DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs/NBA regular season.

The Refs have been terrible so far, for both teams.

Which J.R. Smith are you?

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2016/12/1/13800552/we-are-all-jr-smith

I got the one that hugs Jason Terry.

I got shirtless jr.

I honestly haven't been this happy that a bench player was coming to the Cavs since Wally Szczerbiak came back to Ohio. He's such a gift to watch in a blue jersey, that's not destroyed by the colors orange or yellow.

The clippers are getting second and third chance shots.

Another pathetic effort, no idea what they are doing. Absolutely need some bench help and backup pg, lebron cannot be the backup pg . Getting destroyed on defense again

We look terrible right now.

Missing wide open shots. Nothing but bricks.

Another game with no paint presence and constant turnovers. Don't matter if this is regular season, you can't keep playing like garbage and think you can just turn it on. We have bench issues and defense issues. Funny that all the teams in the west aren't bored but we keep using it as an excuse. I think Lue can start coaching anytime now

Looks like JR got paid and immediately said F it

Well, we looked terrible against a potential finals team. No energy, no chemistry, no effort.

This was my biggest worry about just caving in and paying him during his hold-out. If he's motivated he's good. If he's not ... yikes.

I think guys like JR are just hanging out waiting to get back to the finals..

He's had a rocky career, he got to become a champion, I doubt he wants to go out as a guy who "mailed it in" and possible cost hi team another ring..

I'll be concerned when they play like crap when the games matter..

These don't.

not a good few nights

He is starting to worry me. He had an exchange w/LeBron last night that didn't look too good. And what was up w/that Ninja mask the other night?

We have the Bulls tonight too.

Here's the thing ... to win all the way through to the Finals, Lebron actually NEEDS to play in "Chill Mode" through at least December. You just can't play 110% a night every game through 6 months and then another 2 months of playoffs. The human body will break down. I think Lebron has realized this for a few years now. This is also kind of why he's wanted to put teammates around him that can win without him. Honestly, if our team could get to the All-Star break in February in first place, with Lebron and even Love and Kyrie coasting at 70%, their bodies will be in great shape for a deep playoff run.

The problem is that when the rest of the team sees the team leader(s) running on cruise control, they might start to slack off as well. We also don't have a deep enough bench to let them take the heavy minutes and keep the score close enough for the starters to pull out a win. Oddly enough, it looks like the loss of Moz and Delly hurt worse than we thought. The two things we've lacked most is PG depth and a bench big that could actually protect the paint a bit. It also hasn't helped that Dunleavy has shown up ice-cold and Birdman has shown to be really-old. Kay Felder really doesn't look NBA ready at the moment and McRae has shown to be a bit of a chucker that can't play D.

So that has left us with team leaders that are trying to coast for legit reasons, auxiliary players that are "feeding" off that energy, and bench players that aren't good enough to pick up any slack.

That said, we're still 13-4.

We obviously don't care about defense or taking care of the ball

That's 3 straight L's.

Ugh.

dang

Lebron has 19 turnovers in 3 games. He's just not that good of a ball-handler anymore.

And that means we're back to the same story line since he came back:

Can kyrie actually play like a real PG?

Rondo played like he was back in the Celtic days.

... 20 turnovers in 3 games.

Fans need to boo them at the next game and send a message.

He's never been a good ball handler. This team is broke, if your star players are playing 40+ minutes and your getting beat there's problems. This isn't being bored, this is regression and the lack of griffin assembling a bench. TT and JR have regressed, defensively we're clueless. We need a big, and a bench to include a backup pg. Long season but some bad habits forming. We need some help asap

Think Lebron might need a couple weeks off again like last year or the year before?

So, in other words, we need Moz and Delly?

i initially thought that, but the season just started basically.

i'm trying not to be overly concerned, but if this continues after the all-star break, then we have serious problems.

LeBron James: Championship 'honeymoon stage is over' as Cavs lose third straight - CBSSports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lebron...third-straight/

Playing like the defending champs, the Cleveland Cavaliers looked dominant as they started the season with a 13-2 record. LeBron James' all-around game was looking as sublime than ever, Kyrie Irving was leading the Cavs in scoring and Kevin Love finally seemed comfortable in his role as Cleveland's third option. But things have started to unravel of late.

Cleveland has now lost lost three straight, marking the first three-game losing streak of Tyonn Lue's young coaching career.

Two of those losses were blowouts and perhaps an anamoly. But after Cleveland lost 111-105 to the Chicago Bulls on Friday, James decided enough was enough and that the Cavs need to step it up.

Jason Lloyd @JasonLloydABJ
LeBron: "Last year is last year and after ring night, it’s over...The honeymoon stage is over and it’s time to play some real ball."
11:26 PM - 2 Dec 2016

Dave McMenamin ✔@mcten
A ticked off LeBron James: "The honeymoon stage is over. There's your headline ... We got to man up. Everybody"
10:45 PM - 2 Dec 2016

James' frustration is warranted. The Cavs have been a mediocre defensive team since the start of the season, but have been dismal throughout the three-game losing streak, allowing teams to score easily inside. In their 118-101 loss to the Bucks on Tuesday, the Cavs allowed Milwaukee to score 68 points in the paint. And against the Bulls, Cleveland allowed a whopping 78 points in the paint. Cleveland now has the 20th ranked defense in the league, giving up 105.1 points per game.

Cleveland lacks a true rim protector but has gotten by with Tristan Thompson playing center. The Cavs also like playing Love and Channing Frye at the five, since that allows their offense to be potent and filled with shooters. But at least for their last three games, that isn't cutting it on the other end.

The Cavs have also been dreadful in third quarters, coming out of halftime lethargic and non-aggressive. In their last three games, Cleveland has been outscored 90-55 in the third. Against the Bulls, the Cavs actually had a one-point lead at the half but the Bulls ended the third up 88-80.

Despite these troubling signs, all is not lost for the Cavs. They still have the No. 1 record in the East, (Toronto is just a half game behind them though) and this is the first real adversity they've faced this season. Plus it is still early and the Cavs have plenty of time to address their issues as the season progresses. James knows this, but after winning a championship last year, he wants the Cavs to be playing at a high level every game. Which is the right, and frankly only, mindset to have if you plan on winning it all again.

It was right around this time last year when we lost 3 in a row to the Wizards, the Pelicans, and the Heat.. then a couple weeks later we got blown out by the Trailblazers, then a month after that, in a game that was supposed to tell us where we were as a team, we lost to the Warriors by 34... Everybody was in panic mode and wanted to trade away 2/3 of the team....

a week ago this team was 13-2 and coming off two dominating victories.. folks just need to relax.

I agree. However, since it has basically been proven that the regular season is a joke, why should we pay money and invest time in watching it?

I think that is a real problem for the NBA. The regular season is a joke. It's about making money. I wonder how long BB fans will continue to be duped?

On a separate note, I wish LeBron would be a little more respectful of possessions and stop w/the sloppy, lazy turnovers.

Yeah, but a coach got axed in mid January too!

Not a shocker, but Kerr admits weed helps his back problems.

Well, Lue isn't getting axed and I don't see us picking up any other big name players, so this team is going to have to find some other form of motivation as the season progresses.

I'm not saying we will add any players, but we do have some trade exceptions we can still use if the right opportunity arises.

I finally understand why Westbrook has the rebounds he does. His big guys box out for him. It's why they themselves have crappy rebound numbers.

Gee, it has nothing to do w/his extreme athleticism, his determination, his jumping ability, his speed, etc. It's all about guys boxing out so he can pad his stats.

When your girthiest player is Sabonis's 20 year old son, you might as well let your hyperathletic PG continue to jump right into the middle of the lane and let him rebound.

Good win tonight against Toronto. We played better defensively.

Klay Thompson just put up 40 in a half vs Indiana.

Wow.

He has 40. The pacers have 50.

Yep, beat probably the second best team in the east tonight on the road.. everything is fixed, we are going to be champions again. #kneejerk