2022-2023 POST GAME CLEVLAND CAVS - HOME

This should have been an easy double-digit, 15 point or more, win.  Instead we hang on to win by 4.  An important, but very uninspiring, W.  

Donovan Mitchell went nuts going to his right.  Nobody drove him to his left except Al, once.  It was dumb defense, and guess who never called a timeout to tell his guys to give themselves a chance and overplay Mitchell's right and force him left?  Do they have Time Out Classes for Coaches?  Joe called one @ 9:38 left in the 4th and the score 98-85, down from an 18 point lead after 3.  The Cavs called the next time out at 5:19 and the score 107-94, still a 13 point lead.  The 3rd AND FINAL timeout of the game came with just :25 and that by Cleveland.  They outscored us 35-21 in that quarter and Joe only called time out once.  In the 3rd quarter Joe called exactly zero timeouts.  Now, I can understand not wanting to break your team's rhythm when they're on their way to a 41 point quarter, but then call them in the 4th quarter when you're on your way to a 21 point quarter and they're going nuts.  Break their rhythm with a timeout, Joe.  Joe called ONE timeout in 24 minutes of play.  One.  I'd say he's saving them up for the next game but even as a joke that falls flat since we know he wouldn't use them in that game either.

Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
1 minute ago
With 41 in his final game as a 24-year old (39 in the final three quarters), Jayson Tatum passes Giannis Antetokounmpo and will finish 7th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list for players under 25.

Here's the new list:
https://twitter.com/SeanGrandePBP/status/1631128365242392576


My game ball, though, goes to Al Horford.  Against a team with a very long, young, athletic and active front court he was 8-10 for 23 points, 6-8 from 3, 11 rebounds.  Don't look now but Al is currently 6th in the league in 3pt fg% @ 43%.  Jarrett Allen clearly doesn't like coming out to the perimeter and Al made him pay for his fears.  Big Al with the BIG game.

Overall we had all 5 starters in double-digits while they had 3 starters and LeVert.  Better balance by us, but their talent level 1-8 is impressive.  Caris LeVert coming off the bench?!  Man, now that's firepower on demand. Bickerstaff played 9 players but Cedi Osman only played 5 minutes and Rubio 7, so it was effectively a 7-man roster for them today.  Mitchell played 44 minutes and, it was abundantly clear, was completely gassed by the end.

Brogdon with a non-factor game.  2 points on 1-5, 0-2 from 3, 2 assists and 3 turnovers in 23 forgettable minutes.  Watch, I'll show you how it's done.  Whoosh, I've forgotten what I was writing about.  

RWill with an 11/11 game.  He was everywhere.

We shot 50% from 3.  Glad we got that out of our system.

28ftas vs 23 for them.  Not that much of a home court edge, 5 ftas, but they only hit 13 out of their 21 opportunities and there's their loss.  They're 18th in the league in ft% @ 77.9%, averaging 22.8ftas/game.  So their 23 ftas this game is right at their average.  They average 17.9 ftm/game.  So they underperformed at the frito line by 4.9 points (17.9 - 13 = 4.9 points).  If they had just shot their average they'd have 4.9 points and that would have gotten them to OT if not an outright win, and then think how embarrassing and painful the 18-down-to-4 collapse would have been.

They had 92 fgas vs only 78 for us.  Another anemic offensive showing for us.  12 turnovers by us vs only 6 for them.

They had 20 fast break points.  We were repeatedly getting beaten in transition defense all game.  It appeared to me like Jaylen and Brogdon were the two biggest culprits for getting caught watching the paint dry.

12 points for our bench vs 10 for theirs.  This game was all about the starters, a good look at these teams' playoff rosters.  The depth of our bench this year is why we're 2nd in the East and they're only 1 game in the loss column ahead of the Knicks, who are in 5th place.  The Knicks have a 7 game winning streak going and are 9-1 over their last 10.  The Cavs are now 6-4 over their last 10.  The Cavs have 17 more games, the Knicks have 18 more.  I don't know who owns their tiebreakers but with only a 1 1/2 game lead it wouldn't be crazy to think of the Cavs, despite their killer talent, not having a home court series in the playoffs.  All it would take is an injury to one of their top 6 since they don't really have much past 8.

68-44 Points in the Paint.  LeVert with 4 offensive rebounds.  They kept penetrating and either finishing or making it easy for one of their guys to get a layup.  I have not been particularly impressed with our perimeter defense all year and this game didn't help to back me off the ledge.  If there was a silver lining it's that I was so distracted by our pathetic transition defense I stopped focusing on our flat-footed perimeter defense.  It's like stubbing your toe to make you forget you jammed your thumb. Eventually you remember it and then they both hurt.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469090


Bob


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cowens/oldschool wrote:Tatum and Mitchell put on a show, but the key to the win was Big Al and the defense our bigs played on Allen and Mobley. RWill with a strong game, getting alot of boards after being outworked by Mitchell Robinson the game before. Al on fire from 3 with excellent defense by both our starting bigs. Tatum carried us, big 2nd and 3rd quarters, impactful defense and rebounding. He is really making great highlights lately on offensive rebound putbacks/dunks where his length and athleticism is put on full display. Kudos to coach Joe for emphasizing this aspect of the game that had been dormant for years.

Mitchell is really something, so strong and skilled, fearless too quick for Jaylen and too strong for White and Brogdon. We have many talented guard and wing defenders, as good as or better than any team and he took it right to all of them, it didn’t matter. Jaylen, Brogdon and White all with off shooting nights, thankfully Tatum and Al carried us. GWill was benched, something going on there. Maybe he is talking too much and won’t listen, if he’s one of these guys that his cup is filled and refuses constructive criticism that can’t be good.

Cow,

According to Joe's post-game presser he said the reason why Grant didn't play is "match ups".

As much as I like Grant that does makes a little sense. Their team is very long, very athletic and very quick and Grant is none of those things.


Bob

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