David Blatt is a former NBA coach

[Ohio]

Like everyone else, I don't understand why Love sat for so many minutes straight (and never got a play called for him when he finally came back in) given how well he played...

Don't know why Mozgov was benched either.

 

[kookoo]

People need to lay off him. The criticism earlier in the year regarding his rotations and later during that awful phase where the team was playing BAD basketball was justified but today? I don't think he deserves any criticism. Sure he made a couple of mistakes but everyone does that. We have to remember he is still a rookie coach in the NBA and this is a learning experience for him as well just like the rest of the time. What matters is, he has shown plenty of promise that he can be a very good coach in this league.

It's not about the lineups he uses as much as how long he uses them. LeBron going out halfway through the first and coming back in with a few minutes left, brilliant. Delly playing all of the 4th and overtime, bad. It just seems like other than Smith, he isn't giving the new guys good minutes. And he's letting the other team dictate the flow of the game. Part of that (offensively) is probably LeBron with LeISO.

 

[roozy]

Cant blame Blatt for Lebron's chucking despite that we were put in a position to win and we couldn't pull it out.

 

[gourimoko]

I don't think it was his best day coaching, but I don't think he should be thrown into the flames either.

Yeah I don't think we're going to be calling for Blatt to be fired over this game.

He fucked up... He'll be learn from it, and be fine. For a rookie coach, he's doing a great job.

I'm definitely in the pro-Blatt camp at this point. I like the guy. Seems down to Earth, kind of guy you can get a beer with, and he knows his basketball.

I just think sometimes he just gets caught up and tries to be too clever by half. That happened today. Probably will happen again, but less frequently I'm sure.

 

[gourimoko]

Cant blame Blatt for Lebron's chucking despite that we were put in a position to win and we couldn't pull it out.

Can't blame him for LeBron missing free throws, true. But we can blame him for the need for LeBron to score damn near 40 points in order to eek out a win to an inferior team.

 

[Tazoz]

Well, Blatt countered Houston's small front court (often with Terrence Jones and Josh Smith) by going small.

I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Blatt had stuck with Mozgov, who had a size advantage even against D-Mo and was being effective early on. It would have forced Houston to react to the Cavs' lineup, rather than the Cavs react to the smallball.

Delly's obituary has been written many times already this year, but I have little doubt he will continue to play and see substantial minutes.

My thinking is the Cavs will need to devote substantial resources this summer on a backup PG. Quite possibly the taxpayers MLE. They need a guy who can handle the ball and at least credibly set up the offense.

Saying "what if" is usually a bad idea as no one will ever know what could have happened if... Blatt did what he thought was right at the time and despite everything we did manage to come back and nearly won. This loss hurts because of how amazing the comeback was and how close we were to win. We deserved the win but weren't able to complete the turn around. Luckily it was a regular season game and not a playoff game so the overall effect will most likely be minor. Lets be happy that our players gave all they could to try and get the win. They never gave up and Blatt is partly the reason for that.

Last year, Tyrese Rice said in an interview that what makes Blatt so great is that he lights a fire in your eyes. He makes you believe that the game isn't over even when you are down 11 1 minute to the end. We can see this clearly in games like this and even in the Indiana game. Our players continue fighting and take it up a level when they are down. Sometimes you lose despite how hard you try and it hurts but as I said before, we should be proud of them for continuing fighting until the bitter end!

 

[Dribble]

Delly was very decent today, better than i thought, and i don't like him at all, but he hustled and was decent on the defensive side, that's why he should have been there for the 4Q and OT, as he was.
He fought for the balls, got critical rebounds, and was ok, and again, i can't consider myself "Pro-Delly", last game i wanted to kill him because he took too many damn bad shots and though he is MJ or something, but today i understood why Blatt went with him, and i don't think he was wrong in that regard.
i think he should have went with more good plays and less LeIso, and i think he could've find play time for Joe Harris and Perkins (during the 1st half), but in the end - i get why he went with that group who brought him to the game till the end, and they proved themselves on defense, but were too short on offense and didn't play smart.

 

[BimboColesHair]

Can't blame him for LeBron missing free throws, true. But we can blame him for the need for LeBron to score damn near 40 points in order to eek out a win to an inferior team.

I'm thinking there is a little blame to be shared on LeBron for him needing to score 40...the ball movement stopped vs Golden State and LeIso came back...also appeared today...coincidence considering who we are going up against, or was he trying to do too much to one up Curry and Harden and freezing out his teammates?

Also, Houston at home with no Kyrie is not an inferior team.

 

[kovanovich]

I still hope we somehow get Mo... he is a free agent if I recall correctly. I know we didn't have the pieces to trade for him but he would've been fantastic these last two games. I mean he's surely better than Delly.

Mo Williams? Yeah, I agree it's too bad the Cavs lost out on him. I think he would have been a very good fit. I wonder how close the Cavs were to getting him? Minny hardly got anything for him (a 2nd round pick in 2019). Mo is a guy who probably won't have a lot of options this summer and may be willing to sign in Cleveland for cheap.

 

[oracio]

Why does Love sit for so long? Foul trouble killed his minutes in the 1st and Blatt rolled with the small lineup that erased the 8 point deficit and had the Cavs in the lead for nearly half of the 4th.

Why does Moz play 18 minutes? He couldn't close out on the 3 point line on Motiejunas, and was getting owned by Motiejunas in the post...oh, and Tristan was grabbing every rebound in sight, so how can you sit him?

Why does Delly play over 40 minutes? Well, for one, Kyrie is hurt and we have no other legit PG on the team. Shumpert was getting a little turnover happy, was in foul trouble, and couldn't hit a shot all game. Plus the game went into OT and Delly played all 5 minutes.

This need to be bumped.

A coach can control so much when the best player in the world decides to take the game on his own shoulders and I think LeBron did a darn good job, and if he would have sink half of his missed FT this thread would have looked different.
And we all should credit Blatt for the 4th quarter come back. This game could have easily be out of reach and Blatt gave all the tail wind Lebron needed, it just was one of those bad FT days…

 

[supermario21]

When you break it down Blatt had limited options. First off, Kyrie being out means more Delly right off the bat. Especially when Shumpert and Smith are struggling. Delly made some good hustle plays and didn't get burned too much either. The best player in the world shot 3-11 from the foul line in a 2 point overtime loss yet people on here are acting Delly cost us the game.

Secondly, Love got in early foul trouble which changed the rotation a bit and probably made things a bit tougher as we had to deal with a bit more James Jones than one would feel comfortable with. Love probably got a bit less aggressive after that.

Third, Houston plays small. Even when they have Motiejunas in, he seems to leave the post after the beginning of the game, especially in the 4th when the game becomes dueling ISO-ball. There is no point having Mozgov in there because he won't be sitting in the paint anyways. We can't have him out chasing 3 point shooters. Tristan was also phenomenal so that's about as big as you can get in the situation. People need to stop acting like Blatt doesn't like Mozgov. Have any of you heard about how much he loves the guy? Or about his experience with him? Blatt knows Mozgov better than anyone. Houston is a team I'd almost rather match up with when Howard is in the lineup. He slows them down and takes them away from their identity.

Our backup bigs with the exception of Tristan are all big boy matchups. Perk would have been a disaster because he can't chase guys out to the 3 point line.

Finally, with no production really from JR and Shump, you're rolling the dice hoping you get the occasional 3 from Smith and a nice defensive play from Shump.

 

[kookoo]

When you break it down Blatt had limited options. First off, Kyrie being out means more Delly right off the bat. Especially when Shumpert and Smith are struggling. Delly made some good hustle plays and didn't get burned too much either. The best player in the world shot 3-11 from the foul line in a 2 point overtime loss yet people on here are acting Delly cost us the game.

Secondly, Love got in early foul trouble which changed the rotation a bit and probably made things a bit tougher as we had to deal with a bit more James Jones than one would feel comfortable with. Love probably got a bit less aggressive after that.

Third, Houston plays small. Even when they have Motiejunas in, he seems to leave the post after the beginning of the game, especially in the 4th when the game becomes dueling ISO-ball. There is no point having Mozgov in there because he won't be sitting in the paint anyways. We can't have him out chasing 3 point shooters. Tristan was also phenomenal so that's about as big as you can get in the situation. People need to stop acting like Blatt doesn't like Mozgov. Have any of you heard about how much he loves the guy? Or about his experience with him? Blatt knows Mozgov better than anyone. Houston is a team I'd almost rather match up with when Howard is in the lineup. He slows them down and takes them away from their identity.

Our backup bigs with the exception of Tristan are all big boy matchups. Perk would have been a disaster because he can't chase guys out to the 3 point line.

Finally, with no production really from JR and Shump, you're rolling the dice hoping you get the occasional 3 from Smith and a nice defensive play from Shump.

This is pretty much foreshadowing of a series against Atlanta. Small ball, high percentage 3 point shooting, aggressive. Blatt needs to figure out how to play Mozgov against teams who play small ball, because our paint protection is atrocious and guys keep getting easy and-1 layups.

 

[godfather]

Yeah I don't think we're going to be calling for Blatt to be fired over this game.

He fucked up... He'll be learn from it, and be fine. For a rookie coach, he's doing a great job.

I'm definitely in the pro-Blatt camp at this point. I like the guy. Seems down to Earth, kind of guy you can get a beer with, and he knows his basketball.

I just think sometimes he just gets caught up and tries to be too clever by half. That happened today. Probably will happen again, but less frequently I'm sure.

Yeah, I like Blatt a lot too. He makes mistakes, as you'd expect, he made them tonight. He's a smart guy, I think he's willing acknowledge them and improve from them.

I definitely don't blame him for the loss, I don't blame anyone really. Not 'Bron, not Blatt, and yes, not even Delly!

It was a tough loss, I like how they fought, not everyone was on their game. Kyrie being out obviously hurts a lot.

But boy, we need everyone back and healthy coming up, because it gets really tough now.

 

[SVC]

It stings to exert that much effort in a loss.
It sucks to exert that much effort in a win.

Ive been happy with the job Blatt's doing because he has evolved over the season and rarely makes the same mistakes.

That said, he needs to ignore the noise and understand that regular season wins and losses are largely irrelevant for a team like this.

Health come playoff time is all that matters for a veteran team. I'd prefer 2-4 over 4-2 this tough stretch if the former comes with limited minutes, nights off, and a healthy team.

Once they jump it up in game 1 of the playoffs, regular season is out the window. He isnt a rookie coach in the true sense, but managing a contender down the stretch is what seperates the elite coaches from the Thibs of the world who burn their team up chasing regular season wins.

 

[nikolajz1]

I'm kinda disappointed in how ugly our offense looks of late. It's just iso's and PnR's. I dont know how sustainable that is come playoff time. If we moved the ball the GS moves it on a regular basis we'd win every game.