Playoff Live Thread (Game 1: Cavs @ Celtics)
2024-05-07Welcome to round 2, Cavs fans. Cleveland takes on the NBA’s best regular season team, the Boston Celtics, tonight. No word on a questionable Jarrett Allen yet, but I’m guessing he doesn’t play since he supposedly hasn’t warmed up. No shame in that. A cracked rib is no joke. It’s a shame because the Celtics are missing their starting center, Kristaps Porzingis, likely for the series.
I other injury news, Craig Porter Junior and Dean Wade remain out. The bigger news is how the Cavs plan to compete without Ty Jerome.
For Cleveland, shooting is the key. This won’t be a knock down drag out fight like it was against the Magic. Cleveland likely has to score at least 110 points to win, as Boston averaged 108 in their series against Miami. If Sam Merrill is glued to the bench, expect a short series. I expect Morris to continue to replace Niang in the rotation, as Georges was unplayable against Orlando. We’ll see how much the Cavs have in the tank after a game 7, and we’ll see how much Boston misses the Zinger. I’m calling Cleveland in six. Go Cavs.
LT up
DEEP THOUGHTS. “ CAVE “ ——— “ GRAND CANYON “ ———“ OCEANS “ 🤪
What’s the consensus on Vogel? He’s available now…
Yes, I give Vogel a shot.
On second thought, I’d want someone more offensive minded.
3pt% change Regular Season to Playoffs
RS Playoffs
Thunder 38.9 40.1
Celtics 38.8 38.6
Wolves 38.7 37.6
Pacers 37.4 35.9
Nuggets 37.4 32.2
Knicks 36.9 39.2
Mavericks 36.9 33.6
Cavaliers 36.7 28.3
If this don’t change, it can get ugly.
Other than the Pels who are out now, the Cavs have the worst percentage of playoff teams. Need more Sam Merrill and hope Wade can get healthy.
We don’t have a post up guy that generates doubles, so we don’t get as many clean looks.
We have a lot of “shrinkage” guys who wilt under the bright lights (Garland).
Some of our better 3PT guys are VERY streaky, and not that great over the pong haul (Strus, LeVert).
GOT ME ——FOR A CAVS VICTORY TONIGHT———MODELO ESPECIAL “ CHELADA “ —— DONT LET ME DOWN CAVS—— GO CAVS 👍🍺💪🦾🏀
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40111250/pacers-file-complaint-78-calls-nba-source-says
You love to see it.
The New York Grifters!
Cleveland Cream Puffs!
SIMMO THANK YOU FOR HAVING THE “ CALM /-COOL “ HEAD MATURE APPROACH
same
Was at a funeral today and got kinda drunk so am perhaps more philosophical and less punchy than usual.
any deep thoughts to share?
Sorry to hear brother, hope you and the family are doing OK!
Go Boston!!!! and I hate Boston, but for this series I’ll make the exception.
Hey! Betchur friends with Leaky Louis!
Leaky Louis? Can’t you do better than that? You have to have some better insults
Anyone who hates Boston is welcome on this blog.
Now we have that out of the way, do you have any cogent takes on how any of the playoff series are panning out? This blog over the years has been blessed with followers of other teams dropping in for good bball discussion. Please, do join in.
I think Minnesota takes Denver in 6, OKC will sweep Dallas, and the Cavs will get swept
Leaky Louis, Brunson flopped his way to another win!
And the Cavs escaped their last series and will be golfing early in this one.
The Magic fan has returned.
He’s still “working through” that 1 for 15 game 7 performance from Wagner.
Knicks fan sir.
Sure, sure. That’s what I’d be saying if I were a Magic fan too trolling a Cavs’ site too.
AMEN SWEETCHIE —— CAVS OFFENSE SO BORING/ PREDICTABLE/ EASY TO DEFEND/ REASON JB HAS TO GO —— NEED A COACH WITH SOME OFFENSIVE DNA
We really need players than create for themselves..and not just dribble/handoff/screen for someone else.
(this is why you keep DG and keep encouraging him to shoot :) )
We really need players who are allowed and encouraged to create for themselves. It’s a chicken and egg scenario, for sure. You have to learn to do it before you can do it. Jarrett Allen was given this freedom when Mobley was out, and he excelled. Okoro has never been given this freedom (and freedom to fail). This is why it’s a good thing that Emoni Bates and CPJ have been allowed to refine their game in the GL.
HARD ROCK GOING FOR A TRIPLE/ DOUBLE——— DAMN I AM GETTING NAUSEOUS 🤮
worst unforced error in Cavs history not named gumdrop
Easy to see at the time, as well.
I’d be mighty tired of Hart punking me if I were a Pacer.
HAVE HAD MANY A THERAPEUTIC SESSION IN THE GARDEN/ FARMING/ MY LAWN SERVICE THIS YEAR THE WAY THE CAVS HAVE (NT ) PERFORMED AND OF COURSE……….” MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE “ 👍
BUCKAROO GLAD YOU GOT “ INTIMATE “ WITH “ MOTHER EARTH “ AlWAYS GOOD THERAPY 👍👍👍———-“ THE “ MRS NOMAD STILL HAS HER COLLEGE DAY LOOKS/ FIGURE——- THE SHIP IS ALWAYS AT “ FULL MAST—READY TO SAIL “ 👍👍👍👍
Pacers need to stop handing them the ball. They should put McConnell back in.
Brunson is such a turd!
the “lead turd”
Even a bad foot can’t stop Brunson from flopping.
That was a horrible call.
Lolz. Brunson gets away with so much flopping.
I’m watching the Pacers/Knicks.. and just wonder why can’t we score and have movement like them? so annoying we don’t have an interesting offense to watch/enjoy.
Carlisle is a top 5 coach.
The micing up players is one of the dumbest things the NBA does.
Would this be an even series if we had JA and DW?
If they also had Porzingis, they’d still be easily favored. Even without him, I’d still anticipate them to be the betting favorite even if JA and DW were healthy
No.
The Celtics are better than us by a wide margin. Against NY or Indy, we’d have a shot.
Cavs have never scored 100 points in a road playoff game under JB. They’re 0-6 with an average of 89.2 points per game and a high of 96 points in Game 6 against Orlando
———-
Cavs managed just a 107 oRTG despite turning it over on just 5.9% of possessions (98th percentile) and shooting 82% at the rim. Can shoot it a bit better from the outside but hard to see them closing the gap on Boston offensively enough to compete in 4 games
Mike Zavagno in twitter
NOMAD bro.. was in my garden yesterday getting my hands dirty with mother earth, and typically when involved in such non-cerebral activities my mind starts to wander.. started thinking about cavs vs celtics (and my assumption that this is a broom job).. then started musing on garland, who is turning into a disappointment, and moving into “max mistake” territory.. i wondered whether he would “rise to the occasion”.. then i started laughing out loud when began thinking about you in that context (you know.. “rising to the occasion”) with the MRS NOMAD.. now don’t get me wrong, i am certain… Read more »
Okay I’ve been guilty of some of the doom & gloom here. But just think:
There are a significant number of very good NBA players who are already on holidays…
THE LACK OF GROWTH IN THEIR GAMES—- DG/ MOBES ——-MAYBE IT IS DUE TO INJURIES—— IS CONCERNING—— WE WERE ALL “ SALIVATING “ 2 YRS AGO —ALL STAR GAME IN CLEVELAND OF THE POTENTIAL WE WERE WATCHING——-POTENTIAL IS AN OVERUSED/ SCARY TERM THROWN AROUND———- BOTH STILL YOUNG ENOUGH TO GROW—- NEED RIGHT STAFF AND DESIRE TO ACHIEVE IT
we’re missing the incremental growth in front of our eyes from game to game. they are figuring out more and more. a DG game with no turnovers and great shot diet is a step forward. Mobley being stronger with the ball has to happen but it’ll come, as it came for Allen.
Mobley’s rebounding has been much improved as of late. He actually goes after them like he gives a shit now.
If we can teach him to use the backboard on offense, that will help.
Guy with no touch should not try to flip it in frim odd angles. Throw it off the square.
Send that memo to Levert too.
Predictable emotional letdown after a big game 7… gotta be competitive in game 2 at least, put some game pressure on Boston.
DM would never let you do it, but I think our best shot at making this any kind of series would be to say his knee is acting up and sit DM for G2, essentially throwing the game but forcing everyone else (DG esp) to dig deep and see what they can muster. We go home down 0-2 which we’re going to do regardless, but play our home games with a rested DM and maybe some rediscovered flow from the Broken Point Guard, the Timid Unicorn and the rest of the spare parts Koby has assembled.
broken point guard = $150 million mistake ?
The contrast between cleveland’s lack of development and OKC’s fully developed slate of youngsters is stark. Its organizational. Mobley getting to this point in his career without post moves is criminal. DG not knowing how to handle pressure might just be DG…or it might be a terrible coaching staff that is all over the map with his role. Only Allen and DM and Strus seem to know what to do. Every other youngster of ours is retarded (in the literal sense of the word). SGA is awesome but not light years better than garland. Yet he seems able to keep… Read more »
they caught a great wave and made good moves. (as did Indiana to a lesser extent)
i’m excited to see more development under a new staff: maturity and consistency have to happen.
never been a big fan of garland.. SGA,, the one that got away (from koby.. he took the midget, although, to be fair, i do like and respect sexton).. cavs will be out of the pain rather quickly.. they maybe win a game, but likely a broom job.. oh well.. maybe koby will do another brass balls special.. without mitchell they are a rather ordinary .500 team that seems not to have gotten better the last 2 years (and in some regards, have regressed).. going nowhere fast, even with mitchell, and since i don’t see him signing in the 216,… Read more »
They have a history of taking undersized guards,The Dan Gilbert plan.
We need Point Mitchell with a mean 6’5” shooting guard. Trade DG — even with his trainwreck of a season and bloated contract, enough teams need a talented PG that we could still get decent value for him. I wish we could keep both Allen and Mobley but I think we have to move on from the Mobley at the 4 experiment. Allen is crucial to this team but he’s not going to grow. Evan’s ceiling is ridiculous but if Mitchell stays, his development timeline may be off — plus we would get a HAUL for him. In other words,… Read more »
because idiots keep repeating the “can’t keep Allen and Mobley” theory doesn’t make it true. it just shows how clueless many sports commentators are.
Hard to call SGA the one who got away since he publicly said he didn’t want to come to Cleveland and not to draft him. Why he thought OKC was a better market, god only knows but maybe it had something to do with the franchise and not just the city?
think the LAC drafted him, no?
yup. and they’d have kept him if not for PG circumstances (IIRC Kawhi would have been a Laker otherwise).
sometimes it’s just luck
I think that was because he didn’t want the LeBron shadow.
top players say that a lot, and it is usually ignored as it should be.
Agreed – though I’d say that even at his best, DG is nowhere near SGA. There was a lot to be said for JB/Koby’s nice guy, supportive approach to development when they were pulling us out of the dark years, but after the 2021-2 breakout season, that attitude has only held us back. After DG, who’s been enabled to be immature rather than forced to grow up, I’d argue that Okoro is maybe the biggest victim of bad development. The kid has all the raw tools to be an offensive menace (watch his rookie year highlights) but JB’s so-called schemes… Read more »
largely agree, other than about Okoro. most people in the world will never get a good handle or become a great shooter no matter who the coach is.
I like it
Man. That was rough. Can’t play from behind in this series. Need to get a lead. We battled for a long time bouncing between 10 to 18 points down. Can’t win a series against this Celtics team like that though. Maybe Mobley found something with his offense there in the 4th. We can only hope as tonight was right back to Spida and pretty much nothing else.
that’s what Boston does. They bomb you out and put so much pressure on every shot to keep up.
Donovan might be the best player in the series but do they have the next 4? The next 5?
Gotta put this on make or miss and not having an offensive system: there’s not a coaching or talent solve that gets us over this Celtic team tonight
Could not agree more. The Celts played great “paired offense,” linking guys in good PnRs to post-up situations from which to score or kick. They made a ton of threes, but they got exactly what they wanted. The Cavs? They looked five guys who just picked their team at the park. I would love to see the number of dribbles per made basket the Cavs had…so much wasted energy…and planlessness.
Donovan will shine in this series, but it won’t matter without Allen. He may be their only hope.
he has to be better than SGA or Tatum for us to be legit conference finalists. If he’s not that guy, then we top out as a 50-55 win team. I don’t mind that at all but there probably isn’t a ceiling-raising option outside of internal growth from the other guys that gets you there.
Niang unleashed.
Homecoming!
Cavs again at 89 pts with 3 plus minutes.
Another game where we score under 100
Cavs:
41%
11 3PM
17 FB Points
Outrbounded by 17 —- 38-55
Boston with 18 3PM. / + 7 made 3PM
+6 offensive rebounds + 11 defensive rebounds
+4 on blocks
OK. Time for the crash line.
Garland just getting absolutely cooked.
Why so little Marcus morris?
Oh, he missed a shot in the 1st quarter.
The Cavs not running an offense is a problem
Thats been their season though.. even the commentators has said that much.
I don’t understand what LeVert is doing.
Boston gets away with so much off ball.
Remember the Dean Wade game. Though the brown three might have preclude that.
Cavs have 33 FG
Donovan: 12 – 33 pts
Darius: 6 – 14 pts
Evan: 5 – 11 pts
Isaac: 4 – 11 pts
Levert: 2FG – 4 pts
Tristan and Morris: 1 each
Remember when DG was an allstar? Good times.
If you look at the past few years, they tend to try to give the home team at least 1-2 all stars:
Cleveland in 21-22 – DG and Allen
Utah in 22-23: Lauri
Indiana in 23-24: Tyrese
Eh… this games over.
Both teams this half from 3:
Cavs: 3/15 – 9 pts
Boston: 9/17 – 27 pts
and we were already down 10 at the game..
Garland hunting. Whelp. We won’t see Merrill again this series.
Boston has 7 blocks on us..
Jrue for Dame remains one of the dumbest (series of) trades in Association history.
Jimmy Haslem!
Who else is happy that Niang is a DNP this game..
Not much to he happy about here
Garland if you are going to drive and kick, the kick pass cannot force the perimeter player back by 1 m to catch the goddamn ball.
Good contest Mobes. Holiday can try that again, very welcome.
The contact that Celtics get away with versus the Cavs is frustrating.
Make or miss guys…
Good things in this game:
Cavs Fast Break Points: 17 (7/9 while Boston only has 9 (4/10)
Only 5 TO’s for the game, 3 by Mitchell
Mitchell: 12/24 FG, 4-10 3PT, 6 rebounds, 5 assists – 33 pts through 3 quarters.
From three:
Boston 13/37
Cleveland 11/32
Seems worse than that.
Probably cause we made 6 in the 1st quarter (6/12)
2nd: 2/10
3rd: 3/10 – 9 points
Boston:
1st: 3/10
2nd: 3/12
3rd: 7/14 – 21 pts
You’re right. Times were good in the first quarter.
Fwiw, Mitchell Robinson stress injury to left ankle, re-evaluated in 6-8 weeks. Per Shams.
He’s been terrible
Ok
LeVert cannot pass to Mitchell there. Caris’ guy was ten feet off him.
SMH —-
Woof, Garland.
That shot by Mitchell
What I particularly hate about mismatches like this is that it makes hacks like Pritchard look good.
No. Garland’s shit D made Pritchard look good.
If there’s a guy who is on PEDs out there it’s Kornet. He used to be a twig.
He looks like a caveman!
Wow Mitchell. Get him some help!
Mitchell! What a shot!