2023-24 Season | Game #26 | Hawks @ Cavs | Dec. 16, 2023 | 7:30 p.m. | NBA-TV

[Smooth]

Some stats from the night:

- Tonight was their second highest overall assist total on the year with 32
- Cavs 70 points at half was their 2nd highest scoring half this year
- Their 21 (!) assists at half was the most in a half this year. They’re averaging 25.2 per game this year
- JA scored a career high 18 points in a quarter
- Over his last 3 games played, Merrill is shooting 53.3% from 3 (8-15), and is at 52.3% from 3 (11-21) in his last 5 games played
- Strus and Niang have shot a combined 24% (13-54) on 10.8 three-point attempts per game in their last 5 games
- Wade put up a season high 16 points, which was also his first time all year scoring in double digits.

RCF Recap
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[macbdog]

View attachment 18277View attachment 18278
@macbdog there you go two good shots tonight for your viewing pleasure.

Never let anyone say the NBA isn't progressive.

 

[Jscc]

It does make me wonder though about the fit. Allen isn't worried about Mobley being in his way. Mitchell isn't worried about letting Garland handle the ball.

Guys know their roles are a little more defined in these scenarios. Getting it to blend together is no easy feat.

This is great for the regular season, but in the playoffs teams are going to know what those defined roles are and take them away. We don't know what to do when that happens.

 

[BigZ94]

Sniper Sam with 9pts in 8 mins, just play him

Jb dosent roll like that.

But seriously how does a guy score 9 points in 8 minutes then not see a single minute in the second half

 

[bigfoot5415]

If those two skinny white guys in Boston can get minutes; why can't our skinny white guy?

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

If those two skinny white guys in Boston can get minutes; why can't our skinny white guy?

I feel like Merrill got a good look at Sam Hauser in those two games against the Celtics and said, "This is my NBA future".

Hauser is listed at 6'7", 217, and is in his 3rd NBA season. He's already 26 and was undrafted. But he's hitting a blistering 45.8% on 3's and has been a key contributor off the bench for the team with the second best record in the NBA, averaging 9.6 points in 23 minutes. In two games against the Cavs he was 6-for-7 on 3's.

Merrill is smaller, listed at 6'4", and is 27, but he's a very similar player; a sharpshooter off the bench. This is his third team in four seasons. He's on the right team because we need outside shooting and with Rubio not showing up and Jerome's ankle refusing to heal Merrill is getting his shot, especially with Garland out for a while.

It looks like Merrill has gotten over his initial jitters and is shooting with confidence and less hesitation. He's made 11 of his last 21 from deep? Awesome. Now if he can keep it up he may just carve out a role for himself as a Kyle Korver type off the bench.

 

[Jake]

Was at the game fully expecting a loss driving there. So glad for the nice win! Wade came to life, would like to see more of that but don't expect it. Strus and Niang need some 3's to start dropping. A win is a win though, go Cavs.

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

It feels like JBB pre-plans his minutes rotation and sticks to it unless injuries or foul trouble forces him to adjust

Exactly what I would do if I were coaching the Cavaliers. Have a game plan and adjust it to the circumstances.

It seems like you're saying he doesn't adjust him game plan based on performance. IOW, if Niang goes 0-for-4 and gets abused defensively in the first half he still gets the same minutes in the second. I don't know. I think he trusts his veterans to overcome bad starts for the most part. But I also think that when he finds a unit that is clicking he sticks with it as long as possible. Somebody would have to do an analysis.

Take Porter, for example. In the last month he's had games where he played 3-4 minutes and others where he played 27 and 35. By the way, the Cavs are 5-3 when Porter plays more than 15 minutes.

 

[2 For The Brew]

Last night Atlanta had a fractionally better shooting night and got significantly more free throws. We turned the ball over one less time. It was a weird night where some of our scorers didn’t score and our two leading nonscorers Wade and Ice did.

So how did we win? We had over 100 FGA with a 97 pace which is very good. We won with rebounding. They got 6 offensive boards; we had 18.

The great thing about the 18 boards is that nine different players got them (everyone but Merrill who is strictly an ICBM launcher). TT had only 2. JA had 4; Ice and Don 3 each.

These are hustle plays. No, that won’t be enough in the playoffs. IDGAF; right now we’re not in the playoffs. Trite as it sounds we’re going to need the hustle plays like winning 40/60 balls, moving off the ball and moving the ball (go hand in glove) to get wins now.

We need to grab every win we can with key players out. No game will be “easy”, not even Detroit.

As well as we played in many aspects last night we can’t burn Mitchell and Allen out. His 13 assists and all the rebounds came from team play. We must go further into team play or we risk losing games and turning this season into a real mess.

Good to see we went 10 deep. More of that please.

 

[Boobie4Three]

It's almost as if...as if...as if...the Cavs are better with Donovan Mitchell than Darius Garland. What a surprise.

If you had to pick just one and only one to lead your team to the next level, you pick Mitchell 10/10. Just need a coach that doesn't burn him out by the time the playoffs arrive.

 

[shoes22]

It's almost as if...as if...as if...the Cavs are better with Donovan Mitchell than Darius Garland. What a surprise.

If you had to pick just one and only one to lead your team to the next level, you pick Mitchell 10/10. Just need a coach that doesn't burn him out by the time the playoffs arrive.

Dumb argument. I can also cherry pick a game where Garland and the team played great with Mitchell out, and make the opposite point.

 

[Boobie4Three]

Dumb argument. I can also cherry pick a game where Garland and the team played great with Mitchell out, and make the opposite point.

I know, but we know Don is a better leader. I like them both, but IF we had to pick one, I pick the Don. Purely coming from an either/or perspective.

 

[cavsfever]

The issue isn’t if you had to pick just one - I’d pick Mitchell too. The issue is if they are getting in each others way such that the team works better with only one of them playing. That would be a serious roster construction issue. We really need to find a way for Don+Darius to be GREATER than the sum of the individual parts, not less

 

[Ethan]

The problem recently has been Garland. His shooting has been down.
As an undersized guard he needs to shoot lights out to be effective.

Look at Trea Young. He's smaller than Garland and shot lights out last night.
He was still abused defensively. Mitchell drove right at Young and he
shook his head like "nope - I cant stop that"

 

[Holden beach]

BYE BYE ASH TRAE

Why not just shorten his nickname to TRAeSH?