Game #26 | Kings @ Cavs | Dec. 9, 2022

[KilgoreTrout]

Mitchell didn’t even fucking play. It’s not about that. It’s about being careless with the ball whether Donovan is out there or not.

He’s playing like a guy who’s been sniffing his own farts.

I mean, he hasn’t adjusted his ATTITUDE to Mitchell being there. Even when Mitchell’s not on the floor. He’s pouty. He needs to follow Spida’s lead and do what it takes to win.

 

[Pierre Pan]

When Rubio is back, Garland should basically never be handling the ball in crunch time. It should be Ricky and Mitchell. I trust those guys not to totally shit the bed when the pressure and physicality ramp up. Rubio defends his ass off and makes the right passes, and Mitchell can just light up any defense. Garland 90% of the time looks like a rookie playing in his first NBA game but with the confidence of prime AI.

Who knows what Rubio is going to be like though? Look at how long it’s taken Klay Thompson and Jamaal Murray to be even shadows of their former selves

 

[Alec]

I like Stevens allot, but he cannot play SG, Okoro can, so the issue is when Rubio is not ready yet and Mitchell is hurt, Okoro will get minutes.

Your position is what you defend, right? Is Stevens not capable of defending SGs? I guess I haven’t paid attention

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

I mean he signed the extension this past summer and he’ll be making $33.5 million next season. By your logic, because he’s technically still locked into his rookie contract we should expect no better than rookie-level play from him right now.

The point is he was just signed to a max contract. He has an All-Star selection under his belt. He’s in his 4th season now. It’s reasonable for fans to criticize him for totally shitting his pants basically every single close game this season. You can blame JBB if you want, but you can’t exclude Garland from that. There’s a certain standard you expect from star players in crunch time and it doesn’t just apply to DG.

It applied to him all year last year and he was one of the better crunch time performers in the league. Closing countless games when we had nobody else.

I’m just of the belief that this seasons “slow”(he’s still averaging 22-8 and shooting the 3 ball well on a team winning over 60% of their games…) start is mostly attributable to injury, and needing time for chemistry with Mitchell plus less spacing without Lauri who was a regular outlet for DG last year.

That being said he does need to be better. And I’m very confident he will be. Particularly in regards to turning it over. He’s had some issues with peripheral vision due to the eye swelling this year. The more time he goes without getting hit in the same spot the better. I expect Rubio to be a calming presence for him as well because even with Mitchell here, it’s like we don’t have any actual backup ball guards either because of the refusal to play Neto most nights. I think both guards will be very happy to have Rubio.

 

[Rich]

I like Stevens allot, but he cannot play SG, Okoro can, so the issue is when Rubio is not ready yet and Mitchell is hurt, Okoro will get minutes.

How so? In what way does Okoro "Play" the position?

 

[Jscc]

That all being said. 16-10 is still a really Good start to the season. Put this one behind us and get Mitchell back tomorrow night, push it to 17-10 and then onto Texas.

Not going to lie...but man, knowing this team will be handicapped by coaching when things get tight puts a real damper on my excitement. 16-10 feels like 16-16 now.

 

[The Oi]

Bad loss. Again. Against the Kings.

 

[Tlyons]

Bad loss. Again. Against the Kings.

The loss was bad. The Kings aren't.

 

[Ohioplayer00]

I know I’m beating a dead horse at this point but it seems like moving Allen for shooting/wing feels like an inevitability. The ball moves better when he’s off the court. They really don’t have any assets besides Levert (lol) and Love’s expiring (we’ve seen how valuable those are lol).

Allen is going NOWHERE!! He and DM are this team’s irreplaceable pieces! Again Koby needs to package Cedi, Wade, Okoro, Windler and a couple of second rounders (maybe even LaVert) for a prime time wing!! And none of these second tier players!

 

[The Oi]

The loss was bad. The Kings aren't.

Should be able to pin that team at home after losing to them just a couple weeks ago. They aren’t elite.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

It applied to him all year last year and he was one of the better crunch time performers in the league. Closing countless games when we had nobody else.

I’m just of the belief that this seasons “slow”(he’s still averaging 22-8 and shooting the 3 ball well on a team winning over 60% of their games…) start is mostly attributable to injury, and needing time for chemistry with Mitchell plus less spacing without Lauri who was a regular outlet for DG last year.

That being said he does need to be better. And I’m very confident he will be. Particularly in regards to turning it over. He’s had some issues with peripheral vision due to the eye swelling this year. The more time he goes without getting hit in the same spot the better. I expect Rubio to be a calming presence for him as well because even with Mitchell here, it’s like we don’t have any actual backup ball guards either because of the refusal to play Neto most nights. I think both guards will be very happy to have Rubio.

Even last year Garland shot 37% from the field and 24% from 3 in minutes classified as “crunch time.” So it’s not like this year is an anomaly so far. I see a guy who doesn’t handle physical defense, trapping, and increased ball pressure very well. He gets caught leaving his feet in the paint with no plan. He gets lost among the trees at the rim and can’t get a shot up over them. He waits too long to make a move until the shot clock is almost expired and nothing is there. And he hasn’t been able to knock down threes at a good rate in those late game situations either.

And I like Garland still. I do think he can play better overall. But I don’t see a closer. It’s very hard to be when you’re undersized, not explosive, and your 3Pnshooting while good isn’t truly special like a Steph or a healthy Lillard. But again, that’s why I’m glad we have Mitchell. I think he can close out games because of his athleticism, physicality, and pull up 3P shooting ability.

 

[Rich]

Allen is going NOWHERE!! He and DM are this team’s irreplaceable pieces! Again Koby needs to package Cedi, Wade, Okoro, Windler and a couple of second rounders (maybe even LaVert) for a prime time wing!! And none of these second tier players!

I got nothing at this point with this line. You keep saying it so you must believe that you can actually trade that trash heap of players and 2nd rounders for a legit, good wing.

might as well believe in Santa Claus.

Fantasy land stuff.

 

[Alec]

Allen is going NOWHERE!! He and DM are this team’s irreplaceable pieces! Again Koby needs to package Cedi, Wade, Okoro, Windler and a couple of second rounders (maybe even LaVert) for a prime time wing!! And none of these second tier players!

Windler and Okoro are negative assets. Teams aren’t giving you anything for them. They just make salaries match.

Cedi and Wade are quarters and you’re talking about trading them for dollars. Not Gonna happen.

 

[Rich]

Should be able to pin that team at home after losing to them just a couple weeks ago. They aren’t elite.

They're not. But 16-10 is probably better than I thought they'd be, so that's not the problem.

The problem is that they now have like 4 late game collapses in the span of 25 games. It's an obvious, glaring issue.

People keep talking about the Clippers but that's not the only one. They had some others that they won in OT only after completely choking down the stretch and losing pretty hefty leads late.

 

[Tlyons]

Should be able to pin that team at home after losing to them just a couple weeks ago. They aren’t elite.

Oh, man i wanted to beat them so bad.

I want this team to start taking shit personal.