JP_614
Superstar
We gonna need Lamar’s toughness and energy come playoffs.
The 2022-2023 Cleveland Cavaliers Season Thread
- Thread starter jaguar paw
- Start date
Cavs have way too many games like this where they play like they have no idea how to play offense.
And then on top of that have no situational awareness on how teams like to play. Hands down daring all the celtics players to shoot the three the entire first half giving them a cushion to just trade baskets with us the rest of the way.
Even if we win tonight this was one of our worst games of the season, they've gotta learn from this one
And then on top of that have no situational awareness on how teams like to play. Hands down daring all the celtics players to shoot the three the entire first half giving them a cushion to just trade baskets with us the rest of the way.
Even if we win tonight this was one of our worst games of the season, they've gotta learn from this one
JP_614
Superstar
Need one stop 
Remy LeBreh
Linconia
As a fanbase we gotta stop saying we have a good defense, I swear we get cooked by 3's more than any other team
Remy LeBreh
Linconia
We just lack shooting severely, too many of our guys are streaky, or flat out ignorable on offense
Remy LeBreh
Linconia
Damn, Tony Brothers just said fukk the Cavs
JP_614
Superstar
Let’s go man
JP_614
Superstar
Mitchell put him on a poster
Remy LeBreh
Linconia
Spida is Him
Our bench is feast or famine. Hopefully Danny Green will be integrated by seasons end because he should be playing 15 minutes a game in the playoffs
Remy LeBreh
Linconia
Lamar 
JP_614
Superstar
Lamar Stevens came to play
VegetasHairline
Veteran
Kevin Love was not in Cavaliers’ playoff rotation blueprint, a plan that is starting to fray
The Cavs and Love will see each other this week in South Beach for the first time since the veteran forward reached out a buyout.
theathletic.com
CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers coaches hatched the plan during the All-Star break, after Kevin Love was already gone. But it wouldn’t have mattered if he were still here.
J.B. Bickerstaff and his assistants decided to increase minutes for the Cavs’ top players over the final 21 regular-season games so that they would be in shape to be on the floor for 38 or 40 minutes of every playoff contest.
“The veterans that we have here who have played in the playoffs understand that, in the playoffs, this is what happens,” Bickerstaff said Monday.
No Cavalier was more of a playoff veteran than Love, but Bickerstaff had long decided that Love was not going to be a part of the rotation in the postseason, a decision that ultimately led to Love asking for — and receiving — a buyout of his contract so he could sign with the Miami Heat.
The Cavs and Love will see each other Wednesday in South Beach for the first time since all of that went down.
Love went from no longer being good enough for any minutes in Cleveland to starting for a team that was an inch short of reaching the NBA Finals last season. But Love missed the Heat’s win over Atlanta on Monday with a rib injury, so it’s unclear whether there will be much of a reunion Wednesday (alas, Cleveland plays at the Heat again Friday).
This isn’t really about the Cavs’ pending rendezvous with Love, or even really how he’s fairing for the Heat (7.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 25.8 3-point percentage in six starts; 2-4 record for Miami in those games).
It’s about the bottom half of Bickerstaff’s best laid plan collapsing after Love was out the door.
The Cavs are in fourth in the East, both 1 1/2 games out of third place and fifth. Barring an unfathomable collapse, one certainly not in any of Bickerstaff’s plans, Cleveland will make the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and for the first time without LeBron James since 1998. We’ll get to the top half of Bickerstaff’s rotation in a moment. It is on their shoulders that Cleveland’s playoff hopes rest anyway.
What’s important now is that in January, the Cavs came to the decision that Dean Wade, a formerly undrafted G League participant out of Kansas State, had usurped Love as the best option for a backup big and outside shooter. Wade had injury trouble this season and throughout his short NBA tenure, but he averaged north of 10 points per game in six October contests, and when he returned in January, he proved more mobile than Love and a much tougher defender who could, if asked, make a 3-pointer.
Cleveland’s scorer off the bench was to be Caris LeVert, and veteran point guard Ricky Rubio was to be the team’s third ballhandler and traffic cop when the games really count come mid-April.
Those three, added to Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and a late-blooming (for this season’s purposes) Isaac Okoro, were to be Bickerstaff’s boiler-plate playoff rotation. Foul trouble, injury and matchups (in that order) would be the caveats for the Cavs to turn to Cedi Osman or perhaps Lamar Stevens in a pinch, and after them, perhaps Danny Green, who’s new to the team via the buyout market.
Love was behind all those guys and asked out; the Cavs did the right thing by granting his wishes — potential free agents notice that kind of thing, which franchises take care of the players while they’re there.
But since the All-Star break, with Love playing for the Heat and perhaps the reality of being chosen over a future Hall of Famer and a franchise legend weighing on Wade, the Cavs’ rotation has shown holes.
In the Cavs’ last six games, Wade’s minutes have gone down from his season average. He’s made three shots and missed 13 in that stretch and is 2-of-12 from 3. He managed 11 minutes in a 53-minute overtime win over an exhausted Boston Celtics team and has logged 11 or fewer minutes in three of the six games.
LeVert’s minutes have gone down, compared to his season average, though he opened the season as a starter, so his numbers are going to be skewed. Since the break, he’s averaging just 6.8 points and shooting 42 percent in 24 minutes per game.
Rubio’s minutes have gone down. So have Osman’s. Ostensibly, Cleveland won a game over Boston it otherwise should not have won if not for a surprise eight points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes from Stevens — after it was clear neither Wade (scoreless) nor Osman could fit what the Cavs needed.
It’s an infuriating scenario for Cavs fans — and I know this because I was stopped more times than I could count Monday in the concourse at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to hear the complaints — because fans still see Love as a more-than-capable, last tangible connection to the 2016 title team, a Sixth Man of the Year candidate who should have been wearing a Cleveland jersey until he retired, and believe that shirt should immediately be raised to the rafters.
Those fans tend to gloss over the fact that Love’s production had dropped dramatically from last season, that he’d been in a slump of about a month in which he couldn’t make anything and was having trouble contributing defensively and that, in the Play-In Tournament last year, Bickerstaff barely played Love because he was terrified of matching him against the Atlanta Hawks’ speedier frontcourt.
Again, there is a reason the Cavs decided Love couldn’t be counted on in a shortened, playoff rotation. It’s just that those deemed trustworthy have since raised questions through their performances.
Judging by the box score and nothing more, the Cavs’ win over the Celtics should be their blueprint. Mitchell, the team’s best and most experienced playoff performer, scored 40 in 47 minutes. Garland couldn’t shoot Monday (6-of-18), but 17 points and 12 assists in 42 minutes otherwise worked. Mobley added 25 points and 17 boards in 41 minutes. They’ll need more from Allen (four points, six boards in 26 minutes), but Monday was a weird night for him — with Al Horford and Robert Williams III both resting, the Celtics didn’t start anyone who should even remotely be considered a center.
Okoro has a stranglehold on the Cavs’ starting forward spot after turning in the best two-month stretch of his career in January and February. He averaged about eight points and shot 45 percent from 3 during that stretch, finally showing just enough offense to go with his considerable defensive skills. He’s slumped so far through three games in March (small sample size), shooting 11 percent from deep. The more concerning part for the Cavs when it comes to Okoro is not what he’s doing, or not doing, but how opponents are treating him.
Especially in the second half of games, since the All-Star break, opponents have simply chosen not to guard Okoro, using the extra defender to guard the paint or double a more capable player. Okoro hasn’t been able to take advantage, and therefore his minutes have gone down too.
It’s problematic because, as previously mentioned, who’s behind Okoro has shown to be unreliable too.
There is a month before the playoffs start. Mitchell, Garland and Mobley are headed for more big minutes, so they’re ready when they’re needed most. The rest of the rotation has four weeks to shake itself out and solidify in the image Bickerstaff envisioned when he realized he didn’t have room for Love.
J.B. Bickerstaff and his assistants decided to increase minutes for the Cavs’ top players over the final 21 regular-season games so that they would be in shape to be on the floor for 38 or 40 minutes of every playoff contest.
“The veterans that we have here who have played in the playoffs understand that, in the playoffs, this is what happens,” Bickerstaff said Monday.
No Cavalier was more of a playoff veteran than Love, but Bickerstaff had long decided that Love was not going to be a part of the rotation in the postseason, a decision that ultimately led to Love asking for — and receiving — a buyout of his contract so he could sign with the Miami Heat.
The Cavs and Love will see each other Wednesday in South Beach for the first time since all of that went down.
Love went from no longer being good enough for any minutes in Cleveland to starting for a team that was an inch short of reaching the NBA Finals last season. But Love missed the Heat’s win over Atlanta on Monday with a rib injury, so it’s unclear whether there will be much of a reunion Wednesday (alas, Cleveland plays at the Heat again Friday).
This isn’t really about the Cavs’ pending rendezvous with Love, or even really how he’s fairing for the Heat (7.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 25.8 3-point percentage in six starts; 2-4 record for Miami in those games).
It’s about the bottom half of Bickerstaff’s best laid plan collapsing after Love was out the door.
The Cavs are in fourth in the East, both 1 1/2 games out of third place and fifth. Barring an unfathomable collapse, one certainly not in any of Bickerstaff’s plans, Cleveland will make the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and for the first time without LeBron James since 1998. We’ll get to the top half of Bickerstaff’s rotation in a moment. It is on their shoulders that Cleveland’s playoff hopes rest anyway.
What’s important now is that in January, the Cavs came to the decision that Dean Wade, a formerly undrafted G League participant out of Kansas State, had usurped Love as the best option for a backup big and outside shooter. Wade had injury trouble this season and throughout his short NBA tenure, but he averaged north of 10 points per game in six October contests, and when he returned in January, he proved more mobile than Love and a much tougher defender who could, if asked, make a 3-pointer.
Cleveland’s scorer off the bench was to be Caris LeVert, and veteran point guard Ricky Rubio was to be the team’s third ballhandler and traffic cop when the games really count come mid-April.
Those three, added to Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and a late-blooming (for this season’s purposes) Isaac Okoro, were to be Bickerstaff’s boiler-plate playoff rotation. Foul trouble, injury and matchups (in that order) would be the caveats for the Cavs to turn to Cedi Osman or perhaps Lamar Stevens in a pinch, and after them, perhaps Danny Green, who’s new to the team via the buyout market.
Love was behind all those guys and asked out; the Cavs did the right thing by granting his wishes — potential free agents notice that kind of thing, which franchises take care of the players while they’re there.
But since the All-Star break, with Love playing for the Heat and perhaps the reality of being chosen over a future Hall of Famer and a franchise legend weighing on Wade, the Cavs’ rotation has shown holes.
In the Cavs’ last six games, Wade’s minutes have gone down from his season average. He’s made three shots and missed 13 in that stretch and is 2-of-12 from 3. He managed 11 minutes in a 53-minute overtime win over an exhausted Boston Celtics team and has logged 11 or fewer minutes in three of the six games.
LeVert’s minutes have gone down, compared to his season average, though he opened the season as a starter, so his numbers are going to be skewed. Since the break, he’s averaging just 6.8 points and shooting 42 percent in 24 minutes per game.
Rubio’s minutes have gone down. So have Osman’s. Ostensibly, Cleveland won a game over Boston it otherwise should not have won if not for a surprise eight points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes from Stevens — after it was clear neither Wade (scoreless) nor Osman could fit what the Cavs needed.
It’s an infuriating scenario for Cavs fans — and I know this because I was stopped more times than I could count Monday in the concourse at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to hear the complaints — because fans still see Love as a more-than-capable, last tangible connection to the 2016 title team, a Sixth Man of the Year candidate who should have been wearing a Cleveland jersey until he retired, and believe that shirt should immediately be raised to the rafters.
Those fans tend to gloss over the fact that Love’s production had dropped dramatically from last season, that he’d been in a slump of about a month in which he couldn’t make anything and was having trouble contributing defensively and that, in the Play-In Tournament last year, Bickerstaff barely played Love because he was terrified of matching him against the Atlanta Hawks’ speedier frontcourt.
Again, there is a reason the Cavs decided Love couldn’t be counted on in a shortened, playoff rotation. It’s just that those deemed trustworthy have since raised questions through their performances.
Judging by the box score and nothing more, the Cavs’ win over the Celtics should be their blueprint. Mitchell, the team’s best and most experienced playoff performer, scored 40 in 47 minutes. Garland couldn’t shoot Monday (6-of-18), but 17 points and 12 assists in 42 minutes otherwise worked. Mobley added 25 points and 17 boards in 41 minutes. They’ll need more from Allen (four points, six boards in 26 minutes), but Monday was a weird night for him — with Al Horford and Robert Williams III both resting, the Celtics didn’t start anyone who should even remotely be considered a center.
Okoro has a stranglehold on the Cavs’ starting forward spot after turning in the best two-month stretch of his career in January and February. He averaged about eight points and shot 45 percent from 3 during that stretch, finally showing just enough offense to go with his considerable defensive skills. He’s slumped so far through three games in March (small sample size), shooting 11 percent from deep. The more concerning part for the Cavs when it comes to Okoro is not what he’s doing, or not doing, but how opponents are treating him.
Especially in the second half of games, since the All-Star break, opponents have simply chosen not to guard Okoro, using the extra defender to guard the paint or double a more capable player. Okoro hasn’t been able to take advantage, and therefore his minutes have gone down too.
It’s problematic because, as previously mentioned, who’s behind Okoro has shown to be unreliable too.
There is a month before the playoffs start. Mitchell, Garland and Mobley are headed for more big minutes, so they’re ready when they’re needed most. The rest of the rotation has four weeks to shake itself out and solidify in the image Bickerstaff envisioned when he realized he didn’t have room for Love.
he's still not playing well wth miamiKevin Love was not in Cavaliers’ playoff rotation blueprint, a plan that is starting to fray
The Cavs and Love will see each other this week in South Beach for the first time since the veteran forward reached out a buyout.
CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers coaches hatched the plan during the All-Star break, after Kevin Love was already gone. But it wouldn’t have mattered if he were still here.
J.B. Bickerstaff and his assistants decided to increase minutes for the Cavs’ top players over the final 21 regular-season games so that they would be in shape to be on the floor for 38 or 40 minutes of every playoff contest.
“The veterans that we have here who have played in the playoffs understand that, in the playoffs, this is what happens,” Bickerstaff said Monday.
No Cavalier was more of a playoff veteran than Love, but Bickerstaff had long decided that Love was not going to be a part of the rotation in the postseason, a decision that ultimately led to Love asking for — and receiving — a buyout of his contract so he could sign with the Miami Heat.
The Cavs and Love will see each other Wednesday in South Beach for the first time since all of that went down.
Love went from no longer being good enough for any minutes in Cleveland to starting for a team that was an inch short of reaching the NBA Finals last season. But Love missed the Heat’s win over Atlanta on Monday with a rib injury, so it’s unclear whether there will be much of a reunion Wednesday (alas, Cleveland plays at the Heat again Friday).
This isn’t really about the Cavs’ pending rendezvous with Love, or even really how he’s fairing for the Heat (7.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 25.8 3-point percentage in six starts; 2-4 record for Miami in those games).
It’s about the bottom half of Bickerstaff’s best laid plan collapsing after Love was out the door.
The Cavs are in fourth in the East, both 1 1/2 games out of third place and fifth. Barring an unfathomable collapse, one certainly not in any of Bickerstaff’s plans, Cleveland will make the playoffs for the first time since 2018 and for the first time without LeBron James since 1998. We’ll get to the top half of Bickerstaff’s rotation in a moment. It is on their shoulders that Cleveland’s playoff hopes rest anyway.
What’s important now is that in January, the Cavs came to the decision that Dean Wade, a formerly undrafted G League participant out of Kansas State, had usurped Love as the best option for a backup big and outside shooter. Wade had injury trouble this season and throughout his short NBA tenure, but he averaged north of 10 points per game in six October contests, and when he returned in January, he proved more mobile than Love and a much tougher defender who could, if asked, make a 3-pointer.
Cleveland’s scorer off the bench was to be Caris LeVert, and veteran point guard Ricky Rubio was to be the team’s third ballhandler and traffic cop when the games really count come mid-April.
Those three, added to Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and a late-blooming (for this season’s purposes) Isaac Okoro, were to be Bickerstaff’s boiler-plate playoff rotation. Foul trouble, injury and matchups (in that order) would be the caveats for the Cavs to turn to Cedi Osman or perhaps Lamar Stevens in a pinch, and after them, perhaps Danny Green, who’s new to the team via the buyout market.
Love was behind all those guys and asked out; the Cavs did the right thing by granting his wishes — potential free agents notice that kind of thing, which franchises take care of the players while they’re there.
But since the All-Star break, with Love playing for the Heat and perhaps the reality of being chosen over a future Hall of Famer and a franchise legend weighing on Wade, the Cavs’ rotation has shown holes.
In the Cavs’ last six games, Wade’s minutes have gone down from his season average. He’s made three shots and missed 13 in that stretch and is 2-of-12 from 3. He managed 11 minutes in a 53-minute overtime win over an exhausted Boston Celtics team and has logged 11 or fewer minutes in three of the six games.
LeVert’s minutes have gone down, compared to his season average, though he opened the season as a starter, so his numbers are going to be skewed. Since the break, he’s averaging just 6.8 points and shooting 42 percent in 24 minutes per game.
Rubio’s minutes have gone down. So have Osman’s. Ostensibly, Cleveland won a game over Boston it otherwise should not have won if not for a surprise eight points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes from Stevens — after it was clear neither Wade (scoreless) nor Osman could fit what the Cavs needed.
It’s an infuriating scenario for Cavs fans — and I know this because I was stopped more times than I could count Monday in the concourse at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to hear the complaints — because fans still see Love as a more-than-capable, last tangible connection to the 2016 title team, a Sixth Man of the Year candidate who should have been wearing a Cleveland jersey until he retired, and believe that shirt should immediately be raised to the rafters.
Those fans tend to gloss over the fact that Love’s production had dropped dramatically from last season, that he’d been in a slump of about a month in which he couldn’t make anything and was having trouble contributing defensively and that, in the Play-In Tournament last year, Bickerstaff barely played Love because he was terrified of matching him against the Atlanta Hawks’ speedier frontcourt.
Again, there is a reason the Cavs decided Love couldn’t be counted on in a shortened, playoff rotation. It’s just that those deemed trustworthy have since raised questions through their performances.
Judging by the box score and nothing more, the Cavs’ win over the Celtics should be their blueprint. Mitchell, the team’s best and most experienced playoff performer, scored 40 in 47 minutes. Garland couldn’t shoot Monday (6-of-18), but 17 points and 12 assists in 42 minutes otherwise worked. Mobley added 25 points and 17 boards in 41 minutes. They’ll need more from Allen (four points, six boards in 26 minutes), but Monday was a weird night for him — with Al Horford and Robert Williams III both resting, the Celtics didn’t start anyone who should even remotely be considered a center.
Okoro has a stranglehold on the Cavs’ starting forward spot after turning in the best two-month stretch of his career in January and February. He averaged about eight points and shot 45 percent from 3 during that stretch, finally showing just enough offense to go with his considerable defensive skills. He’s slumped so far through three games in March (small sample size), shooting 11 percent from deep. The more concerning part for the Cavs when it comes to Okoro is not what he’s doing, or not doing, but how opponents are treating him.
Especially in the second half of games, since the All-Star break, opponents have simply chosen not to guard Okoro, using the extra defender to guard the paint or double a more capable player. Okoro hasn’t been able to take advantage, and therefore his minutes have gone down too.
It’s problematic because, as previously mentioned, who’s behind Okoro has shown to be unreliable too.
There is a month before the playoffs start. Mitchell, Garland and Mobley are headed for more big minutes, so they’re ready when they’re needed most. The rest of the rotation has four weeks to shake itself out and solidify in the image Bickerstaff envisioned when he realized he didn’t have room for Love.
he injured his shooting hand and hasn't shot well since, if he's not hitting shots he's a net negative out there.
this article would be appropriate if he's giving miami a good 15 minutes a game in the playoffs and we were really offensively struggling. not right now...
JP_614
Superstar
Heat got like 12 points in the paint already