Game Thread 2020-21 Season | Clippers @ Cavs | February 3, 2021

[Kouki]

Sending him to the bench will just encourage him to think that when he comes in, it's his time to shine.

There's only one solution, bench him until he stops playing like absolute shit.

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

Sending him to the bench will just encourage him to think that when he comes in, it's his time to shine.

There's only one solution, bench him until he stops playing like absolute shit.

Or trade, buy out

Anything, just let him go.

Koby got Twitter?

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Yeah, the Cavs youth and inexperience was on full display tonight. The Clippers played a great defensive gameplan and used Drummond's refusal to play anything but selfishly to their advantage. They basically played a zone with a free safety. They put their longer wings on our guards and went over every single screen...forcing them inside....no need to collapse off any shooters because Drummond is no threat whatsoever to do anything useful and cant set screens to free anyone so they just play Ibaka as a free-safety and thus forced our ball handlers into constant floaters.

It's not all on Collin/Darius/JBB for the lack of 3's. Now, they need to be more bold, they need to draw up more stuff specifically for threes and the light for threes needs to be a bright green light constantly encouraged and awarded by the staff. JBB also needs to get Drummond the fuck off the floor.

It also OBVIOUSLY hurts our spacing to not have our shooting bigs on the floor. At least Allen can lay someone out on the high screen/roll though.

All in all, some positives to take as Garland and Sexton individually looked pretty damned impressive. Allen is obviously a really good big man and our future at C. Confirmed Drummond is worse than useless. Stephens showed nice flashes. Windler a couple nice defensive plays. Okoro had a tough night, but the zone really threw him for a loop. Get these guys in the film room. Took one on the chin from a title contender. No shame.

 

[hud11]

Long term I still feel really good about okoro, but man is anyone else concerned that his two best games were his first two preseason games? Need more aggressiveness out there - needs to earn his minutes a little more.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

I didn't want to clutter up that thread any more (Ben's Swenson's take is horrible) but I'm surprised out of all the things you said, no one mentioned your Brandywine comment, lol.

It’s a ski paradise!

 

[KilgoreTrout]

Long term I still feel really good about okoro, but man is anyone else concerned that his two best games were his first two preseason games? Need more aggressiveness out there - needs to earn his minutes a little more.

I still don’t get how Okoro can put up such paltry numbers in so many minutes. I get that he’s a good defender, but 2 points and 2 rebounds in 28 minutes? Really? Stevens and Windler both did better with the minutes they got. It might be time for Okoro to ride some pine.

What are we doing, taken 10 3s? Sexton and Garland both took one 3! And they MADE their 3s! Come on, Fellas! It’s 2021, not 1971! The 3-point line ain’t going away, and Bob Lanier ain’t walking through that door!

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

This game reminded me of a modern NBA team playing against a throwback team. The Clippers put up 34 shots from downtown to 10 for the Cavs. The Clippers made 20 of those 3's to four for the Cavs, who were a staggering -48 on 3-point shots. You have no chance in this league if you get outscored by 48 points from deep.

The Clippers apparently were irritated when the Cavs trailed by only 3 points at halftime and they came out loaded for bear in the third quarter, quickly getting out to a double-digit lead as Paul George poured in 16 points in the quarter on his way to a 36-point game. He was clearly a man among boys. The Cavs have little chance against really talented 6'7" wings like George and Jayson Tatum. They do whatever they want.

Drummond was horrible with a -33 in 22 minutes. Allen was a +11 in 26 minutes, so the difference between the two centers was 44 points.

The Cavs' starters were all between -22 and -33. I thought the Clippers would be tired and dragging a little tonight but if they were it did not affect their 3-point shooting as they went 20-for-34. I said in the preview the Cavs needed to aggressively defend the perimeter and make the Clippers drive, but they were unable to do that.

The Cavs need to add the 3-point shot to their game if they want to beat anybody decent.

As I see it Paul George pretty much beat the Cavaliers by himself; 36 points on 20 shots with six assists. Serge Ibaka still has it with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks in only 20 minutes. Leonard had 24 points on 9-for-14. One team had star players, one team didn't. One team could hit 3's, the other couldn't. A 3-point shooting team with a couple of All-Stars will beat a balanced team with no stars that shoots 2's pretty much every time.

 

[Comeback kid]

How is JBB ok with Drummond forcing up bad shots?

Because he’s clueless. Playing time is based off salary and where you were in the draft. It’s makes NO difference how you play.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

The last 3:08 of the first half the Cavs were outscored 13-6. Then in the first 3:16 of the third quarter they were outscored 9-0. That adds up to 22-6 for the end of the 2nd quarter and the start of the 3rd which is a 16-point deficet in a 19-point loss.

The Cavs need to get better at closing out quarters and starting the second half. They've had trouble at the end of the second quarter lately.

I think Larry Nance Jr could have helped a lot tonight with his ability to challenge 3-point shots with his agility and length. He might have slowed George down a bit. His role on the team should be a defensive stopper on guys like that.

 

[BigZ94]

In general I consider plus/minus to not be very helpful, at least in individual games. Too many variables involved. However, when I looked up Drummond’s plus/minus in first half tonight and saw it was -17 I immediately said “that sounds about right.” Just giving wide open shots to ibaka. No effort to contest. And many of his shots on offense were questionable at best.

You don’t get to pad your rebounds by contesting shots on the perimeter.

 

[cavsLTU]

The last 3:08 of the first half the Cavs were outscored 13-6. Then in the first 3:16 of the third quarter they were outscored 9-0. That adds up to 22-6 for the end of the 2nd quarter and the start of the 3rd which is a 16-point deficet in a 19-point loss.

The Cavs need to get better at closing out quarters and starting the second half. They've had trouble at the end of the second quarter lately.

I think Larry Nance Jr could have helped a lot tonight with his ability to challenge 3-point shots with his agility and length. He might have slowed George down a bit. His role on the team should be a defensive stopper on guys like that.

Guess who came back from the bench at around 3:08 mark

 

[Alec]

Didn’t feel like PG took it out of second gear tonight. Guess that’s what happens when you’re guarded by midgets and Cedi Osman. LOL!

 

[Dr. Claw]

Got PayPal P'd on last night.

And I can't wait until Kevin Love comes back. Love has to be in all Drummond lineups because the spacing goes to hell when Drummond goes in. One or two times he actually passed his way out of the post. When it's Sexland + Allen, more PnR opportunities, more ball movement happens. But we sacrifice defense with that, esp. with a team like this.

They fought well in the 1st half, but went 6 minutes without scoring in the third. That might as well been game. Also, the Sexton + no Garland line up with bench players... not good. Sexton can't do Sexton things in those line ups. Get well Delly, or whoever is going to be the Garland backup.

 

[BigZ94]

If Bummond kicked the ball out of his post ups he could average a triple double

 

[Ohioplayer00]

The last 3:08 of the first half the Cavs were outscored 13-6. Then in the first 3:16 of the third quarter they were outscored 9-0. That adds up to 22-6 for the end of the 2nd quarter and the start of the 3rd which is a 16-point deficet in a 19-point loss.

The Cavs need to get better at closing out quarters and starting the second half. They've had trouble at the end of the second quarter lately.

I think Larry Nance Jr could have helped a lot tonight with his ability to challenge 3-point shots with his agility and length. He might have slowed George down a bit. His role on the team should be a defensive stopper on guys like that.

The fact we allow teams to shoot 41% from the three ball line IN OUR GYM says Nance wouldn’t have made a bit of difference!