Farewell, Timofey Mozgov

[tocov]

Lol and he makes that same mistake over and over again and we should just "get over it"???

How is that a mistake if we're the best team in the league?
It has worked more often than not. Tonight he shouldn't have used it. But we have the best record in the league since January, beating the strongest teams throughout, why shouldn't you get over one loss where he made a mistake?

 

[Helium filament]

How is it a mistake when our 4th quarter lineup with Tristan is good more times than not? I swear, this is only an issue when we lose, but never when we win. Were you in here giving him credit when it overcame and won the game in Milwaukee saying it was smart to play small with Tristan, or did you remain quiet?

And I got disagreed with for saying Timo did not play well tonight in the game thread. I know what I saw away from his 1-on-1 matchup with Lopez and I will be posting screen shots from the game of what I meant by him not being very good tonight on defense.

We already talked about this at length in the Blatt thread so I don't really want to get into this again. As I stated before, when our small lineup clearly isn't working (as it wasn't tonight) I see no harm in putting Mozgov in during the fourth quarter. We have no idea if Mozgov could be better in fourth quarters than TT because we haven't used him much then. But our starting lineup was more productive with him in there and stronger on defense. You say that you saw him not doing well one-to-one versus Lopez, but at least we didn't constantly have to double team him and leave someone else open while Mozgov was in.

And I have praised Blatt and his rotations on several occasions (including just after the Memphis game), but there have been several stupid losses where I just would have liked to see if Mozgov would have helped.

 

[tocov]

You are right, he made a mistake tonight.
That's exactly what we're saying.

But fact of the matter is playing this lineup proved to be successfull most nights, so it wasn't a mistake on most nights.

Again, the guy has led the team to the best record in the NBA for the past two months. That is a fact. Panicking about one specific mistake he made in one specific game is asinine.

 

[DougHeil]

You are right, he made a mistake tonight.
That's exactly what we're saying.

But fact of the matter is playing this lineup proved to be successfull most nights, so it wasn't a mistake on most nights.

Again, the guy has led the team to the best record in the NBA for the past two months. That is a fact. Panicking about one specific mistake he made in one specific game is asinine.

Well tocov; I totally get where you are coming from, but I still say Blatt has some kind of mental block that stops him from playing Moz in the 4th.... no matter what. This wasn't the first time and sadly, it won't be the last. I'm deftly afraid if we play a team like the Bulls who are strong inside, Blatt might again go small in the 4th, and we will get the same kind of paint traffic from the guards driving and the bigs dominating against us. The one thing we can seem to count on from Moz when he's in the game is that guards are afraid to drive and bigs totally know Moz is there. He plugs things up on defense. We need him. It's why we traded for him.

Maybe he's being saved or something? 16 minutes tonight and about the same in many games this year.

 

[tocov]

Well Moz has played in the 4th before so I don't see what you mean.

I'm sure that Blatt will study the tape and make adjustments. Some days nothing is gonna work and we will lose.
You're not expecting us to sweep our way to the championship, are you?

 

[DougHeil]

Well Moz has played in the 4th before so I don't see what you mean.

I'm sure that Blatt will study the tape and make adjustments. Some days nothing is gonna work and we will lose.
You're not expecting us to sweep our way to the championship, are you?

Of course I am.

 

[Helium filament]

Well Moz has played in the 4th before so I don't see what you mean.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but outside of the Indiana game where LeBron told Blatt to put Mozgov in during the last play, Mozgov hasn't closed a game since mid-February. He's played the first few minutes a few times, but Blatt does seem really set on playing Tristan at the end of the Fourth and teams clearly are scouting that and adjusting for it.

 

[BimboColesHair]

We already talked about this at length in the Blatt thread so I don't really want to get into this again. As I stated before, when our small lineup clearly isn't working (as it wasn't tonight) I see no harm in putting Mozgov in during the fourth quarter. We have no idea if Mozgov could be better in fourth quarters than TT because we haven't used him much then. But our starting lineup was more productive with him in there and stronger on defense. You say that you saw him not doing well one-to-one versus Lopez, but at least we didn't constantly have to double team him and leave someone else open while Mozgov was in.

And I have praised Blatt and his rotations on several occasions (including just after the Memphis game), but there have been several stupid losses where I just would have liked to see if Mozgov would have helped.

Thing is, we have rarely ran into an instance where our 4th quarter lineup with Tristan hasn't worked. And the most talked about part about that lineup is Tristan over Timo. Well let's look back at the games we have lost since LeBron came back and see if Timo would have helped over Tristan.

Indianapolis 2/6 - 36-29 Indy in the 4th. Their bigs scored 2 of their 36 points in the 4th quarter. Miles and Hill torched them from the perimeter. Could Timo have helped with that?

Chicago 2/12 - 26-21 Chicago in the 4th. Their bigs go 1-3 from the floor, and add 4 FTs. Their wing players go for 20 of their 26 points, mostly from 3 and mid range. Could Timo have helped with that?

Indiana 2/27 - Cavs 4th quarter lineup outscores Indy 25-19. Rodney Stuckey, George Hill, and CJ Miles go for 13 of their 19 4th quarter points, mostly from 3 and the FT line. Could Timo have helped with that?

Houston 3/1 - Cavs 4th quarter lineup outscores Houston 24-16. James Harden, Corey Brewer, and Jason Terry score 10 of their 16, all from 3 or the FT line. Tristan goes 3-6 from the floor, 2-2 from the line, grabs 10 boards, gets a steal, and dishes 1 assist in the 4th alone. Could Timo have done better?

Hawks 3/6 - 25-18 Atlanta in the 4th. Their bigs score 6 of the 25 points. Atlanta wings hit 3 3 point shots and a few mid range shots. Could Timo have helped there?

Miami 3/16 - Cavs outscore Miami 29-23 in the 4th. Timo enters with 10 minutes left and leaves with 5:30 left and the Cavs down 19. All Dragic and Wade from then on. Could he have helped there?

And then tonight's game which we don't have to go over again. So out of our 7 loses we have had since LeBron returned, we have outscored our opponents 3/7 times in the 4th, and the common theme seems to be perimeter players catching fire from 3. How exactly can Timo help with that? Tonight may actually be the 1st time where the complaint is warranted.

 

[Helium filament]

Thing is, we have rarely ran into an instance where our 4th quarter lineup with Tristan hasn't worked. And the most talked about part about that lineup is Tristan over Timo. Well let's look back at the games we have lost since LeBron came back and see if Timo would have helped over Tristan.

Indianapolis 2/6 - 36-29 Indy in the 4th. Their bigs scored 2 of their 36 points in the 4th quarter. Miles and Hill torched them from the perimeter. Could Timo have helped with that?

Chicago 2/12 - 26-21 Chicago in the 4th. Their bigs go 1-3 from the floor, and add 4 FTs. Their wing players go for 20 of their 26 points, mostly from 3 and mid range. Could Timo have helped with that?

Indiana 2/27 - Cavs 4th quarter lineup outscores Indy 25-19. Rodney Stuckey, George Hill, and CJ Miles go for 13 of their 19 4th quarter points, mostly from 3 and the FT line. Could Timo have helped with that?

Houston 3/1 - Cavs 4th quarter lineup outscores Houston 24-16. James Harden, Corey Brewer, and Jason Terry score 10 of their 16, all from 3 or the FT line. Tristan goes 3-6 from the floor, 2-2 from the line, grabs 10 boards, gets a steal, and dishes 1 assist in the 4th alone. Could Timo have done better?

Hawks 3/6 - 25-18 Atlanta in the 4th. Their bigs score 6 of the 25 points. Atlanta wings hit 3 3 point shots and a few mid range shots. Could Timo have helped there?

Miami 3/16 - Cavs outscore Miami 29-23 in the 4th. Timo enters with 10 minutes left and leaves with 5:30 left and the Cavs down 19. All Dragic and Wade from then on. Could he have helped there?

And then tonight's game which we don't have to go over again. So out of our 7 loses we have had since LeBron returned, we have outscored our opponents 3/7 times in the 4th, and the common theme seems to be perimeter players catching fire from 3. How exactly can Timo help with that? Tonight may actually be the 1st time where the complaint is warranted.

I think this is a vast oversimplification. Points made by their bigs alone don't reflect TT's or Mozgov's effect. From those snippets, it's impossible to tell if the need to double team due to smaller size left their shooters open, etc. But this conversation is really tired because I've never even said that I think Mozgov is better than TT. I've said that our starting lineup is clearly our best lineup (+11 over any other lineups we have) and that I don't see the harm in switching TT for Mozgov in instances where the defense isn't working. The only thing I am concerned about is that Blatt seems to be incredibly rigid with his fourth quarter lineup. End of story.

 

[BimboColesHair]

I think this is a vast oversimplification. Points made by their bigs alone don't reflect TT's or Mozgov's effect. From those snippets, it's impossible to tell if the need to double team due to smaller size left their shooters open, etc. But this conversation is really tired because I've never even said that I think Mozgov is better than TT. I've said that our starting lineup is clearly our best lineup (+11 over any other lineups we have) and that I don't see the harm in switching TT for Mozgov in instances where the defense isn't working. The only thing I am concerned about is that Blatt seems to be incredibly rigid with his fourth quarter lineup. End of story.

Oh I'm with you on the rigidness...just that 4th quarter lineup has rarely been outplayed, which is why I'm supporting it and most likely why Blatt sticks with it, even when he shouldn't. But there are more factors in a game or in a loss than "Mozgov isn't playing in the 4th, Blatt's an idiot" as to why we lose, but most here seem quick to point out his rotations instead of the situations or the ineffectiveness of the team in general as to why we struggle. Bothers me.

 

[gaitano]

I don't know, WTF, I was driving home from my work digs during the 4th. Here is Dennis Manoloff's comment,

"Late in the fourth, Carr said: "The Cavs have sort of brought this on themselves. They took too long to get the defensive effort up. Once the defensive effort picked up, then they went small. And that smallness, with Lopez in there, has really forced them to use a lot of effort to keep the ball from coming to him -- which is opening things for other players.''


Lopez's counterpart at the beginning of the game was 7-1 Timofey Mozgov. But Mozgov, as usual, did not play in the fourth quarter.


Mozgov, coming off a superb game in Memphis, barely played at all. He was 1-of-3 for two points in 17 minutes. He had five rebounds, one block and three turnovers and did not commit a foul. He was a +8."

 

[Randolphkeys]

The Cavaliers are fairly locked in as the #2 seed. If Blatt is challenging other players to step it up, this is the time to do it rather than round one. Shumpert played big minutes on a night he wasn't his best... maybe Blatt had some messages to send.

Another complexity: the Nets are in a dog fight with Indiana for the last playoff spot. Indiana at full health is a top 4 team in the east. Hmmmmmmmmm....

 

[Apollo 13]

Big guy needs to be used more but I do see Blatt's problem. He has to get TT his mins. I do want to see him in the 4qt though. The team needed a big at the beginning of the season and not using seems kind of silly.

 

[Notorious]

Moz was clearly off put by going national with his commercials.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Moz was clearly off put by going national with his commercials.

Hey, get weak stuff out here!