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Game Thread | 2021-2022 Season | Game #66 | Cavs @ Heat | March 11, 2022 | 8:00 p.m.

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todays results couldnt have gone worse, least we keep our first hopefully we win the lottery and get Jabari Smith!
 
Catastrophic two days for the Cavs.

Nets blow out 76ers, gain some ground.

Cavs had a shot to win tonight's game, but couldn't.

Raptors beat Suns, gain some ground.

Now we are on a back to back against the Bulls.
 
Gave up 117…. Not good dudes !!
 
Are people down on Cavs or fired up about Cavs ?

Let’s get the pulse of the board…. Anger or jazzed up ?
 
PIP said:
Are people down on Cavs or fired up about Cavs ?

Let’s get the pulse of the board…. Anger or jazzed up ?
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We have been devastated by injuries and we are just a shell of what we can and should be.
Can't think of another team that has had so many injuries this year. Maybe I am just a homer. Not sure.
I am frustrated but we are way better than I dreamed to start the season so I cannot complain even though things appear to be going south and quick.
 
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tkpbrowns said:
We have been devastated by injuries and we are just a shell of what we can and should be.
Can't think of another team that has had so many injuries this year. Maybe I am just a homer. Not sure.
I am frustrated but we are way better than I dreamed to start the season so I cannot complain even though things appear to be going south and quick.
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Clippers . . .
 
That's pretty much what you get when you try to survive against a defensive team like the Heat without running any plays. Miami spent the entire 2nd half standing comfortably in place on D, watching Garland dribble the ball and paint himself into a corner time and time again.

Brad and AC made a great point about the Heat being a veteran team that can play "loose but sharp", can't remember their exact words. Their ball movement was something we can only dream about. It always had a purpose. That is how you find an open shooter in today's NBA. However... as a team, you need a certain mindset for it to work. Everyone has to buy in. We had that in the 1st half of the season, but it's dead now.

Part of the reason is Rubio going down, but it's mental too. You often hear the announcers saying that our guys should be moving more, particularly when Garland has the ball.... but in this sport, you need a framework, a basic idea for movement. You can't just run around like a headless chicken. Right now, guys are not moving because the whole "offense" is predicated on reacting to Garland's improvisation. They're watching and waiting. The trouble is, so is the other team. And that means they're resting.

Every time, literally every time Mobley got the ball into one of his spots, had some space and a few passing options, good things happened. Brad was exactly right when he said that he simply must touch the ball every single time down the floor. Garland has to give up the ball earlier in the shot clock, play off Mobley at the high post, and trust Evan to hit cutters. There's two playmakers out there and one of them just happens to be 7 feet tall. DG has to accept it and JBB has to realize it.
 
Rich said:
I mean JBB is on a very similar, MIke Brown-esque path.

Coaches up team defense that seems to start to get exploited by better teams.

But the real crusher is that the offense is every bit as unimaginative as the Mike Brown offenses were.

Here's the ball Darius. Go figure it out.
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Unfortunately, I agree 100%.

When Garland is hot, it's harder to detect these faults. But right now we're depending on him being hot all the time. The 2nd half was probably one of his worst all season – if not THE worst – and we completely fell apart.

We're already super predictable when DG is on, and when he's off, the other team knows what we're going to do way before WE do. That's how bad it is.
 
How do we justify playing Rondo over Goodwin when we are no longer defending or moving well without the ball on offense?

Listen, we are injured, and we are getting figured out. If the way for us to compete in this stretch is to put the ball in our point guards hands and ask them to create, so be it. But, then if that’s the strategy, how do you play Rondo over Goodwin in the minutes without DG? Our offense looks helpless out there with Rondo; he is not Rubio who made the players around him better, nor is he even Goodwin who can at least get to the rim and kick out.

Additionally, I wouldn’t mind seeing us try to run out a two PG set in a game like tonight for a few minutes to see if it puts pressure on their defense, and takes DG off the ball a bit. I mean they are playing PJ Tucker, Robinson & Lowry was off, so it’s not as though you would have been overly exposed with 2 small PGs out there…But You can’t do that with Rondo…Goodwin needs to be the back up PG moving forward.
 
Erbium said:
How do we justify playing Rondo over Goodwin when we are no longer defending or moving well without the ball on offense?

Listen, we are injured, and we are getting figured out. If the way for us to compete in this stretch is to put the ball in our point guards hands and ask them to create, so be it. But, then if that’s the strategy, how do you play Rondo over Goodwin in the minutes without DG? Our offense looks helpless out there with Rondo; he is not Rubio who made the players around him better, nor is he even Goodwin who can at least get to the rim and kick out.

Additionally, I wouldn’t mind seeing us try to run out a two PG set in a game like tonight for a few minutes to see if it puts pressure on their defense, and takes DG off the ball a bit. I mean they are playing PJ Tucker, Robinson & Lowry was off, so it’s not as though you would have been overly exposed with 2 small PGs out there…But You can’t do that with Rondo…Goodwin needs to be the back up PG moving forward.
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They did have Rondo and Garland on the floor together for a few minutes in the 4th quarter. It's not the same as Garland and Rubio, unfortunately.

If we had Allen, Rubio, and Sexton we probably win this game. Even without two starters and our 6th man we were still in the game with 4 minutes to play against the best record in the East at their house.

JBB said the Cavs played too much iso in the second half, which was obvious watching the game. Everybody stood around waiting to see what Darius was going to so. What worked was getting Darius switched onto Robinson, but then they took Robinson out.

The Heat were very physical as evidence by Garland's career high 16 free throws. They just kept fouling him. He scored 24 points on four field goals.

With Allen out we needed better 3-point shooting, but we only managed 32%. There were a lot of misses on open looks.

The Cavs gave up 117 but without Allen they were missing their top defender. Abaya, Butler, Herro, and Strus chewed them up. Herro has developed a very nice mid-range game where he shoots fallaways in the paint and banks in runners from the angle.

I want to see them play the Heat next year with the team they had last night plus Allen, Sexton, and LeVert.
 
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