Game Thread 2020-21 Season | Game #26 | Cavs @ Nuggets | February 10, 2021

[Dr No]

We might not win again before the all-star break.

OKC is the only team on paper we might have a shot against. And the way we are playing, I doubt it.

OKC took the Lakers to overtime twice with only 8 available players each night. Lost both, but they are playing surprisingly well.

 

[inliner311]

Fellas we just need to take off the rose colored glasses! This team is just like not that talented! It is lacking a “star”! People can pimp Sexton all they want....he’s a very good player but he’s Robin waiting for Batman to come to this team.

I kind of agree Sexton is probably a very good #2 on a winning team. If he is our #1, we better have a 1b or two very solid #2 players. Sexton and Garland just aren't going to cut it as a tandem without more offensive firepower to help them. We need to add at least one player that can create for themselves and score at a high level, hopefully it's a wing player.

I'm ready to see Drummond and Mcgee moved for other pieces. We need to just secure Allen long term in the off-season and make sure he doesn't play on a qualifying offer.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Larry Nance is the Cavs best player. Without him there are defensive mismatches everywhere for the Cavs and not enough spacing on the other end.

And ofcourse, it seems like the Cavs are kinda tanking at this point, or at least lowered their intensity.

Terrible game to watch and it might be only the beginning.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

“There’s no excuse for the way we played tonight,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "The Nuggets sent a clear message from jump ball to the end of the game. And the message was that there was an intent to embarrass us. And whether it was through physicality, whether it was showboating after plays, they sent a clear message that their intent was to embarrass us, and they did it.”

“I can live with mistakes and missed shots. But I can’t live with a lack of fight that we played with tonight.”

The 2019-20 Cavs, with a record of 19-46, beat the Nuggets twice. The Nuggets were definitely out to get some payback and they weren't going to be embarrassed three times in a row. I'm sure their coach made that point before the game. The Cavs were not ready to compete at that level. The Nuggets shot 60% from the field and 44.4% from deep as the Cavs played no defense whatsoever.

The only thing I liked about this game was Allen's 18 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes and Okoro's two vicious dunks in traffic. Maybe that will encourage him to be more aggressive in taking it to the rim.

 

[Kiddo]

I got tired of watching the Nuggets knock down one uncontested 3-pointer after another and listening to Austin Carr say, "Wow!" or "Man!" He was continually surprised they were making them. Dude, this is the NBA. Guys make uncontested three's all the time.

Jarrett Allen fought for an offensive rebound, got it, and laid it in with an and-one. Austin's comment was, "Hang around the basket long enough and something good is bound to happen!"

Wow. Man. That's some amazing insight.

Then there was John Michael. As the third quarter ended with the Nuggets up 100-66 Michael said in an excited tone of voice, "And we're on to the fourth quarter!"

AC also had this to say after Stevens grabbed a rebound, "Stevens has really stepped up big time this season for the Cavs in some clutch situations". Hahaha!! Such a homer.

 

[ansatsusha80]

I'm glad I didn't see the game last night...

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

AC also had this to say after Stevens grabbed a rebound, "Stevens has really stepped up big time this season for the Cavs in some clutch situations". Hahaha!! Such a homer.

Stevens was 1-for-9 from the field and committed three turnovers. On 3-point shots he was 0-for-4 and at least one missed the rim entirely. He looked exactly like what he is - a developmental league guy. He came in 1-for-9 on 3-point attempts and jacked up four more bricks in 17 minutes. I'll give him this - he's very optimistic.

He did have one pretty impressive dunk. Too bad he missed his other eight attempts. I don't see much difference between him and Okoro, TBH, except 3-point shooting. Stevens is hitting 7.7%. Okoro is way up there at 27.6%. Woo-hoo!

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

“Basketball aside, you don’t let people treat you that way,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s the most disappointing thing to me. At some point in time, there’s a line in the sand that you have to draw, and then you have to defend that. There has to be a sense of pride. The Nuggets are a really good team. I’m not shorting anything from them. But they came out on a mission, and they accomplished their mission tonight.”

...there were taunt-filled poster dunks, gesticulating 3-pointers, slick passes and bench dance parties. The Nuggets had a blast. All at Cleveland’s expense.- Chris Fedor

“We can’t allow this ever again,” Isaac Okoro said. “I felt like from the jump, we weren’t playing with energy. We weren’t playing with competitiveness. We came into the game lackluster. We were going through the motions. I mean, we have to hit them in the mouth first before they hit us in the mouth. We just came out the game with no energy.”

“It’s nothing to do with a team mentality. It’s nothing to do with us going back and forth with each other. We’re all locked in and ready to play for each other. Just for some reason when we step on the court it’s like a lot of the things that we practiced we just forget and have mental lapses. We start looking inwards to ourself and we just have to be able to play team basketball.” - Jarrett Allen

The loss rightfully led to heart-to-heart conversations in the locker room. It led to soul-searching from a team that’s quickly gone from early surprise to flawed pretender attempting to find itself again. It should serve as a wake-up call. - Fedor