Game Thread | Game #13 | Timberwolves @ Cavs | Nov. 13, 2020

[Dr. Claw]

Individual stats

Starters:
Stevens 15-6-1 with a block in 30 minutes. Good SF!
Love 14-5-4 in 29 minutes. Off shooting 3-11
Mobley 4-13-3 with 2 steals
LeVert 13-5-5 with a block in 27 minutes
Garland 51-2-6 with a steal in 40 minutes 16-31 FG 10-15 from 3. He's back!

Bench: 27-9-3 in 29 minutes
Neto 0-0- in 5 minutes
Lopez 5-2-0 in 16 minutes
Osman 14-4-2 in 28 minutes
Diakite 0-0-0 in 2 minutes
Okoro 8-3-1 with 3 steals and good defense in 29 minutes

that was a quiet 14 from Cedi. Felt like I noticed the Okoro impact way more.

 

[hud11]

Stevens needs to get more burn, completely unacceptable for him not to play.

 

[redscoon]

Didn’t get to watch. Was Stevens as good as the box score shows? Maybe JB accidentally stumbles across a piece that can be used.

 

[Benway]

I HATE to waste a Cavalanche.

 

[Futuredome]

Stevens needs to get more burn, completely unacceptable for him not to play.

Especially with Wade down. Should play every night

 

[LeQuit]

So the question now ,my friends: how do we stop this long-lasting downfall of ours?

 

[jjvors]

Darius and Mobley make the NBA Stat boards:

POINTS​

---

1.	Darius GarlandCLE	51
2.	Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderOKC	37
3.	D'Angelo RussellMIN	30
4.	Karl-Anthony TownsMIN	29
5.	Cam ReddishNYK	26

REBOUNDS​

---

1.	Evan MobleyCLE	13
1.	Karl-Anthony TownsMIN	13
3.	Rudy GobertMIN	12
4.	Kyle KuzmaWAS	11
5.	Steven AdamsMEM	10

THREE POINTERS MADE​

---

1.	Darius GarlandCLE	10
2.	Kristaps PorzingisWAS	6
3.	Deni AvdijaWAS	4
3.	D'Angelo RussellMIN	4
5.	Santi AldamaMEM	3

FREE THROWS MADE​

---

1.	Taurean PrinceMIN	10
2.	Darius GarlandCLE	9
2.	Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderOKC	9
4.	Julius RandleNYK	8
5.	Jalen BrunsonNYK	7

FANTASY POINTS​

---

1.	Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderOKC	64.0
2.	Darius GarlandCLE	63.4
3.	Karl-Anthony TownsMIN	53.1
4.	D'Angelo RussellMIN	51.4
5.	Josh GiddeyOKC	51.0

 

[letgocavs]

So the question now ,my friends: how fo we stop this long-lasting downfall of ours?

That's a good question. After Wednesday that'll be 5 in a row.

 

[Real Deal]

I actually like this

 

[ryanf]

having no inbounds play out of the pocket is a mortal sin for coaches. international teams practice this shit.

 

[jjvors]

They beat us on every stat. With better FTs, we win. We did have 5 more 3s than they did.​

LINESCORES​

TEAM	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	FINAL
MIN	40	27	37	25	129
CLE	20	30	34	40	124

TEAM	PITP	FB PTS	BIG LD	BPTS	TREB	TOV	TTOV	POT
MIN	54	16	24	36	8	13	0	19
CLE	42	4	3	27	11	10	0	13

Minnesota Timberwolves Cleveland Cavaliers
PTS129124
REB55 51
AST30 22
STL5 6
BLK5 2
TO13 10
FG%56.1 44.9
3P%50.0 50.0
FT%73.5 69.2

 

[CavzAddict]

Fought to the bitter end. The slow start and all the points given up in the paint really fucked us. I'm tired of mentioning the missef fts.

I hope we got the Darius back. He really needed a game like this to get him going.

 

[Dr No]

So the question now ,my friends: how do we stop this long-lasting downfall of ours?

First, get healthy. Down our best player, our defensive anchor, and our most versatile bench contributor tonight. We have too many holes without Mitchell, Allen & Wade. Second, get Mitchell and Garland playing well together. They’ve both gone off without the other. Need them to figure out how to do it together.

 

[Ohioplayer00]

I actually like this

Isn’t that what Custer said at the Little Big Horn?

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

The Cavs refuse to give up and score 40 in the 4th quarter to make it close at the end. Garland with a franchise record 27 points in the 4th. When the first quarter ended at 40-20 I thought the rest of the game would be garbage time.

So frustrating to lose this game on 12 missed free throws. Also, D'Angelo Russell, who was shooting 38% overall and 30% on 3's, went 11-for-13 and 4-for-5 from deep. Why did he finally find his stroke against us?

However, part of it was shooting over Garland with a big height advantage which made it easier.

What turned out to be huge was an innocuous play at the end of the first half. Garland launched a 3-point running buzzer beater that went in. His momentum carried him right to the rim and the ball came right to him as it went through the hoop. With time expired he grabbed the ball and for some reason tossed it into Gobert's chest, who was standing right there. He might have not even seen Rudy and was just tossing it off the court but it hit Gobert.

Garland got a technical. Bickerstaff was incensed because it seemed obvious Garland didn't mean to do it. So JBB got a technical as well. The second half started with Prince hitting two free throws. Those two points turned out to be huge in the final minute with the Cavs down by two and forced to foul.

Also contributing to the loss was Love missing four wide open 3's in the first quarter and Cedi throwing a pass behind LeVert on a breakaway that would have been an easy layup but was fumbled away.

So many chances to win.

But the biggest positive, which overshadows the loss, is Garland returning to form after going 6-for-28 in his last two games. The real Darius Garland is back and better than ever. 51 points and 6 assists, so he was involved in 63 points. Once we get Mitchell, Allen, and Wade back this team will be very, very hard to beat.

The other positive is Lamar Stevens with 15 points and 6 rebounds in 30 minutes. He made a case for more playing time, IMO.

In crunch time JBB went with the guys who were playing well. LeVert, Love, and Mobley were not having very good games, particularly Mobley who had 4 points (and 4 missed free throws) in 32 minutes, although he chipped in 13 rebounds.

JBB went with a wierd lineup of Garland, Cedi, Okoro, Stevens, and Lopez down the stretch (only one starter!), and they responded and almost pulled it out. Anthony Edwards buried a pull-up 15-foot jumper and then the Wolves got lucky and grabbed a long rebound off a missed 3.

In the end getting the real Darius Garland back and Lamar Stevens having a good 30 minutes will mean more in the long run than a win tonight. But I'm still pissed about the double technical when it seemed clear that Garland was not taunting. But the refs can't read minds, they have to call what they see.