Podcap: Cleveland 115, Charlotte 92 (or, Pod Juries and Injuries)
2024-03-26To recap a tumultuous couple weeks in Cavsdom, Nate Smith, Chris Francis, and Elijah Kim donned their best jurist wigs and shuffled into the podcast booth. First up? Breaking down the Cavs worst loss of the season, a 121-84 debacle Sunday against the Miami Heat. Then the guys adjudicated the 115-92 get-right victory against the Charlotte Hornets, Monday night.
Has the Cavs’ season all come down to injuries? Is the Cavs’ perpetual injury misfortune worthy of an inquest? Can this coach get this team out of the first round of the playoffs? Will that be enough to keep his job? Who do the Cavs even want to play in the playoffs? Which teams scare you? Have the Cavs done enough to keep Donovan Mitchell? Do the Cavs need to move Darius Garland? Why isn’t CPJ playing more? Was Dune 2 worth seeing in the theater? The jurists decide all these things and more in this week’s Cavs the Podcast.
As always, listen below, download the full audio file, or listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, or Spotify.
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DM targeting Friday return.
The Bucks have an easier schedule with a lot of home games to end the season.. and are healthier… doubt they drop but I can hope … but we also need to win games and we have a tougher schedule, with many on the road .. let’s see..
Don’t Bucks end with two against Orlando? Be curious to see who plays
catching the Bucks is a major long shot. stranger things …
Cavs Schedule.
Bucks Schedule.
“Nothing easy in the paint”,,,,,,
I love this guy. https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2024/03/marcus-morris-srs-old-school-message-sets-the-precedent-for-new-cavs-mindset.html
Need a mix of scowly toughness and Allen’s smiley toughness (shows up every game, runs hard, protects the rim and basically never makes a business decision when someone tries to dunk on him, plays with joy through adversity)
We don’t need three guys like Mook but one with TT and Strus and Don should work.
Georges has serious pickup game toughness. Recall when someone was acting threatening, and GN pushed right into his space with a big smile on his face. The “smile + I’m right here” mode is much tougher than shouting and threatening mode.
yeah, he’s just great for what they need. I’m a huge fan. He has obvious limitations defensively (he’s a ninth man for a reason) and the start of the season was bad but he has done enough this last month to satisfy even the most diabolical haters. Strus and Niang were fabulous culture signings.
wish Jerome and Jones were anything at all, but them’s the breaks. Next year maybe.
An occasional bloodfest may be ok.
I think the Cavs can get to 50 wins. They play the Hornets twice (46), Grizzlies (47), Pacers at home (48), I think they win one of Jazz, LAL, Clips (49), 76ers at home – no Embiid (50).
sounds good, I’m in!
Yeah 48-51 is in play for sure. Pretty amazing
thank you LAL!
Note neither coach in Lakers / Bucks substituting in double OT
Two terrible coaches too.
nah
Strus game time decision tomorrow. Getting closer
Thanks for doing the pod, entertaining and informative as always! To me, it is concerning that this is the 3rd straight year the team seemingly peaked in mid-season and then regressed late. Each year some of the details and circumstances vary, but that larger pattern has been consistent.
It’s pretty interesting to juxtapose that with health. This year is a lot of “get knocked down, don’t stay down,” which is why I think the soft label is wrong. we have very few blowouts pre ASG and no losing streak longer than 3 games, despite all the pain. Last year felt weird at the end and I think some cracks were exposed but I wouldn’t have called it a fade, although it feels that way b/c of the playoffs. Regular season was fine: 13-8 with a punt game at CHA is not awful post-ASB. 21-22: 35-23 at ASB, finish… Read more »
Okay, finish was better than I remembered last season in the late regular season. The KLove drama probably made it feel worse than it actually was in the W/L column.
you might notice that the Cavs peaked when they had a long stretch of easy games, and regressed when they played top teams.
(deleted as my math was dumb as hell)
If everyone stayed healthy all season they would be 55 wins or better.
Next year, iff everybody stays healthy and gets better or a lot better it will be a 60 win team.
Certainly. But what I would like to see in these “easy” stretches that are part of each year’s schedule is a willingness to deepen the bench and develop the lower rotation options when there’s more margin for error. To play 9 or 10 instead of 7.5 or 8, and to avoid “going full Thibs” (per the pod) just to pick up an extra couple of mid-season wins.
I think that will be the biggest change needed year over year from JB, provided he does enough in the playoffs to satisfy the FO. It’s clear Merrill and CPJ and Wade need minutes, and developing guys to sit them when you have three max players is not the wave. I’m for shortening the rotation in March if you can, which is why I wasn’t big on playing them when everyone was healthy – plus we needed and need core 4 reps, but it’s pretty clear the bench bunch should get two shifts a game until the all-star break next… Read more »
Thanks for doing a pod. Listening now.
I wish the season could end now.
Current standings:
That would mean Cavs vs. Pacers in Round 1 and if they were to win then most likely a match against the Bucks in Round 2 (right?). But the Cavs, Knicks, Magic (and Pacers) are all bunched up and things could change a lot in these last 10 games.
not a bad idea