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Game Thread | Game #35 | Nets @ Cavs | Dec. 26, 2022

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Nothing you can do when the Nets make 18 of 30 from deep. They're making 37% of their 3's on the road. Tonight they hit 60% and most of them were contested. It was just like Toronto in the last game where they hit 51% when they normally make 32% on the road.

T.J. Warren, averaging 8.9 points per game, scored 23 off the bench with 8 rebounds, hitting 9 of his 14 shots. He was the difference IMO. We have nobody on our bench who can do that. Between Warren and Watanabe they got 33 points on 13-for-19.

Every Brooklyn player who shot at least one 3-pointer hit 50% or more except for one guy off the bench who was 0-for-1.

The Cavs were only 13-for-36 from deep so they were outscored by 15 points on 3's (in 6 fewer shots). They lost by 8. The difference was stark. The Nets were knocking down contested 3's and long transition 3's off the dribble while Cedi, Stevens, and Okoro were bricking totally uncontested corner 3's. Actually, Stevens was 2-for-4 so I can't complain about him.

I don't think we can compete with teams like Brooklyn and Milwaukee with guys like Stevens, Cedi, Okoro, and Love getting significant playing time. They are just very limited players. Cedi was +10 tonight but was 1-for-6 on 3's and missed some uncontested ones that we desparately needed.

Okoro and Mobley were 0-for-5 from deep. It's tough when your center doesn't shoot 3's (unlike, say, Brook Lopez) and your forwards don't, either.

Mitchell had a tough night as Simmons pretty much shut him down. We can't beat the best team in the NBA when Mitchell goes 5-for-16. Garland was awesome; 46 points, 8 assists, 1 turnover in 40 minutes.

What the Cavs need above all, IMO, is for Dean Wade to get healthy, stay healthy, and develop a consistent corner 3.
 
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I thought we had a chance until Garland did that hero ball drive into traffic and got stripped. Garland played great but I don't understand that choice. Why not shoot threes at that point of the game? It's a make or miss league and we didn't even try to get threes when a couple of them and a stop would have won the game.
 
Jscc said:
Mitchell was amazing in all of those games. The Nets just employed a strategy that takes him away: get the ball out of his hands into the shooters and watch them clank. That has nothing to do with the Nets win streak.
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Didn’t the Cavs just employ the same strategy against Giannis and the Bucks?
 
Didn't watch the game but looks like Simmons earned his pay today based on how Mitch performed.
 
I’m not going to give Mitchell a pass. Dude has 15 points this game and 12 points last game. And what was disappointing was seeing him standing in corner with Simmons, not even trying to get open. Next play, he went to the same corner with Durant in the 4th quarter, while Garland was putting in the work. Donovan got stopped at the basket a couple of times and sort of stepped away from the offense afterwards.
 
pinoycavsfan said:
Mobley had 3 open 3s, none of them were even close. His offense starts on the perimeter, 2 pound dribbles and a spin move. The whole nba knows this and he has been stripped every time he dribbles and loses the ball with minimal contact. He has to have at least a ft line jumper. No need to dribble, just pump fakes and jab steps all day. His jumper is unblockable. Develop that, now he can use that to establish high low play with allen or kick out passes to the wings.
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Every time Mobley is starting to drible it seems like he has 50 pound dumbbells attached to his legs and the ball itself becomes 4 times heavier,so he barely can jump off the floor and the ball cant even reach the rim sometimes.
 
bushwick_bill said:
Cabs just played the top team in the NBA that is on fire right now, they scored 91 points in one half against the Bucks, a team the Cabs just beat, the Cabs have beat Boston twice this season and are tied for the second most wins in the NBA. They are also missing Rubio, Wade and yes Windler. Get a grip on reality...
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We have one of the best win record for now only because we played more games than any other top ream (among top 8) except for Clippers.Its 2-3 games difference for the most of those teams below us,so hold up your happy dreams until we are all even on number of games.Regarding Boston games,we have to forget those two games,because that was in the first 2 weeks of the season where we were on unexpected,amazing run .That does not exist anymore and teams are familiar with Cavs game and adjusted to it for the most of the part.Two remaining games wont be the same games we played before for sure.
 
In the last three minutes of the first half we were outscored 18-4. We had been down by 12 and fought back to 46-45 and then Kyrie re-entered the game and scored 11 points and Warren 7 over the last 3:00, going a combined 7-for-7 including 4-for-4 from deep.

It was like as soon as the Cavs almost caught up the Nets woke up and said, "OK, they had their fun, time to put a stop to this nonsense".

It seems like there have been several losses to teams like Milwaukee and Brooklyn where the Cavs have these 3-4 minute runs where they can't make a bucket and the opponent can't miss. The Cavs can't stop the bleeding until it's too late.

Take away those three minutes and the Cavs win by six.

Kyrie was +16; his backup Summer was -11 in 11 minutes. The Nets better hope Kyrie doesn't get hurt.

Ben Simmons scored 4 points but was a team high +23. He neutralized Mitchell, holding him to 13.5 points below his scoring average and the Nets won by 8. Simmons also grabbed 9 rebounds and had 8 assists and 3 steals. He easily won that matchup. Simmons doesn't have the "Wow" factor of Durant and Irving, but his impact on winning was just as much IMO.

Ideally, Garland doesn't score 46 and Mitchell 15 but with Simmons on Mitchell it meant Garland had the better matchup.

The Cavs could have won this game if their forwards could make a corner 3. Okoro (0-2), Mobley (0-3), and Cedi (1-6) must have missed about 8 uncontested corner 3's. Actually, I looked it up. The Cavs were 4-for-14 on corner 3's; Brooklyn was 3-for-5.

That's 10 missed corner 3's out of 14 attempts and as I recall most if not all were completely uncontested. It was frustrating to watch Durant, Irving, Warren, and Watanabe knocking down 3's with a Cavalier right in their face while we had guys standing in the corner with all day to line up an uncontested shot only to brick (or even airball) it.
 
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LeQuit said:
We have one of the best win record for now only because we played more games than any other top ream (among top 8) except for Clippers.Its 2-3 games difference for the most of those teams below us,so hold up your happy dreams until we are all even on number of games.Regarding Boston games,we have to forget those two games,because that was in the first 2 weeks of the season where we were on unexpected,amazing run .That does not exist anymore and teams are familiar with Cavs game and adjusted to it for the most of the part.Two remaining games wont be the same games we played before for sure.
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Happy Dreams? What were your expectations with this team this season, just unbelievable some of you…
 
I wouldn't get too down about losing to the Nets. They are the hottest team in the NBA right now, and beating every team that crosses their path. The fact that we didn't get much from Mitchell or the 3pointer and still tried to battle back was encouraging. Those wide open missed 3s hurt my soul though. Whats even more sad is that I knew we wouldn't hit those wide open 3s. Never raised my hand with 3 fingers for any of them.
 
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