Podcap: Cleveland 112, Miami 105 (or, Possessions in the Aggregate)
2025-03-06The title of this podcast comes from the way the Cavs have been winning lately: the possession game. In their 12 game win streak, the Cavs have outrebounded their opponents in every game, and won the turnover battle in most of them. While they haven’t been able to replace Kevin Love since they lost him two seasons ago, with the addition of De’Andre Hunter, the Cavs have become a team that recreates great rebounding in the aggregate across all their lineups.
Despite Kevin Love’s return to Cleveland Wednesday, The Cavaliers found a way to win the possession battle and the game again as they notched perhaps their ugliest win of the season. Despite three frustrating turnovers in the last two minutes, Cleveland clung to a 110-107 lead after a Mobley lob and a Hunter roll-man floater put them up three with 1:20 to go. Tight defense, and exceptional SLOB D (sideline out-of-bounds) forced a Miami timeout. Miami reverted to a cross court heave to Duncan Robinson who stepped half an inch out of bounds before DM iced the game at the line.
Nate Smith and Chris Francis broke down this game and the last few from the CtB podcast studios where the topics ranged far and wide: the possession battle, Max Strus and Donovan Mitchell’s struggles with biofeedback, De’Andre Hunter’s sublime offensive and defensive fit, Evan Mobley’s defense, Max Strus’ gluey-ness, Ty Jerome’s sixth-man cred, who scares us in the playoffs, Kenny Atkinson’s coaching brilliance, Koby Altman’s Billy-Bean-like roster construction, Nate’s bowling addiction, shout outs, the SNL 50th, and the Cavs’ march to history are just a few of the threads.
Join us as we revel in this season of gravy that is your 2026 Cavaliers. As always, catch us below, download the full audio file, or listen on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, or Spotify.
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LT up
THERE WILL BE AT LEAST 1 CAVS FAN AT THE GAME TONIGHTââ MY FIREFIGHTER SON / ASHVILLE â- BIRTHDAY IS TODAY I BOUGHT HIM ( and fiancÊe ) TICKETS TO THE GAME TONIGHT đđđđđđââTOLD HIM NOT TO JINX THEM đđđ
Goofy tangent, but I recently saw the Cavs trademarked the term Cavalanche, which got me thinking about the origin of the phrase “immaculate vibes”. I remember that was how DG described the Cavs chemistry going in to preseason a couple seasons ago and I assumed it was an impromptu response. Now I hear immaculate vibes being used all over the place (on TV, and podcasts that have no sports connection) and keep wondering if DG was the one who originally coined that, or if that was an existing phrase that just hadn’t reached my mid-west ears yet at the time.
what is the nba playoff series that i am hoping for, above all else (just out of pure interest and believing that it may be the most exciting series this year)… wait for it.. warriors vs lakers.. both re-energized with new hall of fame caliber players, plus,both lebron and steph appear to be ecstatic, and playing like they are both back in their 20s..
Gorgeous Georges with 24 points on 10/15 FGs and 4/8 from deep as the Hawks beat the Pacers.
Attaway Georges. Hate that I have any reason to root for a team that employees Trae Young.
d’oh. *employs
ha-ha — same!
Just to keep beating this dead horse on Ice. Our 3 most common lineups in terms of minutes are the Core 4 + Wade/Okoro/Strus.
Core 4 + Wade is +8.7 per 100 possessions.
Core 4 + Okoro is +12.7 per 100.
Core 4 + Strus is +15.4 per 100.
Strus is the best choice to start, and the stats back it up. But Ice does better than Wade. I don’t see people calling for Wade’s minutes to be cut.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CLE/2025/lineups/
EDIT: Core 4 + Caris: +20.2
Green and Tyson should be ahead of Wade and Okoro for the playoffs… Wade’s too gunshy on offense Okoro flat out stinks unless he’s being carried by Strus and Merrill.
Get your head out of the spreadsheets and try watching the games.
Man, I’d be pretty sus on that Tyson lineup data based on quality of opponent. I’m of the opinion that whoever Kenny picks is the best, and I have my doubts that it will be Tyson.
??? I never referenced lineup data I’m strictly talking about watching Tyson, I believe in him… the lineup data of course says he’s bad relative to everyone else, but he rebounds at 2x the rate of Okoro, higher assist %, and is shooting 56% TS on the season, which is barely behind Okoro.
Tyson is literally a better basketball player now, and KA needs to trust it.
Just trying to post screen shot, but Tyson with starters are +77 net rating LMFAOOO and two most used Tyson lineups are +40 and +77
Every time he’s stepped on the floor in serious minutes, he’s delivered. KA needs to loosen the leash it’s ridiculous.
Also it’s clear his lineup data is bad because he plays with Tristan Thompson regularly, so it’s time to get a more accurate assessment of his game.
I wasn’t arguing with you. It’s pretty moot right now anyway. Tyson’s in the pipeline for next year, but if he gets significant playoff run this year, I’d be shocked.
you right, and you tried :(
Not a big fan of +/- and ON/OFF as I think they are often useless in small sample sizes and get misused a lot. ON/OFF can inform about the player, but also the depth behind that player and the players he plays with in the rotation, and possibly the players they are playing against (starters or reserves). Caveats aside FWIW….
Cavs Best Ratings ON COURT: Hunter +18.8, Okoro +16.6, Mobley +14.6, Merrill +13.9, Wase +13.8, Mitchell +13.4, Allen +12.2, LeVert +12.2, Jerome +12.1, Strus +11.5, Garland +11.1, Niang +8.2. Green (small sample) +62.7.
ON/OFF Differential: Hunter +7.7, Mobley +6.4, Okoro +6.2, Mitchell +4.1, Merrill +3.2, Wade +2.9, Allen +1.0, LeVert +0.6, Jerome +0.5, Strus -0.4, Garland -1.7, Niang -5.5. Green (SSS) +51.3.
For those wanting to give Ice’s minutes away, ON/OFF thinks you are nuts. He has the 2nd best ON rating on the team (only Hunter is better) and the 3rd best differential (only Hunter & Mobley better). Excluding Green’s small sample size.
So, Green >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. Okoro? Glad that’s settled.
All NBA for Mobley? Remember, you need 65 games. They vote for 2 Gs, 2 Fs, and a C.
1st team frontcourt: Tatum (58), Giannis (49), Jokic (56).
Likely 2nd: LeBron (56), Durant (49), Towns (54)
Guess 3rd: J. Williams (59), Mobley (55), Jackson Jr. (59, inj).
Other contenders: Sabonis (59, inj), Siakam (60), Sengun (58), J. Brown (if eligible at SF, 52).
KD needs 16/20 to get to 65. Giannis 16/21. Jackson and Sabonis are both injured currently.
No, it’s positionless
FWIW, Bucks will be on a 2nd night of a b2b when we roll in. Both games at home, though.
Hipefully we don’t play with our food in Charlotte. We get some rest. JA’s hand improves. And Green gets some more time.
đđđ JASON
Cavs trademark “Cavalanche.”
https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/cleveland_cavaliers_file_trademark_after_clinching_playoff_berth/s1_17132_41862438
I should have been more aggressive legally.
â GREEN LIGHT â ICEâs MINUTES TO JAVONTAE â-REBâs BETTERâ- DEFINITELY MORE OFFENSIVE THREATâ- PLAYS SMART TEAM DEFENSEâĻâĻâĻâĻâĻ DO THE CAVS FILL LAST ROSTER SPOTââ IF SO â- WHAT POSITION
I think it will be very matchup dependent. Okoro does a nice job on muscle bound shrimps like Brunson but struggles against longer dudes.
Agreed. And, believe it or not, he’s a better 3PT shooter.
interesting new metric, says it’s time for Tyson to take Okoro’s minutes.
https://espnanalytics.com/nba-net-pts
Also, Jarrett Allen MVP????
Does Okoro get a spot on the playoff roster?
i could see a hot hand situation between him Merrill, Wade, Green…. does CPJ or Tyson get a chance in that mix? IDK
I doubt Tyson gets a sniff in the pecking order
which is unfortunate because he actually rebounds and is a better passer than Okoro.
I get it, but also, we need Okoro to play well to move him.
We can’t really move Okoro given how dependent Merrill and Strus historically have been to him for their success.
but I’d like to see him down the pecking order since he’s refused to improve his rebounding to any sort of acceptable level given his role.
Need Okoro to play well to move him? LMFAOOOO
Yeah heâs on ice until next year to be in a playoff rotation.
Might not even play a ton next year. Hard to evaluate him but his best NBA skills is rebounding and weâre doing fine there.
Of course. This isn’t baseball. The roster is the roster.
Doesnât only 12 make it?
KA MADE THAT A KNOWN WEAKNESSâ-WOULD NOT TOLERATE IT â-WOULD NOT ADVANCE FAR IN PLAYOFFS UNTIL THEY IMPROVED !!
NATE HAS BALLS!!!!đđđđ¤Ēđ¤Ēđ¤Ēââ â THE â WIVES ARE ALWAYS RIGHT NATE !! ââHAPPY WIFEâ-HAPPY LIFE đđ
Cavs top 10 in the NBA in rebound rate, that’s insane to go from a bottom 5-10 team.
SIMMOâ-LMAO â- GREAT NEWS TO HEAR THOUGHââââ SLOB â Dâ WAS GREATââ BUCKS GAME ON SUNDAY COULD CHALLENGE THE WIN STREAK/ KPJ â REVENGE â GAMEâââ- KA I NEED ME SOME MORE â GREEN LIGHT â JAVONTAE TIME đ
I don’t think my wife will ever let me have more than two.
Javonte is definitely going to play big minutes at some point. Barring injuries, it will be later, But heâs that guy who is on the bench to start a year but always ends up on the floor by the end of the season
He needs to get integrated with the team more. He’s only played in 1 meaningful game.
To my way of thinking, he’s slways been a SG, not a SF. Bigger wings just shoot over him. But on guys like Brunson, Harden, Jrue/White, Dame, etc., he is a really good on ball defender.
Headline: Nate has two balls.
LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOO #LETEMKNOW