2023-24 Season | Game #60 | Knicks @ Cavs | March 3, 2024 | 7:00 p.m.

[MirORich]

It's easy to point to the low number of turnovers or good 3pt shooting and give him a pass, my issues are as follows

1) Zero ability to finish at the rim
2) Zero ability to draw FTs
3) Passes that result in a difficult shot in traffic
4) Bad passes at big guys feet
5) Bad passes that are corralled by a teammate only to be put in a bad position
6) Inability to handle a double team
7) Inability to work within tight spaces
8) Inability to truly cause a defense to collapse on you
9) Beat his man off the dribble and not pull up pr fade, but get to the hoop

I could to on but I'm dealing with an infant who won't sleep. When you factor all of these things in, how much better is Darius Garland today than he was two years ago? He gets easily rattled and falls back on bad habits. To me, Darius looks like a guy who knows enough about basketball to be good, but not enough to be better. I personally do not think he's spends any time in the gym outside of required workout times. He went from an up and coming PG people were excited about to being passed up by 10-15 young guards.

Hes expendable. Let's just hope people don't realize that before we can move him.

You just described his worst games and tonight’s game without Mitchell on the court drawing a ton of attention as well. And that does place him in the level below true 1A superstar/star as those guys need to be able to bring their best at all times(or at least 8-9 out of every 10 games)

He has had many games against high level opponents where many of those issues are far less pronounced or not there at all.

I’m saying this only in his defense as an individual player, not in how he stacks up against Mitchell who is the clear better player and player to do everything possible to build around.

I have plenty of fun Garland trade ideas for if/once Mitchell re-signs. Until that happens though, I would not call him expendable.

 

[Futuredome]

Garland was the only shot creator the Cavs had. LeVert is the only other one besides Mitchell and we know how bad he gets(cost the Cavs vs the 76ers. Porter was pretty bad vs the Pistons. Definitely being exposed a bit. He wasn't too bad against the knicks. Let's note, Strus, Wade and especially Niang were so bad they brought the Cavs down. Garland and Mobley provided +production, but not enough. Mobley being the biggest disappointment. But once again, we don't use him to create. That must change.

 

[Dr. Claw]

If we do somehow bear Boston we‘ll be back to “the regular season doesn’t matter”.

Actually the regular season DOES matter, but only if we lose.

also: the Cavs actually won the game (barely) earlier this season against the Knicks where they had all their guys and the Cavs did not.

 

[Jake]

What a fkin disaster. If there was any game we needed to win it was the one we just lost. Beyond pitiful.

 

[KansasCavFan]

The 17-4 team would have won last night. That team had/has chemistry. On both ends of the floor. That team had/has grit. (I get Mitchell was out last night, but he was out a few games in the 17-4 run too)

But the naysayers to the 17-4 team would have said the Knicks were down 4/5 starters, so it doesn't count as a real win.

 

[Holden beach]

What is totally wild is the game had this for FT:

Cleveland 3-8 completely fucking pathetic
New York 7-10

Did these officials call anything? 18 total FT's lol

The most frustrating way to lose a game is to miss free throws while getting pushed around.

The Cavs still have no answer to being bullied on the court when the refs allow it. They are softer than baby shit.

Unlike the Cavs, the Knicks seem to have set plays that work within the time on the shot clock after a timeout.

 

[2 For The Brew]

also: the Cavs actually won the game (barely) earlier this season against the Knicks where they had all their guys and the Cavs did not.

That’s a regular season game and we’ve been assured they don’t matter.

 

[TxBuckeye]

Oh and lack of calls because its Cleveland against NY. What do u think is going to happen in the playoffs

lmfao.....Haven't missed a Knicks game all season and I can promise you they don't get the favorable whistle most nights so carry on with the ref crying. The reality is officiating sucks period and ALL fans think their team gets screwed every game.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

garland can get better, he just needs to go back to being aggressive:

I don’t know if Garland’s problem is not being aggressive enough. I think his biggest problem is being careless with the ball.

This year, Garland is averaging 3.2 turnovers per game. That would make him 9th in the NBA, if he qualified. He doesn’t make up for it in other ways, like many of the 8 guys with MORE turnovers/game. His career average is 3.1, so this year is not an anomaly.

 

[Dr. Claw]

lmfao.....Haven't missed a Knicks game all season and I can promise you they don't get the favorable whistle most nights so carry on with the ref crying. The reality is officiating sucks period and ALL fans think their team gets screwed every game.

part of the worry with each game is that the Cavs get an excessively shitty ref crew. Vs Dallas, the team that officiated Knicks/Pistons was there. If any game has Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, or Natalie Sago, I just hope the team can play well enough to get over the BS. There were a couple of FanDuel employees working Cavs/Knicks.

 

[Dr No]

Okoro: 17pts (7/13 fgs), 5 rebs, 4 asts. Quite a way from the days of "0k0r0".
I wish the Cavs had another Okoro. Who was Dean Wade height.

A 6’9” Okoro is a #1 pick in the draft. That like saying we wish we had another Dean Wade who was Chet’s height. It would be awesome, but would also be moving into unicorn territory

 

[BiGZD]

This game along with the Sixers and Orlando game has shown me enough. These guys are the same pussies that go worked on in the playoffs last year minus Sam. They just jack up more threes. Both local and national media has rimmed these bums for the lack of effort and toughest. They lost to Knicks who didn't have 4 starters and let a undersize wing get damn near 20 rebounds. JB has to go!

 

[2 For The Brew]

part of the worry with each game is that the Cavs get an excessively shitty ref crew. Vs Dallas, the team that officiated Knicks/Pistons was there. If any game has Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, or Natalie Sago, I just hope the team can play well enough to get over the BS. There were a couple of FanDuel employees working Cavs/Knicks.

Funny you mention Tony Brothers. Sixers fan right in front of me was screaming at Tony Brothers before and all through the game until they beat the Cavaliers. I thought we actually got decent calls that game and that outraged this guy further but he was screaming the whole game about Brothers.

 

[Ohioplayer00]

Funny you mention Tony Brothers. Sixers fan right in front of me was screaming at Tony Brothers before and all through the game until they beat the Cavaliers. I thought we actually got decent calls that game and that outraged this guy further but he was screaming the whole game about Brothers.

Can’t stand Brothers!! He gave Booker a tech the other night because Booker wouldn’t talk to him. Talk about “abuse of power”

 

[2 For The Brew]

Can’t stand Brothers!! He gave Booker a tech the other night because Booker wouldn’t talk to him. Talk about “abuse of power”

I don’t think he’s liked much around the game.

The coaches and players do (or at least they did) provide ratings of officials at season end but those are very closely held within the NBA HQ. I don’t know how much those influence playoff assignments or referee retention. There is a referee union and unions tend to insulate their members from individual performance evaluation consequences (one of the selling points of unions).

I do think NBA officiating is a damn difficult job. I wouldn’t want it.

I‘d like to see a referee basketball game at all star weekend officiated by three players. Have the refs coached by argumentative NBA coaches. The referees would try harder than the players did last game out.