Live Thread: Cavs @ Wolves
2018-01-08
The Cavs are hanging out in Minnesota to take on the Wolves in the third game of their five game road trip. A win tonight tonight would mark the first time the Cavs have won two games in a row since December 17th. The Wolves are a decent challenge for the Cavs, and currently sit in 4th place in the West at 25-16.
Tom Thibodeau was supposed to get the Wolves defense in line when he was hired a season ago, but their defensive rating is currently 20th in the league, while their offensive rating is fifth in the league. The Wolves are young and talented in the perfect ways to give the Cavs trouble. Jimmy Butler is one of the best shooting guards in the NBA. He’s averaging 21.5 points a night to go with five assists, 5.3 boards, and some very above average defense. He has an effective field goal percentage of 50.3%. Karl-Anthony Towns is having a solid offensive season too averaging 20.2 points and 11.2 boards a game.
The Wolves are without their starting point guard, Jeff Teague. Isaiash Thomas should be in the starting lineup for the Cavs continuing to round into form. IT should have a decent evening going against the Wolves’ backup guards.
Iman Shumpert is still out for Cleveland.
3 Thing to Watch
- Thibs plays his starters an absurd amount of time. All five of them play over 32 minutes a night, while the Cavs have only one player playing over that much time, LeBron James. Lue should run this the Wolves into the ground and look to give Channing Frye, and Cedi Osman some playing time. The Cavs can probably out-hustle this team if they play their cards right.
- KAT and Jimmy Butler are going to give the Cavs trouble on the offensive end of the floor. JR Smith needs to stay focused and keep track of where Butler is whenever he is off the ball, so he isn’t getting easy baskets off of cuts. KAT will get over on Kevin Love even if Love plays him perfectly. KAT is a phenomal scorer. Lue should use some help schemes to make sure Love has a chance to slow Towns.
- Andrew Wiggins is clearly the 3rd man for the Wolves now and is averaging just 17.6 this year after averaging 23.6 last year. LeBron can cover him and needs to shut him down, so the Cavs aren’t getting beat by a quasi-sixth man type scorer.
I’m picking the Cavs to win tonight. They want to make a statement after having to play the Magic to the final minute of action. Cavs, 126-108.
Cedi (11) and Korver (9) had the best +/- on the team tonight.
Both kept trying, that was clear.
And, god, I’ve seen enough JR and Crowder in the starting lineup to last a lifetime. They usually are both huge zeros. They were again tonight. It’s usually 3 on 5 with those two out there.
EXACTLY ! ‘Coach’ Lue has got to know by now that the starters by far-and-away ARE : TT, Love, LeBron, Jeff Green, and Isaiah, THIS IS NOT DEBATABLE. Green is the only ADD since the other four (4) ( Isaiah/4/Kyrie ) were already established in the championship, and Green has shown his capabilities. Lue needs to start treating champions LIKE champions by letting them run together and get their chemistry back! This would include working in some ‘established plays’. If this is not addressed soon enough we can kiss a run at the championship GOODBYE. Lastly, Knock the bad-rap on… Read more »
You should check with the teams looking to hire a coach.
Stopped watching near end of first to get some sleep. Never happier. Sounds like a shark show from start to finish.
Was January a downer for the Heat when LBJ was there?
And yet again we learn absolutely nothing from Lue’s postgame. He’s gotta watch the film before saying anything. SMH.
What have you ever learned from a Belichek post game interview, or any interview for that matter? Coaches are required to give interviews. Most of them try to say zero.
Hate myself for saying anything positive in the GSW direction, but I find most interviews with their coach quite illuminating.
Message to CtB staff : the faithful need a podcap to lift our spirits. Maybe get EG to type his comments & Nate read them out, get the Pestak chuckle going. We need something.
Heh. I was gonna do it tonight. Hopefully it will be better after Thursday.
if i was coach i would have green at practice take 300 3s a day …..he gets so many open looks cause hes such a threat to drive ,
anyone agree with me that cedi should be starting over jr ? i think jr isnt in a slump i think this is who he is now and hel occasionally go off for some crazy 3s
How about Korver instead? At least he shoots when the shot is there.
defensively dont think korver can stick to a really good guard , cedi could do at least what jr does prob better
Either one. JR isn’t even 50% the player he could.
yep
Good idea, which I have often also had lately. I would start Cedi over Korver.
did frye get in fight with lue???
They should start Cedi in place of JR in Toronto , fine the starters a game’s pay and give it to him in a brown paper bag.
+1. He could also use the bag over his head with eyeholes to hide his identity while he plays.
just saw that lol
That’d be a big bag.
Noticed some friction between LBJ & Love on a few plays earlier. Love looked a bit lost afterwards. Starters not on same page on basic plays is a very bad sign at this point in the season, and for the first time I agree that Lue’s job may be in jeopardy.
I believe the KLove playing center for the Cavs helps them a lot for the spacing on offense but defensively it hurts them a lot against the teams that attack the rim constantly like the Wolves are doing.
Guards knowing the weak defense at rim won’t play aggressive defense, result only 5TOs on 30 assists by TWolves. Get Bogut, he will help team this time.
Hope green is Ok. He came up wincing.
Nice move Cedi!
I understand that the Cavs should struggle a bit defensively with having guys getting in and out of the lineup but once again they are going to allow 130 points plus to a team. I mean I just don’t know what else needs to happen for the Cavs front office to make a move.
this might be the worst I’ve seen the Cavs play since the LBJ return. AC called it, you better feel this. It’s January, it’s a long season, I get it, but have some pride. I’m paying money for this s#@t!
It’s not just the team on the floor. AC keeps saying, “this team feels like a playoff team.” It’s like he doesn’t even realize the Wolves are fourth in the west.
The Cav starters seemed surprised that they have to play hard in the first quarter like these young upstart teams didn’t get the memo about coasting until the fourth. No panic, we’ve seen what they can do when they try, but as a fan it’s becoming hard to watch if they don’t care and they clearly don’t on many a night.
Like I posted a few days ago the upcoming games will show us how good the Cavs really are at least now in January.
At least Cedi cares.
TT with another dumb play.
Cavs should be booed out of the opponents’ gym.
Games like this have consequences. Going to be interesting to see what that will be for Cleveland. Galvanising or corrosive?
jr is epicly bad
lue has got his usual blank face on but with an additional little nervousness. he should have reason to be nervous i hope hes gotta go
No Frye or Cedi ?
Nice one Lue.
Come on man. This is all about the starters, especially LeBron, laying down.
Okay, true.
But if you are the coach and your starters are stinking up the joint, ummm how about playing your bench, specially the players who show they care?
TT hasn’t done much and JR is a zombie out there.
This is embarrassing.
I’m a masochist. I keep going back to it knowing quite well I’m only going to get angry.
Eh. I get some Cedi time.
Love just got popped on that last play then James let Gibson get a layup.
Been watching the score online…with my calculator. Geez.
Lol. Wade took 3.5 steps and still blew the layup.
Another bad game for Lebron against a good team.
Thomas should be ejected.
And suspended for a game.
That was a cheap shot.
Lue should’ve benched everyone there’s no chance the Cavs are winning this.
LeBron gambling like crazy just increasing Minnesota lead.
Exactly and again not attacking on offense when obviously the Cavs need him to be aggressive.
Could lue lose his gig here? Just crazy how out of control this game is and team looks disinterested
Lol. Cavs aren’t getting back in this game Jimmy Butler wants it.
am i the only one that cant stand when people post positive things about tt!!! , i feel like its trying to be politically correct or having good manners or something im not even sure what it is, its soo freak en obvious hes such a negative when hes on the floor for soo many reasons, his little play here and there doesnt and wont ever make a nick to his negatives of him being on the floor with this team!!!
I don’t get this. TT has very little to do with the starters laying g an egg tonight.
I hate on TT with the best of them, but tonight, this isn’t his fault. The fact that the Cavs are refusing to get back on defense isn’t his fault. He’s under the hoop. The guards need to stop the break.
yes the starters have bad starts from time to time , but gone r the days where wade green frye korver cedi pull us right back in with big run and starters come back more energized
This isn’t a bad start. This is crap ping the bed.
i wanna see cedi in for jr , hes active on offense and at least a better defender than jr, jr is inactive on offense (except for an occasional missed open 3)
LeBron -27 at half time. Time for his hiatus.
I haven’t been watching, but I’m at the point where I believe that the Cavs don’t really take the regular season seriously. Lue seems to be experimenting with lineups, hoping to find a role for TT and others.
why doesnt someone tell love to grab o rebound instead of his attempts to tip it in which i havent seen go in a long time , little basics that shows how this team isnt coached one bit
Love doing nothing…JR has been off forever…Tristan useless like usual…cavs ice cold…just bad combination
71 points allowed. Honestly I Don’t understand how the Cavs still have Lue as their coach.
The wolves don’t fear the Cavs at all right now, and the Cavs just don’t want to step it up at all, They aren’t playing bad defense when they get set, but that’s just not happening at all tonight.