Live Thread: Cavs @ 76ers
2024-02-23No Mitchell tonight. The All-Star flu strikes again. The Cavs look to bounce back from a listless All-Star hangover yesterday against the Magic. Key will be Caris LeVert (2-10 last game) and Georges Niang (-20) not being garbage or at the very least being replaced by players who can defend and/or make shots.
The 76ers have been reeling. Losers of 10 of the last 13, the Sixers are missing Embiid, Robert Covington, Kyle Lowry, and DeAnthony Melton, while Nic Batum is questionable. The Cavs better play like they’re a serious team, because they didn’t last night, and the questions about Darius Garland and the non-Spida crew will mount. Go Cavs.
Mitchell warmed up tonight
A little pre dooming – we have ATL without Trae on a road B2B after NY and Boston. It’s gonna get cabsy
Like I’d bet that we beat NY by more than we beat ATL
Spida is probable for tonight.
“ HARD ROCK “ IS A FREE AGENT THIS SUMMER—- MAN IT WOULD BE NICE TO BRING HIM BACK—— AM SURE THAT ISNT HAPPENING
might happen, who knows?
Mitch supposed to be back pretty soon
EMONI FINDING HIS “ RHYTHM 🎶 “ AGAIN. 5/11 FROM 3s / 30pts / 7 REB s
I’m so impressed with him. Still think he’s a year away and we should play Ty over him next year, but he’s shown amazing signs for what is basically a draft and stash pick.
I HOPE MY “FOOD “ TOMORROW NIGHT IS EATING “ HUMBLE PIE “ FOR MY “ CONCERN “ POSTS ————-OF COURSE I WILL TAKE MY HUMBLE PIE WITH………………..” MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE “ 👍🤪
Hopefully Mitch is back tomorrow.
Brother I hope we beat them. But tbh we are in a good overall place.
THE WIZ TOTALLY SUCK—— A LOSS TO THEM TOMORROW NIGHT IS MORE THAN A RHYTHM THING/ SLUMP- —— IN MY “ HUMBLE “ OPINION WOULD BE A CAUSE FOR SOME CONCERN
It would be disappointing for sure. But five games of playing with our food is frustrating not concerning to me. We haven’t really had a bad loss since…NOP in December?
DARIUS I WILL “ BUTTON MY CHOPS “ —-TEMPORARILY—— IF THE WIZ BEAT THEM TOMORROW—IT IS NOT A RHYTHM THING— AND I WILL UNBUTTON MY CHOPS ——— AT PRESENT “ THE “ MRS NOMAD AND ME HAVE “ BETTER RHYTHM “ THAN THE CAVS
I don’t think it’s a knee-jerk reaction to the last few games to conclude that, for this year at least, the Cavs are simply a better team with the lineup that usually started in Garland and Mobley’s absence: Mitchell—Strus—Okoro—Wade—Allen. Based on NBA.com data, that one, and the “normal” starting 5 (Garland—Mitchell—Strus—Mobley—Allen) are the two most heavily used lineups, both covering 19 or more games and 230+ minutes. The first lineup: O-rtg 121.4, D-rtg, 101.8, Net +19.6. The “normal” lineup: 114.7, 110.6, Net + 4.0. And the assist/TO ratio is notable too: 2.67 versus 1.86. Defensively, it seems clear that when… Read more »
totally agree on the comparison of the two main lineups. however, if the Cavs are going to contend in the future, EM will be a big part of it. So figuring out how to fit him in is essential. DG, not so much.
I agree with you on that point – whatever growing pains they have to go through with Mobley are worth it. But it’s a lot harder to see Garland either working out well as Mitchell’s backcourt partner or filling Mitchell’s shoes if he were to walk after next season.
Regarding DG, relax. We are spoiled by the progression of the rest of the team, which is better than normal. People wanted Allen to be more physical and decisive coming into the year and he was there by December. They wanted more playmaking from Don and he was basically there by December as well. They wanted more shooting and rebounding from Evan and he’s there. That’s so much better than normal. What we are asking of Garland is much harder and he’s progressing as a partner to Mitchell at a good and normal pace. Need patience. I will also point… Read more »
How many players in the pre-KG Warriors’ so-called Death Lineup – which won 7 playoff series in 2 years – could create their own shot? I think just one, Steph. Iguadola was a secondary creator like Strus, maybe somewhat better but not who you think of as an elite iso threat. Draymond was an amazing facilitator but usually not a scorer.
That’s two years and they got KD precisely because the Cavs (and even really the Thunder) had that one-creator offense basically solved by 2016. Interestingly the CW on Golden State before 2014 was that too many 3s couldn’t work. DG and DM not working together is overly conventional thinking that I expect to be wrong in retrospect. The elite creation plus elite rim protection continues to be workable. I am confident DG can work with Mitchell. I am also confident that that is and was always intended to be a multi year project that had a good start but is… Read more »
The difference in adding KG to Steph was that while the major benefit was on offense, it did not weaken the team defensively, and if anything KG might have upgraded Barnes on that end of the floor. DG plus Donovan really hurts on defense and I don’t see that changing no many how many more seasons they have together. So it’s only going to work well enough to advance in post-season if it “significantly” elevates the team’s offensive efficiency, enough to more than offset what they’re giving away. I hope so, but not optimistic. So far there’s really been no… Read more »
DG/DM lineups plus the bigs have a fine defensive rating. We had the best defense in the playoffs last year despite getting muscled. This year has been a tale of two seasons, one in which we actually ran the system in training camp and one in which we didn’t (and had a brutal schedule to boot). Some noise in those #s but not enough to account for the difference you point out, which is real and disturbing. But I’m optimistic DG and DM can become killer combo guards. It just will take more time for DG but once it works… Read more »
The takes on here confound me sometimes. Two rough losses and the sky is falling apparently. They are out of rhythm – just sloppy play that’s correctable. It doesn’t mean they aren’t “junkyard dogs” or “lacking toughness” or “don’t want to win.”
Last night they made too many mistakes and couldn’t make any big momentum shot. And LeVert needs to get out of his funk.
I will say I don’t think they could play much worse. So I’m hoping it’s a rhythm situation. But I also think there’s a ceiling. And the rotations continue to baffle me, which should be correctable, but I’m not holding my breath.
Three losses in a row (on a 3 in four nights mostly without Don) are not cause for huge concern.
But we will surely overreact. Again. But sometimes a slump is just a slump
AGREE OUR LACK OF MENTAL/ PHYSICAL TOUGHNESS IS FRUSTRATING—-I KNOW THEY ARE A FUN / TIGHT TEAM——- BUT MAYBE TOO NICE—— NEED TO PUT THAT “ GOON – GAME FACE “ ON EVERY GAME———- UNTIL THAT HAPPENS/ OTHER TEAMS ARE GOING TO “ BIG BROTHER BULLY “ US 😡🦾
Yep.
Playoffs??!! We’re toast. Don will lack trust and feel he has to over perform (especially after last year) and mental weakness and a lack of physicality will be our downfall again… JB will not sub in timely shooters, ride vets to death and turnovers and looking to the refs to make favorable calls will sink us again… Our only ray hope??? Believe it or not, Tristan Thompson.
The only way I see the Cavs winning a series is if we get lucky enough to face the Bulls, Nets, or Hawks.
Cavs can easily win any EC series with teams not named Celtics.
Yup
Don’t see them beating the Heat, Knicks, Pacers, or Bucks.
The Pacers and Heat suck on defense and offense respectively. Knicks are a coin flip and Bucks are old.
Those are all winnable serieses. Doom away though
It’s not doom when this hasn’t proven anything but losing in the playoffs.
It’s one series: it’s stupid to overindex to the most recent loss and it’s that kind of short term thinking that lost us LeBron due to rushing to get Fat Shaq and Jamison
This is year 3 of JB taking us into the playoffs/play-ins. What has he proven in the post season? I don’t think it’s ridiculous to question that and size up our opponents, who have coaching and experience advantages. It’s not doom it’s logic.
It’s not logic it’s being a pisspants over ordinary course setbacks, like losing a 4/5 series, and ignoring the real progress players are making on the floor every time things get rocky. Very soft work and a lack of understanding of how growth works. Fuck the Pacers, Knicks and Heat, they are food. While we were overmatched a bit last year (and really underestimated the Knicks, as did the media), I’ll just point out that every first time playoff team got their shit took last year, including high seeds like Sacto and Memphis. Not unusual, and both those teams backslid.… Read more »
I reject your “let’s all be homers” anecdote. Also it’s not only about losing to the Knicks last year. JB has a 2-8 all time playoff record. I think my logic is spot on but maybe you need more time to see if this works out – enough time for Donovan Mitchell to consider a better team like the Knicks. Also I’ll note your hypothesis about first time playoff births getting “their shit took” is inaccurate, especially with Sacramento, who took it 7 games (how many games did the Cavs take the Knicks?). I don’t care about the recent run.… Read more »
Tl;dr version of the below: we should, logically, be homers! History: The FO has been legitimately great in executing a rebuild from LeBron without a higher pick than 3 and has so many more wins than losses. After four years in the LeBron 1.0 rebuild with two number 1 picks we had 30 wins and were still in the damn lottery, whereas in 2.0 we had fifty one wins. We are well ahead of the curve, and we haven’t backslid (very hard to do). Plus we are finding talent through the lottery, smart trades and great development. Logic doesn’t mean… Read more »
HATE TO PUT TOMORROW s GAME AGAINST THE WIZ AS A “ CRUCIAL “ GAME— BUT IF WE LOSE TO THE WIZ ——— TIME TO PUT THE CALL OUT TO ….” EVIL 👿 GENIUS—- FOR THE PANIC 😱 BUTTON “ AND SOME “ EVIL 👿 GENIUS BEER 👍🍺
I SEE JB READ OUR POST s AFTER THE MAGIC GAME PERTAINING TO CPJ s LACK OF MINUTES (4)——- HE PLAYED A WHOPPING 5 LAST NIGHT— WTF —-THIS IS WITH SPIDA OUT————RIGHT NOW I AM A “ NERVOUS NELLIE “ ABOUT OUR PLAYOFF CHANCES…………I NEED ME SOME ………” MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE “
JB is only good when rotations are forced upon him. Which is of greater concern for the playoffs. He’ll have Garland and LeVert running around like chickens with their heads cut off driving into triple coverage and either turning it over or clanking a midranger.
Really do have to wait and see on that one. I think he’ll freely give more minutes to Okoro and Strus if it’s not working with those two.
I also don’t think you give either DG or Vert a quick hook in a February or March when you need them to play free and confident in April.
You know CPJ is not going to be in the playoff rotation so giving him minutes in the next two months really isn’t a great idea.
IF WE LOSE TO THE WIZ TOMORROW—— REASON FOR REAL CONCERN
WHEN SPIDA RETURNS AND CAVS. ( HOPEFULLY) GO ON ANOTHER WIN STREAK— THAT SHOULD VALIDATE SPIDA FOR MVP CONSIDERATION
Niang playing double Wade’s minutes. Make it make sense.
Wade can’t do anything with the ball except shoot it (hesitantly)
Simply untrue.
On a set play when he gets the ball on the wing the only thing he’s done is pull, pass out, or dribble three times to nowhere, allowing the D to reset. Easily defended
Wade hasn’t driven and finished in this calendar year. He’s gotten some possessions back but he sucks with the ball. Niang for what it’s worth is the only bench front court creator
23 minutes for Wade and Merrill compared to 46 minutes for Niang and LeVert is the kind of rotation mismanagement that had people calling for JB’s job early in the season.
Exactly. It’s very obvious now that injuries forced JB to distribute minutes to end of bench players that actually made sense. And now he’s back to his old ways (sticking with vets). Many on this site have made this observation. I think I’ve given up on JB as a head coach. My prediction (a fairly obvious one) is that he’ll be exposed again in the playoffs and then probably get fired.
Wade and Merrill don’t create plays they finish them. And Niang has played fairly well offensively in spurts.
You don’t know guys are going to miss when you play them but you know defenses are playing Wade or Merrill for a shot and not a drive.
It didn’t work but it makes sense.
It is truly wild how two two possession losses without DM have us firing JB again
Traveling blues tonight. Bad bad shooting (especially from the line). Playing better teams that are playing harder now after the all star break.
JB doesn’t have a clue without Mitchell.
Levert has sucked eggs for the last two games (the Magic game was probably his worst ever), and his shot has been way off for several games. They have better options until he gets his shit in order.
The thing is you don’t know he’s gonna suck in advance! Bouncing back from a 1-11 stinker with a thirty burger is extremely on brand for Caris.
JB going with Levert over Ice with 3 minutes to go says everything you need to know about his coaching. Damn. We’re still a long way from contendding.
Garland in a nutshell; comes through when the game is already over. Then we have a shot and whiffs. Just like the last sixers game when he had a look at the game winner. Man I’m so upset we didn’t have Mitchell for these games
I didn’t see any Junkyard dogs out there tonight.
Agreed there were definitely no guys who wanted this game
Ice and Allen.
Yep
That’s it JB. Call time out
That’ll do it.
Now you go with Merrill?!
Yeah, and then let Garland shoot it. 😳
I don’t see this team going very far. Way too many average players that depend on Mitchell to save them. No alpha players. Except Mitchell
Disagree. They just suck after the all star break clearly lost their conditioning and rhythm. Been an issue for three straight seasons. You’d think they’d have addressed it by now. Also, Niang sucks.
It’s not uncommon. With Mitchell we’d be fine. I agree with you here aside from the bit about Niang who is fine for what he is and useful in shifts.
Watching Clips / Grizz was very similar to watching our games – playing with food until their stars closed, but essentially a one possession game.
I’m annoyed with these losses but God knows we stole a bunch of short handed wins, it’s ok for the bball gods to take some back
Merrill on, excellent.
Still gotta fpul if you don’t get the steal.
Holy shit. Great steal and pass Garland.
Do you think about intentional missing the third?