• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

Game Thread | Game #73 | Wizards @ Cavs | March 17, 2023

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Wham with the Right Hand

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Oct 3, 2019
Messages
9,556
Reaction score
27,313
Points
135
It's St. Patrick's Day and the Cavaliers will be busting out their green "leprechaun" uniforms and gold shoes for tonight's game. OK, I made that up. The Cavs return home for their third and final game of the season against the Washington Wizards, who are 32-37 overall and 16-20 on the road. The Wizards are in 10th place, clinging to the last play-in spot by a half-game over Chicago and Indiana. The Wizards have lost five of their last seven games, with both wins coming against Detroit.

These teams met in Cleveland in the third game of the season with the Cavs winning 117-107 in overtime. The Wizards were at full strength but the Cavs were missing Garland. The second game was in Washington on Feb. 6 with the Cavs blowing them out 114-91. The Wizards did not have Bradley Beal or Kyle Kuzma for that game.

Jarrett Allen is out for the Cavs and won’t return until March 21 at the earliest, according to CBSports.com, but otherwise both teams are at full strength.

The Wizards feature three established scorers in Beal (23 points per game on 51% from the field), Kuzma (21 points, 7 rebounds), and Kristaps Porzingus (23 points on 49% from the field). Their next highest scorer is point guard Monte Morris at 10 points per game. Center Daniel Gafford averages 9 points and 1.3 blocks in 20 minutes. Forwards Corey Kispert and Deni Avdija average 10 and 9 points off the bench.

The Wizards are basically an average team on both ends of the floor. They rank 16th in offensive efficiency, but 21st in scoring because they play slow, ranking 27th in fast break points and 21st in field goal attempts per game. They’re right around average in every major offensive category.

My assessment is they have three good scorers but not that much offense after that. The one area they excel is shooting percentage at the rim where they lead the NBA, but they only rank 22nd in shots attempted at the rim. They dunk when they get the opportunity but otherwise they prefer the mid-range shot where they rank 3rd in frequency (but 17th in accuracy). They’re average in 3-point shooting at 35.8%.

Defensively they are 19th in efficiency. They do a good job blocking shots (8th) and forcing misses (6th in opponents’ effective field goal percentage). They’re average in most other categories.

I see the Wizards as an average team that doesn’t do anything particularly well or particularly badly. There’s not a lot to say about them. Beal, Porzingus, and Kuzma are good shooters; in 8 games in March they average 25, 23, and 20 points. Kispert in March is averaging 13.4 points off the bench and nobody else on their roster is averaging more than 9 points. As a team they’re averaging 112 points in their last eight games.

Bradley Beal scored 27 points against the Cavs in October. His high this season is 37, so he is always a threat to have a 30-point game. Porzingus has had games of 43, 41, and 38 points this year so he can get hot. At 7’3” he can get off a 3-pointer whenever he wants. Kuzma had a 40-point game this year. Any of these guys can get hot so the Cavs need to focus on them as the rest of the team is not that threatening.

The Cavs need to understand that the Wizards are fighting to stay in the playoffs and need every win they can get. They’re a decent road team at 16-20. Complacency would be a big mistake. This could be one of those games where the Cavs come out overconfident, start slow, and it ends up biting them.

With Allen out the Cavs will have a matchup problem since Porzingus is 7’3” and I assume Mobley will guard him. Okoro or Stevens will have to contain Kuzma despite a height disadvantage. I don’t know who will be guarding Gafford, their 6’10” center if Allen is out. It will probably be Stevens who is too small defend him. Wade might be a better choice but he appears to be out of the rotation. Lopez could see action again since Gafford isn’t a big part of their offense.

With a Wizards’ front line that goes 7’3”, 6’10”, and 6’9” the Cavs could have a problem on the glass with Allen out. But the bottom line is that the Wizards are an average team that has not played well recently and the Cavs should win if they approach the game with the right mind set.
 
The Wizards are in 10th place, clinging to the last play-in spot by a half-game over Chicago and Indiana. The Wizards have lost five of their last seven games, with both wins coming against Detroit.
Is it possible this is a 3 way fight to stay out of the playoffs? Or are the playin teams that lose still get into the lottery? If so,could the play-in games series be the first time we see load management used in the playoffs?
 
Is it possible this is a 3 way fight to stay out of the playoffs? Or are the playin teams that lose still get into the lottery? If so,could the play-in games series be the first time we see load management used in the playoffs?
Yep, it's probably better to miss the playoffs and get into the lottery than to finish 10th and potentially get into the final eight, miss the lottery, and have to play the #1 or #2 seed in the first round.
 
Since Porzingus likes to play more away from the basket I could see Stevens guarding him more, and Mobley on Gafford, with Mitchell on Kuz, and Okoro on Hot shooting Beal ……
 
Since Porzingus likes to play more away from the basket I could see Stevens guarding him more, and Mobley on Gafford, with Mitchell on Kuz, and Okoro on Hot shooting Beal ……
Kuzma is 6'9" so putting the 6'1" Mitchell on him will be a tough assignment. I'd rather put Mitchell on Beal and Okoro on Kuzma. With a starting front line of Mobley, Stevens, and Okoro there's no way the Cavs can match up with Porzingus, Kuzma, and Gafford.

Garland is on Monte Morris and Mitchell checks Beal.

The Cavs can match up all right without Allen against small teams, but the Wizards present a problem.
 
JBB needs to bite the bullet and just play Wade for more minutes. The height mismatches are too drastic with our other undersized faux forwards and our height challenged back court guys.
 
Since Porzingus likes to play more away from the basket I could see Stevens guarding him more, and Mobley on Gafford, with Mitchell on Kuz, and Okoro on Hot shooting Beal ……
Stevens can physically handle Porzingis very well. Stick Okoro on Kuzma and Mitchell on Beal.

We should be ok, but obviously this team has had its ups and downs.
 
JBB needs to bite the bullet and just play Wade for more minutes. The height mismatches are too drastic with our other undersized faux forwards and our height challenged back court guys.
No he don’t……haha, I whether play the G league boys over him right now, We might not see the Real Wade until next year, get whatever bothering him fix………
 
No he don’t……haha, I whether play the G league boys over him right now, We might not see the Real Wade until next year, get whatever bothering him fix………
Its in his head. Once the player is f'd in the head; theyre are done. Wade is trade bait for me at this point.
 
Its in his head. Once the player is f'd in the head; theyre are done. Wade is trade bait for me at this point.
I agree I think it’s in his head also, that why I hope that can be fix over the summers, even when he shoots, he look like he has no confidence…….
 
I agree I think it’s in his head also, that why I hope that can be fix over the summers, even when he shoots, he look like he has no confidence…….
Just seeing the ball go through the hoop a few times would probably fix what is ailing Wade. I love how some of you completely write players off. You'd rather see us have a huge height/length mismatch at every position. Your way is having a 6'6" guy checking a 7'2" guy, a 6'1" guy checking a 6'9" guy, Mobley banging against a heavier/stronger guy, just mismatches across the board. I don't see how you expect any team to win with that, especially when we're used to having those mismatches in our favor.
 
Just seeing the ball go through the hoop a few times would probably fix what is ailing Wade. I love how some of you completely write players off. You'd rather see us have a huge height/length mismatch at every position. Your way is having a 6'6" guy checking a 7'2" guy, a 6'1" guy checking a 6'9" guy, Mobley banging against a heavier/stronger guy, just mismatches across the board. I don't see how you expect any team to win with that, especially when we're used to having those mismatches in our favor.

What do you do when coaching seems to be okay with these mismatches existing? It's not going to be fun watching this stuff happen over and over in the playoffs.
 
What do you do when coaching seems to be okay with these mismatches existing? It's not going to be fun watching this stuff happen over and over in the playoffs.
We'll have JA back and that makes all the difference, bumping everyone else down a spot and allowing everyone to be more aggressive on the perimeter. Tonight's matchups are more problematic than normal, the Wizards can bring more length than most other teams, more than any prospective playoff opponents. Not having JA makes us a pretty short team. I assume JBB will go with Lopez to try to check Gafford, but Gafford is way more mobile.
 
Just seeing the ball go through the hoop a few times would probably fix what is ailing Wade. I love how some of you completely write players off. You'd rather see us have a huge height/length mismatch at every position. Your way is having a 6'6" guy checking a 7'2" guy, a 6'1" guy checking a 6'9" guy, Mobley banging against a heavier/stronger guy, just mismatches across the board. I don't see how you expect any team to win with that, especially when we're used to having those mismatches in our favor.
First thing first Washington has no chance of playing us in the first round, most likely it’s going to be New York or Brooklyn both those teams play small.So I’m not worried about the height disadvantage tonight, 2 like someone said Allen will be back, probably next week…..At this point Stevens is giving you way more right now now then Wade, Your assumption is Wade see a few go down, we get the Wade we saw earlier in the year, I personally think more so then his confidence, I think he’s bang up, and that adding to his lack of confidence…….I would Love for Wade to get back to being Wade, but not at the costs of playing him just to play him, we’re not some bottom feeder team that could just play players for development and live with his outcome, I seen that for the last 4 years , we’re in win now mode…..I love the fact whether it’s Wade, Love, Stevens, or Cedi, JB not playing around with just handing out PT just because..
 
So the guy that shot 40.6% from 3 for the first 9 games that Love was benched is hurt? Yeah ok. JB got exactly what he wanted by screwing with him.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
Top