2023-23 Season | Game #82 | Hornets @ Cavs | April 14, 2024 | 1:00 p.m.

[2 For The Brew]

Bruh your sarcasm is getting to be a bit much. But thanks.

All’s fair in love and hating on JBB.

 

[ClevelandOwnz]

I'd rather progress as far in the playoffs as possible, and that means home court for as long as you can keep it. Preferring to face Boston on the road in the second round seems to be settling for the idea that we win one series then get bounced.

Who says it's going to be Boston?

I don't fear Boston as a juggernaut in the playoffs. They realistically will have to play Philly or Miami. Who knows if they even get out of that series.

 

[Green Lantern]

Broadcast said in the first half the plan was for starters to play limited minutes..

That combined with the rest the starters received in sitting out of the game the message was simple: Hope for the best, and get out healthy..

With that being said, losing with how things turned out hurts more since Cavs could have gotten the Indy/Orlando matchup they wanted but also a division title and avoiding Boston in 2nd round to boot..

I wanted to see them win and perhaps lock up the second spot. But now seeing the Bucks lost...really irritating. Could have won the Central..

 

[scene42]

I think they are just happy to be there this year.

Orlando is a shit road team, not the greatest offense, and probably both team are equal as far as coaching goes.

I love our chances.

I think they’ll be a tough out. Indy, however, would’ve been nice.

 

[Tlyons]

Realistically the Sixers are a top 3 seed when healthy. Mind you they added a top 3pt shooter in the league at the deadline.

You absolutely avoid them if this is the way you can go about doing it.

 

[OldSkool]

They won't play for a week lmfao

Still wear and tear.

Broadcast said in the first half the plan was for starters to play limited minutes..

That combined with the rest the starters received in sitting out of the game the message was simple: Hope for the best, and get out healthy..

With that being said, losing with how things turned out hurts more since Cavs could have gotten the Indy/Orlando matchup they wanted but also a division title and avoiding Boston in 2nd round to boot..

Totally disagree. Division title is essentially worthless. Kind of like drinking non alcoholic beer. You couldn't know that NY was going to win what with the game being played after the the Cavs game started. Hindsight, of course, is 20/20 but I'd rather be certain that Cavs wouldn't face 76ers in the first round. We couldn't beat them WITHOUT Embiid. What makes you think we could with him playing? I'd rather take our chances with Boston in the 2nd round.

 

[ClevelandOwnz]

I think they’ll be a tough out. Indy, however, would’ve been nice.

It'll def be ugly but I have Cavs in 6 right now.

 

[ClevelandOwnz]

Still wear and tear.

Totally disagree. Division title is essentially worthless. Kind of like drinking non alcoholic beer. You couldn't know that NY was going to win what with the game being played after the the Cavs game started. Hindsight, of course, is 20/20 but I'd rather be certain that Cavs wouldn't face 76ers in the first round. We couldn't beat them WITHOUT Embiid. What makes you think we could with him playing? I'd rather take our chances with Boston in the 2nd round.

THIS THIS THIS

 

[Green Lantern]

Who says it's going to be Boston?

I don't fear Boston as a juggernaut in the playoffs. They realistically will have to play Philly or Miami. Who knows if they even get out of that series.

Here's the real issue..no team in the EC is a juggernaut, but a few are really potent teams to face. The Cavs outside of that run they had in the first half of the season have been way too inconsistent and flighty..they play horrible against teams they should hammer but then play respectable against teams on and over their level ...if they aren't blowing leads toward the end of the game.
So we don't know what team is going to show up once their series does begin...hope I said that right.

 

[bushwick_bill]

 

[Smooth]

Eh, I don't think there's any cognitive dissonance in both

1. being disappointed in an embarrassing first-round loss and
2. being disappointed in the team throwing a game to triangulate for optimal first-round match-up which (arguably) positions us poorly for the second round.

I know we might disagree about the intentionality of throwing the match, but here's my case: there was plenty of chance for JA, Evan, Max, Isaac to get injured in their minutes through the game, including the 4th quarter. That was not injury prevention. The lineup for the last 5 minutes accomplished its goal.

View attachment 19754

And apologies for the long post, but to continue the point on dissonance: I actually think there's quite a bit of continuity between being disappointed in last year's first-round loss and being disappointed in this afternoon's choices.

Both are characterized by short-sighted, fear-driven decision making.

• In the CLE-NYK series case, one example is all the hedging we did with Jarrett towards towards Brunson. Great, you contained him pretty darn well. But that was a short-sighted move that contributed to our decimation on the boards, when you could have just trusted a great defender in Okoro. (Caris also did well on Brunson, IIRC.)
• Today, the Cavs went for certainty and safety. You got the Magic, congrats. But the Knicks, who were trailing earlier, went out and finished off the win. We might've been the 3rd seed, with the chance to redeem ourselves against NYK in the second round, rather than heading for the Celtics who seem like a buzzsaw.

Maybe this is just after-the-fact rationalizing some gut sense that you shouldn't ever throw a match. If I'm being irrational, I'm glad I've done it in the game thread. But ultimately yes, I think both those outcomes are bad and point to the Cavs brass being insecure, timid fools. And that doesn't bode well for what I hoped would grow into a championship team!

Cavs were already without Merrill, Mitchell, LeVert, Garland, Wade and Jerome, and CPJ went down in the first quarter.. That left eight rostered players and three two-way guys so some guys (JA, Strus, Okoro, Mobley) kinda have to play some minutes given who is in/out..

The Cavs decision was already made pre-game, there wasn't anything the Cavs did that likely wasn't pre-planned/discussed before the game..

The decision at the time when the game was being played could be understood to some extent given the Bucks were set to lose and the Knicks were down meaning the Cavs would have been a 2 seed with a difficult second round matchup.. Now once the dust has settled, we know the Cavs could have had their cake and eat it too..

We've seen some meaningful injuries happen in meaningless games (see, Brunson) which was likely at the top of their mind more than anything else.. This is also a team that was limping to the finish line, so that was likely top of mind to them more than some other circumstances..

 

[TxBuckeye]

Still wear and tear.

Totally disagree. Division title is essentially worthless. Kind of like drinking non alcoholic beer. You couldn't know that NY was going to win what with the game being played after the the Cavs game started. Hindsight, of course, is 20/20 but I'd rather be certain that Cavs wouldn't face 76ers in the first round. We couldn't beat them WITHOUT Embiid. What makes you think we could with him playing? I'd rather take our chances with Boston in the 2nd round.

That's fine. I'll take Thibs over that clown you have for a coach all day every day.

 

[Smooth]

Still wear and tear.

Totally disagree. Division title is essentially worthless. Kind of like drinking non alcoholic beer. You couldn't know that NY was going to win what with the game being played after the the Cavs game started. Hindsight, of course, is 20/20 but I'd rather be certain that Cavs wouldn't face 76ers in the first round. We couldn't beat them WITHOUT Embiid. What makes you think we could with him playing? I'd rather take our chances with Boston in the 2nd round.

I don't disagree with any of this, I actually agree with it all..

 

[bushwick_bill]

Whoa the takes on X formerly known as Twitter are wild lol lol lol over Cleveland losing today. Comical takes

 

[2 For The Brew]

Realistically the Sixers are a top 3 seed when healthy. Mind you they added a top 3pt shooter in the league at the deadline.

You absolutely avoid them if this is the way you can go about doing it.

They’re the seventh seed and finished only three games behind the second seed. Embiid easily would have turned at least four games into wins. They’re the second best team in the conference after Boston (my how the Doc Bucks have fallen).