Game Thread | Game #29 | Cavs @ Mavericks | Dec. 14, 2022

[letgocavs]

This Mavs terms with Giannis is not a finals team. Sorry.

Giannis is the best player in the NBA but there’s a lot of reasons people would want to play with Luka. He’s effective and if surrounded with talent he will compete at the highest levels. He has elite court vision, can shoot, great handle, great size..he may be a bit of a jerk but ultimately most players would love to play with Luka. You think LeBron wouldn’t take Luka Doncic on his team? If we would have won the lotto with the Nets pick(we were one Dinwiddie prayer bomb missing away from that…people forget) we would have been able to pair LeBron and Doncic if he would have stayed.

He’s a top 5 player and he’s definitely got room to take his game up another level. I’m sorry, but you’re talking crazy about Doncic. The dude is among the best of the best in the league.

Not too mention I think he's uncoachable. About to be on his third coach in 5 years. Now if you want to crown him, then crown his ass.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Not too mention I think he's uncoachable. About to be on his third coach in 5 years. Now if you want to crown him, then crown his ass.

Difference between “crowning him” and simply acknowledging he’s a great player. I even said I think he can get to another level. If he honestly took his body to the next level in terms of eating right training hard I think that would unlock him in ways we haven’t seen yet.

 

[Rich]

Eh, Lukas whole style with his rather big defensive limitations puts a hard ceiling on that team.

Peak James Harden is what he currently is, only he pouts more and gets into it with his coaches more.

They won't be as good as the best Rockets team.

 

[Jscc]

Difference between “crowning him” and simply acknowledging he’s a great player. I even said I think he can get to another level. If he honestly took his body to the next level in terms of eating right training hard I think that would unlock him in ways we haven’t seen yet.

His talent is definitely technique and innate. You don't get that good with a body that sub-par with bad talent.

 

[Cavatt]

We just wait and trade Darius and Allen for Luka when he finally wants out. Do you want to go tanking or have 2 stars in their prime that can be the backbone of your offense?

 

[Cavatt]

…that won’t be realized until we upgrade our head coach and our PG starts playing winning basketball…

I dunno. I think if the guards had taken slightly better care of the ball they would have won 3 more games

 

[letgocavs]

We just wait and trade Darius and Allen for Luka when he finally wants out. Do you want to go tanking or have 2 stars in their prime that can be the backbone of your offense?

They wouldn't trade Luka for our top 4 stars.

 

[Cavatt]

They wouldn't trade Luka for our top 4 stars.

Even if he was leaving and in the last year of his contract and the team is the same or worse?

 

[jjvors]

To no one's surprise JYD award goes to Lamar:

 

[letgocavs]

Even if he was leaving and in the last year of his contract and the team is the same or worse?

At that point yes.

 

[foucault87]

I will not stand for this Luka slander. There is a whole debate to be had about how far you can go with a helio offense, which is better suited for another thread. Willing to start that if people want to go into it. But, Luka is one of maybe 4 players in the NBA right now that actually gives you a chance to win with a pure helio offense. His vision, decision making, and offensive scoring pressure is THAT good. I forget if it was 2020 or 21 but he played an entire playoff series on a bum leg and hit a game winner and beat the Clips with some monster outings. He is that dude.

Luka Doncic is at worst the 5th best player in the NBA today and anyone that wouldn't want him on the Cavs needs to go take a look at the tape again. Yes, he isn't an elite defender. Yes, he sometimes slows down the game on offense. He is in that tier of good enough that you live with those warts much like LeBron for most of his career.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

I dunno. I think if the guards had taken slightly better care of the ball they would have won 3 more games

Add an upgrade at coach, and we probably win _6_ more games…

 

[All4One1ForAll]

Man feels like they have given away several games. 3 or more? We are only 4 games behind the best team in the NBA. Feels like the sky is falling around here.

The fact they are this good and everything isn't clicking just means there is a lot of upside to this team

To be fair, we’re 10-10 since the 8-1 start. So it makes sense that the sky feels like it’s falling recently when we started off the season performing really well, and since then we’ve looked like a pretty middle of the road basketball team. And when the games you lose are ones where you totally collapse in the 4th quarter or just come out completely flat and spend the rest of the game trying to catch up, it’s frustrating.

Being on pace for almost 51 wins on the whole is nice, but context definitely matters here. We’ve looked pretty awful on the road, Wade being out for who knows how long hurts us significantly, and Garland just doesn’t look like the guy we saw last year.

 

[bob2the2nd]

just had a chance to watch the game after following along in the thread yesterday

1) holy cow the refs were fucking terrible. the mavs fans getting upset at the refs at the end was laughable. Cavs were getting mugged all night long with very few calls
2) Lavert's game is just not winning basketball good lord I cant wait for him to be gone
3) After reading this thread I was pretty sure Kevin Love was running around with pants off shitting on the court... He definitely missed some shots that he usually makes, but i thought he played just fine.
4) Great game by stevens and great game by mitchell obviously
5) even if his shots werent falling garland played a very solid game. No Turnovers, only 1 or 2 passes I really second guessed. very much played his game.

 

[Ohioplayer00]

LaVert is actually playing better than Garland right! Love is who he is and until come to grips with that they will always be disappointed. Love is old, slow and yes a liability on defense! BUT he still fights inside, gets tough rebounds, still has an excellent outlet pass and at times can light it from three land! Don’t expect anything else and your blood pressure will remain stable!