2023-24 Season | Game #25 | Cavs @ Celtics | Dec. 14, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. | NBA-TV

[catfish]

Extremely poor body language. If this team was playing in a major media market the media would be all over the management coach and the players. Instead we have Fedor CAVS mouthpiece. I also think the fans are owed a little more transparency with what is going on with Mobley.

 

[willglam]

You don’t blow it up. But like Boston you identify the key guys to keep and trade away the Marcus smarts, both Williams and Brogdon to focus more on what works with your main players. For us I would say trade away Levert, Okoro and Allen.

 

[bushwick_bill]

Yeah you can always find excuses for any team, the NBA schedule is hard (would be harder in the West) and teams get injuries, would you say they're well coached?

Boston is the best team in the league. They are healthy and well rested. They are also undefeated at home. I am not sure what your expectations were for these back-to-back games. These are not excuses; these are pretty much facts..

 

[foucault87]

Boston honestly feels more vulnerable than they should be. This is not a 2017 GSW juggernaut. I take the field in the east over them and with a few tweaks we could be part of that

 

[Voodoo]

Boston is the best team in the league. They are healthy and well rested. They are also undefeated at home. I am not sure what your expectations were for these back-to-back games. These are not excuses; these are pretty much facts..

My expectations?

For an offense to resemble an NBA offense
For guys to box out
For CPJ to play 15-18 minutes each game
For JBB to challenge obvious bad calls
For guys to hustle (JA)
For guys to move and share the ball

 

[cabs]

Boston is the best team in the league. They are healthy and well rested. They are also undefeated at home. I am not sure what your expectations were for these back-to-back games. These are not excuses; these are pretty much facts..

my expectation is not to look like a hot mess for majority of the game. Is this a well coached team? or no answer

 

[godfather]

We couldn't get Bridges for Mitchell now, that ship has sailed.

For the people that are down on Garland. It's this simple, he and Mitchell don't fit.

Remember Sexton? Remember how bad they fit? Garland can't play off ball, that's not his game.

I'm not saying he's a superstar... You either move Mitchell or Garland.

Ideally, you'd prefer to keep Mitchell, but the chances of him staying are pretty low.

Sigh, I know we've beat this to death, but they really should have never traded for Mitchell.

It's a miscalculation on the part of Koby, seeing full hand the Sexton and Garland problem and not anticipating this same problem could develop once again.

And the fact both are undersized guards, hurts defensively too. They don't complement each other on either side of the ball.

 

[Jscc]

I think effort was mostly still there.

But on second thought, once Garland was knocked out early in the third and LeVert established scoring his way, not much action came Strus or Niangs way and when it did, the few shots were missed.

So I don’t think there was much “quit” in the team but I get what you’re saying about “checked out” for a few of the players.

Moreso on how this team works collectively. I don't think Boston is significantly more talented, but their team does all the things a modern NBA team should. They understand ball movement and using your depth on offense and defending the three on defense. Cavs don't. I'm not a fan of Tatum and I think if he's your #1 guy, then you aren't winning a championship. I understand there are those that think the same way about Mitchell, but I think the chances are not any worse than if Tatum is your #1.

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

Extremely poor body language. If this team was playing in a major media market the media would be all over the management coach and the players. Instead we have Fedor CAVS mouthpiece. I also think the fans are owed a little more transparency with what is going on with Mobley.

The media dynamic is a big deal. As much power as social media has, Cavs Twitter in its collective isn't as powerful as a beat writer for the Plain Dealer or even the Athletic. Fedor could turn the heat up on the Cavs if he wanted.

 

[LutherRackley]

Their coach knows how to coach. We cut it to 5, he calls timeout, they come out and bury us again.

I think he did this twice and it changed everything.

 

[Smooth]

The Recap is live..

TL;DR: Celtics are simply a better team.

Last word: Last two nights the Cavs tried to out offense one of the league’s best offenses. They went 0-2. 113 points on 47.8% shooting and 107 points on 48.2% shooting should give you a good chance to win most nights, but not when your opponent is 6th in offensive rating.

​

 

[bushwick_bill]

my expectation is not to look like a hot mess for majority of the game. Is this a well coached team? or no answer

I do not have a major issue with JBB, and I clearly am on record saying I want to see this team with all their new pieces for an entire season. I do not see all the doom and gloom like some on here. He is not the best coach in the NBA, and I would certainly say he is not the worst coach. So to answer your question, YES, they won 51 games last season.

I believe this is a good team. Shocking. lol. The team has had so many injuries, yet it has had some really nice wins under its belts this season. I am also enjoying the season. They beat Golden State twice, beat the Nuggets, beat Philly in Philly, beat the Heat in Miami... Again, they win the next four at home; they have almost the same record as last year, and that tells me something with all these injuries, etc.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

My first thought was being proud of the Cavs for battling the Celtics down to the wire on their home floor with Mobley out. With three minutes to go the Cavs were down by five points and it was anybody's game. But I expected the Cavs to melt down and Tatum and Brown to take over and that's exactly what happened.

The outcome was never really in doubt. You knew that if it were close at the end the Celtics would simply rise up and blow out the Cavs, much like Michael Jordan always finished off the Price/Daugherty/Nance/Harper team.

With two-and-a-half minutes to go and the Cavs down five, the Celtics missed a jumper, but Brown got the offensive board and passed to Holiday for a bucket. LeVert stepped out of bounds for a turnover. Tatum got free for a dunk. Garland missed a layup. Tatum makes another uncontested dunk and now it's an 11-point lead with 1:28 to play. Ballgame.

In just 1:04 the Celtics went on a 6-0 run to finish off the Cavs. Once they realized the game was almost over and the Cavs were still within striking distance they dropped the hammer.

Part of me says that if we had Mobley to defend Tatum he wouldn't have got 27 points. That the difference between Mobley and Wade is more than the 9 points we lost by. I certainly think the score would have been closer if Mobley had played, but until the Cavs actually beat the Celtics in a close game I'll continue to believe that Tatum, Brown, Holiday, and Horford will always find a way to win at the end.

LeVert came off the bench to score 26 points in 35 minutes. Every now and then he has a game like that. It kept us fairly close most of the night, just like the 42% shooting from the 3-point line kept us close on Tuesday. But staying close to Boston until the middle or late 4th quarter just makes the game entertaining. The Cavs still have to get over the hump to win.

Last year the Cavs beat Boston in overtime an amazing three times. They need to get back to that this year. Maybe getting Mobley back is all they need. But with the opportunity to steal a win right in front of them, they stepped out of bounds, missed a layup, failed to get a defensive rebound, and let Tatum walk down the lane unopposed for two monster dunks. Total collapse on both ends of the floor.

 

[catfish]

Maybe Allen waking up would help

 

[BigZ94]

Boston is the best team in the league. They are healthy and well rested. They are also undefeated at home. I am not sure what your expectations were for these back-to-back games. These are not excuses; these are pretty much facts..

It’s not about losing to them it’s how we lose. We lose a pretty close game while our guys just play Rec basketball. So with an actual system we could be so much better we have a really talented roster