Live Thread: Cavs @ Mavs
2023-12-27Good evening CtB!
The Cavs have traversed to the banks of the Trinity River to take on the Dallas Mavericks in a big-time clash of two playoff hopefuls with winning records. This matchup would be even more intriguing if all the stars were available. But at the time of this writing, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, and Kyrie Irving will certainly be out and there’s a chance Donovan Mitchell, Caris LeVert, and Luka Dončić will be out as well. Nevertheless, this is a chance for the Cavs to continue to build momentum heading into the soft part of their schedule and make a run at the top six in the Eastern Conference.
Tip off is scheduled for 8:30PM Eastern time and will be broadcasted live on Bally Sports Ohio, Go Cavs!
BREAKING:
BATES —9/17 FROM 3s ——-“ ELDER “ 31 / 14 ——NO NANCE FOR CHARGE—- IS HE ELIGIBLE TO DRESS FOR THE CAVS
LT up
FLACCO JUST MADE HIMSELF A 30-40 MILLION CONTRACT—— CAN THE BROWNS SOMEHOW AFFORD HIM NEXT YEAR——I WILL “CHIP IN A MILLION “ 👍🍺🤪🏈
dunno if he made a 30-40M deal or not. his success would NOT translate to very many other teams, and I highly doubt if he wants to maximize money if it means getting beat up on a crappy team.
Flacco is an old guy who only in the last 6 wks experienced any recent success (across yrs). He is not Tom Brady. Not sure his success translates many other places. I suspect having him around would cause too many distractions even though he would be great backup when Watson is healthy. With a decent offensive line, he might even accept fewer $ for quality of football life considerations.
My most enjoyable Browns game in a long time.
GO BROWNS/ GREAT TIME TO BE A SPORTS FAN IN NE O- H -I O ——— KEEP IT GOING TONIGHT BUCKEYES 👍🏈——AND CAVS 👍🏀
pistons lose #28 in OT vs celtics.. 128 – 122.. close but no cigar
damn! wish they won that one
reading an analysis somewhere that made the point that the Pistons have a bunch of good centers and guards, and no wings. We know this story.
flacco qb rating 135, 296 yds.. w 20 min left in game.. brownies 34 – jets 17
Patience with Okoro and Allen and JB paying off.
(to me jury still out on JB until playoffs bc we knew he could make chicken salad from chicken feathers, but think if the bottom falls out and we get run by Boston or MIL as a 7 or 8 seed that’s not a fireable offense)
Allen got hurt and missed most of camp & the start of the season. A slow start was understandable.
I think Jarrett plays well against a lot of teams but against elite physical guys like Embiid and MitchRob has big problems. He handled the Mav’s rookie with ease.
WATCHED REPLAY—- GOOD “ W” —- NOW FOR THE BROWNS TO GET A “ W” 👍🏈
Do the Browns clinch with a win?
REPLAY ON @ 1:00 / BALLY SPORTS………. “ MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE “ 👍🤪🏀
I didn’t realize that the Knicks lost Mitchell Robinson for the season.
yeah low-key big blow to their style of play.
We can take them now.
I love watching the offensive ball movement (and the winning). As a traditional point guard, CPJ makes very nice drives to the hoop occasionally, but he is not a scorer, and he rarely shoots a three (maybe for good reason). Instead, he distributes the ball. It’s fun to watch. I just don’t know how you integrate his game with DG and DM. They are used to bringing the ball up the court. If CPJ stands outside the three point line waiting for the ball, he’s useless. If he brings the ball up the court, then DG and DM need to… Read more »
He’s basically Ricky Rubio
I hope he has the occasional 10/10 on three balls game in him like RR did.
DG and DM need to learn to move without the ball. Having the primary scorer bringing the ball up the court will have them exhausted when serious full court defense starts to happen in the playoffs. It is fun to hog the ball, but not a championship strategy.
Moving without the ball and screening / cutting is an extremely hard skill for ball dominant guys but when they get there…whoooooo
Patience
We need to show them tape of Curry, Rip Hamilton, Ray Allen, and Reggie Miller.
Okoro’s stats these last 6 games: https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/isaac-okoro-3-point-percentage-last-6-games. 43% from 3pt land.
@ Raffy22 to your question about what’s leading to recent wins, it’s the opposite: The offense has been elite and the defense has been terrible.
Last 6 games: 122.3 ortg, 118.3 drtg
The reason for the offensive explosion is better ball movement and elite offensive rebounding. The Cavs aren’t even scoring all that efficiently (57% TS).
Assist ratio during the six games is at 21.4, top 3 in the NBA. 37% offensive rebound rate, is #1 in the NBA in those six games.
We’re basically passing the ball like Denver/Indiana and o-rebounding like the Knicks…. pretty deadly combination!
Interesting. Thanks for the stats. As I mentioned earlier, I am hung up on small vs. big backcourts (I hate small back courts) so am trying to see if that’s a factor here. Seems like the bigger driver is the egalitarian approach to offense and yes, the size to o-rebound.
Yup, more Wade and CPJ minutes means a lot better rebounding…. also Strus, Caris, and Okoro moving down a position helps as well just to present size.
Is it too much to hope that JB sees that we actually have a very deep team and uses his bench moving forward? CPJ should see regular mins – even if it’s 5-10. So should Merrill.
I think the easiest way to tell if JB’s learned his lesson is how he manages minutes between Niang, Wade, CPJ, Merrill, and Okoro when he has a full roster. So far this season, it’s been way too much Okoro and Niang at the expense of everyone else.
Niang and Okoro rank #11 and #12 on the team in net rating on the season, Merrill is 10th, CPJ is 7th, and Wade is 4th.
CPJ & Wade play more with the starters. It isn’t the whole enchilada on net, but it is a factor, especially on teams that are shorthanded.
For good reason, they’re better basketball players.
WTF—-SO FAR—NO REPLAY —-BS 🤬🤬🤬!!!!
Running around Tokyo today and NBA app pinged the halftime score. I thought “yeah, figures”. Then I get a “close game”’alert but I’m like “Cavs aren’t winning this one” and I ignore it. But apparently, no bullshit, they pulled it off. I am going to enjoy this replay.
I did not think they were winning that game till 2 minutes left in 4th quarter,and still it was up for grabs.
I fell asleep midway through the fourth quarter and almost deleted the game from my DVR before realizing we had won.
nice road win.. glad i did not wager.. sorry i ever doubted you ice.. keep it up.. the pot of gold awaits.. caris.. sweet 29
back in 6th, half game out of 4th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0BRBprJds
Hellavu gritty win. Did not watch. Seems like JA, Caris, Ice, and Niang were the offensive stars. Good CPJ floor game.
But 24/23/6 for JA is awesome. Caris with 29 with 7 dimes, Ice over 20. 33 dimes to 16 TOs as a team. Won the boards 57-37. 17 trples, Caris with 6 & Ice & Niang 4 each. 9/12/7 for CPJ with 2 TOs.
Good to see Exum back and playing.
PRETTY MUCH A” NORMAL “ STAT LINE FOR CPJ—-SO MUCH FOR ALL THE ANALYTICS/EVALUATIONS/ ETC GOING INTO DRAFTING A PLAYER————-👍👍👍👍👍 FOR KOBY GETTING THIS KID—— NOW SIGN THIS KID
GOOD TO SEE DANTE “THE INFERNO “ HEALTHY/ PLAYING WELL AGAIN—WISH CAVS COULD HAVE BROUGHT HIM BACK——TRUE PROFESSIONAL ON/ OFF THE COURT
He made some nice plays,a 3 ,nice drive,save caused a basket the other way.
Cavs pass Knicks who lost to the Thunder to vault into 6th. Half game out of 4th… Bucks will be tough but six very winnable games to kick off the new year… would be crazy if they’re a top four team just in time for Garland and Mobley to return…
Couldn’t watch, just tuned into the wrapup – 7 more threes, 20 more rebounds and 12 more assists, trailed for the better part of 3 1/2 quarters and got a 3 point win. How was it even that close, those numbers generally = blowout! Unkind whistle? Great win but weird numbers just in a passing glance.
Whistle was very unkind till the fourth.
CPJ: 9/12/7/4
ICE SEEMS TO PLAY WITH MORE CONFIDENCE ALSO WITHOUT DG\SPIDA -/— PROBABLY GETS MORE INVOLVED/ INTO A RHYTHM
ALSO NEED TO GIVE JB SOME “ KUDOS “ —-HE IS DOING SOME OF HIS BEST COACHING
looks like JB has turned on the “coach to win” switch.
If the Cavs have this version of JA and guards who rebound like CPJ and Strus, it’s a very different outcome against the likes of the Knicks in the playoffs… just sayin…
FAMILY STILL HOME “ EXTENDED “ CHRISTMAS FAMILY TIME——-COULDNT WATCH THE GAME—- PERIODICALLY CHECKED CTB POST BOX SCORE—-WOW——CPJ IS FOR REAL!!!!!——WHAT A FRIGGIN FIND!!!! ——-PUTTING THE GRANDKIDS TO BED—- SONS ALL STAYING UP WITH THE “ OL “ MAN / WATCH THE REPLAY/ DRINK SOME BEER 🍺 👍
Cavs win board battle 57-37 and out dimed them 33-21…
Won rebounds by 20 and assists by 12
I missed the comeback .. was talking with family..I was shocked to see us up 3 with the ball.
Cavs played the last 6 minutes with a huge lineup (smallest guy was Isaac) and it absolutely put the clamps on the Dallas O
big lineups with switchy perimiter defenders is critical
JA doing his best Mobley impression in this one on the perimeter… he shut Luca’s water off the last five mins…
The one where he went straight up and denied the layup and didn’t foul was textbook good D.
LeVert-Strus-Okoro-Wade-Allen I believe.
Good point.
It’s a scary sneaky good lineup imho as long as LeVert moves the ball it’s a solid lineup as we saw.
Cavs beat the Mavs and the refs in this one… Luca is great but he cries more than anyone I’ve seen…
CPJ should also be rotational fixture even when guys are healthy. That kid is for real…
Yes 100%, Ty Jerome has been Pipped
Believe he’s on a 2-way tho, so he can only play 50 big league games
Maybe they just convert it ? Not sure how that works but he needs to just be on the regular roster
They have a spot and will likely have another with the Rubio buyout or trade… SIGN THAT KID UP!
Yep
Wow! What a freaking comeback! Unselfish basketball, unstoppable Caris, incredible defense and JA beast mode! Love to see it!
That game was amazing.
wow!
proud to have been a JA supporter from day 1.
I didn’t listen to the recent pod about the team’s “new identity”, and I’ve only watched portions of the recent games, but I’m thinking that the larger lineups (sans Garland and Mitchell) are helping on the defensive side of things. And the offense is more democratic. Is this a good summary of what’s leading to the recent wins?
Yes. 100%. Ball is moving more, better 3 point shooting (always more shooters on the floor) and better D with improved size and rebounding
I keep getting hung up on the lack of size with Garland/Mitchell. You can’t win in playoffs with that lineup, IMO. Maybe Koby is noticing what size can do.
He should be,as great as they are individually I don’t think it works.
Modeling the team on the Lillard/McCollum Blazers (like Altman did) was idiotic. They lucked into the WCF once. That was the high water mark.
I mean, it is not like it cannot work. But two small guards netting a title does not happen often. The 1972 Lakers had Wrst & Goodrich. 2 HOFers. West might be the best small guard defender in league history, and Wilt was behind them. Thomas & Dunars with the Pistons. 2 HOFers, Dumars off the charts defensively, different era, with Rodman & Sally defending.
I mean, with Mobley & Allen, I get how we see it COULD work. But DG is miles from HOF level. Mobes needs to get better offensively. Both DG & Spida need to involve the bigs more. And we need more 2 way guys and more big wings. DG, Mitchell, Strus, Mobley, JA + CPJ & LeVert is a solid 7. Wade & Okoro are dependable defensively but hit & miss on O. Niang has his nights shooting but struggles on D a lot. Merrill is becoming a real threat from deep. 7 + 4 niche guys who bring something… Read more »
Truth!
(the guard they should be quietly shopping isn’t Mitchell)
Maybe (it’s a good debate), but Mitchell is likely the one who wants to leave.
Didn’t look like it as he dumped water on JA and Caris just now in post game interview…
Yup
you might be right.
good topic for future debate! everyone promise to keep it civil in advance.
Look both Darius and Donovan are incredible ball players. Just absolute studs. And so are Mobley and JA. But damn if the fit just aint quite right
Part of me want to say stagger DG & DM, but then one is always on the court defensively. Hard to clamp down with one on the court.
Though, nights where LeVert, Niang, & Ice combone for 14 triples won’t happen that often. Plus a 20/20 game from JA. As thrilling as tonight was, not sure it is replicable.
Bucks are a different animal.
The other problem with just staggering Darius & Donovan as much as you can is, that makes it harder to find minutes for CPJ, who has clearly shown he should be a regular rotation player (once they get him off the two-way contract).
Yeah and they’re playing defense,Allen is rocking.
W!!!! Les go!!
Strus is a badass.
Really liking Strus.
YES
CAVS WIN!
Thank freaking god.
Nisng wtf
He has really disappointed me.. he’s taken over the most frustrating Cavs to watch from Caris from a year ago.