Live Thread: Hawks @ Cavs
2017-12-12
The Cavs take on the 6-20 Hawks at the Q tonight. Atlanta is currently tied with the Chicago Bulls for the worst record in the league, but the Cavs can’t take them lightly. Cleveland already lost one of their two games to them this season.
The Cavs picked up a win during their last meeting though, after they drained 18 3s, which is their high for the season. If the Cavs hit at least 10 3s tonight, they will tie the franchise record of 17 straight games with 10 or more 3s.
Things To Watch
- Mike Budenholzer is not a fan of switching when teams use the pick and roll. That’s a huge reason why the Cavs were able to rip off 18 3s during their previous meeting. Tonight, Cleveland needs to be hunting for even more 3s considering the Hawks are missing their more mobile big men, John Collins and Dewayne Dedmon. Kevin Love should be popping off all evening.
- Tristan Thompson will most likely return tonight after missing 19 games. He will be coming off the bench. It will be interesting to see how much he can give to the bench unit. He was averaging 4.4 points and 6.4 boards a game. Both of those numbers are career lows for him.
- And, Tristan will be taking minutes away from some other bench player, which is sort of scary because the Cavs bench has been playing amazing lately. While it isn’t full of stars, the chemistry between Jeff Green, Kyle Korver, Dwyane Wade, and Channing Frye has been mind blowing. Those guys employ the perfect amount of cuts, off ball screens, and just general head nods that has led to them being the best 4-man unit on the Cavs with a +/- of 3.3. The play below shows the types of things that happen when a team will commit to letting bench guys learn each other. It features some Jeff Green, Kyle Korver, magic.
- Lastly, did anyone else know that Channing Frye’s nickname is Buffet Of Goodness? Thank you, Basketball Reference.
Ok I didn’t see the game, but 25 pts on 11/13 fgs, 17 assists, 7 boards, with only 2 turnovers in 35 minutes is easily one of the greatest single game PERs of all time. I don’t have the numbers, but I would be shocked if, given the TS percentage and Assist to TO ratio, it wasn’t top ten in the last 44 years. 44 years being the only PER stats that matter since Wilt’s and Russel’s Blocks and Steals are not part of their calculated season/career PER because blocks/steals wee not recorded during their careers.
Find a home for that nets pick, man. The draft isn’t 10+ deep and I don’t really trust us to draft well in a deep one anyway considering Anthony Bennett and freaking killer shrimp were Gilbert favorites
The pick has a value as judged by all 30 teams at this moment. You might be surprised to know that all 30 teams actually watch the standings. There are not any teams you can trick because they think the Nets are in last place. Several commenters continuously want to give away the pick due to who knows what theory, rather than the value of the pick.
How about trying on this theory: If you get good value for the pick, trade it. Otherwise, don’t.
If you can trick OKC into giving up PG for nothing you do it. Realistic possibility if Billy Donovan continues to suck at basic X’s and O’s as much as he pathetically has.