Talking Cavs with Mark Neal
2015-01-22
Last week Mark and I lamented the sorry state of the Cavs [Listen Here] and wondered aloud how hot David Blatt’s seat must have been feeling. The Cavs have won four straight since – so we got a chance to talk about the new trade pieces and viability of a Hawks vs. Warriors NBA Finals.
http://www.wingam.com/Tom-Pestak-from-Cavstheblog-com-talks-NBA-Cavs-wit/17320024?pid=452085
Super sorry about late live thread. It’s up now.
I CNT believe I am missing this game. Driving to CLE atm
I hope you DVR’d it. Hardly ever seen anything like it.
The thread is up! The thread is up!
Sorry about lackbof live thread guys. I hope someone is recapping tonight. If not, commenter recap? 4 commenters each take a quarter?
Largest halftime lead in franchise history according to Fred…
Former Cavs update: Dion has 8 points on 3-7 at half against the Hawks. Wig has 2 on 1-5 shooting through one quarter against NO. Sweet Lou Amundsen with a second straight start for Knicks is 0-4.
NY Times has a nice piece on Lou’s life as a nomad:
How far the mighty Stoudemire has fallen. How does he face his friends in the clubs after the game with Lou starting over him?
Somebody on the Knicks must be highly toxic considering how “eh” JR Smith and Shumpert had been playing with their talent.
JR just misses the half-court shot at the buzzer. Really would have been fitting for that to go in the way the rest of the half went.
So the Cavs settle for the 35-point halftime lead.
Hornets have 40 points in the game. Cavs had 40 in the second quarter alone…
I’m kinda disappointed the Hornets got to 40.
Only Big Al and a slight defensive letdown by Cavs allowed them to get that many…
YES! Got to 75 points! Definitely wanted that last three by JR though! Great last block from TT!
Charlotte has held opponents to under 80 points the last three games.
Cavs score 75 in the first half.
What an amazingly awesome stat!
Apparently the Hornets haven’t given up 80 points in a game for a bit, and they’ve given up 75 at the half.
This may be more accurate – @SamAmicoFSO: Hornets have held each of last 10 opponents to less than 100 points. Cavs have 75 at half. Yes, 75. (Lead 75-40). LeBron 19 pts, 6 ast.
The middle-aged Mark Price looks less like the younger Mark Price and more like his brother Brent.
“Lob City by the Lake.” Not bad, Fred.
From where they are now, it will be a failure if the starters have to play in the 4th quarter.
Very true. Like to see some Shump in the fourth
prolly won’t see much of him tonight (coming into the game questionable).
He’s already played 5 minutes…
Sounds weird to say, but I’m going to be disappointed if they aren’t at 75 by half…
WTF? We’re only up by 34. I want to see us get this above 40.
Finally starting to miss a few shots. The Suns 107 point first half record appears to be safe…
I will never delete this game from my DVR. If Cavs never win a championship they I’ll still have this game.
COLS is probably just jumping up and down and up and down and up and down like a six year old!
Moz with the and 1! Plus a T!
MOZGOV REJECTION HAS REDUCED A.C. TO MONOSYLABLES!
If your Charlotte you just don’t want to be there anymore.
LEBRON!!!!!
HOLY COW! What is the record for points scored in the first half of an NBA game??
Ok, it’s Charlotte. But some teams in the league have to be looking at the way the Cavs have been playing in the past week and going, “Oh, sh*t.” This is what they were hoping wouldn’t happen.
Other GMs should be cowering in fear as they watch this display…
WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW!
JR to LeBron: Can there be a dagger in the second quarter?
Cavs up 31! LBJ with the steal and JAM. KYRIEEEEE. LBJ WITH THE ALLEY OOP JAM!!!!!!!
Ball has not been dominated by Lebron and look out good the offense is . . . and Lebron still gets his.
Can you spell chemistry?
On every play a Cav breaks free and after the bucket all the Hornets just look at each other with a “what happened” look on their faces.
Yep. I’s coming. Just have to get Love shooting better.
Cavs are on a jailbreak after every shot, make or miss. I FREAKING LOVE when they play like that
A cop strolls over by the refs for some screen time during the replay review.
Way to PUSH the ball guys! The ball has ENERGY!
LBJ having a good time destroying Stevenson…
Big Al still has some sneaky good moves inside…
Even DELLY is hitting floaters in the lane!
Atlanta Who? #Cavs
MOZZZZGOVVVVV!!!
LeBron-Moz or Kyrie-Moz will be a nightmare to defend. Moz is a beast when he rolls, and he can pop for the J too. And LeBron and Kyrie are somewhat effective too.
SHUMP FOR THREEEEE! WELCOME TO THE TEAM MY MAN!
This Charlotte game sure doesn’t look like a trap game now… Although it’s apparently a trap game for C:tB game thread…
We’ll have to talk to the proprietor of this joint.
I’ve noticed that this does sometimes happen for Friday night games. Nobody really wants to give up their Friday night plans to post a live thread. Can’t blame them really…
Cavs +20 after one quarter! Terrific energy and execution on both ends of the floor
Shumpert on the floor!
Fred said he asked Mozgov how you say dunk in Russian, and Mozgov said “Dunk.”
Just awesome… normally I can’t stand Fred’s stupid questions, but that’s just awesome
Kyrie again with the defensive energy tonight.
JR is 3-3 on 3!!!
Did you see that epic jam by Moz?!
Ack! Missed it. But lots of other good stuff. LeBron looking effective early in the elbow and probing around Mozgov’s picks.
I’m going through live thread withdrawal here!
Me too! Who is doing the thread?!
There is no way the Hawks make the finals. Unless Lebron gets injured of course.
Out of curiosity, how many Hawks games have you watched, Cols?
One. When they played the Cavs. But you can look at their roster and already see that they can’t win it. Teams without HOFers don’t win NBA titles. The only exception in the last 50 years or so is the Pistons of the early aughts.
I suggest you watch them some more.
Defense: FIRST in points allowed per game, FOURTH in opponent field goal percentage
Offense: SIXTH in points scored per game, FIFTH in field goal percentage
That is absolutely the makings of an NBA Finals contender. And, they’re 10-2 against the West. They are a real threat to win the whole thing. I’m not saying they will, but I’m saying it is ignorant to discount them.
They don’t rebound though so if the Cavs just grab every single rebound like we had originally planned before the season started, then they should sweep.
Not sure if you are sarcastic or serious. Haha, I’m hoping sarcastic. Anyone who thinks the Cavs would sweep the Hawks needs their head checked (ahem, Cols).
They can’t match up with us at all. LeBron, Kyrie and Love are all better than their best player. It won’t be close. We won’t sweep them but they aren’t really anything to worry about.
There really are no teams in the East that are scary.
I know it’s sexy to reduce the game of basketball down to a who’s who of NBA superstars and future Hall of Famers, but it is actually a team game. And believe it or not, defense matters just as much as offensive talent and output. 2014-15 Cavs Defense: 19th in points allowed per game, 29th in opponent field goal percentage Offense: 15th in points scored per game, 15th in field goal percentage It’s historically proven that you don’t win NBA titles with a defense that bad, especially when you’re not even among the offensive elite. As of today, the Hawks… Read more »
@Ross, I think you’ll see those numbers start to change a bit with the new players
DaveR, I definitely agree. However, unlike Cols, I’m not ready to crown them champions of the East because of a four game winning streak. And I also don’t underestimate the Hawks, Wizards, or Bulls. This isn’t the East of the past 4 years. There are legitimate teams that stand in our path during the playoffs.
For what its worth, Vegas agrees with Cols.
http://www.oddsshark.com/nba/odds/futures
Also, fwiw, based on how the teams have played SO FAR this year, Hollinger’s NBA Playoff Odds give the Hawks a 71.2% chance of making the NBA Finals compared to a 2.7% chance for the Cavs.
Don’t get me wrong, the gap is not that cavernous, but it does illustrate just how much better the Hawks have been so far this season compared to the Cavs.
Ross
Please look at the history of teams with LeBron on them. They don’t lose to teams without superstars. It just doesn’t happen. We will beat the Hawks.
“Look at history….it just doesn’t happen.” When you looked at history, which planet’s history were you looking at?
Under “teams without superstars that beat Lebron James”, of the course of his storied career, I had to dig back in the historical archives ALMOST 10 WHOLE WEEKS….
Detroit (80-103)
Atlanta (98-127)
Toronto (93-110)
Denver (97-106)
Utah (100-102)
It’s not like most of these were nailbiters, either.
grover, I’m pretty sure Cols is talking about the playoffs. Who cares about the regular season? Everyone has lost to everyone at some point.
On a legitimate title contender, LeBron’s worst series loss was to Orlando with Dwight Howard. Other than that he’s lost to the Spurs (Duncan, Parker, Ginobili), Mavericks (Nowitzki), and the Celtics (Pierce, Allen, KG, Rondo).
Agree. Atlanta is not a legitimate title contender. Yeah, they have a great record, but a lot of pundits believe they are built for the regular season. Once the playoffs start and every possession matters, talent begins to trump team effort.
Yep. Plus the Cavs will be going all out in the playoffs. Playoff LeBron is not to be messed with.
We will need to improve as a team from now until the playoffs to beat Atlanta. Right now, Atlanta would beat us in a 7 game playoff IMO.
But, all things considered, our ceiling is far higher than Atlanta’s and I agree with you that come playoff time, we’ll be the better team.
just get Moz, JR, Shump, and the rest playing together for another couple months and things will come together.
Great insight guy. As bummed as I was to see Waiters traded, the team fits so much better now. Once Shump is back this is going to be the flavor of the month again.