Game Thread | Game #11 | Cavs @ Kings | Nov. 9, 2022

[Jake]

Hate to lose games like this. I kind of think Garland is struggling with how good Mitchell has been and it's effecting his play. He thought he was the man and it's clear there's a new top dog now.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

I know it sounds that easy, but when Wade starts having 1/6 from 3 performances and contributes nothing else on offense, it's going to be back to square one.

We need to give it a go. He needs to build chemistry with the starters. He just gives you more than LeVert when we have two ball handlers. We need them both to be engaged.

I hated watching Garland last night, and that rarely happens for me. He looks injured or something and isn't looking too happy compared to his normal self. It's worrying to me. I want them both to be happy with their usage and I want them both to play their game.

LeVert was excellent last night, but it's not what we need right now. We need that size and low usage right now.

Markannen helped us defensively because he gave us that 3rd rim protector rebounder when we got beat on the perimeter. We could switch more effectively and always have a rim protector on the rotate. Wade doesn't have Lauri's size, but he is better in that regard compared to LeVert.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Hate to lose games like this. I kind of think Garland is struggling with how good Mitchell has been and it's effecting his play. He thought he was the man and it's clear there's a new top dog now.

That's what I feared. But JBB has to do a better job. He must.

 

[Smooth]

 

[Jscc]

We need to give it a go. He needs to build chemistry with the starters. He just gives you more than LeVert when we have two ball handlers. We need them both to be engaged.

Mitchell's chemistry with our starting bigs isn't where it needs to be. LeVert's chemistry with the bigs is good, particularly JA. I'm afraid if you take him out, JA and Mobley are going to be even less involved.

 

[red.]

 

[Jscc]

But putting all that aside, I think the current problems are DG's health and the defense. Fix those two and we aren't having conversations about lineup changes.

 

[Dr. Claw]

Kind of felt we should have seen Wade and Neto more last night, especially since Darius was sitting. Bringing in Cedi and Love did seem to help. But the defense was atrocious. Looked like last year where opponents would find the perimeter over and over and over. They could not miss from 3.

Was looking forward to a Golden State destruction but .... may not happen now with that level of defense

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

A few thoughts:

1) They should consider DG as a sixth man
2) All this talk about the Cavs not needing LeBron, they still do. Please come home.
3) Mobley’s ceiling is probably the second or third best player on a good team
4) I could see the Cavs as a 7 seed again

Any other wild overreactions I should list? You know they are coming!

 

[macbdog]

Kind of felt we should have seen Wade and Neto more last night, especially since Darius was sitting. Bringing in Cedi and Love did seem to help. But the defense was atrocious. Looked like last year where opponents would find the perimeter over and over and over. They could not miss from 3.

Was looking forward to a Golden State destruction but .... may not happen now with that level of defense

Golden State is gonna be a bloodbath at this rate.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

The Cavs' defense doesn't show up for the second game in a row. First they allow the Clippers, averaging 101 points, to score 119 and now they let the Kings get 10 points over their average. The Cavs are getting beat off the dribble and going around screens, leaving their bigs trying to guard the ball and also the lob simultaneously.

The Cavs allowed the Kings to score 69 points in the first half to put themselves in a hole. This is the third time they've done that. They allowed 75 first half points to Boston but came back to win. Obviously the Kings have some offensive talent but the Cavs let them shoot 52.6% overall and 43.6% on 3's. That's not going to cut it from the NBA's 2nd ranked defense.

"We didn't come out and play the game purposefully." - JBB

Mitchell had a magnificent game with 38 points. In what could be a big development, Levert got his mojo back with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Hopefully he's got his confidence back and we'll continue to see games like this.

Garland had one of the worst games of his career, going 1-for-9 from the field with 4 turnovers. If he just has an average or even below average game - we win. I'm wondering if he's not fully recovered from missing a couple of weeks.

For the second game in a row he missed a big free throw late. He also committed three straight turnovers to start the 4th quarter.

The Kings' bench came through with 43 points. Monk and Lyles were awesome, combining for 30 points and 7-for-12 on 3's. Between them they average 19. Their bench dominated the Cavs' bench 43-19.

The Kings scored 18 points off turnovers to only 6 for the Cavs. That was the difference, along with Garland scoring only 6 points in 34 minutes.

The Cavs were outscored 10-3 over the last 2.5 minutes after the score was tied 117-117. The Kings executed, the Cavs didn't. They committed two turnovers, one an illegal screen by Mobley.

Dallas was beaten by Orlando last night. The Magic came in 2-9. There are upsets every night in the NBA. Chalk this one up to a really bad night by Garland, a bad night by the defense, and some great shooting by the Kings' bench, which outscored the Cavs' bench by 24 points in a 7-point win.

 

[macbdog]

A few thoughts:

1) They should consider DG as a sixth man
2) All this talk about the Cavs not needing LeBron, they still do. Please come home.
3) Mobley’s ceiling is probably the second or third best player on a good team
4) I could see the Cavs as a 7 seed again

Any other wild overreactions I should list? You know they are coming!

JBB has gone from being JB Auerbach to JB Lucas.

 

[Smooth]

To @RchfldCavRaised, the current starting lineup has a net rating of -15.4 and +/- of -4.6..

Sub in Wade for Garland, net rating is +23.6 and +/- is +3.1..

There’s not enough lineup data to layout Garland, Mitchell, Wade, Mobley and Allen but there’s a decent sample size to say the LeVert, Garland and Mitchell pairing is struggling to adapt and could be part to blame for slow starts.. That threesome has a net rating of -9.8 and defensive rating of 115.8..

Not sure a move is right just yet given the early season injuries but peripheries are pointing to one at some point..

 

[Jscc]

The Cavs' defense doesn't show up for the second game in a row. First they allow the Clippers, averaging 101 points, to score 119 and now they let the Kings get 10 points over their average. The Cavs are getting beat off the dribble and going around screens, leaving their bigs trying to guard the ball and also the lob simultaneously.

I'm starting to get the feeling we are asking Mobley and JA to do too much defensively. When Mobley starts telling his guards the defense he expects from them, it might be time to find ways to make their jobs easier.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

"We've gotten into this habit, and it's my responsibility, to allow people to play freely at the start of games and then turn it on in the second half. It's arrogant basketball...We need to play Cavaliers' basketball, not hero ball, not my turn, not selfish defensively, not executing the game plan, not paying attention to individual players' tendencies, we'll have nights like this." - JBB