive rebound rate, which strus > okoro and its not close.
Also you’re not even correct lmfaoo strus is at 8% , okoro 7.8% total rebound rate.
Okoro stinks at rebounding, honestly a joke he’s that bad at it.
Being down 35% of the roster does suck: Mitchell, LeVert, Ice, Jerome, & of course, Rubio.
But it is noticeable how more egalitarian we were on oftense was fantastic. Hope we continue it when Spida & LeVert return.
It would make life a lot easier for Spida to just get to his spot and attack early. If the team could play with pace for 30 (with the Spida v the world as the last resort or to close games) we’d be really tough, bc you see a lot of easy buckets for Strus and Mobley and JA just off running and attacking.
Thank you. Ya gotta hope that if it’s obvious to us, the ballclub has to get it. Right?
Doing it (and breaking a few bad habits along the way) is probably 100x harder than it looks lol
Especially when the offense has a 117 rating with Mitchell and 114 with LeVert… they’re far from the problem regarding ball stopping. This is more a Mobley/Niang problem than anyone else.
Mitchell is an oddity because he’s a one man good offense on both stats and the eye test (in reg season) but the style of offense is very defensible in playoffs
I like Niang more than Mobley here until Evan starts catching a little better inside. Niang throwing up that slomo floater is goofy but it’s just a miss. Evan not securing hurts more.
yup yup, here’s to hoping Niang’s value comes alive in a playoff setting where the game slows to a crawl.
THANKS RAOUL. YEP BETTER THAN THE 2–1ST ROUND PICKS OF “ THE OTHER—FORGOTTEN PORTER “ AND “ GLASS WINDLER “
Denver snuck by the Pistons.
Charlette beat Boston in OT !
Clippers spanked the Spurs — the Golden Turd was so-so
Min trounced NYK — always good to see a team from NYC lose at anything!
Dubs beat Rockets by 5.
Read a nice article somewhere today about how the Cavs got CPJ. The plan: With the 49th pick, they thought there was a chance for Emoni, and a real good chance for CPJ. They had already told CPJ they were going to get him somehow, and had a contract worked out. Draft night: When Emoni was still there at 49, they took him, and went into hyperdrive on trying to trade for, or buy, another pick. No one budged, so they had to sweat out 11 more picks. After the 50th pick, CPJ signed on the dotted line. For only… Read more »
A good measuring stick week coming up. 76ers, Heat, Lakers.
No Spida or Okoro. Ugh
let’s see how it goes. recall the gloom prior to the Nuggets game.
Did the Cavs have a rare lucky game, or are they rounding into a good team?
TBD.
Think we can beat the Heat and Lakers (would assume Spida back for LA, and I think Miami is overrated)
Philly at Philly is tough, but Allen was really able to work well against Jokic without fouling so maybe a shot if we keep a good pace.
FORGOT TO GIVE A THUMBS UP TO SAM MY MAN WHO SHOT THE BALL 🏀 WITH CONFIDENCE AND PLAYED SOLID TEAM DEFENSE 👍👍👍
He got some burn. Hit some shots.
Man knows his role-think he had 9 3PA?
“ MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE “ —WITH THE GREAT WEEKEND WE HAD AS NE O—H-I-O SPORTS 🏀 🏈 FANS————— WITH THE SUCCESS OF PORTER “ALE “ —- WHY NOT BRING “ ELDER “——COULD BRING SIMILAR RESULTS AS “ ALE “ —— HE CAN T BE ANY WORSE THAN TT AND THE OTHER POST ( HE IS SO BAD— CANT REMEMBER HIS NAME 🤪🤪
The underrated part about ALE is that he’s a plus athlete even at NBA levels. Brobley is a good player but he’s not a quick twitch speed and leap guy.
Starting to feel like Strus is this year’s Rubio. Smart passing has been key to unlocking the bigs’ offensive potential, which opens up the floor for everyone.
Yup not a bad analogy, esp given the previous connection Rubio and Mobley had.
Strus has thus far far exceeded my expectations.
yep, he is a nice pickup.
Last night’s game reminds me of an early-season meeting with Denver 2 years ago, where the then-new big line-up seemed to give them a lot of trouble.
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/game/10-25-2021-cle-at-den-71850
Yup, for whatever the reason, seems like the cavs are a bad match up against the nuggets.
Tip of the cap to the coaching staff to go to Allen offensively in the second half. Kept the pressure on Jokic, made him frustrated, got him out of there.
I hope we employ a similat strategy vs other big time centers. Embiid. Zinger/Horford. Etc. Don’t be afraid of them, make them work..
Best win of the year sans Spida & LeVert (& Rubio & Jerome).
It is good we re-discovered the bigs and both were efficient. 5 guys with 4+ assists is fantastic (Garland with 6; JA, Mobes, Strus with 5; Porter with 4). Wade with a nice floor game (10 boards and hit a couple 3s). Porter with a fantastic game: 21/4/4/2/1 on 7/10 FGs and 7/7 FTs, 1 TO. Keeper. Sign him to the 15.
Also: Eli ruled this pod.
lol much appreciated!
Great stuff guys.
What are your thoughts on the teams’s improved sharing of ball and offensive load in Spida’s absence? The general assumption is that they will play even better when he returns, but this will likely be reduced when he does.
Fair point, I think it’ll actually work to the cavs favor in a playoff setting tho…. fewer chances for live ball turnovers in a possession game.
outstanding.. even when uncle buck ignores sports he feels happy like a kid when the CLE teams do good.. brownies even more surprising than cavs.. they should leave the youngster in at QB.. not a bad november sunday in the 216..