Game #57: Cavaliers (34-22) vs. Wizards (33-24); EMERGENCY THREAD

[Flight479]

We'll need the youngsters a bit more tomorrow night.

 

[PedroFlu]

You do realize that when LeBron checked in, in the 4th, we were down 1. LeBron fucked around and now we are down 11. LeBron started trying again and now down 3 with a chance.

We all know even on his worst day he’s still easily our best player. That should go without saying. Lots of reasons we lost tonight. It’s all fixable. But it is so frustrating watching his effort wax and wane seemingly randomly.

You Americans overrate him. He's not that superhero (physically) of a few years ago anymore. It's not a matter of caring (not always).

Guy has a ton of mileage, he's quite heavy. He simply doesn't have the stamina to play 100% on both ends anymore.

Ideally, he should have minutes reduced to play full throttle the whole time. But that's not happening.

 

[cavsfever]

Total bull shit.

The claim that he cared more in the ASG is what's bullshit. He clearly cared more tonight. He was having fun out there in the all star game, easy and relaxed and showing off. A lot of work was done for him by being surrounded by superstars. Tonight he cared enough that he was pressing, getting frustrated, making mistakes. Our team was in disarray tonight and couldn't figure out how to put it all together. But it will come.

If you think Lebron always plays his best when he cares the most you don't get his psychology

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

By looking at how he slammed the ball down after J.R blew his asignment on a critical play, I think lebron cared about this game.

He cared but he also waited far too long to impose his will in the 4th. You can't come in down 1, let your team go down 11, and then try to mount a comeback with 3 minutes left....because then 1 or 2 mistakes and it's over. And JR's mistake plus LeBrons terrible corner 3 plus Hood hitting the backboard were basically three strikes and then you're out...

 

[redscoon]

Shot like complete shit in the 2nd half and LeBron let the Wiz off the hook with the terrible step back 3 when the Wiz were reeling. That's about as poor as we could possibly shoot from distance. The bright side is we win that game 9 times out of 10 because we don't clang 27 3s.

The bad news is you should still be able to win games against middling teams when you score 104 points at home. Basically gave up layups on the two biggest defensive possessions of the game. Fall asleep on an inbounds and then let Beal drive right to the front of the rim with no contest on a short shot clock.

 

[Flight479]

This is the main point to me. With a great coach... you have elements to build a real team here, maybe a menace on the finals.

But it's really, really hard to believe Lue will be able to get the best out of this group. He clearly gets lost with too many options.

Exactly. For example Satoransky and Mahimi were both given more time over guys like Gortat. Scott recognized the guys playing well and rewarded them with minutes. If Lue would have done the same we win tonight.

 

[Simmy]

A few average takes in the game thread tonight. Cavs were 8-35 from 3 and like 5-6 of those were halfway in the cup (something wrong with the rubber on those rings at The Q, tonight?).

They had a period in the 2nd where the Wizards smoked them with ball movement and the Cavs couldn’t keep up (not for lack of effort, though) - that happens.

Wizards played a great game and were phenomenal offensively. That Satoransky can really deliver for that team.

Lue’s rotation was predictably awful but that’s to be expected - we just flat out couldn’t make the buckets we needed to and that 2nd quarter malaise hurt us.

I’d rather lose because of the above than have to accept that our team just flat out chose not to bring it. Beautiful thing about basketball is that we get another shot to redeem ourselves in less than 24 hours time.

 

[benchplayer]

Even though they lost tonight I still have way more confidence in this new team than the old. If we can get a 7ft shot blocking center through buyouts, we'll be even better

 

[ice cream man]

Got more of a normal performance from the new guys tonight. Rodney Hood is going to be inconsistent.

LeBron didn’t go hard most of the game.

Cedi should have played more and now should have been guarding Beal (him or LeBron) at the end of the game.

Not too worried but man this would have been a nice win to keep the run going.

 

[Pjlea28]

Not going to be too down about this one. Very poor shooting and spotty defense tonight. The biggest problem that I have with this team and past teams is that we only go when Lebron goes. Kyrie minimized some of that when he was here. But the 1st quarter was perfect, then it just stops. I have not yet bitched much about Lue, but he is going to have to figure this out quickly and then again when Love returns. I love Cedi, but I really do not think he will be in the rotation when Love returns.
One other thing that disappointed me, both Nance & Clarkson mentioned the lack of actual "live" practice stating this was new to them and that the teams approach during practice is more a verbal walk thru. Really wish they would practice more especially with all of the new/young additions.

 

[cavsfever]

It felt like people didn't know their roles or what they were supposed to be doing on defense tonight. There was actually some decent individual defense but repeated glaring breakdowns when the Wizards moved the ball around

 

[Pjlea28]

By looking at how he slammed the ball down after J.R blew his asignment on a critical play, I think lebron cared about this game.

He just waited too long before caring. He did not have a good game with the exception of the 1st quarter.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

1. Need more from George Hill on both ends.

2. Lue rotations are all over the place, I was worried that would happen. The more options you give him the worse it is. Also seems like the new guys were better before Lue and Lombardi started coaching them, like when they played off instinct. That is alarming.

3. The Wiz were camping off Tristan all night - his role needs to be way reduced. Can’t wait until Love comes back.

 

[benchplayer]

Not going to be too down about this one. Very poor shooting and spotty defense tonight. The biggest problem that I have with this team and past teams is that we only go when Lebron goes. Kyrie minimized some of that when he was here. But the 1st quarter was perfect, then it just stops. I have not yet bitched much about Lue, but he is going to have to figure this out quickly and then again when Love returns. I love Cedi, but I really do not think he will be in the rotation when Love returns.
One other thing that disappointed me, both Nance & Clarkson mentioned the lack of actual "live" practice stating this was new to them and that the teams approach during practice is more a verbal walk thru. Really wish they would practice more especially with all of the new/young additions.

I agree, this team is not burdened by old age anymore. there is no excuse why they shouldn't be holding full-on practices, especially with the new pieces we have. Let the older players sit out if they need to, but the new younger players should be practicing.

 

[RuanuLaw]

Stupid loses like this will happen. Not worried. I’ll be worried if the Grizzlies do the same to us offensively (40% from the 3).