Game 15 | Heat @ Cavs | Wednesday, November 27, 2013 | 7:30 PM ET

[D-WAIT3]

Kid squinting behind him looks funny tho.

 

[D-WAIT3]

Every time Lbj returns to the Q The baby is Cleveland.

 

[stick]

That 2nd quarter was very tough to watch. That stretch seemed to suck the energy out of the Cavs in a way where they never quite recovered.
Also, what is up with some of the Jarrett Jack turnovers this year?

 

[Snarly]

That 2nd quarter was very tough to watch. That stretch seemed to suck the energy out of the Cavs in a way where they never quite recovered.
Also, what is up with some of the Jarrett Jack turnovers this year?

i do not know but he telegraphed that pass to Bynum that Bosh stole. It was like he tried to throw It to Bosh as If any smart player would have Known Bosh would have stole that low pass. They need to get the ball high as Bynum Is 7'1 with a Hughe Wingspan!! Smh this team.

 

[JFT]

Every time Lbj returns to the Q The baby is Cleveland.

And the kid in blue calling the dogs is Kyrie.

 

[Dr. Claw]

Kyries ceiling was looking like isiah thomas. Now its looking more like Steve Francis. He looks like a lesser player in his rookie year.

Oh wait i got it. Kyrie is doing his best Mo Williams impression because he doesn't want Lebron on his team.

GOOD. I don't want LeBron on his team either. This is Kyrie's team. If Chris Grant and everyone else watched him at Duke then they should know what kind of player he is (11 games or not). I'm under the impression that this random team was assembled to somehow lure LeBron back here (by ignoring the SF position blatantly). Well, hopefully after yesterday, all responsible parties and see that and give up that idea. (Honestly, it should have never been an idea in the first place. We're lucky we didn't end up like the Knicks with their "consolation prizes", even if they had a great season by their standards last season).

I was actually at this game. Had the view of the game I prefer. Real good view of the court.

Two things pissed me off.

- Mike Brown's offense/lineups. Kyrie's flair for hero ball/bad shooting aside, I have no doubt that if the Cavs drafted the people I wanted to after Kyrie and TT (namely some combo of Drummond, Jeremy Lamb, Terrence Ross, Perry Jones III, Otto or B-Mac even) this team would still look like absolute crap. All the different line ups. All the plays that ended up with Varejao being the open man with the ball. Byron Scott's teams didn't play defense, but there were times where the offense was fun to watch. Tristan actually looked like he was going to be more than "solid" sometimes. Varejao had a defined role (to facilitate, get rebounds, and sometimes score to the tune of double-doubles a night) It was a marked step up (even with the 1 on 5 ball that sometimes happened) from the LeISO days. Now, this team has regressed. Without a small forward in the mix, Mike Brown throws a billion things at the wall trying to make it stick. Before I blame any individual player, I'm pointing at Mike. Yes, thanks to him they didn't get blown out by the Heat, but this was just pathetic. It's amazing that Dion scored even as much as he did (should have been more, more on that later).

- All of those lime green "Come Back LeBron" shirts in the crowd. At least one person had the logo crossed out in a "No Smoking" circle. I understand that with a player of his caliber, there's gonna be a cult of personality and a bunch of people wearing his jersey, a bunch of LeBronies on the bandwagon, etc. But that whole campaign -- the billboards, the shirts, just the general idea that someone who left the team and now has squeaked his way to two titles is gonna come back is FOOLHARDY. I'd rather people be Heat defectors than beg for someone to come to their team like this. We have a superstar already. No, he is not the "broken game savior" that we thought he might be, but he shouldn't be. He is a centerpiece that we need to put good players around, so we don't repeat the mistakes that make us the laughing stock of the league. If I ran the Q, that merchandise would be contraband. Just pure assholia IMO. Worst part is that I think this is the "grand master plan" of Chris Grant. I don't care how good the player is. This is the kind of tunnel vision that sank the team before.

On to the players.

Kyrie can't operate in this offense. And it's worse that because his teammates don't want to do what he wants them to do when the ball is not in their hands, he resorts to the worst kind of Hero Ball, which in effect and in the middle of this offense, makes him look like crap. Plus I don't like his lack of defensive effort. Almost makes me wonder if he would work with Pringles 'Antoni more than Brown.

I like Dion. I think he can pass the ball very well. He's a decent defender. Asking him to guard LeFavre was pretty ridiculous though (again, Mike Brown), though he didn't do a totally horrible job. I don't think he's a complete waste of a basketball player. He clearly was the guy who ran the boxscores last night. However, he'd be better served on a contender or a team in need of a combo guard than this team. I know the trade rumors are high. But I really do think he is pyrite and if he looks like gold for any short of period, we have to see if he can be dealt for a guy who doesn't pass up the open shot immediately when it's in his hands. My main critique of him (and he wasn't the only one who did this last night) has been largely about that. He wants to be D-Wade so bad. That would work if you had a team that works that way, but...

Varejao is not a volume scorer. Why it looks like they're trying to make him one instead of a rebound/passing machine is beyond me. I suspect that Tristan (especially in the lineups they had him in) is struggling for the same reasons. I saw Heat defenders triple teaming him it looked like. Why the heck? Tristan isn't even in the line up that much.

And no Bennett? Not even in garbage time? Is he hurt? I mean. This guy's been hidden almost as much as Otto Porter has been for the Wizards.

I wish I had something more positive to say. 2010-2012 I was pretty much resigned to the idea that the team was going to tank. We lucked out and got Kyrie in the end. But the rest of the tank has yet to yield a starting line up that the current coach likes.

I hope somehow that contract for Brown can be renegotiated. Because while this team could potentially keep a team like the Heat in check offensively from a defensive standpoint, it just can't score more than 80 points.

And I also hope that after tonight, the "Come Back LeBron" narrative is dead and gone. Including in the front office. The only time he's coming back is if the Heat play the Cavs at the Q.

That was also my first time at the Q. I liked it, even though ingress and egress to the seats is a nightmare... I liked that even on "Heat Night", I could not pay out the frame for parking and easily get back onto 77 with not much of a hassle. I'd do it again. Hopefully when the team isn't such a chore to watch.

 

[Mr. Orange]

GOOD. I don't want LeBron on his team either. This is Kyrie's team. If Chris Grant and everyone else watched him at Duke then they should know what kind of player he is (11 games or not). I'm under the impression that this random team was assembled to somehow lure LeBron back here (by ignoring the SF position blatantly). Well, hopefully after yesterday, all responsible parties and see that and give up that idea. (Honestly, it should have never been an idea in the first place. We're lucky we didn't end up like the Knicks with their "consolation prizes", even if they had a great season by their standards last season).

I was actually at this game. Had the view of the game I prefer. Real good view of the court.

Two things pissed me off.

- Mike Brown's offense/lineups. Kyrie's flair for hero ball/bad shooting aside, I have no doubt that if the Cavs drafted the people I wanted to after Kyrie and TT (namely some combo of Drummond, Jeremy Lamb, Terrence Ross, Perry Jones III, Otto or B-Mac even) this team would still look like absolute crap. All the different line ups. All the plays that ended up with Varejao being the open man with the ball. Byron Scott's teams didn't play defense, but there were times where the offense was fun to watch. Tristan actually looked like he was going to be more than "solid" sometimes. Varejao had a defined role (to facilitate, get rebounds, and sometimes score to the tune of double-doubles a night) It was a marked step up (even with the 1 on 5 ball that sometimes happened) from the LeISO days. Now, this team has regressed. Without a small forward in the mix, Mike Brown throws a billion things at the wall trying to make it stick. Before I blame any individual player, I'm pointing at Mike. Yes, thanks to him they didn't get blown out by the Heat, but this was just pathetic. It's amazing that Dion scored even as much as he did (should have been more, more on that later).

- All of those lime green "Come Back LeBron" shirts in the crowd. At least one person had the logo crossed out in a "No Smoking" circle. I understand that with a player of his caliber, there's gonna be a cult of personality and a bunch of people wearing his jersey, a bunch of LeBronies on the bandwagon, etc. But that whole campaign -- the billboards, the shirts, just the general idea that someone who left the team and now has squeaked his way to two titles is gonna come back is FOOLHARDY. I'd rather people be Heat defectors than beg for someone to come to their team like this. We have a superstar already. No, he is not the "broken game savior" that we thought he might be, but he shouldn't be. He is a centerpiece that we need to put good players around, so we don't repeat the mistakes that make us the laughing stock of the league. If I ran the Q, that merchandise would be contraband. Just pure assholia IMO. Worst part is that I think this is the "grand master plan" of Chris Grant. I don't care how good the player is. This is the kind of tunnel vision that sank the team before.

On to the players.

Kyrie can't operate in this offense. And it's worse that because his teammates don't want to do what he wants them to do when the ball is not in their hands, he resorts to the worst kind of Hero Ball, which in effect and in the middle of this offense, makes him look like crap. Plus I don't like his lack of defensive effort. Almost makes me wonder if he would work with Pringles 'Antoni more than Brown.

I like Dion. I think he can pass the ball very well. He's a decent defender. Asking him to guard LeFavre was pretty ridiculous though (again, Mike Brown), though he didn't do a totally horrible job. I don't think he's a complete waste of a basketball player. He clearly was the guy who ran the boxscores last night. However, he'd be better served on a contender or a team in need of a combo guard than this team. I know the trade rumors are high. But I really do think he is pyrite and if he looks like gold for any short of period, we have to see if he can be dealt for a guy who doesn't pass up the open shot immediately when it's in his hands. My main critique of him (and he wasn't the only one who did this last night) has been largely about that. He wants to be D-Wade so bad. That would work if you had a team that works that way, but...

Varejao is not a volume scorer. Why it looks like they're trying to make him one instead of a rebound/passing machine is beyond me. I suspect that Tristan (especially in the lineups they had him in) is struggling for the same reasons. I saw Heat defenders triple teaming him it looked like. Why the heck? Tristan isn't even in the line up that much.

And no Bennett? Not even in garbage time? Is he hurt? I mean. This guy's been hidden almost as much as Otto Porter has been for the Wizards.

I wish I had something more positive to say. 2010-2012 I was pretty much resigned to the idea that the team was going to tank. We lucked out and got Kyrie in the end. But the rest of the tank has yet to yield a starting line up that the current coach likes.

I hope somehow that contract for Brown can be renegotiated. Because while this team could potentially keep a team like the Heat in check offensively from a defensive standpoint, it just can't score more than 80 points.

And I also hope that after tonight, the "Come Back LeBron" narrative is dead and gone. Including in the front office. The only time he's coming back is if the Heat play the Cavs at the Q.

That was also my first time at the Q. I liked it, even though ingress and egress to the seats is a nightmare... I liked that even on "Heat Night", I could not pay out the frame for parking and easily get back onto 77 with not much of a hassle. I'd do it again. Hopefully when the team isn't such a chore to watch.

You must have left early. Cavs scored 84

 

[catfish]

Why is it Kyrie's team? The guy is not showing the quality of a guy who has a team.

 

[Mo Fiya]

[video=youtube;ZatiWqQjU7M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZatiWqQjU7M&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[OptimusPrime]

Kyrie can't operate in this offense. And it's worse that because his teammates don't want to do what he wants them to do when the ball is not in their hands, he resorts to the worst kind of Hero Ball, which in effect and in the middle of this offense, makes him look like crap. Plus I don't like his lack of defensive effort. Almost makes me wonder if he would work with Pringles 'Antoni more than Brown.

How does he know what they are doing off the ball? It's not like he is looking for someone to pass to. And his lack of defensive effort is Brown's fault? Are you Kyrie's mother? I can imagine he was raised to blame all of his fuck ups on someone else.

 

[Mo Fiya]

How does he know what they are doing off the ball? It's not like he is looking for someone to pass to. And his lack of defensive effort is Brown's fault? Are you Kyrie's mother? I can imagine he was raised to blame all of his fuck ups on someone else.

If you look at his offensive production during his first 2 years, stats would dictate that either these games to start the season are outliers, or something has changed to make his game less efficient.

 

[TJ Detweiler]

Was at this game, sellout crowd but the atmosphere really did not seem that hostile. There were quite a few Heat fans there as well..

Maybe it's because past the first quarter, the Cavaliers trailed. Was an incredibly boring basketball game to watch as well.

 

[Dr. Claw]

You must have left early. Cavs scored 84

I saw that they scored 84. What I should have typed was "struggled to score more than 80 points". It wasn't just a case of missing free throws. Mike Brown's offense is just BAD... I can't see it being good with "good" players. I'd like to be wrong about that.

 

[Dr. Claw]

How does he know what they are doing off the ball? It's not like he is looking for someone to pass to. And his lack of defensive effort is Brown's fault? Are you Kyrie's mother? I can imagine he was raised to blame all of his fuck ups on someone else.

Here goes this strawman bullshit.

#1 - I did NOT implicate Mike Brown for Kyrie's lack of defensive effort. Kyrie's defense was lackluster with Byron as well. Was lackluster when he was at Duke. I would highly suspect that he's just a lackluster defender.

I implicated the Mike Brown offense for Kyrie's offense looking like crap (which was not much the case under Byron). I also mentioned Kyrie's tendency to play hero ball (i.e. not passing) as a culprit. That's because there is no one on the floor who can catch and shoot the ball when Kyrie is also on the floor. Who's to blame? Well, I'm looking at the guy who keeps switching up the lineups so much that maybe none of the team members have no sort of rhythm or sync with one another, and that getting any assists on the floor is a blessing. I mean seriously. Passing this year is horrible. Just horrible. So many turnovers off passes. There were times when Karasev had the ball and I cringed to see him throw it down the court. Jarrett Jack was the opposite. He would "overthrow" people on passes. Some of Kyrie's passes just seemed ill advised. This looks like it should be an offense when the ball is moved around a lot more but it certainly isn't. There's too much "guy with the ball, dribble for 10 000 years, then maybe throw a ridiculous pass" going on.

#2 - Kyrie can likely see what the other team members are doing off the ball, which is why I said he's opting to play more Hero Ball than he's capable of doing at this point.

I wasn't expecting Rajon Rondo when the Cavs drafted Kyrie. Or a savior for that matter, but a piece in a puzzle of redemption. He can still be that, but this puzzle looks like they just picked random pieces and are using masking tape to make the puzzle look like a picture. it's painful.

Please, go elsewhere with that "OMG YOU'RE NOT HOLDING KYRIE ACCOUNTABLE WTFBBQ" crap.

 

[Dr. Claw]

Was at this game, sellout crowd but the atmosphere really did not seem that hostile. There were quite a few Heat fans there as well..

Maybe it's because past the first quarter, the Cavaliers trailed. Was an incredibly boring basketball game to watch as well.

Pretty much. I mean, there was some booing and some "friendly" banter back and forth with one guy who had a "crossed out" Come Home LeBron shirt and a guy who had a pristine one but nothing to write home about. A lot of the Q's "3 Pointer" graphics (particularly the Captain America one) were amusing.