Game Thread | 2021-2022 Season | Game #61 | Timberwolves @ Cavs | Feb. 28, 2022 | 7:00 p.m.

[Cavatt]

Great effort. Losing that early lead took a lot of creative officiating.

The pace of the game is what the Cavs have been struggling with. They need a pg to calm them down and dictate the pace. Goodwin was great, but he is not that. He is an attack guy. Cedi is too chaotic, but he needs to keep working. He had some very good passes tonight .

 

[Dr No]

The game was there for the taking, but some really hideous turnovers late cost us. Every time we got on the precipice, guys seemed to fall over themselves to try and do something over their heads.

Defensive effort has to be way, way more consistent if Garland continues to be out. Team seems to be straying away from their identity.

22 turnovers were the killer. We shot very well. Outscored them by 14 at the free throw line. We out rebounded them by 7, but they still got off 12 more shots than us. TO’s were the game

 

[MirORich]

I hate losing to NBA teams with negative IQs. Put the TWolves right up there. Probably the 2nd worst franchise in basketball.

Got bent over by the Warriors and will be stuck in mediocrity. Hopefully Edwards finds a way out sooner rather than later.

Fuck them. Fuck this game.

They are healthy and 17-9 in their last 26

So whether they are low IQ or not, they are beating a lot of teams, home and away.

Not making excuses but I don’t think everyone here realizes this is not at all the same Wolves we whupped up on back in December.

 

[CavzAddict]

He was fishing for a foul, which is why that shot looked more like some form of improvisational dance than a jump shot

If so, that was stupid on his part. He can't even make 2 straight fts, let alone 3. I still can't believe he chucked up such a terrible shot in that situation. It takes away from all the good he did throughout the game.

 

[ice cream man]

TWolves are not that good. You have to have a chance at winning a playoff series for me to take a team seriously and in my opinion a healthy Minnesota has no chance against any of the top 6 teams in either conference. Going along with that I’m sure we all agree that if Garland plays tonight we win handily.

 

[letgocavs]

When the game is close okoro is hitting that corner three.

 

[BiGZD]

Nothing was drawn up Rch. You know this. JBB went into the huddle, put his hand on Cedis shoulder...said

"we're going with the hot hand boys....get him open....by not screening and staying far away to give him "space". Cedi. Make a play. Star players make plays. Youre a star. I believe in you, love you, and will make you my childs next godparent. I trust you with my life. See me after for a gold star and we'll all go get ice cream." #PlayersCoach

Yeah it's frustrating to see. Lue was alot of things but he was dynamo on calling set plays after a T/O

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

We lost that one thanks to the refs, who gifted them 4 points, and some unusually good 3-point shooting. The T-Wolves, who came in shooting 34.6% on 3's, went 18-for-42 for 42.9%. Rookie Jaden McDaniel, shooting 29.3% from deep on the season, went 5-for-7. He came in having made 3 of his last 20. WTF?

McDaniel's amazing (for him) game along with Markkanen only making 1 of 6 was the difference. But we lost 2 points when Beverly dribbed a ball of his foot that the refs missed and 2 more on the bogus goaltending call on Mobley, both of which were horrible calls and one of them should have been challenged.

The Wolves scored 75 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. I think for the game they had 33 points off turnovers. They lead the league in that category. You don't want to play these guys without a great point guard.

Yep, the Wolves came in with a record of 16-9 in their last 25. Given how short-handed the Cavs were there's no disgrace in losing, especially with the refs giving them four points and the Wolves having an unusually hot shooting night. They were so confident they were firing up contested 3's early in the shot clock in the 3rd quarter. It helped the Cavs get back into it.

Welcome back, Kevin Love! A line of 26/5/4 with 2 more charges drawn. He gave the Cavs a chance at the end.

Jarrett Allen was 9-for-10 with 21 points and 8 boards. He held his own against KAT, outscoring and outrebouding him. But KAT hit the game-winning 3-pointer so he got the last laugh.

I was very impressed with Brandon Goodwin. 17 points, 12 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and a +6 is a line Darius Garland would not be ashamed of. I'm fine with Goodwin as the backup PG next year. He's better than Rondo.

Cedi had 21 points and 5 assists off the bench. He also took a knee to the groin early and was slammed down by Beverly on the breakaway that was deemed a common foul, much to the consternation of the announcers.

With the Cavs down 23 and the Wolves on a roll I thought this could end up as their biggest loss of the season, eclipsing the 17-point loss to the Wizards. But the Cavs clawed all the way back to tie the game. In the end, Towns made his 3 and Cedi missed his and that was the ball game.

 

[jjvors]

We fell short. We tied the game in the last minute, but couldn't push past to the victory.

I blame our turnovers most of all. 20 is 8 too many.

Timberwolves TEAM STATS Cavaliers
127Points122
54.7%Field Goal52.7%
42.9%3 Pointers40.5%
78.9%Free Throws85.3%
31Rebounds38
8Off. Rebounds10
12Steals5
30Assists29
6Blocks3
13Turnovers20
31Fouls (Personal)17

 

[jjvors]

Individual stats. We had some good performances but fell down on 3 point defense and turnovers. Not surprising for a young team missing two starting guards and our sixth man and our other backup guard, Rondo. Do you think we would have won with Rondo? Possibly.

Starters:
Markkanen 10-4-1 in 35 minutes. He only got 7 shots. Was 1 for 6 from 3. Off night.
Mobley 15-10-4 with 2 blocks in 34 minutes Excellent performance. He's playing at an NBA starting forward level, and he's a rookie.
Allen 21-8-1 with a block in 33 minutes. I would have played him and Mobley 38 minutes. Take some time from Markkanen.
Okoro 6-5-1 with a steal in 28 minutes
Goodwin 17-4-12 with 2 steals in 35 minutes. Excellent performance for a starting PG.

Bench: 53-7-6 in 28 minutes You couldn't ask for more.
Love 26-5-4 with a steal in 26 minutes Productive!
Osman 21-1-5 with a steal in 28 minutes on only 9 shots. Efficient!
Wade 0-1-0 in 10 minutes
Frazier 2-0-1 in 4 minutes About what you'd expect from a new journeyman.
Stevens 4-0-0 in 5 minutes I'd have given him Wade's minutes.

Our offense was plenty good enough. Our defense, especially our turnovers, were our downfall.

 

[buzzdog]

It’s pretty simple…

You have a quality skilled big and JA is gonna struggle, Mobley may as well… JA is not gonna match the level nor is he gonna out perform the opposition if they’re a higher caliber big…

He has a ceiling and his is a notch below….

Thing is Cavs win this game with Garland probably by 10 points or so and it gets swept under the rug…. Without Garland or a W in general and it gets magnified…

If I was gonna see one high end team in the playoffs it would be Milwaukee (Brooklyn perhaps as well) — a team without a skilled big…

Cavs have zero chance vs Chi or Philly based on their roster construction in the east… But if you can find a matchup vs a team more perimeter oriented you’re gonna have a shot…

I'm not sure what you're expecting from JA. KAT is a max, franchise player. JA isn't. But you expect JA to completely shut KAT down or something? I thought Allen did pretty decent all in all. A huge positive is he started taking and draining some mid range shots. Progress.

 

[buzzdog]

22 turnovers were the killer. We shot very well. Outscored them by 14 at the free throw line. We out rebounded them by 7, but they still got off 12 more shots than us. TO’s were the game

You nailed it. Plus it seems we sucked on 50/50 balls. It's pretty hard to overcome 22 turnovers when the other team is hot from the perimeter on top of that, and your offense is playing with one hand tied behind their backs because of limited guard availability.

 

[RonG]

We lost that one thanks to the refs, who gifted them 4 points, and some unusually good 3-point shooting. The T-Wolves, who came in shooting 34.6% on 3's, went 18-for-42 for 42.9%. Rookie Jaden McDaniel, shooting 29.3% from deep on the season, went 5-for-7. He came in having made 3 of his last 20. WTF?

McDaniel's amazing (for him) game along with Markkanen only making 1 of 6 was the difference. But we lost 2 points when Beverly dribbed a ball of his foot that the refs missed and 2 more on the bogus goaltending call on Mobley, both of which were horrible calls and one of them should have been challenged.

The Wolves scored 75 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. I think for the game they had 33 points off turnovers. They lead the league in that category. You don't want to play these guys without a great point guard.

Yep, the Wolves came in with a record of 16-9 in their last 25. Given how short-handed the Cavs were there's no disgrace in losing, especially with the refs giving them four points and the Wolves having an unusually hot shooting night. They were so confident they were firing up contested 3's early in the shot clock in the 3rd quarter. It helped the Cavs get back into it.

Welcome back, Kevin Love! A line of 26/5/4 with 2 more charges drawn. He gave the Cavs a chance at the end.

Jarrett Allen was 9-for-10 with 21 points and 8 boards. He held his own against KAT, outscoring and outrebouding him. But KAT hit the game-winning 3-pointer so he got the last laugh.

I was very impressed with Brandon Goodwin. 17 points, 12 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and a +6 is a line Darius Garland would not be ashamed of. I'm fine with Goodwin as the backup PG next year. He's better than Rondo.

Cedi had 21 points and 5 assists off the bench. He also took a knee to the groin early and was slammed down by Beverly on the breakaway that was deemed a common foul, much to the consternation of the announcers.

With the Cavs down 23 and the Wolves on a roll I thought this could end up as their biggest loss of the season, eclipsing the 17-point loss to the Wizards. But the Cavs clawed all the way back to tie the game. In the end, Towns made his 3 and Cedi missed his and that was the ball game.

That unusually good 3 point shooting seems to be a trend with teams who play us and typically don't shoot it well from deep.

 

[buzzdog]

What I've been seeing is a lot of the same strategies against us from pretty much everyone.

The Cavs have a lot of long, lean, and athletic players that give us certain advantages. The Wolves were twice as thick, solid, strong, and almost as quick and agile. So the book on how to beat us is to just body, bump, muscle, grab, reach, and slap all game long to negate our length and take advantage of our collective lack of muscle mass.

It matters a LOT how much the refs will allow. They called a lot of fouls our way but not half of what was being committed against us. It's happening against every team that has those kinds of players, that's the book on us.

 

[PIP]

I'm not sure what you're expecting from JA. KAT is a max, franchise player. JA isn't. But you expect JA to completely shut KAT down or something? I thought Allen did pretty decent all in all. A huge positive is he started taking and draining some mid range shots. Progress.

Ok.

I’m not really attacking JA here… However there tends to be from time to time performance issues, energy levels and a lack of production from JA when he plays up against the best of the best….

Which is okay and I get it….

I think his next step in development (for his game) is sustaining a high level of play, energy and effort when he’s taking on those kinda challenges….

I think he did fairly well this evening all things considered but in general he tends to lose a step when he’s playing the upper echelon…. But JA has never been a concern of mine really…