Live Thread: Cavs @ Pelicans
2017-01-23
The Cavs appear to be right on schedule for their annual midseason lull, as they have lost four of their previous six. A year and a day ago, former coach David Blatt was fired for the teams lack of enthusiasm, and in a large part from their fresh Martin Luther King Jr. Day beatdown at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. A year obviously doesn’t make much of a difference, but the title changed every perspective for the team. If LeBron, Kyrie and Kevin took a week to banana boat it up in the Caribbean for maintenance, I can’t imagine too many of us would be upset with it.
Alvin Gentry says "it doesn't look good" regards to Anthony Davis playing tonite (Charley horse). Team will decide in the next 15 mins or so
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 23, 2017
The Pelicans enter the matchup a disappointing 17-27, and a game and a half out of the eight seed in the West. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry downgraded Anthony Davis to doubtful for the contest as the quad contusion to he received against the Nets hasn’t healed as quickly as hoped. If Davis sits, former Rocket Terrence Jones will most likely start in his place. If that’s the case, this seems like an ideal night to rest LeBron.
Tune in to Fox Sports Ohio for the late 8:00 start, and dish in the comments section below as the Cavs play against a former version of themselves.
Yikes! LeBron is bad rapping Cavs management: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2017/01/lebron_james_cavs_david_griffi.html#incart_2box Hopefully that is just post game depression. I don’t think they could have done anything better. LeBron pressuring them to make a highball deal with his pal JR is part of the problem. JR is valuable, but he is being overpaid. Also, LeBron insists on a top salary, which he did NOT do with the Heat. The reason the Dubs could sign Durant is because most of their stars are playing for a lot less than top dollar. Then a couple of quality older players signed on for bottom dollar to chase… Read more »
Definitely something to remember. Klutch sports is just as responsible for the Cavs being strapped for cash as management is. There is only so much they can do in terms of changing the roster.
I KNOW JMAY—JUST MY FRUSTRATION COMING THRU—SORRY TO BE PESSIMISTIC —BUT MAN THEY ARE FRUSTRATING SOMETIMES — WONDERED THIS LAST YEAR ( AND I KNOW IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A GAMBLE ) TO PICK UP BEASELY FROM CHINA LEAGUE ( DIRT CHEAP AND LEBRON HAD PLAYED WITH HIM IN MIAMI ) STILL YOUNG –STILL HAS SOME TALENT / ATHELETICISM TO HELP OUR BENCH—-AND AS MUCH AS I ADMIRE / LOVE JAMES JONES ( AND THIS IS A SPOT THAT LEBRON’S DEMANDS ) HE IS TAKING UP SPOT FOR A YOUNGER PLAYER —JUST MAKE JONES A COACH AND BE DONE WITH… Read more »
I know. I’m frustrated too. Someone said it below that we are a team full of jump shooters who infrequently play defense. We have a lot of specialists but hardly any athletes that just go out there and make things difficult for the other team. We rarely get two-way performances out of anyone, tho I felt Kyrie was at least putting in effort on the defensive end last night. Even LeBron hardly ordains himself to play defense unless he sees fit.
WE ARE A NON -ATHLETIC / NO DEFENSIVE / LIMITED SUBS/ JUMP SHOOTING TEAM —–” LIVE BY THE SHOT—-DIE BY THE SHOT “—IF WE ARE HITTING WE- CAN OUTSCORE PEOPLE –IF NOT —WILL YOU HAVE SEEN THE RECENT RESULTS —-DON’T KNOW WHAT LEBRON EXPECTS GRIFF ” TO PULL OUT OF HIS HAT ” WITH LIMITED ( ALMOST NONE ) TO TRADE WITH / UNLESS WE TRADE ONE OF THE STARTERS —-MAYBE WE MISS J.R. ALSO MORE THAN WE REALIZE —-LEBRON’S POUTING ( SAYING I HAVE LIMITED TIME —ORGANIZATION BETTER DO SOMETHINGS ) HAS ME BELIEVING HE IS ALREADY SETTING UP… Read more »
Don’t go there, NOMAD. LeBron isn’t going anywhere. I do dislike the public statement though. As if Griff has ever been complacent or @cavsdan unwilling to open his pocket book…
I thought LeBron was in poor taste also calling out Griffin. Mo’s last minute retirement decision was a killer as he could certainly run the team. Was he great in defense, no, but Mo was most capable filling in for Irving for 30+ games two years ago. Mo’s retirement and JR’s injury have certainly hurt. But also RJ has regressed and if it’s even possible, Frye has gotten worse on defense. And Korver sure isn’t fitting in yet either.
Alas, this is the price for having LeBron on your team. He is an imperfect person, as we all are. Frustration setting in for fans, players, and no doubt front office.
Lebron did say the Mo Williams thing ‘f—-d us’. Didn’t sound too pleased about Mo.
Just frustrating how frequently the Cavs just don’t bring it. LeBron keeps talking about the need for play making. As if that’s going to suddenly make this team able to defend. We didn’t lose tonight because we couldn’t score. We lost because we couldn’t stop a bunch of nobodies from scoring. LeBron loves to tout how amazing a coach Pop is but ignores the fact that Pop’s teams are always great defensive teams.
Korver’ addition is eerily similar to Antawn Jamison. Horrible defender.
I think the King wanted Delly back!!! LOL!!! http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18542324/lebron-james-sounds-cleveland-cavaliers-loss
‘An earlier statement by James seemed to sum it all up.
“We got to figure it out,” he said. “It’s been a s—ty 2017 so far.”‘
Or as Minister of Propaganda Cols would put it, ‘it’s been a gritty 2017 so far’.
But don’t worry because everything is still awesome. These are just alternate facts…
Cavs and warriors have had few things in common today. Lost to bottom half teams. Trio stars in both teams scored 20+. Bench has given very little for either team. We focus so much on stars but small contributions from the bench is vital and is often the difference between winning and losing. That is where spurs have advantage over either teams, the bench.
Kyrie worked his arse off tonight! He didn’t get near half of that in return from his team mates. Cavs are so out of synch with the addition of Korver. He’s horrible on defense & put him in to 2 other bad defenders & not pass the ball to him; disaster is what we are seeing.
Fire Lue
I forgot the Pelicans lost their last game 143-114… to the Nets…
Not being minutes police… but there’s no way Terence Jones blocks LBJ like that unless LBJ is tired…
I think if LBJ shaved his head and kept the beard he’d get more foul calls… plus he’d look badass…
LBJ: “We’re just not a very good team right now.”
He is right. At the moment, they stink.
Everything is still awesome. IMO. No one can touch this team until the Finals.
You know that old saying about opinions and nether regions…?
My vote is for more minutes for Liggins.
Seconded… Defensive chemistry was much better with him starting and Shump coming off bench…
It was. The bench is a mess.
And Kevin Love hasn’t been great with SHump in the start but then again he’s been so blah overall. It’s like he lost his way.
He was -14 in seven minutes tonight…
That’s why he should play with the starters…
Ty Lue’s line to finish his postgame presser… “I know what I’m doing…”
If you told me Kyrie scored 49… LBJ had a triple double… Love had 22/16/6 and the Cavs shot 40.5% from three… won the rebounding battle… had 24 assists and scored 122 points, I would have bet they had won…
Defense. Matters. Period. (in the voice of Sean Spicer)
Agreed,the issues are the defense and tonight the Cavs bench scoring was 13 points only.
Also, tough to score when you’re not on the floor… Seven man rotation tonight basically with just 8 minutes for Ligs and 5 minutes for Frye…
EG what could Lue be thinking with such a short rotation?
I honestly don’t know… maybe he’s panicking
I think it was Nate who earlier said we miss a player like,Delly, since he at least gave a s**t on defense all the time.
Provided Lue would play him… not sure he’d have seen more than 5-10 minutes tonight
Yea and that protest that included millions around the world, and in DC gathered crowds three times the size of the inauguration was the smallest protest in history – Sean Spicer
Lets build narratives based entirely on falsehoods – Sean Spicer
LeBron love and Irving were all awesome.
On offense, for sure… defense… not so much
No Frye at all in the second half makes you wonder………
I’m beginning to wonder if the Cavs have just too many shooters and maybe they need to make a trade for a few defensive minded guys or a decent shot blocker. They are allowing too many points.
They could sure use a defensive wing in place of, say, Channing Frye.
Defense is a team effort, one player wouldn’t make any impact if the other 4 don’t give a s***