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

lol there was alot more to be disappointed about than that, Mitchell is fine, hell he's the reason we were even in the game that long, he was the Cavs leading scorer. They play different positions, but problem is he got zero help from anyone else. The cavs had 3 players in double digits scoring.. but the bigger issue is When allen went down we lost our interior defense and Giannis just destroyed us there.. We had him slowed down pretty good that first half, but when Allen went down you had Mobley vs Giannis and Giannis went off. I don't think the cavs as constructed can beat the bucks this year. We will have to make some trades. They are such a complete team. But this cavs team if they can get consistent will do some damage.

j/c:

Watched the Cavs/Pistons game last night. Garland and Mitchell were ice-cold. We were missing Allen, Love, Stevens, etc. We somehow found a way to win. Played some good defense in the second half. Pressured the ball, made good switches, challenged shots.

It's really evident how important Allen is to this team. We really missed him on both ends of the floor.

I'll say this again. Please don't let Mobley lead the fast break. He turns it over almost every time.

Frenchy made a point about Stevens the other day. I think he is correct. Stevens is one of those glue guys. He's tough and physical. Doesn't need the ball. Plays good D. We missed him the last two games.

Some kid played significant minutes last night. He's tall and athletic. Had a couple of blocks and a slam. He isn't quite ready physically, but he has some athleticism. I can't spell his name.

Diakite! He played on UVA's NCAA championship team and played really well in the preseason for the Cavs. A lot of fans were quite surprised when he was waived and did not make the Cavs final roster heading into the season. He cleared waivers and Cavs were able to bring him back so it worked out in the end.

Tonight's game against Toronto will be tough. They definitely miss Allen.

That's the guy. Thanks, Milk.

Man, the Cavs should wipe the floor with a team who features Siakim, Anunoby, and VanVleet as their top three players. That team will never have a chance to win anything.

But the Cavs are nothing if not inconsistent.

And if Mitchell isn't going to play aggressive why is he here? Why trade for him to just be a passive piece on the floor.

The Cavs look like a 5th to 8th seed and a first round out.

It will all depend on their ability to defend more consistently and get production outside of the two guards when it’s crunch time. JMO

The Cavs injury situation was the main issue last night. Also, they played two straight games on the road. That's rough for a short-handed team. I will say the Cavs need to get more physical. Toronto is a bully team.

I think we need to swap out a few pieces and bring some physicality in.. This team plays too soft. Bench is extremely weak. I don't understand keeping Neto when both of our PG's in canton are 10x better and more athletic than he is. They also just need to cut Windler, its over, dude is never going to be an NBA player.. it sucks but its just the reality. Use that spot for someone that can help. I'm also not sure what to do with Okoro, he really just isn't going to get much better.. Wade, osman, Isiah mobley... these are very meh players. Love should be moved as well as he could potentially bring in some help and he's always hurt. Rubio coming back will be a boost and that should be any day now. But I think we need another quality scorer for the bench group. No excuses to lose to the likes of Toronto. I think we are a 6-7 seed when it all shakes out as we sit right now, but I really don't think we are going to look like this at the end, Altman def. seems like he has a plan. Not going to get easier tomorrow against Philly, def. need both Love and allen back or they will probably lose again

I would not go trade-happy. Maybe a move or two, but don't go crazy.

Unlike you, I like Osman. He is a good role player. I would not trade Love at this point. We need his scoring and rebounding w/the second unit.

I agree about Okoro. He looks like a very good athlete, but he has no offensive identity.

The guy who irritates me is Wade. What's he good at other than fouling?

Bringing in a traditional Big might actually hurt us. Look at what happens to our O when Lopez is in the game. He clogs the paint and our pick and roll game [which is deadly] is eliminated.

I read where Jay Crowder is on the trade block. He could provide some physicality, hit some 3s, and play good D on the wings.

No i'm not suggesting go crazy, just a couple pieces to solidify the bench a bit. Love has scoring, sometimes..but he's hurt so much thats its not something you can depend on and he's one of the few pieces we have that could get something since we have no draft capital. Its not that I don't like Osman, I just find him frustrating..he's so hot and cold. I don't like Wade either, never did. I don't necessarily want a traditional big, and lets be honest, Lopez isn't even that, we got the worse of the Lopez brothers and neither are special. We just need something similar for the bench that we have on the starting unit so we don't have to change our game so much and we can have more traditional rotations. Are you talking about Jae Crowder, who we had before? I think he left here and talked trash about cleveland, unless i'm thinking of someone else

I was talking about that Crowder. Sorry for the misspelling. He and LeBron never got along. He's on the market and several Eastern Conf teams are interested, including the Bucks. We don't need another star. He's not the best, but not much is available. The only other guy I saw that might be getting is Collins from Atlanta. He has some range and dunks well. He could spell both Allen and Mobley. They probably would want more than we can offer, though.

Man, LeVert is playing bad. He was playing so well w/the Nets. Scoring like crazy. He's so indecisive right now. It appears it is all in his head.

Lavert has been playing well but since the move to the bench and the injuries he's not been the same, hopefully its a lull and he can be that scorer off the bench. Its perfect scenario for him, he's option A and can be the high volume he likes to be. I wouldn't mind Jakob Poeltl depending on cost, but he's been rumored to be on the block as well. Good size

Levert needs to come off the bench and play the Jamal Crawford/Jordan Clarkson role. You have one objective and one objective only...score. If a pass is there, make it. Otherwise put the ball in the bucket.

He's an inefficient streak scorer on a team full of efficient scorers. And because of that he's thinking too much. Create scenarios to let him be who he is.

Man, the Cavs looked great last night and they did it w/out Allen, Love, and Stevens.

They won by 28. They torched the nets by shooting 94% in the second quarter and putting up 44 points in that quarter alone. They had leads of 33 points in the 4th.

--I criticized LeVert yesterday and he had 22 pts off the bench. He started off really hot. Great to see. Even Okoro and Wade had nice games after I trashed them. LOL

--Garland had a great floor game. 21 pts and 9 assists. Some of his passes were like works of art. And the dude has such a great handle. Very smooth and deceptive.

--Mitchell was hot from deep.

--Mobley gave Embid some problems and played well on offense.

--Diakite made his first start and had 6 pts.

--I was impressed w/our defensive intensity and how well we ran in the open court. We beat them down the court multiple times. Man, Osman is fast.

--That was such a fun game to watch.

I didn't get to see the game but the box score looks like a pretty solid team effort. Philly is a good team too. So to beat them like that was a good boost.

j/c...

Cavs w/another win.

Defense was a bit lazy at times. I don't think they took Orlando too seriously.

Mitchell was on fire from deep and Mobley was looking all-world. One of their guards was trying to pick Garland up at 3/4 court. That was dumb.

Cavs can beat the dregs of the league without trying all that hard. That's one of the first signs your team is good.

Two points of concern for me...I think we have an identity crisis in the clutch. I think the offense should run through Mitchell. I think Garland believes the offense should run through him. In Miami's win over the Celtics last night it was clear Butler was the closer and everyone took his lead. I think the identity crisis will hurt the Cavs in big games against good teams late in the season when it really matters.

The other thing is the Cavs have played a lot of games at home and don't really hit the road until next year. They are going to have to learn how to be a good road team.

Cavs are so bad on the road.

Yeah that wasn’t a pretty performance. It’s a long season, but I don’t like that trend either

j/c...

What a game and effort by the Cavs. Davis when out early with a tummy ache.

Getting Allen back was huge. What a game he had, especially early.

Mitchell is an absolute monster.

I think about 60% of the Browns players were at the game last night. Good stuff.

Frigging Vegas is considered local for the Lakers so I couldn't get it on my league pass and don't have the channel the Lakers played on so I didn't get to watch it. I was surprised by the score as the Lakers had been on a little bit of a roll.

Rish, you are going to kick yourself. The game was on TNT.


Fun game to watch.

--Mitchell went off. He had 43. One of his 4 steals resulted in a huge slam that led to an thunderous eruption by the guys on the bench and the crowd. It also led to an immediate TO by the Lakers. His J was deadly last night. He also had a sweet lob to Allen where he was floating through the air and the ball landed like a soft pillow in Allen's hands.

--Garland's shot was on and off, but I think he still scored over 20 and had 11 assists. Why teams try to pressure him befuddles me. He blows right by them. He also made some sweet layups over LeBron and others.

--Mobley w/some foul trouble, but he makes guys think in the paint.

--Allen had 22 of his 24 before halftime. He is such a huge difference maker for us. I never realized that until I started watching the team closely this year. He is really quick off his feet. His touch is actually pretty soft.

--Love's hand injury is hurting his shot. They were talking about how they had to change his shot to compensate for it.

--Our interior D was off last night, but theirs was even worse.

Nice W for the Cavs. They are fun to watch.

Because of some weird rule it was blacked out on TNT and it was forcing me to watch on the "local Laker network" which I don't have. Super lame.

That sucks. At least you don't have to blame yourself.

Would have been a great reason to plop down at Circa or Caesars and made fistfuls of cash!

I avoid the strip like the plague.

Perrion Winfrey seems like such a knucklehead lol … and yes, I have never met him

Bad loss for the Cavs last night. Mitchell and Love did not suit up and that hurt us.

Some thoughts:

--Too many turnovers. Garland was too careless w/the ball down the stretch.

--On a positive note, Garland's left hand is really, really good.

--LeVert had a nice game. Had a beautiful 360 move in the paint. He drove the ball well most of the night.

--Sabonis beat up our bigs.

--Our outside shooting was inconsistent.

--Stevens is our glue. Guy impressed me more and more. He will never be anywhere near a star in this league, but he is an important piece. Good teams need guys like that.

--The Kings fast break to shoot open 3s. Very different strategy, but they were hitting them last night.

--Gotta get a win against the Thunder tonight.

Missed the game but the Kings seem to have our number. Don't understand it.

I didn't know Mitchell didn't suit up. Don't like these little nagging injuries and missing games here and there, especially coming off a dominant performance.

They were probably resting him and Love since we are playing a back-to-back. I was disappointed, too.

I don't watch a lot of NBA, especially regular season. But from reading these threads it sounds like the hole we have on the roster is a stout big. Someone to come off the bench and body up against a strong big like Sabonis. Doesn't need to be able to put the ball in the hoop, just provide some muscle.

Would that be an accurate statement?

I've thought about that. I'm guessing that they want the more athletic guys like Allen and Mobley. Both block a lot of shots and are great at slamming the ball home on pick and rolls. They did block a lot of shots last night, but they may have both had 5 fouls. Not sure about that. I do think your theory is sound, though. lead and I touched on the subject at one point. Also, not sure my answer is correct. Just an opinion.

Ho hum win vs OKC, who isn’t very intimidating lol

Got the win w/out Mitchell and Love. I thought for sure they would both play last night. I assumed both were resting two nights ago due to the back-to-back games. Mitchell was running and jumping after made baskets, so I don't know what to think. LeVert and Stevens both played well and we got just enough from Garland and Mobley to get the W. Effort overall was a bit inconsistent. Played hard at times. Careless during some stretches.

I was only able to catch about a quarter and half of the first half. I have been told all season long that Gilgeous-Alexander was a player. He pushed off with his off arm every time he drove to the basket. Never called.

As for the Cavs I like it when Lavert plays well. Cavs are a different team when he does that. Not sure why Mitchell didn't play. Not a fan of that. With the Celtics playing the way they are every game matters.

Yeah SGA is the main concern playing OKC. And I agree about Levert … he’s such a streak guy