Game Thread | Game #24 | Cavs @ Knicks | Dec. 4, 2022

[CavsFaninNJ]

Terrible game to watch in person. Just painful. Even when they pulled within 6 in the final few minutes, the body language from everyone except Cedi was terrible (to his credit, he’s almost always relatively upbeat). I knew they didn’t have it in them to pull it out.

Yuck. I don’t even have a coherent critique based on this game. The team played bad - Mitchell and Garland especially. Also, Allen has an understated impact on the offensive end.

 

[Dr No]

Missed this one. Our Achilles heel this year has been physical defenses. Looking at the score and who we were playing, I’m assuming we didn’t get it figured out.

 

[Pierre Pan]

Terrible game to watch in person. Just painful. Even when the pulled within 6 in the final few minutes, they body language from everyone except Cedi was terrible (to his credit, he’s almost always relatively upbeat). I knew they didn’t have it in them to pull it out.

Yuck. I don’t even have a coherent critique based on this game. The team played bad - Mitchell and Garland especially. Also, Allen has an understated impact on the offensive end.

I certainly don’t see us going far without JA. He may be our most important player. We breezed through games without DG, but not without JA.

 

[stick]

Why??? He gets the ball inside a lot and gets fidgety and dribbles away from the basket or passes it back outside!

Mobley getting the ball in different positions and different ways in the half court breaks up the monotony of the Cavs offensive slog, he makes pretty good decisions there, the guards were cold. Worth a try.

Cavs got back into the game in the second quarter because they changed their approach, Mobley was getting more touches, they were getting transition baskets off stops.

Early in the third quarter, there was a good play where a fake screen was used, there was a catch at the free throw line, bounce pass back to DG, then a missed layup. It was a good look and I don't think they went back to that.

Cavs did adjust and started their possessions with 19-20 seconds in the shot clock instead of 13ish seconds eventually, guards on the wings, less on ball screens, and scrounged together some semblance of rhythm, but it wasn't enough unfortunately.

 

[melecoaze]

In more ways than just missing a bunch of shots too.

They combined to really take the Cavs out of any offensive rhythm. They stopped the ball. They took some awful, momentum killing shots, they missed some wide open guys.

With a guy like Mitchell who's a scorer at heart that is bound to happen sometimes. He was brought to be this dude.

The biggest problem right now is Garland trying to play the same game. He's the dude who was supposed to be the floor general and not let the offense descend into this mess.

Our offense too often is basically them taking turns like some worse version of LeBron and Kyrie iso. And LeBron was a better PG than both.

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

I certainly don’t see us going far without JA. He may be our most important player. We breezed through games without DG, but not without JA.

I have a lot of respect for Mobley down there, and I think the defense was solid tonight, but without Allen as the anchor, Mobley’s roaming around contesting shots isn’t as effective. When they pulled within 6 tonight, for example, with Allen the Cavs would have had a chance to put on the clamps on and take a lead. Couldn’t get critical stops.

But the lack of offense was so glaring I can’t even get on the defense tonight. It was rough.

Let’s hope they can smack LeBron at home on national TV to move to 16-9 and get this bad taste out their mouths.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

I hope by the start of next season our bench will be 80-90% different

Our bench isn’t awful, but we need to move on from Okoro, and maybe Love, if he is going to pout, when things don’t go his way. One can expect problems, tho, when both Stevens and Diakite have to start. Those guys are fine bench players.

One can ALSO expect problems when both Garland and Spida are off. Garland, in particular, is still adjusting to being second banana. He’s still making too many bad decisions and taking too many bad shots.

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

I certainly don’t see us going far without JA. He may be our most important player. We breezed through games without DG, but not without JA.

Players in the big 4 who I’d rather have miss a game, in order:

1. Garland
2. Mobley
3. Allen
4. Mitchell

If we got to have one guy miss, it’s Garland. Far cry from last year, where Garland was the most important player - but Mitchell is just so explosive that he is capable of picking up his load. No one else can cover for anyone like that.

 

[daddywags]

I didn't see the whole game, but I think it's weird that Mitchell played 40 minutes and was +2, while Garland played 39 minutes and netted -17.

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

I didn't see the whole game, but I think it's weird that Mitchell played 40 minutes and was +2, while Garland played 39 minutes and netted -17.

There was at least one really brutal stretch with Mitchell sitting - I think the middle one f the first quarter was particularly bad. And since they only sit one of them at a time, Garland was out there.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

Terrible game to watch in person. Just painful. Even when they pulled within 6 in the final few minutes, the body language from everyone except Cedi was terrible (to his credit, he’s almost always relatively upbeat). I knew they didn’t have it in them to pull it out.

Yuck. I don’t even have a coherent critique based on this game. The team played bad - Mitchell and Garland especially. Also, Allen has an understated impact on the offensive end.

Yeah Allen’s screening and vertical spacing are pretty big for our offense. Garland especially looks uncomfortable without him in there. And then our paint protection just isn’t the same without him in there. People on here continuously undervalue his presence, and it’s been laughable to see people suggest he needs to be traded eventually so Mobley can be a full-time center.

 

[Gimme Some Mo]

What does Okoro have to do to finally be the nail in the coffin? He has 3 years of suckage under his belt. Has a player ever gotten this much of an opportunity? This dude has been gift wrapped a career for fuck sake. Bizarre situation.

I'm probably dreaming when I say "when we're fully healthy" because that doesn't seem likely to ever happen with this team unfortunately... But yea, when we're fully healthy I can't see Okoro playing much at all.

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

Yeah Allen’s screening and vertical spacing are pretty big for our offense. Garland especially looks uncomfortable without him in there. And then our paint protection just isn’t the same without him in there. People on here continuously undervalue his presence, and it’s been laughable to see people suggest he needs to be traded eventually so Mobley can be a full-time center.

Agree 100%, especially with the bolded. I know Mobley has a softer touch and a higher ceiling and more youth… but Allen is more impactful today.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

And yeah Garland has honestly been disappointing for me lately. He ran the offense so much better last year. He keeps trying to play like Curry when he should be playing like Nash.

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

And yeah Garland has honestly been disappointing for me lately. He ran the offense so much better last year. He keeps trying to play like Curry when he should be playing like Nash.

Is it just me or is he playing with less joy than before? He just doesn’t seem the same.