DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs/NBA 2022-2023

Two steps forward one step back

Yeah the biggest issue we are going to have is physical play on Garland...he's small and pressure seems to make him do things he's not accustomed to. His decision making last night in the 4th along with Laverts shot selection was horrible. Teams are going to play us physical now, LA showed them the blueprint. Mitchell is alot better than Garland when it comes to responding to the physicality. More than likely because of all the time playing in the west. JB should have went to him when they were making the run but instead let Garland try to close it, I get doing it to see what would happen but there was plenty of time to still close the game out and they should have went elsewhere for points.. Love was living on the FT line and we stopped going inside and started taking horrible shots that had no chance. But all in all its just tweaks, nothing to worry about as of now. This will hopefully be a reality check. Mobley was really bad last night on the defensive side, I think he had the worst +/- of anyone for both teams. He really needs to take that next step. Bucks lost last night as well which makes this loss hurt a little more. I still think we need another wing, Theres a big drop off when Osman/Okoro come in for different reasons. Okoro has already started playing himself out of the rotation. Osman is probably the most frustrating player on the team. One minutes he's this offensive juggernaut and the next he's getting beat like a drum on defense. Theres not much middle ground with him. The line up we had midway through the second should never be used again. Garland/okoro/osman/wade/mobley. It was so difficult to watch. They couldn't match clips physicality. Everything went ISO. Even thinking about it now I have no idea how that was something we'd try.. Luckily JB didn't keep it long, which is one thing I will say about him, most of the time he's pretty good at realizing something isn't working and adjusts. His adjustments were a big reason we had such a good run.

8-2, would equate to 4 steps forward and 1 step back. I'm very happy w/the record and how this team is playing. Nothing negative about it.

I was just going to post the same. I hope that no one thought that we would go 81-1. As nice a dream as that would be ... it is totally unreasonable. This team is far ahead of where I expected at this point. It was a tough, 2 point loss, on the west coast. Tghings like this happen.

We are still 1 game behind the Bucks in the East, as they lost to Boston last night.

Maybe this team isn’t that good

A nice run to close 1st out but if we don’t start closing out they will score in heaps. And both our bigs struggling big time against sabonis

Mike brown schooling JB right now. Kings gameplan is far superior than ours. Garland and Allen are really struggling on both ends right now

Pathetic effort on defense. They should be embarrassed

I was at the Hawks game. They lost and the club I was in sucked and my seat sucked. Only one person acknowledged my Cavs jersey. No fun.

Perfect example of why I hate osman. Cavs within 1, could play for the last shot , cavs on a Runnout and osman pushes ahead with no help , loses the ball, kings steal and go and hit a 3 as the buzzer expires and takes back all the momentum. That’s osman in a nutshell

Showing some heart. Mitchell and Lavert carrying us

Two games in a row garland ineffectiveness cost us the game. This team has a lot more holes that are starting to show. They are better than last year but def don’t look like a serious threat. Garland should be on bench when Rubio comes back. If he’s not hitting shots he doesn’t do anything else. Our bigs need to get tougher, they got torched underneath today and I hate our perimeter defense. It was nonexistent. No way we should be losing to the kings. Honeymoon over. Mitchell is legit. Glad we got him. But man I rather gave up Mobley than markanen

j/c...

Defense is a problem in the first half....again. This may be the worst effort of the season. Sloppy as a team with the ball.

Garland is a hot mess right now. Not sure if he's still injured, but man, he's been terrible these last two games. Especially, late in the game.

Brown said post game that they ran the same play 15 times in a row in the 4th quarter.

I started watching the game, but fell asleep in the first quarter. I woke up and watched the last 8 minutes of the game.

A few observations:

--We really struggled w/the physicality of Sabonis. We have a lot of lean players. Something to watch.

--The intensity on D wasn't where it should be late in the game.

--A little sloppy w/the ball. Gotta value possessions more.

--Keep in mind, west coast trips are really tough on teams. It's been that way forever.

I agree, and at the same time LM is tearing up the League for the Jazz.

Yep, I wanted to keep LM for sure, he's better than both allen and mobley but plays same position as mobley and is alot better at it.. Mobley just doesn't have any physicality to him, he's a finesse guy, that don't work usually at the PF spot, and Allen struggles against bigger body guys. I think when Rubio comes back I'd like to see Rubio and Love replace Mobley and Garland in the starting lineup.. Garland is a PG because he's small, he doesn't really run the team well at all and he really struggles when his shot isn't on. We need a floor general and thats not Garland, so now we have 2 6'1 guards. I think that has alot to do with our struggle to shut down the perimeter, saw it last two games, other teams just shoot over them. These are picking nits now, but in playoffs its going to become evident we need better wing play and more size overall. The last two games didn't look like the team ball they had been playing. Can't count on Mitchell getting 40 a game, that means noone else is doing anything.

Yep, our inability to defend the perimeter will be a flaw. We have a good team .. I’m hoping they can figure out, whether it’s the 3-2 zone they look at or different rotations

its like the old adage, can't teach size, the reality is we have a 6'1 SG when most teams have atleast 6'5 there.. thats a big difference in the NBA world, that means they can shoot over you regardless if you're playing tight or closing out. Biggest issue is wingspan, Garland has a puny 6'5 wingspan, while mitchell who is the same height has a 6'10. I think we are going to have to change the way we defend, most nights we can outslug teams because of our plus level offense, but it requires so much to go right the whole game. I think Altman has a plan. I think this fast start suprised alot of people and people were dumping expectations on them. The players were believing their own hype and got smacked in the mouth. They'll learn because JB sees it already and I don't think he lets it fester. They need to get back to fun, they didn't have much fun the last two games

I have mentioned physicality a couple times. I wasn't referring to our guards as much as our bigs. They are tall, lean guys. Guys like Sabonis were a lot stronger and put their shoulders into our chests and we were not able to match their strength in the paint. We have shown to be quick jumpers and do provide weak side help, but I think our legs look a little tired and we aren't moving as well. That's probably due to the effects of a west coast trip this early in the season.

yeah i've mentioned our bigs struggling against physical centers as well.. Good news is theres not alot of those out there, Allen is the mold of the new NBA center, but there will be guys like sabonis, valaciunas, vucevic, jokic theres a couple others I'm sure I'm missing. But for the most part Allen fits the bill there, at PF is where our lack of physicality really shows

Yeah, I think you are right about that.

j/c...

Nip it in the bud early.

Looking forward to tonight's game.

I like Bickerstaff and this team. They will be there in the end if they can stay healthy.

Good message IMO. I like that phrase arrogant basketball. It could be the case of a younger team having success. The season is long and has ups and downs. Sometimes losses aren’t bad in the long run

Absolutely NAILED IT.

Love this coach and what he brings to this young team.

This team isn’t going anywhere until they fix the defense and get another consistent threat outside of Mitchell. Our bigs are horrible on offense. We can’t keep letting teams shoot 50 percent . You aren’t going to win many games. If you’re a team that can shoot the 3 you will beat us

Garland is horrible. 3 straight games he’s been trash and it’s cost us.

We need some guys to lose some PT. I think we are coming back down to earth to what we are probably going to be. A middle of the road team that isn’t ready to make a run yet.

Garland is really struggling and dragging the team down, especially down the stretch. Put him on the 10 day IR. His eye still looks horrible, he had the flu, is missing easy floaters and costing the team in the final stretch.

Lot of season left and I have no worries this team is a serious playoff contended.

I disagree w/the takes on Garland. He is a very good young player who has already earned the respect of the best players in the league. I kinda get lead saying it because he does that. But no, Garland is far from horrible.

We played a pretty good game overall. We needed more of a cushion because Steph is usually deadly down the stretch when the game is close. We had multiple defensive lapses, but what really cost us is we missed too many open shots. Love's outside shooting is so freaking important to this team. When he is hitting the 3s, we get on prolonged rolls. When he is missing, we struggle. I was against bringing in another player, but I think we need another 3 point shooter to really make this thing work. Too bad we lost Markkanen. We don't need another star player. Just someone who can get hot from 3 pt range.

I really think that Mobley and Garland are going to be stars in this league for a long time. I've already talked about Garland a bit so I will comment on Mobley. He's a special talent. Very smooth. Very fluid. Quick, quick jumper. Polished moves in the paint. Provides good help defense and can block shots. I see his upper body developing down the road. Shoulders getting wider. That added strength will be huge for him. He can become a dominant player in the paint.

Well we hung with Golden state, but they also haven’t kicked it into gear yet. Tough playing a road trip though

And I'm usually right and you are wrong when it comes to Player eval.. Just like the TT days. To be clear, I don't think Garland is a horrible player in general, but he's been horrible this trip and overall I don't think he's a good floor leader and struggles with pressure. No mistake, Garland's struggles this trip directly led to the 3 game losing streak against bad teams we had no business losing to. Yes I include the Clippers in that as they were without most of their starting unit. To early to tell about Mobley, he has good games and bad games, he's very streaky. But I agree he needs to add some size and more than likely will do so. Took him 3 quarters to realize that GS had no presence down inside and finally decided to be aggressive. I blame JB on that one, because everyone knew that but JB didn't adjust his game plan for it until it was too late. Allen should have dominated Looney and didn't. But the Garland inability to guard anyone and missing way too many easy shots and layups down the stretch cost the team. I think Rubio would make a better starting PG and let Garland come off the bench for awhile when he returns. Garland will learn alot from him. But in the immediate, Rubio runs this team alot better. I also agree we need another 3 and D player. Okoro is a bust and I think he won't be here at the end of the year. He's just not moved the needle in his development. Time will tell but he's hard to watch as is Osman whos streaky. Biggest thing we are missing is dependable scorers and consistency. The only one we have is Mitchell and I worry he will be worn out by ASB with his usage.

LOL, if you say so.

You can't sit Garland. He's a top 5 pick who is on an upward trajectory, the last few games notwithstanding. You just have to let him figure it out. He's too good not to.

The biggest concern should be Mobley. Zero improvement between last year and this year. I am not saying he's not good. What I'm saying is he doesn't appear primed to make a sophomore jump and build on his rookie season. Looks like exactly the same player from last year. This team was a 7-8 seed without Mitchell. They are probably a 5-6 seed with him. If Mobley developed into a legitimate down low presence, they are 1-2 seed. That's the reality of where we are it. I don't know if he can do it mid-season. Probably another season away unless Mitchell can legit just carry this team on his shoulders.

Agree on playoff scenario, though I say 4 seed is quite possible. The hope this year should be to win a playoff series. Anything more is an added bonus. Expecting more is la la land.

This team is so young. Hell, Mobley just turned 21 a few months ago. Next year and the year after is when expectations of the Conference and NBA finals would be more realistic.

Enjoy the ride and watching this young team grow.

Home game today against the T-Wolves. Go get that win.

Garland hurts us right now. He needs to be coming off bench till he figures it out and gets healthy.

No Mitchell again. Geez. Hope this isn't a theme during the season. Cavs are staring at a 4 game losing stream while Mitchell acts as a cheerleader on the bench.

This was my fear..both our guards miss a ton of time, and with the way JB is riding them because Mitchell is the only one doing anything consistent, they are going to wear out.. We need help on the bench. We have a couple decent PG's in Dleague that could contribute. But I think youre seeing so far this game what I'm talking about with Garland, hes not a leader. He doesn't make the right read most of the time, he's a prolific streak scorer.

Garland refuses to give Love the ball in the post. No matter how short the guy on Love is. Wow.