2023-23 Season | Game #82 | Hornets @ Cavs | April 14, 2024 | 1:00 p.m.

Bulls played well

HAHAHAHAHHA KNICKS PLAY THE SIXERS/HEAT

Ohio said:

Yeah, we pulled all the starters and played the bottom 5 guys on the roster.

It was a tank job, full stop. It's not even debatable.

Click to expand...

Broadcast said in the first half the plan was for starters to play limited minutes..

That combined with the rest the starters received in sitting out of the game the message was simple: Hope for the best, and get out healthy..

With that being said, losing with how things turned out hurts more since Cavs could have gotten the Indy/Orlando matchup they wanted but also a division title and avoiding Boston in 2nd round to boot..

Pierre Pan said:

Bulls played well

Click to expand...

I hope the Knicks get swept...

Now to be fair to Thibs, IF no injuries come out of this game, they do now have like 6 days off. But the risk of playing Donte 53 minutes and 3 other guys 40 minutes+ is wild.

I probably posted the most about wanting the cavs to get the 2nd seed but now am just fine after today’s genius and shameful debacle.



Only really bad part was Porter getting hurt.

Smooth said:

Broadcast said in the first half the plan was for starters to play limited minutes..

That combined with the rest the starters received in sitting out of the game the message was simple: Hope for the best, and get out healthy..

With that being said, losing with how things turned out hurts more since Cavs could have gotten the Indy/Orlando matchup they wanted but also a division title and avoiding Boston in 2nd round to boot..

Click to expand...

Everyone will have their opinions it clearly was not worth the risk, as you mentioned especially once CPJ went down...

Turns out we would have wound up with the 3rd seed if we won, but boy it would have been a stressful 45 minutes

Orlando must feel good about our matchup, eh?

Smooth said:

Fans were complaining about the Cavs not being able to get out of the first round, now we got people calling them cowards because they don't want to maybe position themselves to get out of the first round..

What are we saying if Mitchell or Garland have that CPJ injury?

Click to expand...

Eh, I don't think there's any cognitive dissonance in both

1. being disappointed in an embarrassing first-round loss and
2. being disappointed in the team throwing a game to triangulate for optimal first-round match-up which (arguably) positions us poorly for the second round.

I know we might disagree about the intentionality of throwing the match, but here's my case: there was plenty of chance for JA, Evan, Max, Isaac to get injured in their minutes through the game, including the 4th quarter. That was not injury prevention. The lineup for the last 5 minutes accomplished its goal.



And apologies for the long post, but to continue the point on dissonance: I actually think there's quite a bit of continuity between being disappointed in last year's first-round loss and being disappointed in this afternoon's choices.

Both are characterized by short-sighted, fear-driven decision making.

• In the CLE-NYK series case, one example is all the hedging we did with Jarrett towards towards Brunson. Great, you contained him pretty darn well. But that was a short-sighted move that contributed to our decimation on the boards, when you could have just trusted a great defender in Okoro. (Caris also did well on Brunson, IIRC.)
• Today, the Cavs went for certainty and safety. You got the Magic, congrats. But the Knicks, who were trailing earlier, went out and finished off the win. We might've been the 3rd seed, with the chance to redeem ourselves against NYK in the second round, rather than heading for the Celtics who seem like a buzzsaw.

Maybe this is just after-the-fact rationalizing some gut sense that you shouldn't ever throw a match. If I'm being irrational, I'm glad I've done it in the game thread. But ultimately yes, I think both those outcomes are bad and point to the Cavs brass being insecure, timid fools. And that doesn't bode well for what I hoped would grow into a championship team!

Knicks ego and cockiness they have taken on from Thibs may hurt them with this decision.

wuck said:

I probably posted the most about wanting the cavs to get the 2nd seed but now am just fine after today’s genius and shameful debacle.

Click to expand...

If I could go back in time before the season began and tell myself 48 wins would get the 4th seed and play the Magic first round( with the starters only playing 28 games together all season) and being kind of healthy for the playoffs and Philly would get the 7th seed and play the Knicks first round, I would take that every time, be estactic and not believe it... Wild Season

scene42 said:

Orlando must feel good about our matchup, eh?

Click to expand...

I think they are just happy to be there this year.

Orlando is a shit road team, not the greatest offense, and probably both team are equal as far as coaching goes.

I love our chances.

cliffdawg said:

Funny how many people would be more satisfied if we got smoke by Sixers or whoever in the first round to have the satisfaction of JB getting fired, I personally think if he don’t get to at least the EC Finals his job going to be in trouble……

Click to expand...

I'd rather progress as far in the playoffs as possible, and that means home court for as long as you can keep it. Preferring to face Boston on the road in the second round seems to be settling for the idea that we win one series then get bounced.