2024-25 Season | Game #69 | Cavs @ Kings | March 19, 2025 | 10:00 p.m.

The Wizard of Moz said:
I’m pretty confused on the Mitchell criticism the last 2 minutes

Our last 2 minute pace was a 60 point quarter. Mobley had a hot hand, but 10 points in 2 minutes is a pretty scorching hand

The Kings scored on every single possession they had in the last 2 minutes. It’s pretty hard to make up a 4 point deficit when that happens
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Yeah but if you can take out your frustration and fear on one guy, you can’t pass up that chance. It’s the way of fandom.
 
Futuredome said:
Atkinson's problem is the Strus obsession. He is a role player.
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No.

It's the Sam Merrill obsession. Sam does not need to be on the floor against these wingy-ass wing teams. They won't let him get free and the defensive cost is too much.

Other than Evan getting frozen out in the last few minutes and Isaac Okoro not even being on the floor without DG... that's the most infuriating thing.
 
The Wizard of Moz said:
I’m pretty confused on the Mitchell criticism the last 2 minutes

Our last 2 minute pace was a 60 point quarter. Mobley had a hot hand, but 10 points in 2 minutes is a pretty scorching hand

The Kings scored on every single possession they had in the last 2 minutes. It’s pretty hard to make up a 4 point deficit when that happens
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Yeah, I hear you. I had to go back and look at the log and remember the plays, because the numbers are what they are.

The foul on the 3 point shot was a bit of a gift imo. There’s 3 of the 10.

Not sure, but we’ll say the goaltending call was going to drop. That’s 2. Great iso floater on the rookie was 2 more.

The final 3 was a desperation shot that went in. Looked really good though and was clutch. Not holding it against him.

The bigger problem with Mitchell was the rest of the game. That turnover at the top of the key earlier in the 4th was embarrassing. Gave up a dunk from it. Not forcing the ball to Mobley when Evan can’t be stopped is an ongoing trend. Mobley was ready to drop 40 and carry this one.

Despite the late flurry, Mitchell again didn’t shoot well. We’re over a month into this slump now. It’s worrisome.
 
MirORich said:
Do we audit every other top team’s losses to confirm they only lost to teams at full strength?

Do we not account for no Garland?

Or playing a B2B after a croos country 3 timezone jump to the west coast. A situation we will never face in the playoffs

The team peaked and for better or worse are ready for seven game series scheduling against the same opponent with 1-2 days between each game.

Nothing short of an injury that happens since they clinched the playoffs is going to make me disregard the habits and routines of the full season to date where I doubt their near certainty to win any series against any team other than OKC or BOS

So I respect your take and what you feel you’re seeing between the lines but I think you’re way early on thinking they’re not going to reach the conference finals
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I simply disagree...

You're either gonna have to be completely dialed in defensively (not trending positively there) or your best player is going to have to step up... I don't believe the capability is there over a 7 game series in either aspect...
 
dice1717 said:
Devin Carter is tonight’s NNHOF. No Name Hall of Famer. Cavs produce one nightly
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Bro, they do not do this more than any other NBA team

Every freaking fanbase is convinced their team solely allows this phenomenon when it’s about the most common thing from night to night in the league.

Not only that, Devin Carter isn’t some multi year journeyman who’s shown over multiple years that he sucks or rarely produces.

He’s a lottery pick rookie in this past years draft that missed the first 2.5 months of the season with injury
 
CavzAddict said:
Yup. No effort, lazy play for 3 1/2 quarters. I keep telling yall they are not going balls to the wall in these late season games on purpose. KA said in interviews that the goal is to stay healthy for the playoffs and test out lineups.

At the same time, we are playing teams who are battling for playoffs spots. This is the result.
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Life will be harder, if they give up HCA. Need to take care of business first.
 
Dr. Claw said:
No.

It's the Sam Merrill obsession. Sam does not need to be on the floor against these wingy-ass wing teams. They won't let him get free and the defensive cost is too much.

Other than Evan getting frozen out in the last few minutes and Isaac Okoro not even being on the floor without DG... that's the most infuriating thing.
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What if I told you the two are entirely connected?

Strus and Merrill both run the offense well. They move off the ball better than anyone on the team. They’re both solid, albeit streaky perimeter shooters. They play the same game.

What if Strus became an option to eat Merrill’s minutes (and even some of Jerome’s)? And the cost to make that happen would be to put a 6’8 wing into the starting lineup?

Kenny hasn’t missed all year, but I fear he’s whiffing hard on keeping Hunter coming off the bench.
 
Cassity14 said:
The Mitchell hate is kinda funny when he did legitimately take over down the stretch.
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I think most of us are frustrated tgat we have had this amazing season and all these wins by playing a certain way - lots of ball movement and getting people involved but then in the most important time of the game he literally doesn’t look at anyone else and just dribbles the air out of it
 
PIP said:
I simply disagree...

You're either gonna have to be completely dialed in defensively (not trending positively there) or your best player is going to have to step up... I don't believe the capability is there over a 7 game series in either aspect...
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Against MIL or IND!?

I think that’s crazy and think you’re either experiencing severe short term recency bias or taking past years playoff PTSD under a different coach as a heavier indicator than it should be

Agree to disagree and all.
 
MirORich said:
Bro, they do not do this more than any other NBA team

Every freaking fanbase is convinced their team solely allows this phenomenon when it’s about the most common thing from night to night in the league.

Not only that, Devin Carter isn’t se multi year journey man who’s shown over multiple years that he sucks or rarely produces.

He’s a lottery pick rookie in this past years draft that missed the first 2.5 months of the season with injury
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It’s hard to even tell because we win most games, but people also have to remember we have a target on our back just like the Thunder and Celtics do

I actually listened to the Kings broadcast tonight because I clicked the wrong feed and they were balanced enough that I just kept it on. They said, multiple times, that this would be their biggest win of the season

I was at both hornets games. I also just go to other hornets games at random times. Hornets fans totally suck. They almost never get into games. But whenever they were up big on us in the 4th quarter they were going nuts. The ticket prices themselves are substantially higher when the Cavs are in town

Everyone gets up for these games. It’s a litmus test for every team we play

I’m not making excuses for a loss, but teams are giving us their best shot much more than if it was someone like the raptors in town
 
All of this rationalizing poor play reminds me of when JBB's sucky coaching was getting rationalized. That it would be different in the playoffs and that he was just experimenting.

And then it went during the post-season exactly how it went during the regular season. Twice.

I believe the only one coasting is JA.
 
dice1717 said:
I think most of us are frustrated tgat we have had this amazing season and all these wins by playing a certain way - lots of ball movement and getting people involved but then in the most important time of the game he literally doesn’t look at anyone else and just dribbles the air out of it
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That’s what Monk and DeEozan did too. They just didn’t miss any of their shots.

It’s what the entire NBA does 90% of the time in the final 90 secomds

It’s not going to change (as a norm, there will of course be outlier plays and fast breaks that more resemble the rest of the game at times in the final 90-120 seconds) and it’s not unique to Donovan Mitchell or Kenny Atkinson
 
Jscc said:
All of this rationalizing poor play reminds me of when JBB's sucky coaching was getting rationalized. That it would be different in the playoffs and that he was just experimenting.

And then it went during the post-season exactly how it went during the regular season. Twice.

I believe the only one coasting is JA.
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Imagine being so rattled as a fan that because the team has the bulk of their 13 losses in small 2 and 3 game clumps instead of spread out more nicely for you that you’re left with this type of takeaway from your 56-13 team. Like how would you even handle being a fan of one of those 19-29 losses teams that occupy the 2-4 seeds in each conference.

Thankfully I’ve seen several posters who have been able to articulate their disappointment with the loss tonight or the recent stretch of games in a way that doesn’t include assuming the worst at the few tiny signs of struggle we’ve had relative to the rest of the league.
 
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