- Joined
- Oct 3, 2019
- Messages
- 13,867
- Reaction score
- 40,746
- Points
- 148
After escaping with a last second win over the Pistons and improving to 41-10 the Cavaliers head to Washington for their fourth and final game against the Wizards. Washington is 9-41 on the season, which is the NBA’s worst record, and they just traded Kyle Kuzma and Jonas Valaciunas who combined to average 27 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 assists per game.
However, it would be a mistake to think this game will be a walkover. The Wizards were being outscored by 5 points with Vala on the floor and 12 points with Kuzma. In their first game without either of them the Wizards hammered Brooklyn on Wednesday 119-102, and the Nets were coming off two consecutive wins over Houston.
I’m not going to review the Wizards’ season statistics because they are a different team now. In Vala and Kuzma’s last game together they combined for 36 points and 21 rebounds. In the game before that it was 44 points and 18 rebounds in a 105-103 win over Minnesota. So they gave up a lot of production but they might be better for it.
The Wizards received Khris Middleton in the Kuzma deal. Middleton is 33 and has been injury prone the last few years, but he’s healthy at the moment and scored 41 points in just 49 minutes in his last two games. He was 15-for-19 from the field and 7-for-9 on 3’s, proving he can still score when he’s feeling good. I don’t know if he’ll play on Friday, but if he does it probably won’t be for long.
I love the way the Wizards have set themselves up as they are now a team of young, long, athletic players with a couple of graybeards to show them the ropes in Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon, who is 32. Three of the Wizards’ starters are 19-21 years old and PG Jordan Poole is 25.
Poole leads in scoring at 20.3 ppg and 5 assists. He’s shooting 41% from the field but 39% on 3’s. The shooting guard is 6’8” Bilal Coulibaly, 20, who averages 12.5 points on 42% and 28%. He’s not a great shooter but he’s extremely long and athletic. The power forward is Kyshawn George, 21, who is 6’8” and averages 7.7 points on 36% and 30%. Like Coulibaly he’s not much of a shooter.
Center Alex Sarr, a 19-year-old rookie drafted #2 overall, rounds out the starting lineup. Sarr averages 11.5 points on 40% and 31%. However, he is out for this game along with Malcolm Brogan who is averaging 13 points per game off the bench. So they are missing 25 points and 11 rebounds from Sarr and Brogdon in addition to the 27 and 14 they’ll be missing from Kuzma and Vala.
Judging by the shooting percentages there’s a lot more length and athleticism in the starting five than shooting ability. Middleton will be their best shooter at 51% and 41%. Poole shoots 3’s at 39%. Otherwise there’s not much in terms of scoring. They also turn the ball over a lot, averaging 17.3 per game.
In their last game the Wizards went heavily to their bench and seven players scored in double figures. Bub Carrington had 16, Corey Kispert 17, Tristan Vukcevic 12, Justin Champagne 11, and Richuan Holmes had 9. Their bench scored 47 points.
With Kuzma and Valaciunas gone it looks like the Wizards may want to use more players and spread out the scoring. In their last game seven players had 8 shots or more and nobody took more than 15. It’s just one game but this is a rebuilding team with seven players 25 or younger in their rotation and they’re in the player development business.
The Cavs will be facing a hungry young team that has won three in a row and is tired of being a joke. What better way to stop the laughing than to take down the team with the league’s best record?
In their three games against the Cavs this year, which they lost by 19, 31, and 10 points (the last one without Mobley), Bilal Coulibaly averaged 18.7 points on 49% from the field and 50% on 3’s. He’s a 28% shooter on 3’s this season, so the Cavs need to put the clamps on him. The team as a whole is shooting 41.5% overall and 30.3% on 3’s while averaging 102.7 points per game, so the Cavs have done a great job shutting them down.
The Cavs allowed 12.3 offensive rebounds per game against Washington, but almost half of that was Kuzma and Vala so the Cavs should be able to reduce that number Friday night. Middleton averages just 0.2 offensive rebounds per game. He only averaged 23 minutes with Milwaukee as they were nursing him along for the playoffs.
Kuzma was second on the team in shot attempts but was making just 42% from the field and 28% on 3’s, so he was hurting them offensively as his on/off demonstrates.
Dean Wade, Sam Merrill, and Isaac Okoro are out and the Cavs no longer have Niang and LeVert. De’Andre Hunter probably won’t be available yet, so the Cavs are down to a skeleton crew. Looks like they’ll be counting heavily on CPJ and Tyson. I assume they’ll have DG, DM, Jerome and CPJ at guard, Strus are Tyson will play the 3 with Mobley, Allen, and Thompson at the 4 and 5. I think Tyson will have to play some 4 since we don’t have Niang or Wade.
Evan Mobley started 2-for-15 on 3’s after returning from his calf injury, but was 3-for-5 against Detroit. Ty Jerome is hitting 46.3% on 3’s since Jan. 1. Darius Garland is up to 42.9% of his 3’s on the season.
It looks like the Wizards will start Poole and Coulibaly at guard, George at PF, Richaun Holmes at C, and maybe Kispert at SF. The bench will be Carrington, Champagne, and Vuksevic. Not much firepower as only Poole is averaging over 12.5 points. With no Vala or Sarr their two centers (Holmes and Vuksevic) are averaging a combined 8 points and 6 rebounds.
Both teams are transitioning from making trades and have other players out as well. Hopefully the Core Four plus Strus and Jerome can carry the day with a little help from CPJ and Tyson.
However, it would be a mistake to think this game will be a walkover. The Wizards were being outscored by 5 points with Vala on the floor and 12 points with Kuzma. In their first game without either of them the Wizards hammered Brooklyn on Wednesday 119-102, and the Nets were coming off two consecutive wins over Houston.
I’m not going to review the Wizards’ season statistics because they are a different team now. In Vala and Kuzma’s last game together they combined for 36 points and 21 rebounds. In the game before that it was 44 points and 18 rebounds in a 105-103 win over Minnesota. So they gave up a lot of production but they might be better for it.
The Wizards received Khris Middleton in the Kuzma deal. Middleton is 33 and has been injury prone the last few years, but he’s healthy at the moment and scored 41 points in just 49 minutes in his last two games. He was 15-for-19 from the field and 7-for-9 on 3’s, proving he can still score when he’s feeling good. I don’t know if he’ll play on Friday, but if he does it probably won’t be for long.
I love the way the Wizards have set themselves up as they are now a team of young, long, athletic players with a couple of graybeards to show them the ropes in Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon, who is 32. Three of the Wizards’ starters are 19-21 years old and PG Jordan Poole is 25.
Poole leads in scoring at 20.3 ppg and 5 assists. He’s shooting 41% from the field but 39% on 3’s. The shooting guard is 6’8” Bilal Coulibaly, 20, who averages 12.5 points on 42% and 28%. He’s not a great shooter but he’s extremely long and athletic. The power forward is Kyshawn George, 21, who is 6’8” and averages 7.7 points on 36% and 30%. Like Coulibaly he’s not much of a shooter.
Center Alex Sarr, a 19-year-old rookie drafted #2 overall, rounds out the starting lineup. Sarr averages 11.5 points on 40% and 31%. However, he is out for this game along with Malcolm Brogan who is averaging 13 points per game off the bench. So they are missing 25 points and 11 rebounds from Sarr and Brogdon in addition to the 27 and 14 they’ll be missing from Kuzma and Vala.
Judging by the shooting percentages there’s a lot more length and athleticism in the starting five than shooting ability. Middleton will be their best shooter at 51% and 41%. Poole shoots 3’s at 39%. Otherwise there’s not much in terms of scoring. They also turn the ball over a lot, averaging 17.3 per game.
In their last game the Wizards went heavily to their bench and seven players scored in double figures. Bub Carrington had 16, Corey Kispert 17, Tristan Vukcevic 12, Justin Champagne 11, and Richuan Holmes had 9. Their bench scored 47 points.
With Kuzma and Valaciunas gone it looks like the Wizards may want to use more players and spread out the scoring. In their last game seven players had 8 shots or more and nobody took more than 15. It’s just one game but this is a rebuilding team with seven players 25 or younger in their rotation and they’re in the player development business.
The Cavs will be facing a hungry young team that has won three in a row and is tired of being a joke. What better way to stop the laughing than to take down the team with the league’s best record?
In their three games against the Cavs this year, which they lost by 19, 31, and 10 points (the last one without Mobley), Bilal Coulibaly averaged 18.7 points on 49% from the field and 50% on 3’s. He’s a 28% shooter on 3’s this season, so the Cavs need to put the clamps on him. The team as a whole is shooting 41.5% overall and 30.3% on 3’s while averaging 102.7 points per game, so the Cavs have done a great job shutting them down.
The Cavs allowed 12.3 offensive rebounds per game against Washington, but almost half of that was Kuzma and Vala so the Cavs should be able to reduce that number Friday night. Middleton averages just 0.2 offensive rebounds per game. He only averaged 23 minutes with Milwaukee as they were nursing him along for the playoffs.
Kuzma was second on the team in shot attempts but was making just 42% from the field and 28% on 3’s, so he was hurting them offensively as his on/off demonstrates.
Dean Wade, Sam Merrill, and Isaac Okoro are out and the Cavs no longer have Niang and LeVert. De’Andre Hunter probably won’t be available yet, so the Cavs are down to a skeleton crew. Looks like they’ll be counting heavily on CPJ and Tyson. I assume they’ll have DG, DM, Jerome and CPJ at guard, Strus are Tyson will play the 3 with Mobley, Allen, and Thompson at the 4 and 5. I think Tyson will have to play some 4 since we don’t have Niang or Wade.
Evan Mobley started 2-for-15 on 3’s after returning from his calf injury, but was 3-for-5 against Detroit. Ty Jerome is hitting 46.3% on 3’s since Jan. 1. Darius Garland is up to 42.9% of his 3’s on the season.
It looks like the Wizards will start Poole and Coulibaly at guard, George at PF, Richaun Holmes at C, and maybe Kispert at SF. The bench will be Carrington, Champagne, and Vuksevic. Not much firepower as only Poole is averaging over 12.5 points. With no Vala or Sarr their two centers (Holmes and Vuksevic) are averaging a combined 8 points and 6 rebounds.
Both teams are transitioning from making trades and have other players out as well. Hopefully the Core Four plus Strus and Jerome can carry the day with a little help from CPJ and Tyson.
