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Game Thread | Game #69 | Cavs @ Heat | March 10, 2023| NBA TV 8:00 p.m.

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Going for 2 when you don't have timeouts and you don't put any of your shooters on the floor.

I really hope I'm wrong about how a playoff series is gonna go.
What shooters?
 
I'd be very keen on replacing both the FO and the entire coaching staff but that's a tall task. And a very expensive one at that.
Well I fault Altman for not going harder at the trade deadline to try and upgrade the team, especially at SF.
I get annoyed at JBB for not using players properly and getting some of them in early in the game.
The I get ticked how they lose focus on defense and take stupid shots.
 
The scary thing about JBB - there's zero improvement. Moreso on the offensive side. I don't care how well he can lose his voice during a game, or lose his voice from yelling at his team like they are kids. This exact game, that exact timeout sequence is where you look for late game situational improvement, and it's not happening.
 
Heat hit a lot of shots down the stretch that they missed the other night. To me, that was the difference in the game. They made a ton of tough.contested shots. I'm okay with the split. Wish we could've kept that 13 pt lead but it disappeared as quick as we got it. It was a good game though.
 
Great, now we will have to hear Garland candle worshipping
 
Great, now we will have to hear Garland candle worshipping
 
Tough game. Herro, Strus, and Butler all just shot very well, and we missed Garland immensely. Even so, we were right there.

Okoro is a keeper. He is sneaky on those backdoor cuts and continues to improve. He defers now, because that is his role, but I expect him to make big strides next season. He is one of the few players we have who will continue to improve (Mobley is another, probably Garland, and perhaps Allen and Stevens).
 
I'm pretty sure Rubio, who tore his ACL twice in the same leg, played 18 straight minutes from 6 min left in the 3rd quarter until 20 something seconds left in the 4th. That was JB's biggest crime tonight. I just fear someone's gonna get injured from his tightened rotation and lack of trust in his bench guys.

Otherwise, I didn't love everything from JB (including the great spacing Rubio-Okoro-LeVert-Stevens-Mobley lineup), but if Miami didn't make a ton of crazy, contested shots in the 3rd/4th quarters, the Cavs probably would've won.
 
Missed the game, except the last 18 seconds. Seems like we were in control until the 4th. I heard Jarrett Allen left with an eye injury. On top of missing Garland, that seemed to be too much for our team.

Mitchell did what he could, which is quite a bit: 42-3-4 with a steal and a block in 42 minutes.

I'm glad to see Okoro and LeVert step up with 16-2-3 with 2 steals in 33 minutes and 16-3-4 a steal and a block in 39 minutes respectively.

Allen had 6-13-4 with a steal and 4 blocks in 34 minutes when he left the game.

Mobley had 12-4-2 with a block in 28 minutes. Why did he play so little? He should have had at least 38 minutes.

I'm surprised they were able to shut down our bigs. How did that happen?

Our short bench with 23-8-8 points did average for them. I'm glad to see Rubio with 8 assists.

Is it worth watching the game? I don't usually watch our losses, but we led through 3 quarters, it might be entertaining.

LINESCORES​

TEAMQ1Q2Q3Q4FINAL
CLE26333026115
MIA27233237119

TEAMPITPFB PTSBIG LDBPTSTREBTOVTTOVPOT
CLE4261423511030
MIA4017729716016
Lead Changes
4
Times Tied
4
 
Incessant whining about the coach does not make you a "knowledgeable" basketball fan. It just makes you a whiner.

You were around during the LeBron stints. You should know better.

That inbound down by 3 would've been LeBron surrounded by the team's four best shooters. Even if they were corpses. Instead, we had the personnel equivalent of Tristan Thompson and DeAndre Liggins in on that possession.
 
What bothered me most of all was the Miami run at the start of the 3Q. That was the game right there.
 
What’s the story on Green? Clearly, it’s not some BS about him needing to get up to speed with what we run. Is he physically incapable of giving us minutes?
 
Tough loss as the Cavs played well enough to win, but Herro and Strus got hot from deep and pulled it out. Between the two of them they were 9-for-14 on 3's and hit some tough, contested shots.

As usual, the Cavs gave away two crucial points on a failed inbounds pass. If I were Dan Gilbert I would have Bickerstaff in my office explaining why his team can't simply inbound the ball from the sideline. They need to spend at least a half hour in tomorrow's practice just working on inbounding. This is getting embarassing.

I can't believe Okoro missed a dunk. Between the missed dunk and the Miami steal and dunk off the inbounds play we lost four points that were the difference.

Mitchell had an awesome game with 43 points but he needed 30 shots. Butler was 12-for-16 for 33 points, including a huge 19-foot jumper with Stevens in his face and the Heat leading by a point with 18 seconds to go. He misses that and we have a chance to win on a 2-pointer on the last shot.

I didn't think we had a chance without Garland but the boys made a great effort. But as usual it came down to 3-point shooting. The Heat made 48%, the Cavs 42%. Guess who won?

The Cavs also were dominated on the boards 46-34. They had a 7-point lead going into the 4th but missed 10 of their first 13 shots. The Heat got hot from outside and that was it. You never feel any lead is safe when you know Herro and/or Strus can get hot at any moment and hit three or four 3's in a row. Not to mention Jimmy Butler, who either gets the bucket or the foul 90% of the time he tries to force his way to the rim.

But the most important thing is whether Allen will have to miss any games. When he was injured late last year the Cavs went into a tailspin.
 

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