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Game Thread 2019-20 Season Game #45 | Cleveland Cavaliers vs Washington Wizards | Jan 23rd, 2020

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For Garland to be garbage, he’s one of the two Cavaliers that’s positive on the floor. Weird.
 
would you make KPJ the starting SG or draft someone like Edwards?

Right now I'd make Alonzo McKinnie the starting SG. But I'd have done that with Jordan Clarkson.

Sexton or Garland need to lead the bench. Those two together can't defend. Right now it's Sexton being tasked with defending actual shooting guards and he simply can't do it. He's getting posted up. They're shooting right over him like he's not there.
 
I'll be honest Sexton has shown signs of life in the passing department lately.

I wouldn't be opposed to the Cavs giving him the chance to be the starting point and letting Garland come off the bench.

But my god enough with this. IT's just a freeway for one of the opposing teams guards night in and night out.
 
Right now I'd make Alonzo McKinnie the starting SG. But I'd have done that with Jordan Clarkson.

Sexton or Garland need to lead the bench. Those two together can't defend. Right now it's Sexton being tasked with defending actual shooting guards and he simply can't do it. He's getting posted up. They're shooting right over him like he's not there.
its hard to decide who should start between sexton and garland, because garland is the better passer, but the cavs really needs sextons scoring
 
Garland 's legs look gassed and Sexton can't defend. Part of the reason why I had this team winning around 20 games.
 
Six straight losses, this one to a bad team coming off an overtime game in Miami the night before. Normally playing at home you win these games, but the Cavs flat out suck right now. To be fair, the Wizards tied a very good Miami Heat team over 48 minutes last night in Miami. The Wizards are a veteran bunch who know how to play.

The difference in this game is that one team had a star and one didn't. Bradley Beal was 15-for-22 from the field for 36 points. He added 8 assists, so he had a direct hand in at least 52 points. The guy was simply unstoppable and the Cavs tried a number of different guys defending him. It seemed like he could score at will.

The Cavs' defense was awful. They gave up 68 points in the first half and 56 in the second despite the Wizards slowing it down the last three minutes. Beal made some great contested shots but there were too many easy layups when he dribbled around a pick and cruised to the rim with no resistance. Love and Osman were horrible defensively, although Cedi had a spectacular block.

Thompson only played 21 minutes as he was ineffective and Larry Nance Jr was playing great. Nance finished with 22/12/3 in 28 minutes. That was probably his best game of the year. Collin Sexton had a terrific game with 29 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. He was 10-for-15 from the field and had an impressive left-handed dunk, getting the and-one.

This game was pretty much over after three quarters as the Wizards led 100-84. The Cavs made a little run to cut the deficet to 9 points but you knew Beal was going to come back in and quash the comeback and that's exactly what happened.

Ish Smith, age 31, had a nice game off the bench with 17 points and 0 turnovers in 26 minutes. Davis Bertans had 17 points in 27 minutes as the Wizards' bench outscored the Cavs' bench 59-34. This is extremely discouraging since the Wizards are missing two starters in Wall and Hachimura so two of their bench guys are starting. No problem. Their bench still destroyed ours.

Delly only played six minutes even though Knight is out. His playing time is getting less and less. I don't think Beilein thinks he has much to offer. I doubt he's back next year.

Dante Exum had a huge game on Jan. 5 against Minnesota with 28 points. Since then he's scored 15 points in six games. He's been sick so maybe that explains it, but right now he looks like just a guy who does nothing above average and can't shoot. With Porter out this is his chance to get his career untracked but he has not been able to take advantage. I thought he might be able to use his big game as a springboard to get him going, but then he got sick just at the wrong time and now he's floundering. He was a -28 in 15 minutes tonight; the next worst Cav was -7.

The Wizards shot 55% from the field and 44% on 3's as the Cavs' defense was barely perceptible. The Cavs were outscored by 15 points on 3-point shots and lost by 12.

In Larry Nance Jr's last four games he's 24-for-34 from the field (71%) and 5-for-9 on 3's. He needs to get more minutes. That time off to let his sore knee get better seems to have helped.
 
If Garland doesn't hit outside shots at a good clip I can't see him being much of a scorer. He's not quick or explosive going to the basket and seems unsure of his floater. But he's extremely young and inexperienced.
The thing is he seems to be able to get anywhere on the floor he wants too...just his shot isn't falling...there's plenty of instances where all he has to do is pull up and he'd be wide open but he continues with that floater that honestly he has no touch for. Got to think he'll figure it out and will start to shoot better...he also needs to bulk up but he's only 19
 
After getting ahead 18-6 to start the game the Cavs were outscored 34-8 in just under nine minutes to get behind by 16 in the second quarter and they were never able to get closer than 6 points the rest of the way.

It seems like it's always one bad quarter or one bad stretch that beats them. Last night there was a 13-0 run followed shortly thereafter by a 10-0 run by the Wizards. The Cavs don't have anybody who can step up and make a shot or two to break the momentum when they get into these funks. It seems like once the opponent gets on a roll it's almost impossible to stop it until a lot of damage is done. The poor shooting and bad passes are contagious.

In the 13-0 run the Cavs missed seven straight shots, including three from 3-point range and two jump shots by Sexton. They also committed a turnover on an inbounds pass.

This team needs to learn how to pull out of a tailspin before it spirals out of control and they give up 10 or more consecutive points. Being outscored 34-8 in under nine minutes by a 15-28 team on your home court is just ridiculous. This was supposed to be a bounce back game after the horrible showing against the Knicks, which Nance referred to as an "outlier". After last night's game it's fair to ask if it was really an outlier or if this is who the Cavs are now.
 
The Cavs are clueless on the defensive end. They can't cover the most basic play in the NBA, the pick and roll. Either the
coaching is poor or the players are lacking mentally or physically. And the Cavs must be among the league leaders
in having players ball watch while their man either rolls into the paint for a bunny or gets a clean look at a 3. And Kevin
Love is a Grand Canyon sized hole on defense though he has gotten good at glaring, fingerpointing at a teammate
as his man gets another hoop.
 
I'll be honest Sexton has shown signs of life in the passing department lately.

I wouldn't be opposed to the Cavs giving him the chance to be the starting point and letting Garland come off the bench.

But my god enough with this. IT's just a freeway for one of the opposing teams guards night in and night out.

What part of tanking don’t you get? And what part of year 2 of a rebuild don’t you get?

Colin is performing fine for an 8th pick, but you rarely find an All Star there. Darius is very TBD, but also a 5th pick. The plan is to get a top 3 pick this year. After that we will probably make lineup and roster changes.
 
Garland and Sexton very well could be the two worst defending guards in the entire NBA. Definitely at least in the eastern conference.

Genius move to pair them up and have them play major minutes together every game.
 

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