Playoff Live Thread: Cavs vs Pistons (Game 6)
2026-05-15It’s a war of attrition, Cavs fans. While the flu has been ripping through the wine and gold, the Pistons have three questionable players: Caris LeVert, Kevin Huerter, and Duncan “the mustache” Robinson. Cavs need to kick some ass here, and blow this team out of the building.
The core four has been balling, Max Strus had been bringing the fire, and Schröder, Merrill, Wade, and a smidge of Tyson have been giving the Cavs just enough. Cleveland needs to play smart, ride the home crowd wave, and close this mother***er out. Go Cavs.
I’m a big Donovan Mitchell fan. Despite his roller coaster ride in the playoffs, he’s a phenomenal basketball player.
That said, I agree with those who’ve pointed out that winning a championship with your best player being 6’2″ is not likely going to happen.
When I say this roster has very real issues, I think it starts with Mitchell being the best player. I hate writing that, but that’s the conclusion I’ve come to.
Regardless, I’m hoping they’re able to pull it together (again) and win this game 7. GO CAVS!
same. I we could add a really good small forward we would have a shot. as it is, it is hard to score enough.
MAN AS MUCH AS I WANT TO I CANT “ MUSTER “ UP THE CONFIDENCE OF CAVS WINING AT DETROIT TONIGHT——- THE WAY BOTH TEAMS PLAYED ON FRiDAY GIVES PISTON s THE BIG EDGE————- GO CAVS.— “ SHOCK ME “ !!!
MAYBE THE CAVS CAN DO WHAT THE GAURDIAN s ARE DOING 👍💪
For game 7: Don’t double Cade early. Not early in the clock. Not early in the game. Especially with Wade in. Trust Dean to make him work. Stay locked to the other guys. Especially Robinson. Don’rlt let them get into a flow. Wear Cade down. And not being in scramble mode should help on the glass. And keep Ev attached to Harris, shut his water off. Go at Duren and Reed. We need aggressive JA/Mobes. And Don not settling for floaters. Seek out contact. But go to the hole to score, not flailing for a foul. If it is clogged,… Read more »
Honestly – have to question that strategy anyway. They WON game 5 with Cunningham almost dropping a 40-burger, while everyone else for Detroit looked a mess and Duncan was out. Why change what you did in Game 5? Should have dared him score 41 on the road. At the least, “start” that way and switch at halftime if he’s really killing you. Instead they limited him but Duren is now unlocked and the Detroit offense looks better than previous games.
The defense on Duren last game was so dumb. Up in his grill on the perimeter instead of daring him to shoot. Last game was really a disaster.
IMHO, our coaches/players do not do a great job with strategy & reading the game/room.
We feequently let teams get away with smalls on JA/Mobes. There were a couple times when a small got on Duren and they went right to it. We do it, but much less frequently.
As for Mitchell, big, long, physical decenders can give guys trouble. Pippen shut off Magic’s water in the 1991 Finals. Gobert bothers Jokic & McDaniels harasses Murray something fierce. It is why Minny usually beats Denver. Dort for OKC.
Ways to beat it:
1. Elite mid-range move (MJ turnaround, Kareem Sky Hook, SGA bump fade, Duncan off the window, Dream Shake, etc).
2. Extreme shooting gravity warps defense (Curry, Bird, West, Miller).
3. Your physical traits (strength, length, athleticism) are such that no one can really keep you from getting where you want to go or you can just shoot over people (Shaq, Wilt, LeBron, Durant, Magic, Barkley, Dr. J, Mailman, Giannis, Tatum, Kareem, Wemby, Ant, Jordan, Nique).
Don is a great athlete for his size but he cannot just go over/thru bigger defenders. He does not have the goto midrange move, though he is very good from midrange. And he isn’t deadly from deep. The only real smalls I have ever seen who could get wherever they wanted to go and score efficiently were Isiah Thomas, and briefly, Iverson. And AI got to 1 Final and that was it.
For smalls, their size is generally gonna orevent them from feasting at the rim ir FT line consistently, so it is gonna be streaky.
Brains and passing ability also can come close to undoing it (Doncic, Stockton, CP3), but unless you have one of the other traits too (Bird’s shooting), it is tough. Spida is not particularly strong there.
Skills/technique can also help (Kareem, Olajuwon, Duncan, McHale) but that is mostly bigs & post up moves.
This isn’t a knock on Mitchell. Who is a fine player. Some if the guys with the kind a elite skills/traits never won: Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, Iverson, CP3 brains, Wilkins. Ant hasn’t.
But they all have come closer than Spida. Except for Nique. Bigger guy, electric athlete scorer, not a great passer/shooter/defender. But Nique had Bird, Bad Boy Pistons, and Jordan in his way. This ain’t that.
But those kind of elite guys are rare. There are ysually inly a handful in the league at a time, at least in terms of being at their peak if their powers.
Waiting around to land one is not gonna be a winning strategy for most teams. So you have to tey for the 2004 Pistons or 2008 Celtic mode. Which Altman did. But two small Gs is a terrible place to start.
And 2016 Kyrie, although of course without LeBron he wouldn’t have been making that Finals. But once he got there he was mostly unstoppable in that series and scoring from all over the court even with 4 inches taller, All-Defense, peak Klay hounding him.
the SA/OKC game had the scrubs in with 8 minutes to go — man is Pumblee ever lame!
looks like the Cavs planned to stop Cade, and the Pistons planned to stop Don. as it turned out, Cade passed the ball, and Don tried to shoot in a crowd.
I always think that is a bad strategy vs a willing passee. Make him work early. Wear him down and don’t let the itgers get going.
That way, come winning time, Cade is tired and no one else has it rolling. We did the exact opposite.
looks like the Cavs bench got outscored 48 to 19, so the theory that KA did not develop the bench is looking strong. I don’t think these guys couldn’t do it, didn’t Bryant play well against the Cavs last year? and what happened to Tyson?
A true shame they couldn’t include one of the top 3pt% shooters in the league in the rotation. I get the rationales. And yet, watching yesterday’s train wreck I can’t help but think KA is too conservative.
Tyson’s efficiency and production took a hit after Harden joined the team, so some sort of role readjustment was needed; and then he had his injury in that same timeframe, limiting the chance to blend him back in comfortably. But what’s harder for me to understand is how he progressed in the Toronto series to the point of being critical to winning Game 7, but one series later he’s regressed to unplayable. What happened?
He has not shot it well and has made some bonehead plays and been hot headed.
That inbounds atvthe end of a quarter a couple games back was the final straw.
Still, I’d likely risk it. This ship be sinking.
Also, KA/Koby made a choice to give CPJ as much of a look as possible with the extra minutes opened by Garland’s injury, until finally trading for Schroeder. Not a bad idea, just unfortunate that CPJ remained a non-shooter even when he had regular playing time. But there was always the option to give that opportunity to Proctor instead, which had it paid off might have made him playable right now if/when Schroeder’s not doing well.
PUTTING ALL POSTS ON HOLD UNTIL POST SUNDAY GAME—————- STILL SUPPORTING THE CAVS —— BUT NEED TO BE REALISTIC——- WE ARE ON “ LIFE SUPPORT MACHINE “———- THERE IS A REASON KNICKS CLAMORED PUBLICLY THAT THEY WANTED/ HOPED TO PLAY THE CAVS————— CTB WILL BE “ BLOWN UP “
WITH POSTS COME MONDAY REGARDLESS OF SUNDAYS OUTCOME————- GO CAVS — “ SHOCK ME —- SHOCK THE WORLD “
A darkly amusing theory out there is that Wade slipped on Harden’s flop sweat, a real-world example of live-by-the-sword / die-by-the-sword.
I called that out at the time. was there no chance for the guys with the floor mop to get to it?
Mitchell has help. He can’t be this bad in Detroit
ONLY POSSIBLE ALIBI IF PLAYERS WERE “ UNDER THE WEATHER “ —- WE SHALL SEE—— A SHAME—- TONIGHT WAS THE NIGHT TO DO IT. ———- AFTER THE BEATDOWN TONIGHT JUST CANT SEE THEM WINNING ON SUNDAY——MONDAY WILL BE A VERY INTERESTING DAY !!!
I was thinking that.
hard to fire Kenny for Donovan’s mistakes
hard to get out of the Donovan Mitchell business at this point
hard to repurpose Harden’s $ and a late FRP into a comparable star.
no great choices imo. just shows how hard a rebuild to greatness is
As frustrating as it may be, I anticipate few changes and none of them especially large. Maybe “overpay”trading multiple smallish rotation guys in order to get a mediocre (or slightly better) perimeter guy w some more size? Tyson, Merrill, Strus, Ellis, Wade.
But no need to discuss until Sunday evening at the earliest.
trade Spida for Zach Lavine! fuck it let’s get real weird
Hunter :)
They could have been under the weather.
They guy to get off of is Schröder, but I doubt there are many takers. Certainly not one where we get a playable big wing back.
Even if we did dump Strus (who I would keep) or Schröder or Merrill, we cannot sign anyone with the $$$.
To do that you have to jettison Core Four guys.
agree. I have been thinking hard about possibilities, and the cupboard is looking bare.
It is REAL hard to do without a legit #1 MVP level guy leading the way. LeBron, Curry, Kawhi, Giannis, Jokic, SGA, Tatum, Duncan, Shaq, Kobe, Jordan, Olajuwon, Magic, Bird, Kareem, Moses, Dr. J, etc.
The 2004 Pistons did it with Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Wallace, & Wallace. That is the last champ without a real upper tier guy I can remember. 1979 Sonics were Sikma, Dennis Johnson, Gus Williams, Freddie Brown & Lonnie Shelton.
The Heat won with Wade & Shaq. Mavs with Dirk. Celts with KG, Pierce, & Allen. Bad Boy Pistons had Isiah Thomas.
I don’t think any of our guys are at that level. Harden was in his prime, perhaps, but that is long gone.
You are talking twice in the last 50 years. Maybe a couple more if you want to count those Zeke Pistons or the Big 3 Celts.
Almost as bad a shot as the two short guards in the backcourt. Not quite, though.
Nothing wrong with being the Jazz or the Lob Coty Clippers for a few more years
yup. we were hoping that DM was at the level, but he is not
That was the whole bet. At the time of the trade Mitchell was as good as SGA
agree things are not looking good, but basketball if full of flipflops on who is playing well. I have been in many pickup games that were a blowout, and no one has winners, so the same two teams play again, and it is often a blowout the other way.
I still feel optimistic they can win in Game 7, even if it’s irrational. lol! They spread the news about the stomach bug going through the team; maybe it really did tax their energy and they’ll be fresher for Game 7. But I think this loss, in this bad of a fashion, does mean if they go down on Sunday as well, they won’t be running it all back. Kenny will be axed and another move will be made somehow. (Hopefully including Lebron)
JUST GOT BACK FROM OUR LEAGUE TRACK MEET — BOTH TEAMS WON LEAGUE TITLES——/ BROKE 5 SCHOOL RECORDS ———- MY SON JUST GOT CERTIFIED AS A SMOKE JUMPER WHERE ONLY 20 % SURVIVE THE TRAINING————- SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THE CAVS—DOUBT IF THEY WIN GAME 7 ——— BUT I HAD A GREAT/ PROUD NIGHT and READY TO ENJOY……………..” MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE “……………MESSAGE TO THE CAVS ( my granddaughter’s favorite saying ). “ SUCK IT UP AND TOUGHIN IT UP BUTTERCUP “
“SMOKE JUMPER WHERE ONLY 20 % SURVIVE THE TRAINING” sounds pretty rough!
I think they’ll play a lot better in Game 7 but they wasted tonight.
The Pacers losses were stunners, but playing “this”badly at home in Game 6, and making lots of mistakes from beginning to end, is just so disappointing. They always make it hard for themselves.
A little surprised that Tyson has been exposed as a hot head.
Did he start another altercation? I couldn’t watch at the end
Only caught a glance – looked like Sasser shoved him after a play. Instead of walking away, he faced up. It was close to the DET bench, so they were all mocking him.
When your best player is a 6’1″ guard, you have almost no shot to win a title.
Isiah Thomas with the Pistons.
Jerry West was 6’2″ or so with the ’72 Lakers. But he was a great defender and had Wilt behind him.
Most dominant game of this series, lost at home.
Setting the stage for the Return II??
Welp. Game 7 may dictate what happens in the off-season for this team.
Win? I think things stay the same.
Lose? Everything is likely on the table.
The Giannis sweepstakes begin…the LeBron watch is on…and yes, everyone is available.
Not that I agree with all of the above.
Tyson again
Cavs with an imposter roster. No edge. Need to go to boot camp and toughen up.
Tyson!!
Detroit gotta be heavily favored for G7.
But again, this team was never gonna beat NY, much less OKC/SA.
46-26 in the paint.
Cade is 1/9 this glhalf & they blew us out anyway.
I’m Dan Gilbert. Wait–we’re in the second apron, and we lost to Marcus Sasser, Paul Reed, Danyss Jenkins, and the LeVert guy we had? Changes…
can beat NY, but not OKC/SA
Ugly
Still 3 min of this agony to go.
I turned it off. It’s Friday, and I’m not into that kind of depravity.
Worst Cavs loss since 2015.
Nah. That Pacers game they blew last year was awful.
Agreed. That one was a stunner, though. This one was a slow burn that lasted most of three quarters.
That was probably the ballgame.
Well, the silver lining is that had the Cavs won, they’d have to play the Knicks in 38 hours.
Cavs just cannot handle success
It would be one thing to lose this game; it’s another to lose it this way. With the veterans we have, how did we not look more comfortable and prepared in this game?
Detroit played smarter and more aggressively and better.
Is that coaching or the players? We sent the guy coaching them out of here. The guy we brought in was supposed to be more offensively nuanced. We cannot score 100 points.
Poor showing
Across the way, Guardians trailing Cincy 3-0
Might as well get Tyson in here and try to rehab him to be an option in Gane 7
and as Dean Wade slides into second base, the sun begins to set.
Wade falling = calling it.
Somewhat emblematic, right?
Had 4 shots at it then a TO.
Another microcosm.
I don’t understand why Mitchell tried to dunk that. Just lay it up with the left hand.
Exactly
He does not have the best BB IQ.
“hero mode”
He went for the crowd pleaser…not necessary.
This team has misfired in so many ways at the rim.
Oh man – Mitchell just doesn’t have it.
Terrible Mitchell game.
5 on Thompson.
It’s obvious that this is as far as we can advance in the playoffs with this roster.
It is unbalanced. And has been for years.
A small SG. A bunch of small wings. 2 skinny bigs. And Wade.
Altman trying to mimic Lillard/McCollum was always freaking stupid. The huge Lauri/Mobley/Allen behind it kinda worked.
We are winning the FT line and are even on ORebs.
Being outshot and losing TOs.
Sasser, Robinson, LeVert, Reed, and Duren all playing well for Detroit.
Playing like it’s their last chance.
Whelp. It’s now or never
Try Tyson for a minute
Nothing to lose. Or Ellis.
Still tons of time.
But I think losing by 20 is more likely than a win.
Tyson seemed to lose his head last game. That may have set him back a bit.
Cannot make a shot at the rim. Blocked, missed, blown.
Terrible close.
It went to crap once Harden & Allen sat.
Mitchell has been ass tonight.
Do they all have the flu?
Jesus. Last minute of the third may end up telling the story of the series.
Getting played off the floor.
Yikes. Cavs hard to watch right now. Just can’t get anything going.
Okay, that missed dunk was a “microcosm” of the Cavs game today.
Cavs utter ass.
Hope we show up on Sunday.
Unable to take care of the rock, their achilles heel.
Silly 3 from Mobley.
Another O board leads to a 3.
Another TO.
Down 12.
Schröder gd useless
Sam!!! Gettin it going!!
Every time the Cavs can iso Harden on Robinson, they score. Just sayin.
Just can’t hang onto the ball. Weird.
If I have to hear that this play is a microcosm of the pistons season one more time I might be muting.
Microcosm of the game right there.
Fucking Schroder and these no rebounding lineups
The Pistons deserved that bucket.
Schröder, Harden, & Allen have positive +/-. Strus is even.
Showing +/- for a single game is crap.
A good time to stop playing w food.
2 year old in a high chair.
Back within 7.
What a sequence! Ending with a JA layup!
17 TOs.
In the bonus.
No tech on JB??
God I hate Harden.
He is hard to love.