Game 21: Cleveland Cavaliers (13-7) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (8-13) 8:00 P.M. EST

[Cavatt]

when exactly did we move away from the zone? looked like it was working, im genuinely interested.

We played like garbage tonight. That being said, there were a handful of realy weird calls against us tonight. But, we deserved to lose regardless.

Westbrook broke the zone.

 

[Rich]

Take a look at tonight's shot chart, and especially Westbrook's.

That's why we won't beat teams from the West in a finals playoff. We need a dominating center.

Who the hell was Miami running at Center the two years they won the finals? Some unholy combination of Bosh, Haslam, Birdman and the rare appearance of Joel Anthony. Does that seem dominant?

And are all teams in the West like OKC? They don't all have rim attacking guards. The best team in the league, Golden State, is comprised of guards who kick your ass shooting endless amounts of jump shots. I can only imagine being matched up in the Finals with them where this unknown shot blocking center is all but worthless as Curry and Thompson rain down 3s all night.

Look, I'm not against getting a shot blocker. It's always good to improve your weaknesses. But I also don't believe that one is necessary to win a title.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

Eh. No. Not happening.


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Really? I will bet you anything we acquire a center by the All Star Break.

 

[Kizzle]

Flat out OKC was supposed to win that one

This ain't the loss to get mad at or to really take anything big from

 

[corn daddy]

Really? I will bet you anything we acquire a center by the All Star Break.

Cool. We're not trading waiters for koufos though. Its not happening and it's not even a discussion


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[Sebastian]

Don't feel too bad after this one.

1. No James and we led for most of the first half and were tied at halftime.

2. Kyrie didn't have a good game and yet we made a battle of it.

3. Love's defense will never be elite but his offense can be a force if we get him the ball in the right places. He's always drawn fouls at a high rate and we saw that at the end of the game. He should have had 18-20 shots tonight rather than Andy and Marion and Dion putting up all of their shots. I think h could have had a 30 point game ha we run the offense differently.

4. Marion is a space killer. Nobody's guarding him and he still didn't make a three. Wish Miller were available tonight. JJ got four great looks and didn't knock down a single one.

5. Tristan made some defensive mistakes, but he did once again offensive rebound like crazy. At this point inexpect him to come up with loose balls and ORebs.

6. Delly. What the hell else can you say about this guy? His shooting stroke looks a lot better. The energy and defense were there. Made a few bad turnovers but still, +7 today.

7. Defense overall was decent for long stretches. The intensity turned up once down 20 and that was great to see.

8. Durant was crap for most of the game which helped things.

9. Wish we had run more of our offense at the end of the third and and beginning of the fourth before we got down big but it wasn't to be.

10. 10. Really surprised to see Harris and Kyrie's defensive assignments there at the end.

Don't feel too badly about this much like the San Antonio game in which he had outplayed them for long stretches.

Blatt needs to get Love more involved and Love needs to move around more. If he moved like AV, he'd be getting five more touches a game. But, can't help but wonder if AV and TT disrupts Love's mojo or something.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

Cool. We're not trading waiters for koufos though. Its not happening and it's not even a discussion


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Who tf mentioned Koufos?

 

[corn daddy]

Who tf mentioned Koufos?

No one. I am all sorts of off tonight. Read your post as the Memphis center. Yeah, that's about my 8th mistake tonight. Lol my bad. But I don't think we're trading waiters.


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[All4One1ForAll]

No one. I am all sorts of off tonight. Read your post as the Memphis center. Yeah, that's about my 8th mistake tonight. Lol my bad. But I don't think we're trading waiters.


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It's okay.......rook

 

[Dungong]

Ibaka was killing it, basically canceled out Love the whole game. Without Lebron this just becomes a tough tough matchup. I'm just glad that Kyrie looks ok, I was expected a sprained knee and out for 4 weeks at best when he went down and stayed down. The replay looked ugly.

Coming back from down 20 in the 4th was huge, but just couldnt sustain the run long enough. OKC really cranked up the D and passing up the one open look on the possession just led to a bad shot or TO, but the looks were there.

Not sure what Lebrons status is for tomorrow but I wouldnt be surprised if we come out flat, this game was exhausting and Kyrie and Love played huge minutes.

 

[wremy]

I don't have TNT, but from the box score it seems like if we had managed to shoot 40% tonight we could have won.

I expected Kevin Love to more offensively dominant - or at least reliable -- than he has been so far.

we missed a ton of easy shots.. and and he isn't going to be dominant when he doesn't get enough touches.. it's pretty simple.. during the win streak he is avg 19 ppg on 54% shooting.. if that was his % in Minny he'd be avg 35ppg... it is what it is

 

[Rich]

I just...the Kevin Love needs touches thing. Guys, did you not realize that the offense was not going to run through him on a team with LeBron James? That his shot attempts were going to go way down? Was this not obvious? I mean, I get tonight LBJ wasn't in the game but it's not easy to just suddenly change your style of play mid-season and feed a guy the ball and have the team play off of him when they haven't done it all year. And this complaint has been getting lodged nightly. He's not gonna get 18+ shots here. They aren't going to give him the ball and run the offense through him when, instead, they can run it through LeBron James.

I dunno, I thought this was pretty well understood at the time of the trade.

 

[Simmy]

At least we have LBJ to guard Durant in future matchups but who's gonna guard Westbrook? Dude is flat out unguardable.

Westbrook may be unguardable but I'm pretty certain we also have one of those running the point for the home team as well. Let 'em go at each other I say:

"This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object." - The Joker

 

[Sticker114]

I just...the Kevin Love needs touches thing. Guys, did you not realize that the offense was not going to run through him on a team with LeBron James? That his shot attempts were going to go way down? Was this not obvious? I mean, I get tonight LBJ wasn't in the game but it's not easy to just suddenly change your style of play mid-season and feed a guy the ball and have the team play off of him when they haven't done it all year. And this complaint has been getting lodged nightly. He's not gonna get 18+ shots here. They aren't going to give him the ball and run the offense through him when, instead, they can run it through LeBron James.

I dunno, I thought this was pretty well understood at the time of the trade.

Completely agree.
Just feel like they're not looking to K Love enough in the post when the offense is out of sorts or the opposing team goes on a run. A Love post up is a great way to get a bucket/foul and stabilize our offense. We panicked when OKC went on a run and tried playing ISO ball (especially in the 3rd).

 

[JFT]

Who the hell was Miami running at Center the two years they won the finals? Some unholy combination of Bosh, Haslam, Birdman and the rare appearance of Joel Anthony. Does that seem dominant?

And are all teams in the West like OKC? They don't all have rim attacking guards. The best team in the league, Golden State, is comprised of guards who kick your ass shooting endless amounts of jump shots. I can only imagine being matched up in the Finals with them where this unknown shot blocking center is all but worthless as Curry and Thompson rain down 3s all night.

Look, I'm not against getting a shot blocker. It's always good to improve your weaknesses. But I also don't believe that one is necessary to win a title.

Yes, Bosh, Haslam, Birdman worked...very well. We basically have Andy at center, and if he goes down we are not going anywhere. TT is great but not a true big. That is a huge gap.

The best guards are clearly in the West.

If you're not against a defensive center being added to the Cavs, then why argue. We very clearly could use one.