2023-24 Playoff Series #1 | Game #4 | Cavs @ Magic | April 27, 2024

Listen to me RCF.

DO NOT BE UPSET. BE EXCITED.

Sometimes you to take one step back to take two forward. JBB will 100% be fired after losing this series and honestly Koby may be too.

Can you imagine how pissed Dan is right now? It is probably raining fire in the FO right now.

This is a wonderful outcome for us. Let’s hope we can lose the next two, as shitty as it will be in the short term, come June we can begin to have hope again.

Just got done watching this shitshow.
TT and Morris 8 points in 12 minutes.
LeVert and Niang 7 points in 43 minutes.
I really think Morris should replace Niang I the rotation.

Jscc said:

We had two sitting on the bench. Neither saw a single minute. Games like this is when guys like TT and Morris need to see the floor. Especially when Wagner is showboating and JBB sits there like the cuck he is.

Click to expand...

I said it the second Franz taunted Mobley for being on the floor after his basket that there should've been a timeout with Morris or Tristan in there to body him up for that. No changes made after that taunt of course.

2 For The Brew said:

Darius Garland was an all star that year. That wasn’t just Koby’s opinion but a coaches vote. The max offer was not controversial at all at the time.

He’s underperformed the past two seasons, both with injuries, but no question he’s been disappointing. That underperformance happened after the contract was signed.

i have no issue with Koby on this. He made the correct decision based on what was known at the time. Not reasonable to ding him for events afterwards.

Click to expand...

When all the dust settles, this summer will be certainly interesting... That max offer would have been made by probably almost every GM that summer... DG really was not that bad last year, which was his first year with Don...

Mitchell was scoreless in the second half. The knee must be bothering him - that's the only possible explanation.

It's clear the Cavs are better without Garland. They went 18-2 in Jan/Feb when he and Mobley were out at the same time. Mitchell (when healthy) is a fantastic point guard. He's playing out of position because Garland can only play the point. The Garland/Mitchell pairing just doesn't work.

The Cavs' bench was outscored 38-6 with three minutes to go. Beyond embarrassing. We have no bench. Niang is a joke and so is LeVert and Okoro. LeVert is a smaller version of Mobley; skinny, athletic, but just can't shoot.

We can't expect to win with 6'5" guys like LeVert, Strus, and Okoro guarding Franz Wagner. He's 6'10" and very skilled. We needed Dean Wade on him and Mobley on Banchero.

The announcers were gushing about Franz Wagner, who went 13-for-17 for 34 points and 13 rebounds. They started talking about big men who can "do everything"; dribble, shoot 3's, score inside, rebound, defend, pass. Someone said that trend started in Europe and you're seeing guys like Wembanyama who plays like a guard a 7'3". Of course there have been many other Euro bigs who are really skilled like Dirk, Jokic, and Sabonis.

The Cavs' have traditional American bigs who play close to the rim and can't shoot at all. Allen and Mobley are useless more than about six feet from the rim. Watching the Orlando centers Carter and Isaac combine to go 6-for-9 on 3's while Mobley and Allen were 0-for-0 really pointed out the difference. Carter and Isaac are not European, but they play like they are. Same with Banchero. Wagner, of course, is also European.

I'm reluctantly coming to the conclusion that a team with two bigs with no shooting range outside the paint and two small guards simply can't get far in the playoffs in today's NBA, regardless of who is coaching. This team is toast; I don't see how a team can lose by 38 points and then get beat 61-29 in the second half and win the series. After this season it's time to tear it down and start over.

This is a league dominated by big men with skills and the Cavs have zero of those.

bushwick_bill said:

Click to expand...

I strongly disagree with this narrative. What is Mitchell expected to do when the role players around him consistently underperform and the entire knicks strategy is focused on stopping him? It’s an unfair situation. He’s 6’2”. And this year he’s obviously hurt.

I’m not making excuses for this soft ass team collectively, but I am for Mitchell.

At least we’re not Detroit?

bushwick_bill said:

Click to expand...

Let's look at Don's resume.

Seven years in the league. Seven post-seasons. In 40 post-season games prior to coming here, he averaged 28.3 points, 4.7 assists, and 4.9 rebound per game while shooting 37% from 3.

The media needs to start pointing the fingers at the right people and it's not Don. It's one. And he's bald.

Typhoon said:

I strongly disagree with this narrative. What is Mitchell expected to do when the role players around him consistently underperform and the entire knicks strategy is focused on stopping him? It’s an unfair situation. He’s 6’2”. And this year he’s obviously hurt.

I’m not making excuses for this soft ass team collectively, but I am for Mitchell.

Click to expand...

For sure. he also kind of did this in his last playoffs with the Jazz... Again, there is a lot of issues right at the moment and a banged up Don is not helping...

Cavz simply lack the talent to be able to win a playoff series. Time to blow this roster up

Los216 said:

Can’t mortgage your future on this

Click to expand...

Already did, amigo

I'm gonna say the same thing as I said last year: The team being "soft" is a cop out. The idea is that if they just shift their mental mindset, they have all the tools in the world to win in the post-season.

They. Do. Not.


I've beaten this dead horse now for a long time, but hopefully the message is finally starting to take hold. You can't win in 2024 playing like this with this type of lineup as your core of players. This isn't 2004. It sure as shit ain't 1994.


This whole entire make-up doesn't work in the post-season. Not until there are rule changes that make 3 point shooting less desirable.

but even THEN you're seeing more and more big men who can just shoot and handle and the Cavs have zero of them.

And you're seeing less and less small guard combinations because, well, the big men can shoot and handle the ball and you don't need multiple small guards anymore.

And the Cavs have zero of them.


We're just trying to play a line-up that is 20 years past its sell date and a style that is probably 10 years past.


They can play hard as hell and STILL the best they can muster against the Orlando Magic is about 95 points. Like it's 1998 and not 2024.