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Wham's Game Preview: Cavs vs Nets
Coming off an overtime win over the first place T-Wolves, who were on the second night of a back-to-back on the road, the Cavs take on the Brooklyn Nets, also on the second night of a BTB on the road. The Cavs enjoyed a rest day at home. Sometimes the schedule is in your favor. Brooklyn is 25-39 overall, 9-21 on the road, and has lost 11 of their last 16. They are 0-3 against the Cavs this year, having lost the season opener and then two more in January and February. They are playing their 3rd game in four nights. The Nets are in 11th place, a full 4.5 games out of 10th place and the last play-in spot with 18 games to play. They’re in desperation mode. Or maybe not. It's probably better to get into the draft lottery than finishing in...
RCF Recap: Cavs top Timberwolves
Two national TV games the last week, and the Cavs win both against the conference’s best teams – without, Max Strus, Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell, just as everyone expected. In a game against two of the slower, better defending teams matched up, it certainly lived up to the billing. The pace leveled out at 92, and the Cavs defensive rating was 102 while the Timberwolves was 110.8. The Cavs didn’t hit double digits in the first quarter until a Georges Niang three put him at 11 points at the 4:30 mark. Yes, it was tough sledding for the Cavs early. There were three turnovers prior, and a lot of missed shots in the restricted area. While the Timberwolves were getting inside, the Cavs were getting there but not converting (see: Gobert)...
Wham's Game Preview: Cavs vs T'Wolves
The Cavs return home and after a much needed off day take on the Minnesota Timberwolves for the first time this season. The Wolves lead the Western Conference with a record of 44-19, second best in the NBA to Boston. They are 21-11 on the road. The game is on ESPN. Normally this looks like a sure loss with Mitchell, Mobley, and Strus out, but the Cavs have a couple of things going for them. One is that the Wolves played at Indiana Thursday night so they will be on the second night of a back-to-back on the road. Two is that their All-Star C/PF Karl-Anthony Towns is out with a torn knee meniscus, just announced yesterday. Towns is their second-leading scorer and rebounder at 22 points and 8 rebounds per game. He’s shooting 52% from the...
RCF Recap: Dean goes streaking, Cavs end Celtics streak
Everything was going wrong for the Cavs… until it wasn’t. Not until Dean Wade? This is a game the Cavs shouldn’t have won, and likely lose 99 times out of 100. The Celtics had a 99.9%-win probability with nine minutes left in the game. But somehow, they did just enough to steal this win and end the Celtics 11 game win streak. No Donovan Mitchell, no Max Strus, and an early Evan Mobley exit, although the latter may have helped them in the end. Sam Merrill got the start for JB Bickerstaff as they attempted to fill out a rotation that had some key injuries. Somehow, Merrill had 0 3PA in just over five first quarter minutes. Hard to imagine with his quick trigger, and the Cavs needing offense. Jarrett Allen scored more first quarter points...
Wham's Game Preview: Cavs vs Celtics
After laying a massive egg against a depleted Knicks squad missing four starters the Cavs get a day off before another home game against the not-so-depleted Boston Celtics, owner of the best winning percentage in the league by 100 points. The Celtics are 48-12 overall and 19-9 on the road. They have won 11 straight and their average margin of victory in those games was 22 points. They had two 50-point wins in that span. Sunday they beat Golden State by 52. The W’s had won 10 of their last 12 before getting absolutely smoked by the Celtics in the Garden. It was 82-38 at halftime. In the end it was the third biggest blowout in Celtics’ history as they caught the weary Warriors on their fourth road game in six nights. The Celtics have...
RCF Recap: Cavs crack, fall to Knicks
That one hurt. Bad. It’s a regular season game, and there’s still double-digit games left, but that’s one of those games that just doesn’t sit right. Jalen Brunson went out on the first play of the game with a non-contact injury. That put the Knicks down Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, and OG Anunoboy. That’s four of the five regular Knicks starters. Now, the Cavs were without Caris LeVert and Donovan Mitchell, but they were at home and still had Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and Darius Garland. That should be enough to win. But it wasn’t. The Cavs were outcoached and outplayed. Not for the entire game but most of the game, and especially when it mattered most. That’s hard to stomach, especially looking forward to the playoffs. The night...
Wham's Game Preview: Cavs vs Knicks
The Cavs return home to take on the New York Knicks for the third and final time this season. These teams have not played since they split two games in the first week of the season, four months ago. Since then the Knicks are a much different team, having traded Barrett, Quickley and Grimes while Randle and Robinson are out with injuries. They’ve added Achiuwa, Burks, Bogdanovic, and Anunoby, but Anunoby is also out. The Knicks are 35-25 overall and 15-14 on the road. With their entire starting front line of Robinson, Randle, and Anunoby out they have lost 8 of their last 11. The wins have come against lottery teams Detroit and Memphis, and against Philly without Embiid. Their most recent losses were to Golden State by 11, New Orleans...
RCF Recap: Cavs shoot past Pistons
Well, the Cavs are back to their winning ways beating an opponent by double digits – although it got a lot closer in the end then it was all game. The Cavs led the entire game and were able to do all of it without Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert. The Cavs came out hot and ran hot for most of the game. They started the game on a 11-0 run. However, the Pistons quickly responded with seven straight points and went on their own 14-3 run. Part of that was turnovers as they had three turnovers in the first six minutes, and it turned into five first quarter turnovers. They’ve gone in and out of mistake prone basketball of late, and it’s part of the reason they’ve seen some severe highs and lows throughout games. The ball and player movement...
Wham's Game Preview: Cavs @ Pistons
The Cavs head into a very busy March as they head to Detroit to play their 4th game in six days. The Pistons are 9-49 overall and 4-24 at home, so on paper this looks like an easy win. That will probably not be the case, however, as the Pistons have definitely not quit on the season. Three nights ago they beat the Bulls on the road 105-95, the day before the Bulls beat the Cavs. The game before that the Pistons lost by 2 points to the Knicks in New York on an egregious non-call. And the game before that they lost by 3 points to Orlando. The Pistons have been very competitive against good teams in the last week. They are not packing it in by any means. The Cavs are 3-0 this year against the Pistons, winning by 8, 9, and 7 points. The...
Thread 'How Four Factors Factored Into Cavalier Success (And Failure)'
What factor(s) define winning in the NBA? For Dean Oliver, one of the forefathers of analytics in the NBA, it comes down to four factors: 40% - Shooting efficiency measured by effective field goal percentage (eFG%). Formula: (FGM + 0.5 x 3PM) / FGA. This accounts for 3PMs being worth more than 2PMs. 25% - Turnovers measured by turnover rate (TOV%). Formula: TOV / (FGA x 0.44 x FTA + TOV). This evaluates how many possessions end in a turnover. 20% - Offensive rebounding measured by...
Thread 'From Garland to Harden: For Better or For Worse?'
Deadlines inspire action. The 2026 offseason was set to be the pivot point -- Donovan Mitchell’s player option would be a year away; Jarrett Allen’s three-year extension would kick in and his salary would jump to $28M; Darius Garland would be extension eligible; it might have been the first year in the 2nd Apron which starts the draft pick penalty clock; and the Cavs would be coming off a fourth playoff run with the core four confirming its stature as boom or bust. From there, the Cavs and...
Thread 'Deep Dive: The Fit & Finances of Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis'
THE Trade THE Financials There are a talent component and a financial component, and both are drivers for this deal. The apron era has forced teams to be quicker in their decision making in that they literally, and figuratively, cannot afford to wait around. Teams can spend time, and money, in the apron era when play and production permit. But when play and production don’t align with the finances, apron penalties and restrictions have forced teams to be more critical what and on...
Thread 'Evaluating A New Dean Wade Contract'
As each Cavalier contract is up the question always is: What are they worth? RealCavsFans has developed a methodology over the years to project contracts based on comparable players and their deals on the open market. Next up: Dean Wade. Previous Years Evaluating a new Caris LeVert contract Evaluating a new Ty Jerome contract Evaluating a new Sam Merrill contract Evaluating a new Isaac Okoro contract In President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman’s end-of-year press conference...
Thread 'RCF's 2026 Trade Deadline Guide'
Deadline day is approaching. February 5 at 3PM(ET) is when pens and pencils have to be down and teams can no longer make transactions with one another. The buyout market will be open but the trade market will be closed. Since the core four was formed, President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman has gone through three trade deadlines. He's made just one deadline trade over that time period -- the De'Andre Hunter move last deadline. Prior to the core four, Altman had made a trade by the...
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