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Game Thread | 2021-2022 Season | Game #69 | Sixers @ Cavs | March 16, 2022 | 7:00 p.m.

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When Allen gets back, they need to consider playing Mobley closer to the perimeter defensively. Two elite inside presences is great. But only one is needed. Mobley had versatility to shut down ball handlers and is long enough to contest 3s

Not sure how you run that schematically, but I’d look into it.
 
This didn't start 3 games ago, brother.

Our 3 point defense has been on a steady downward trend for over a month.

No shit. Don't make this about what I supposedly don't know. I was trying to clarify what you said: (1) Mobley can't defend the post, so Garland Markk come to help, which makes it their fault for the bad 3PT defense? AND (2) Those two were killing our 3PT defense earlier in the season, too.

That's what you wrote. I'm asking you to explain it.
 
If I had to pinpoint a game where the 3 point defense started to really slide, it was the 105-92 win against the Spurs.

If you look at the boxscore, the Spurs didn't make a thing.

But I remember that game and that game thread and there were a bunch of us in here noting just how many wide open looks the Spurs were missing.


And then then the next game the Pacers lit us up from 3. Followed by the Sixers doing it. Then the Hawks doing it.

And it's been headed in a poor direction ever since.
 
No shit. Don't make this about what I supposedly don't know. I was trying to clarify what you said: (1) Mobley can't defend the post, so Garland Markk come to help, which makes it their fault for the bad 3PT defense? AND (2) Those two were killing our 3PT defense earlier in the season, too.

That's what you wrote. I'm asking you to explain it.

Nah. Not if you're gonna be this hostile for no reason.

Calm down, take a breath, and if you wanna discuss later we can.
 
Guys I'll be honest at this point start rooting for the 8th seed.

It's be in our interest for the Nets to pass us and up 7.

Why root to fail, we need to keep our butts at 6th.
Nets are 3.5 games back with only 4-5 wins left on schedule.
We just need Toronto to lose some games.
 
Nah. Not if you're gonna be this hostile for no reason.

Calm down, take a breath, and if you wanna discuss later we can.
Hostile? I asked you to explain your line of thinking, and you come back at me with "brother" and assume I don't know our 3PT defense has sucked for a solid month plus. I said "No shit." That's hostile?

Now I am hostile. Consider checking your condescension meter every now and then.
 
You gotta go to Garland over Goodwin. Thats an obvious decision. Garland isnt supposed to throw the ball off dudes ankles and leave their best 3pt shooter with 3seconds left to double their C 19 feet away from the basket. Thats not on JBB.

What IS on JBB?

Our worst defender guarding a league MVP who could literally break in half over his leg.

The lack of creativity on offense thats a continuous problem.

Putting the team in a hole to dig out of every night. We have to play perfect 2nd halves against good teams to have a chance to win.

Either no adjustments or really fucking stupid ones.

The 3 pt defensive scheme.

And a lot more. Toronto just has to beat the Clippers 3rd string tonight to fully erase what was a 3 game lead less than a week ago. Well done JBB! Youve managed to flush our season down the toilet.
Never understood why he needed that extension at Christmas. Why don’t people give ME huge contracts for successful thirds of years?
 
Hostile? I asked you to explain your line of thinking, and you come back at me with "brother" and assume I don't know our 3PT defense has sucked for a solid month plus. I said "No shit." That's hostile?

Now I am hostile. Consider checking your condescension meter every now and then.

If you think your post wasn't hostile and was good natured, then cool stuff. I disagree.

And rather then engage you when you're upset, I'll just pass instead. Won't lead to anything productive.
 
Hostile? I asked you to explain your line of thinking, and you come back at me with "brother" and assume I don't know our 3PT defense has sucked for a solid month plus. I said "No shit." That's hostile?

Now I am hostile. Consider checking your condescension meter every now and then.

Eat a Snickers.
 
For the third straight game against the Sixers the Cavs put up a game fight and made it close at the end. They needed to be better at the beginning. The Sixers got out to a 19-4 and the Cavs outscored them by 11 the rest of the way.

It was too much Joel Embiid, who had 35 points and 17 rebounds while looking like a man playing against boys.

And finally, too many missed 3's. The Cavs were 9-for-28, or 32%, including a number of totally uncontested 3's missed by Markkanen, Love, and Garland, the guys who are supposed to be good at this.

Moses did a nice job; 8 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block in 11 minutes with a +5. LeVert was +10 off the bench, kicking in 15 points and 7 assists. Goodwin also did a nice job with 8 points and 3 assists in 14 minutes. It looks like Cedi is in JBB's dog house as he did not play. Windler got 11 minutes.

The Sixers had everybody while we were missing Allen, Sexton, and Rondo. I'd like to see these teams play once the Cavs get Allen back.

Thybulle did a nice job on Garland, holding him to 5-for-15, although Darius got to the free throw line for 12 shots. Maxey is awesome.

Cavs have to get better at 3-point shooting. This was a winnable game; they just needed to go 11-for-28, which is not even that good.
 
Raptors on pace to win. After Jokic dicks us on Friday and the Raptors throttle the lowly Lakers again, we’ll be in the play-in. Crazy.
 
Massive game to swing your playoff fortunes and you are down big immediately and surrender 72 points by halftime. That tells me about all I need to know when calibrating my expectations for the rest of the season.
 
Going back to that Maxey three possession... Mobley (with Lauri)forced Embiid to pass it out from the middle paint area. Joel passed it to Tobias on the left wing who passed it to Maxey in the corner. Mobley made a super human effort to get all the way onto Maxey in the corner which forced him to pass out of the shot. There was a cross movement between Maxey and Tobias and Mobley stayed with Tobias in the paint. Maxey? Should've been Garland's man. DG shades to Joel and leaves Maxey for a wide open wing three :(

Goodness!

How in the hell did Mobley get over there? Not only that, but he maintained his balance and contained a Maxey drive. The guy is ridiculous.
View attachment 9075

Would've been a big stop...
If there is any argument for Mobley for ROY is because he's got defensive prowess already that would and have won more games than this team would have ever seen.

The way this team gets away from shooters is such a frustration.

A game like this, a team like this: you just gotta charge it to the game with players like Harden and Embiid. The Cavs don't have anyone on roster that can completely shut either of those guys down, or neutralize what they do. But that doesn't quite address the limitations they display on team defense.

If you want spacing, defense is the cost. If you want defense... spacing is the cost. Doesn't seem to be uncommon in the NBA... unless you're a cheat code team.
 
If there is any argument for Mobley for ROY is because he's got defensive prowess already that would and have won more games than this team would have ever seen.

The way this team gets away from shooters is such a frustration.

A game like this, a team like this: you just gotta charge it to the game with players like Harden and Embiid. The Cavs don't have anyone on roster that can completely shut either of those guys down, or neutralize what they do. But that doesn't quite address the limitations they display on team defense.

If you want spacing, defense is the cost. If you want defense... spacing is the cost. Doesn't seem to be uncommon in the NBA... unless you're a cheat code team.
This team simply does not value 3pt field goals enough. On either side of the ball.

From day one, the common denominator of our offensive and defensive "identities" has been the proximity of the rim. It's easy to see why – Mobley and Allen were swatting shots right out the gate, and on offense, the Garland/Allen PnR dunks were our bread and butter. On a superficial level, everything revolved around getting to the rim or preventing people from scoring there. For a while, it seemed to be enough.

Unfortunately, as much as the Cavs probably liked to think they had succcesfully turned back the clock, you can't beat the math. Three points is more than two. In the 2nd half of the season, we've kept bringing a knife to a gunfight. When teams move the ball and score on open 3pt looks... we respond with post-ups or pick and rolls. That does not work in the long run.

Before you say "But we don't have the shooters!", that is not true. What IS true is that we have too many non-shooters, but we do have enough guys who can make shots to run an intelligent offense aimed at creating easier scoring opportunities from the perimeter. Everyone in the NBA has slumps, and everyone misses open shots now and then, but the difference is that we make no consistent effort to create those shots.

On defense, we keep helping off shooters (on many teams, this pretty much means anyone standing on the perimeter), which is just insane in this age of the NBA. I understand fans hate to see guys getting layups – particularly as we used to have an identity as a team that swats your shit – but they should be absolutely enraged to see us giving up 3's. When teams quickly move the ball, we defend like we're expecting them to drive to the basket at any moment. In reality, they're usually searching for the open outside shooter.

Fixing this is not easy. With the way the offense has been turned over to Garland, running actions for 3pt looks or moving the ball around does not come naturally. Darius is a ball dominant guy who wants to be the one who makes the most important decision of the possession, be it a shot or an assist. There's just not enough trust there. If JBB does not install any kind of a system or even a principle, it's not going to get fixed on its own.

On defense, when you guard teams that move the ball along the perimeter to find shooters, you need to keep in mind what you're trying to prevent, and you also can't have any real weak links. Everyone must be able and willing to close out. A huge problem is that while Love is the best shooter of the team, he's by far the worst perimeter defender. That's just an unfortunate combination for a team like this. It's not always Kevin's guy who takes/makes the shot, but Love is often the one who starts the domino effect when he can't move.
 

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