2023-2024 Playoffs: March Toward _______?

bushwick_bill said:

We have a shot against Boston, we play pretty competitive against them

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Regular. Season. Does. Not. Matter.

JMoneyYourHoney said:

Regular. Season. Does. Not. Matter.

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Thank you. Totally agree. Boston still needs to win their first round match up as does Cleveland.

Dean Wade is actually really important against both Orlando and Boston. I’d hope that Morris would get some time if Dean remains out.

bushwick_bill said:

Right, imagine JA,Mobley, Strus or Okoro getting hurt in the 4th because JBB played a starter that late in the game... This place would burn down to the ground. The takes on X Formerly known as Twitter are absurd as well...

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Are you suggesting Cavs fans would have been upset if Mobley or Allen got hurt trying to beat Charlotte so we could get Philly in the first round instead of Orlando?

I don't get it. What's not to like about that?

dms said:

There's no way in hell they fire him if he makes the conference finals, they'd be the laughing stock of the NBA as no one thinks this is the 2nd best team in the East and there won't be a single person outside of Cleveland picking them against Boston.
I think he's probably safe as long as they get past this round. Again, few expect us to even be competitive with the Celtics,

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If the Cavs can get by Orlando and be competitive in every game against the Celtics just like they were in the regular season, I think management will be satisfied. They'll see us as just one player away from being even with the Celtics, who won 64 games this year with practically no injuries to key players.

Seven teams in the East finished with 46-50 wins. Seven teams in the West finished with 46-51 wins. Awesome parity. The NBA must love this.

Oklahoma City ended up with the top seed. IIRC, most pundits had them finishing around 7th prior to the season.

Boston finished with 14 more wins than any other team in the East for one reason; injuries. Four starters started 69-74 games and Porzingus started 57. Their top subs Hauser and Pritchard played 79 and 82 games. Horford played 65.

Philadelphia lost Embiid for 43 games. They went 31-8 went he played. If he played 78 games they probably go 62-16 in those games and are right there with Boston. The Sixers were 1-1 against Boston when Embiid played.

New York lost Randle for 36 games and Mitchell Robinson for 51. That's two starters. After trading for OG Anunoby they went 12-2 until he got hurt, missing six weeks. Without him they were 8-10. After he returned they went 8-1. So the Knicks were 20-3 with Anunoby on the floor (and without Randle). They outscored opponents by 24 points per 100 possessions in the nearly 800 minutes he was in the game.

I honestly think Philly and the Knicks will be as tough as Boston. If not for injuries both of them would have had a similar record to Boston in the regular season. I see the East as a three-team war now that Embiid and Anunoby are back.

Assuming Randle and Robinson are 100% next year the Knicks might be unstoppable.

Philly is VERY nervous about Jimmy Butler.

I hope playing Mitchell when he was hurt was worth it.

Smooth said:

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The results of the '22-'23 season are irrelevant. The Knicks have Anunoby now and they're 20-3 when he plays. The Sixers were 36-9 with Embiid this year. Those are the only teams that can realistically knock off Boston IMO.

Wham with the Right Hand said:

The results of the '22-'23 season are irrelevant. The Knicks have Anunoby now and they're 20-3 when he plays. The Sixers were 31-9 with Embiid this year. Those are the only teams that can realistically knock off Boston IMO.

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I agree but I’d give Miami Dracula’s chance.

Wham with the Right Hand said:

The results of the '22-'23 season are irrelevant. The Knicks have Anunoby now and they're 20-3 when he plays. The Sixers were 31-9 with Embiid this year. Those are the only teams that can realistically knock off Boston IMO.

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Knicks record is 1-4 against Boston this year and the Sixers are 1-3… Sixers are 1-1 with Embiid this year, and Knicks are 1-0 with that game coming on April 11 (a game with little incentive for Boston)..

Not discounting what the current rosters are, just thought it was interesting the Cavs and Magic of all teams have had the most success of any Eastern Conference team the last two seasons — who would have thought that?

dms said:

There's no way in hell they fire him if he makes the conference finals, they'd be the laughing stock of the NBA as no one thinks this is the 2nd best team in the East and there won't be a single person outside of Cleveland picking them against Boston.
I think he's probably safe as long as they get past this round. Again, few expect us to even be competitive with the Celtics,

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If he can take us to the ECF he would deserve to keep his job. Don’t think it’s happening tho :-(

The Cavs were 36-19 when Mitchell played and 12-15 without him. That equates to a 54-win team if he plays every game. Also, he was not close to 100% from the All-Star break until the last two games, and even now I don't think he's all the way back.

Since the All-Star break the Cavs are 6-5 when Donovan plays. In those five losses he scored 10, 13, 13, 19, and 24 points. His shooting percentages were 35.3% from the field and 33.3% on 3's. In those games 57% of his shots were 3's. For the season 45% of his shots are 3's. He was taking more 3's and driving less in those losses after the break. Factor in his shooting percentages and it's obvious he was playing on a painful knee.

The last two games the real Donovan Mitchell showed up. He scored 29 and 33 points, shooting 47.7% overall and 45% on 3's. Also, 45% of his shot attempts were 3's - right on his season average. He was taking it inside on 55% of his shots, just as he was prior to the injury. What was really encouraging besides his shot selection getting back to normal was the 45% hit rate on 3's, which is even better than his season average of 37%. It shows his knee feels fine and he's getting the lift from his legs that you need to make the longer shots.

Donovan also had seven steals in the last two games. In the five losses he played in since the break he had a total of seven. For the season he averaged 1.8 steals per game, so getting seven in two games shows he's getting his quickness back.

Bottom line is that before his injury the Cavs were 30-14 when Mitchell played, and now that he appears back to normal they're 2-0. The Cavs were a very good team when Donovan was healthy, and it appears he's healthy now. So we'll see what they can do against a 47-win team in Orlando and hopefully Boston after that.

No matter what happens the next couple of weeks (or longer), management should have a very good idea of what needs to be done this off-season. They learned a lot from the Knicks' series and went hard after Strus and Niang.

I think the playoffs will be important for Okoro as he is a free agent after the season. Can he make a significant contribution or will he have some of those 2-point, 1-rebound, no assists in 20 minute games?

The Cavs are not going to be competitive against the Celtics in the 2nd round. Regular season does not translate to playoff results