Live Thread: Cavs @ Kings
2026-02-07Good evening CtB!
The Cavs have traversed to the NoCal Central Valley to take on the Stockton Kings AKA the haplessly tanking Sacramento Kings. This is a big night for the good guys, as James “Uno” Harden makes his Cavalier debut. Koby Altman made the most consequential move of the insane NBA Slop Season, will his gamble pay off? One thing you cannot fault him for is being aggressive in a wide open Eastern Conference. Let’s we what we got…
TIp off is scheduled for 10:00PM Eastern time and will be broadcasted live on Fanduel Sports Network, Go Cavs!
Wade, Mobley, & Strus OUT.
Tyson & Proctor IN.
AGREED JASON ON OMIIER s SIZE ( has his height anywhere from 6’7—-6’9” — who knows — he plays bigger with his athleticism/ wing span — I mean how tall is LNJ ). WOULD JUST LIKE TO SEE HIM ( LIKE THEY DID NYQUIL LAST YEAR GET SOME NBA EXPOSURE JUST FOR EVALUATIONS PURPOSES—— SEE WHAT HIS STRENGTHS/ WEAKNESSES ARE 👍🏀💪
I see some spots where he is listed at 6’5″ or 6’6″.
BBREF has 6’5″.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/omierno01.html
Awful small for a big.
LNJ is 6’6″.
Tyson added toninjury report, questionable with an ankle issue. Explains the lackluster 2nd half and down the stretch benching last game.
Murray (hip) is questionable for Denver.
Spida’s the only Cav to play more games than Tyson this year (49 versus 48), and it’s his first season with rotation minutes, could use a rest I’m sure. Sure hope they start Tomlin (or even Bryant if they prefer his shooting alongside Allen) as opposed to a 4-guard lineup.
I think we need Bryant as the backup C.
Assuming no Wade/Tyson, I’d start:
Harden, Mitchell, Ellis, Tomlin, Allen.
Bench: Schröder, CPJ, Merrill, LNJ, Bryant.
Deep bench: Proctor, Enaruna
Kenny will start Merrill & Murray will give Mitchell/Merrill/Harden fits.
yeahbuddy! Bryant is a fun backup center.
FWIW, starts this year:
49: Mitchell
41: Allen
40: Mobley
33: Tyson
26: Garland
23: Hunter
22: Wade
20: Merrill
————
3: Ball
2: CPJ, Tomlin, LNJ
1: Harden, Proctor
0: Strus, Bryant, Schröder, Ellis, Enaruna, Miller
Yeah, Tyson didn’t join the starting rotation permanently until after New Year’s, but he’s played all but 5 games so far.
👍👍👍👍👍👍SIMMO ————— ROUGH WEEKEND FOR OUR BB🏀 PROGRAM—— LOST 2 GAMES—- NOW 50-4 / YEAR—-/ YEAH I KNOW “ THE COACH HAS TO GO “
sam darnold – ridiculed high-draft loser turned super bowl winner.. took a few teams to get there.. nice job seattle..
Cam Thomas to Bucks. Desperate Measures . Clips doing us a solid by hammering Minny. Yes, I am starting to care about our record vs WESTERN conference teams. The standings are like a Tour de France stage. Detroit and OKC have broken away from the pack and the Spurs have broken away from the chasing pack in a solo effort to catch up. The chase pack is NY, Boston, Denver, Houston, & the Lakers all on 19 losses. And behind them is us leading another pack on 21-22 losses. Cavs, Toronto, Philly, Minny, & Phoenix. We are the only team… Read more »
TERRIBLE GAME BY HAYES YESTERDAY ( MAYBE THAT IS GOOD FOR US ). OMIER 26/16 ———MAN THIS A YOUNG 6’8” ATHLETIC PLAYER—- WHO SIMILAR TO NYQUIL—- JUST LEARNING THE GAME —-WOULD LIKE SEE HOW HE DOES AGAINST NBA PLAYERS
Omier is prerty undersized forca PF/C type and not much of a threat from 3. Nor a shot blocker.
He’s built well & tough, though.
After Tomlin gets promoted we’ll have an open 2 way spot. Omier would be my best guess to fill it, but I have some doubts about his NBA viability.
SERINA WINTERS IS OUR “ ALL STAR SIDELINES REPORTER ——— CHECK OUT HER POST GAME INTERVIEW WITH SPIDA / HARDEN ——— SHE IS A “ PROs PRO “ NEED TO KEEP HER AROUND!!!!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍
You mean not telling the rapper to F off? Agree, classy.
Totally agree, too. Classless.
Knocks clobbered the Celtics in Boston. But I guess if Bostonians had to pick s game tomoose today, the hoops game would definitely be it.
Number of DG games with 20 & 8 (or more) with 50%+ on FGs & 3s with 4+ makes from deep
20/8+: 7 times (of 26 games)
20/8 + 50% FGs: 2
20/8 + 50% FGs + 50% 3PT: 0
20/8 + 50% FGs + 50% 3PT with 4+ makes: 0
It is an arbitrary number. For sure. If you dip into the teens scoring, and/or 7/6 assists, he has some 50/50 games. His best game is close: 35/8 on 13/27 & 6/12 from deep..That is a better game.
cavs got signiicantly better with the trades.. not saying they are the ec faves, or have been transformed into a dynamo.. but they are better.. by a lot..
same
The officially listed height of current Cavs players:
Denver and OKC will have guys out and Allen tends to play Jokic reasonably well.
The Allen revenge series against the Knicks is going to be glorious.
HARDEN HAD 10 MINUTES OF “ REVIEWING “ CAVS PLAYS ( DEFENSE/ OFFENSE) — IT IS GOING TO BE 5–7 GAMES TO FEEL OUT THE ROTATION s / BECOME FAMILIAR— ACCLIMATED TO EACH OTHER—-“ WALK BEFORE YOU RUN “ MENTALITY—COULD SEE US GOING 4-3 IN THOSE 1st 7 GAMES—— NO NEED FOR PANIC MODE
Yes they need time. And maybe a bowling trip.
JA and Wilt:
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/news/cavs-jarrett-allen-2nd-nba-history-wilt-chamberlain-unexpected-stat/9c6d457e77605e10acae99f5
I did not realize Mitchell (17) and Harden (15) combined for 32 in the fourth. That is a lot.
We were tentative early. The small lineup suffered on the boards. The defensive rotations were slow & off. Merrill (& Tyson to a lesser extent) had off nights.
But Mitchell & Harden were studs in the 4th. Harden is gonna make Allen’s life a ton easier, probably Mobley’s, too. He is also much better dissecting traps/blitzes than DG/Spida due to his size. Ellis is a guy I really like.
Well, not a lot of help last night. But some Western teams lost (Thunder, Suns).
I am a bit less optimistic than I was after the Clips game, but KA should have olenty of ammo for improvement heading to Denver.
Keep winning while integrating the new players & figuring out the rotations. Get/stay healthy. Start movingvup the standings.
It was ugly, but we did those things.
The loss column:
13: OKC, Detroit
———–
16: San Antonio
————–
18: Boston
19: Denver, NY, Houston, Lakers
—————
21: CAVS, Minny
22: Toronto, Phoenix, Philly
NY at Boston today. Gonna gain on someone. Raps host Pacers & Wolves the Clips. No help there.
I though Porter was fine.
4/3/4 and 2 steals. No TOs. Not his best but it was not horrible. +3.
Grading on a curve somewhat.
Hardens size against the trap is great, and he gave Allen the ball in exactly the right place to make plays and stay engaged over and over. If he can similarly activate Evan, a worse catch and finish guy, it’s going to be a lot to deal which in terms of constant rim pressure.
He was atrocious defensively as was Sam. But on the positive tip I liked how Harden relocated and used his gravity off ball, even though he wasn’t cutting or screening much.
Allen might have more 40 point games
That pick and roll action will destroy KAT/Brunson
My best V:
Mitchell: 35/2/4/2/2 on 13/24 & 2/8. 3 TO. +12
Allen: 29/10/1 on 11/12. -18.
Ellis: 6/3/3/3/1 on 2/4 from deep, +20
Bryant: 10/3/2 1 STL. 3/5, 2/4 3s. +24
Tomlin: 6/5/2 on 3/4. +16
Hon Men: Harden: 23/2/8. 3 TO. 7/13 & 5/8 3s.
We were 29-32 at the line. Porter missed 2 and JA went 7-8. Everyone else was perfect and we needed them all.
If Sac wasn’t tanking and Russell Westbrook wasn’t a dingbat, Cleveland would’ve lost that game. CPJ was bad and played too much. All you can eat shrimp was terrible, Sam Merrill should’ve been on the bench to close, and JA didn’t touch the ball down the stretch. Cavs very lucky to win against a team that lost 11 straight.
You are not wrong.
And 2+ wks ago, would have definitely lost
James Harden was an absolute travesty on the defensive end. Yes, Merrill and Tyson weren’t their usual selves shooting the ball, and CP3 wasn’t doing much onball, but the singularly biggest force driver in that game was a lead-footed 36 year-old. I’m sorry, but whatever offensive punch Harden provided in the fourth was mitigated by his defensive shortcomings. He can’t jump or contest, even when midlly interested. He got backcut multiple times. He allowed an easy putback because he rarely boxes out. There is a world in which Dean, Evan, and JA protect him enough. Still, it is very disheartening… Read more »
All the bench guys were positive. All the starters were negative except Mitchell.
Tyson team worst -27. Bryant team best +24.
Cavs shot 52/31/91. Kings 51/43/70.
Kings took 6 more FGs. We won the TO battle 11-15. They won O boards 15-9.
I didn’t think Tyson was nearly as bad as Merrill.
Agreed. Tyson has a decent first half, but in the 2nd it was close.
Well, we pulled it out. That is a positive.
Not very impressive. Allen the most efficient. Mitchell had to put a cape on late, and Harden (finally) got going in the 4th.
Ellis, Tomlin, & Bryant were all very good.
Tyson meh. Schröder poor. Merrill & KA awful..
Gonna have to be much better than that in Denver.
Bunch of new guys got it done.
Gotta start Tomlin instead of Merrill if Wade is out the next game.
Ugly win.
Russ has been the Cavs’ MVP this fourth quarter.
No lie detected.
He was unconscious thru three.
When Merrill can’t hit his shots, he can’t be out there. Tyson should have been out there with Ellis in the closing lineup.
Agreed, neither are good rebounders but Ellis is a chaos agent on defense at least.
One of the best chaos guys.
Hopefully a clutch win will help the guys bond. Hope Wade is ready for Denver.
The 5th guy was problematic tonight. Bryant was great, but him & Allen is clunky.
Tyson was not good. Merrill worse. And we were too small if it was Dennis the Menace or CPJ.
But there are gonna be clunky stretches. Book it. Especially with Mobes & Wade & Strus out. Max is our best undersized wing to try and play PF.
Sam has a very underrated floor game. He is also not a “can get hot type” like Strus. He is a perpetual threat and unless his injury is bothering him, shouldn’t lose minutes to any of the new guys.
Lol. Russ.
Ooh, Russell killing them RN. Might be the difference.
DeRozan will win this at the buzzer.
Result aside, hope the Cavs are learning a lot about their new squad and how to use them.
Cannot clean the glass.
Harden is hitting the shots, but Keon Ellis has given Cleveland soooo many extra possessions when he’s been on the floor.
Play. Ellis. More!
THANK YOU KENNY FOR MAKING THE WHOLE TEAM SUFFER THE ENTIRE NIGHT
That is nonsesne. He is positive forcthe yearcand plays nothing but SG & SF.
Hmmm, Harden back to back triples for the lead with an Ellis steal in the middle.
JA, Ellis, & Spida have to be on the floor to finish. Probably Harden. The 5th has been a struggle tonight. I would go Tomlin.
Harden hasn’t played in a month, right? Ok, so that would explain maybe a tiny bit of the slugishness.
No, a,week. He missed 2-3 games before the trade.
THANK YOU HARDEN FOR BAILING OUR MORON COACH OUT
I really thought KA was this genius coach last year. this year, not so much.
From genius to no good in a year. Sheesh. He’s inherited a tough situation in short order. Give it more than 1 game, lol
Nope. too late. I’ve decided already.
GET HIS ASS RAFFY!!!!
I’m just trolling you Bob!
ROFL!
He can coach offense, but in Brooklyn his adjustments sucked and he’s obsessed with putting offensive skill on the court at the expense of size and defense.
I hate to break it to you guys but… This team is not nearly as good as any of us think it is. No coach is going to change that.
Not excusing Kenny’s coaching. Just pointing out that this team could have the greatest coach and is not likely to win the East, let alone a championship.
I think Harden will be the difference, if Kenny will stop playing 4 guard lineups #LetEmKnow
YOU’RE A MORON KENNY TWO OF THE WORST REBOUNDERS IN THE NBA TO CLOSE THE GAME
From a team locked in defensively earlier this week, to giving up wide open threes to a young, relatively inexperienced team tonight is boggling.
Good TO there.
They are 47% from deep and up 6 (13-7) on the offensive boards.
We should have been playing bigger from jump, not smaller. LNJ needed tonplay & Tomlin start.
BRYANT IS +24 IN 15 AND CAN SHOOT THREES DO YOU EVER LEARN KENNY????????????????
Dude, he is a C. You gonna yank Allen?
PUT TOMLIN IN FOR CPJ ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE FFS
ANOTHER OFFENSIVE REBOUND ANOTHER LEAD LOST KISS MY ASS KENNY
We def need to get another big before the playoffs bc of Mobley and Wade potential injuries.
You mean like Nance, the one they’re not playing?
Ha. Sure.
WE CANNOT REBOUND WITH FOUR GUARDS KENNY
Beard for the leas.
Mitchell charging his batteries.