2023-24 Season | Game #45 | Pistons @ Cavs | Jan. 31, 2024 | 7:00 p.m.

[MattyIce8]

We are back to trying to outscore opponents. Live or die.

Comeback kid. I enjoy your posts. It’s the first game with everyone back. There’s going to be an adjustment period and they clearly weren’t giving the best effort against the Pistons

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Did we lose in the first round last year due to positional redundancy?

Or did we lose because:

- our bigs got outmuscled and out rebounded
- we didn’t have shooters in the lineup like Strus, Niang, Merrill to create better spacing for Mitchell and Garland
- it was the first playoff series for several of our main guys and first together as a team
- without shooters, we played one of the better defensive scheme head coach in the ECF

All true, but the issue of beating up on the bums while struggling against better teams was with us all last season.

The team deserves a chance to see if it can make the Garland/Mitchell pairing a synergistic one rather than one that is less than the sum of its parts. However, the reality is that for more than a year, that pairing has not been synergistic, nor does the pairing of two ball-dominant guards have a good history in the NBA as a whole.

Garland/Mitchell have to become the exception, because the rule is not in their favor.

 

[boostorbust1]

All true, but the issue of beating up on the bums while struggling against better teams was with us all last season.

The team deserves a chance to see if it can make the Garland/Mitchell pairing a synergistic one rather than one that is less than the sum of its parts. However, the reality is that for more than a year, that pairing has not been synergistic, nor does the pairing of two ball-dominant guards have a good history in the NBA as a whole.

Garland/Mitchell have to become the exception, because the rule is not in their favor.

Great comment and this is what is so infurerating with the Cavs and maybe JBB and well as some on this board. There are no signs that a Garland/Mitchell backcourt will perform any different in the playoffs than it did last year and history says it wont as well.

 

[Comeback kid]

Comeback kid. I enjoy your posts. It’s the first game with everyone back. There’s going to be an adjustment period and they clearly weren’t giving the best effort against the Pistons

Well my statement is not meant to be inflammatory and is just the simple truth. And it has been and will be easily proven. With everyone back the scores both ways is just going to be higher. The days of holding teams to 100 or less will rarely happen. We will just have to hope to outscore the opponents. And we’ll have to do it shooting more 2’s than 3’s.

 

[2 For The Brew]

Great comment and this is what is so infurerating with the Cavs and maybe JBB and well as some on this board. There are no signs that a Garland/Mitchell backcourt will perform any different in the playoffs than it did last year and history says it wont as well.

So if history says this type of backcourt won’t work then why is that JBB’s fault?

We have significantly upgraded outside shooting at the forward position and that should mean less pressure on Mitchell and Garland.

I’m more of a “wait and see” person than a Nostradamus but maybe that’s because I’m just not as smart as some other people.

 

[Lee]

• Okoro and Merrill are fun matchup players to have come off the bench. Merrill can light up a scoreboard quick and completely tilt the floor. Meanwhile, Okoro can shut down an opposing player quick and completely take a player off the floor. Both can be dangerous when used right and both contributed in a major way. They combined for 25 bench points on the night.
• Meshing the original starting lineup with the emergence of other players and other players may take some time but credit to JB Bickerstaff for working through them. You can see he’s trying some combinations, and is quick to make adjustments based on how the lineup is working. Case in point: LeVert was the lone ball-handler for the last three minutes in the first quarter. This is a look that has struggled before and while the Cavs win those minutes by one point, there was a certain uneasiness to the offense one might expect by asking a basket getter to run the offense. Seeing this, JB quickly pivoted to including Garland to start the second quarter.
• Case in point part 2: Similar situation in the second quarter where the Garland, Merrill, LeVert, Niang and Mobley lineup was a sieve defensively. JB subbed in Okoro and Mitchell and then Allen a few minutes later. After scoring 20 points in 5 minutes, the Pistons scored 14 points in the final 7 minutes.

RCF RECAP
View attachment 18771​

I think JBB coached another great game. We were contesting their shots but yet Detroit shot 52% from 3 and 56% from the floor. Those are insane numbers, especially from 3. Yet. because of our own offense we still won the game. We had only 9 turnovers, in 55 combined minutes, only 3 turnovers from our 2 point guards. 5 if you throw in LeVert in a total of 80 minutes.

Sometimes teams get hot,. Winning this type of game is a good sign, not a bad one in my opinion.

 

[Lee]

Probably mentioned but I was perturbed to see Wade AND Strus AND Niang go 0'fer on 3s. In one game? Come on guys. This game should have been a blow out.

So our role playing 3 point shooters didnt make a 3 pointer (only Merril did of the role players) and Detroit shot 52% from 3, and yet we won the game?

Sounds like a good win to me.

 

[Boobie4Three]

So our role playing 3 point shooters didnt make a 3 pointer (only Merril did of the role players) and Detroit shot 52% from 3, and yet we won the game?

Sounds like a good win to me.

Yep we had Merrill carry the weight instead. In the super soaker we trust.

 

[Lee]

Yep we had Merrill carry the weight instead. In the super soaker we trust.

Merrill got burned a few times on defense I noticed, but his shot is wet and contagious and can be such a momentum changer, he has to continue to get his minutes even if he doesnt get 2nd half minutes in games he isnt effective like the Clippers.

 

[CavzAddict]

I was 8 rows from the floor and I didn't love what i saw some of the time. It took Spyda heroics to win against a struggling Pistons team. The paint was clogged a lot of the time. Less ball movement (particularly in the 2nd half). At times it was dribble dribble dribble and the ball was slippery from indecisiveness. The floor spacing was completely gone. JBB has to find a way to NOT have Allen and Mobley on the floor together at least most of the time IMO. I miss our style of play from the past couple weeks. Idk if we can go back to that with Allen and Mobley on the floor together or Garland walking the ball up the court just for them to stand around for 10 seconds. I will take the win but we don't make it out of the first round with that style of bball.

The Pistons looked like a good team last night that just can't get over the hump. They hit so many wtf 3s that kept them in the game. I thought we would lose for a second there. Again, I'm happy for the win and I'm considerate to everybody fitting back in and figuring the rotation and minutes out, ect, but im thinking ahead for when it matters most.

 

[Peacedog]

I was 8 rows from the floor and I didn't love what i saw. It took Spyda heroics to win against a lowly Pistons team. The paint was clogged a lot of the time. Less ball movement (particularly in the 2nd half). At times it was dribble dribble dribble and the ball was slippery from indecisiveness. The floor spacing was completely gone. JBB has to find a way to NOT have Allen and Mobley on the floor together at least most of the time IMO. I miss our style of play from the past couple weeks. Idk if we can go back to that with Allen and Mobley on the floor together or Garland walking the ball up the court just for them to stand around for 10 seconds. I will take the win but we don't make it out of the first round with that style of bball.

Mobley and Allen were out there on the floor together for what, 8 minutes?

 

[CavzAddict]

Mobley and Allen were out there on the floor together for what, 8 minutes?

Good then if that was the case. We'll see if JBB sticks with that. As we all know, he is very stubborn.

 

[Peacedog]

Good then if that was the case. We'll see if JBB sticks with that. As we all know, he is very stubborn.

So after Mobley is off his minutes restriction, he should only play 20-24 minutes per game? Is this what you are suggesting? Doing that dumb shit would actually be something that would have me calling for JBB's head on a platter.

 

[CavzAddict]

So after Mobley is off his minutes restriction, he should only play 20-24 minutes per game? Is this what you are suggesting? Doing that dumb shit would actually be something that would have me calling for JBB's head on a platter.

Of course not, but I'm finding a way to keep them distanced from each other on the offensive side of the ball when they are out there together. Mobley desparately needs to find a 3 pt shot to unclog the paint for our guards.

 

[The Oi]

Someone make up a narrative and I will prove that I can fit any legitimate facts into it.