Game 73: Cavs @ Hornets 3/27/2024

[ijspeelman]

[JujitsuFlip]

No Wade, Mitchell, or TJ in this one.

Looks like Strus might try to give it a go but we'll see tonight.

[JujitsuFlip]

Well, Shams is reporting that Mitchell is targeting a return on Friday.

Outside of TJ it would nice to get a clean injury report before the playoffs.

[JujitsuFlip]

Oof, guess they aren't guaranteed wins.

[jbk1234]

Mobley looked a little a rough out there with Allen. One too many I-thought-you-had-that-guy moments. Hopefully, that gets sorted quickly.

Last night is a good example of what I mean when I say that Okoro a good, but not elite defender. We were substituting offense/defense to end the game and it didn't matter. We still couldn't get stops.

Which brings me to the last point, the starters came out and put it the Hornets in the first quarter and the bench guys gave the lead back. You can hide one of Merrill or CPJ, but not both of them, and once shooters get going, it's a lot harder to cool them off. Niang's getting a lot of minutes for a guy who's a defensive liability. Garland is obviously limited defensively. LeVert's been meh on that end and pretty awful offensively.

If Wade isn't back healthy, I'm having a hard time getting to 8 guys who definitely need to see minutes in the playoffs.

[JujitsuFlip]

If Wade isn't back healthy, I'm having a hard time getting to 8 guys who definitely need to see minutes in the playoffs.

Feels like the Twilight Zone of the past 2 post seasons.

[JonFromVA]

Mobley looked a little a rough out there with Allen. One too many I-thought-you-had-that-guy moments. Hopefully, that gets sorted quickly.

Last night is a good example of what I mean when I say that Okoro a good, but not elite defender. We were substituting offense/defense to end the game and it didn't matter. We still couldn't get stops.

Which brings me to the last point, the starters came out and put it the Hornets in the first quarter and the bench guys gave the lead back. You can hide one of Merrill or CPJ, but not both of them, and once shooters get going, it's a lot harder to cool them off. Niang's getting a lot of minutes for a guy who's a defensive liability. Garland is obviously limited defensively. LeVert's been meh on that end and pretty awful offensively.

If Wade isn't back healthy, I'm having a hard time getting to 8 guys who definitely need to see minutes in the playoffs.

Craig was just -2 in the game. The point I keep making is you get the most out of inexperienced players by giving them consistent minutes with consistent lineups and Bickerstaff is all over the map.

Our defense was awful, no doubt about that. Bickerstaff was doing his thing in the post-game, taking the blame for the loss, saying he needs to find the answer; and then saying the guys just didn't play hard enough, give enough effort, weren't tough enough, etc. How come? Because Marcus Morris didn't elbow someone in the face?

If the coach only knows how to coach effort, he'd better be ready to play the guys willing to give it on the 3rd game in 4 nights rather than overplaying guys to the point they have nothing left to give on D.

[jbk1234]

Mobley looked a little a rough out there with Allen. One too many I-thought-you-had-that-guy moments. Hopefully, that gets sorted quickly.

Last night is a good example of what I mean when I say that Okoro a good, but not elite defender. We were substituting offense/defense to end the game and it didn't matter. We still couldn't get stops.

Which brings me to the last point, the starters came out and put it the Hornets in the first quarter and the bench guys gave the lead back. You can hide one of Merrill or CPJ, but not both of them, and once shooters get going, it's a lot harder to cool them off. Niang's getting a lot of minutes for a guy who's a defensive liability. Garland is obviously limited defensively. LeVert's been meh on that end and pretty awful offensively.

If Wade isn't back healthy, I'm having a hard time getting to 8 guys who definitely need to see minutes in the playoffs.

Craig was just -2 in the game. The point I keep making is you get the most out of inexperienced players by giving them consistent minutes with consistent lineups and Bickerstaff is all over the map.

Our defense was awful, no doubt about that. Bickerstaff was doing his thing in the post-game, taking the blame for the loss, saying he needs to find the answer; and then saying the guys just didn't play hard enough, give enough effort, weren't tough enough, etc. How come? Because Marcus Morris didn't elbow someone in the face?

If the coach only knows how to coach effort, he'd better be ready to play the guys willing to give it on the 3rd game in 4 nights rather than overplaying guys to the point they have nothing left to give on D.

Height isn't the end-all-be-all of defense, but it matters. Players can just shoot over Garland, Merrill, and CPJ. I don't think you can have even two of the three on the court in the same time during the playoffs. You probably need to think carefully about having Niang out there with any of them tbh (if Wade doesn't return you may not have a choice). You can hide, at most, two bad defenders.

Conversely, LeVert and Okoro are limited offensively. Given how the two of them have performed as starters since the all star break, you should probably use them in separate bench units.

But a valid criticism of JBB is that he doesn't appear to give much thought to balancing offense and defense once you get past the starters. At one point he had Merrill on Poku and I was like what are we even doing here.

[JonFromVA]

Mobley looked a little a rough out there with Allen. One too many I-thought-you-had-that-guy moments. Hopefully, that gets sorted quickly.

Last night is a good example of what I mean when I say that Okoro a good, but not elite defender. We were substituting offense/defense to end the game and it didn't matter. We still couldn't get stops.

Which brings me to the last point, the starters came out and put it the Hornets in the first quarter and the bench guys gave the lead back. You can hide one of Merrill or CPJ, but not both of them, and once shooters get going, it's a lot harder to cool them off. Niang's getting a lot of minutes for a guy who's a defensive liability. Garland is obviously limited defensively. LeVert's been meh on that end and pretty awful offensively.

If Wade isn't back healthy, I'm having a hard time getting to 8 guys who definitely need to see minutes in the playoffs.

Craig was just -2 in the game. The point I keep making is you get the most out of inexperienced players by giving them consistent minutes with consistent lineups and Bickerstaff is all over the map.

Our defense was awful, no doubt about that. Bickerstaff was doing his thing in the post-game, taking the blame for the loss, saying he needs to find the answer; and then saying the guys just didn't play hard enough, give enough effort, weren't tough enough, etc. How come? Because Marcus Morris didn't elbow someone in the face?

If the coach only knows how to coach effort, he'd better be ready to play the guys willing to give it on the 3rd game in 4 nights rather than overplaying guys to the point they have nothing left to give on D.

Height isn't the end-all-be-all of defense, but it matters. Players can just shoot over Garland, Merrill, and CPJ. I don't think you can have even two of the three on the court in the same time during the playoffs. You probably need to think carefully about having Niang out there with any of them tbh (if Wade doesn't return you may not have a choice). You can hide, at most, two bad defenders.

Conversely, LeVert and Okoro are limited offensively. Given how the two of them have performed as starters since the all star break, you should probably use them in separate bench units.

But a valid criticism of JBB is that he doesn't appear to give much thought to balancing offense and defense once you get past the starters. At one point he had Merrill on Poku and I was like what are we even doing here.

You can give up whatever you want on defense if the offense is rolling, but even though JBB saw that in action during the winning streak he never bought in to it.

[toooskies]

Craig was just -2 in the game. The point I keep making is you get the most out of inexperienced players by giving them consistent minutes with consistent lineups and Bickerstaff is all over the map.

Our defense was awful, no doubt about that. Bickerstaff was doing his thing in the post-game, taking the blame for the loss, saying he needs to find the answer; and then saying the guys just didn't play hard enough, give enough effort, weren't tough enough, etc. How come? Because Marcus Morris didn't elbow someone in the face?

If the coach only knows how to coach effort, he'd better be ready to play the guys willing to give it on the 3rd game in 4 nights rather than overplaying guys to the point they have nothing left to give on D.

Height isn't the end-all-be-all of defense, but it matters. Players can just shoot over Garland, Merrill, and CPJ. I don't think you can have even two of the three on the court in the same time during the playoffs. You probably need to think carefully about having Niang out there with any of them tbh (if Wade doesn't return you may not have a choice). You can hide, at most, two bad defenders.

Conversely, LeVert and Okoro are limited offensively. Given how the two of them have performed as starters since the all star break, you should probably use them in separate bench units.

But a valid criticism of JBB is that he doesn't appear to give much thought to balancing offense and defense once you get past the starters. At one point he had Merrill on Poku and I was like what are we even doing here.

You can give up whatever you want on defense if the offense is rolling, but even though JBB saw that in action during the winning streak he never bought in to it.

A ton of our wins in the winning streak were due to the Mitchell/Okoro/Strus/Wade/Allen lineup shutting the other team down with defense to start the game.

[JonFromVA]

Height isn't the end-all-be-all of defense, but it matters. Players can just shoot over Garland, Merrill, and CPJ. I don't think you can have even two of the three on the court in the same time during the playoffs. You probably need to think carefully about having Niang out there with any of them tbh (if Wade doesn't return you may not have a choice). You can hide, at most, two bad defenders.

Conversely, LeVert and Okoro are limited offensively. Given how the two of them have performed as starters since the all star break, you should probably use them in separate bench units.

But a valid criticism of JBB is that he doesn't appear to give much thought to balancing offense and defense once you get past the starters. At one point he had Merrill on Poku and I was like what are we even doing here.

You can give up whatever you want on defense if the offense is rolling, but even though JBB saw that in action during the winning streak he never bought in to it.

A ton of our wins in the winning streak were due to the Mitchell/Okoro/Strus/Wade/Allen lineup shutting the other team down with defense to start the game.

104 ppp on defense which is very good, but also 127 ppp on offense which is much better than our intended starting unit too.

And still, get shooters like Merrill and Niang just a little room to shoot and we're talking 140 ppp on offense.

[jbk1234]

You can give up whatever you want on defense if the offense is rolling, but even though JBB saw that in action during the winning streak he never bought in to it.

A ton of our wins in the winning streak were due to the Mitchell/Okoro/Strus/Wade/Allen lineup shutting the other team down with defense to start the game.

104 ppp on defense which is very good, but also 127 ppp on offense which is much better than our intended starting unit too.

And still, get shooters like Merrill and Niang just a little room to shoot and we're talking 140 ppp on offense.

Well Wade is currently available and I'm getting a bad feeling about his availability for the postseason. I just think that it's really, really hard to score against good defensive teams who are locked in and it's a mistake to conclude that what worked during the softest part of our schedule is going to work in the playoffs.

[JujitsuFlip]

A ton of our wins in the winning streak were due to the Mitchell/Okoro/Strus/Wade/Allen lineup shutting the other team down with defense to start the game.

104 ppp on defense which is very good, but also 127 ppp on offense which is much better than our intended starting unit too.

And still, get shooters like Merrill and Niang just a little room to shoot and we're talking 140 ppp on offense.

Well Wade is currently available and I'm getting a bad feeling about his availability for the postseason. I just think that it's really, really hard to score against good defensive teams who are locked in and it's a mistake to conclude that what worked during the softest part of our schedule is going to work in the playoffs.

Can Morris not fill Wade's role?

[toooskies]

104 ppp on defense which is very good, but also 127 ppp on offense which is much better than our intended starting unit too.

And still, get shooters like Merrill and Niang just a little room to shoot and we're talking 140 ppp on offense.

Well Wade is currently available and I'm getting a bad feeling about his availability for the postseason. I just think that it's really, really hard to score against good defensive teams who are locked in and it's a mistake to conclude that what worked during the softest part of our schedule is going to work in the playoffs.

Can Morris not fill Wade's role?

Wade might be leading the league in DRTG. I haven't looked and he might be below the eligibility threshold now, but he was hot.

Morris can do a reasonable job out there but Wade really puts the effort in on the defensive end.

[JujitsuFlip]

Well Wade is currently available and I'm getting a bad feeling about his availability for the postseason. I just think that it's really, really hard to score against good defensive teams who are locked in and it's a mistake to conclude that what worked during the softest part of our schedule is going to work in the playoffs.

Can Morris not fill Wade's role?

Wade might be leading the league in DRTG. I haven't looked and he might be below the eligibility threshold now, but he was hot.

Morris can do a reasonable job out there but Wade really puts the effort in on the defensive end.

Ah, gotcha.

I just really hope we don't have a tight playoff rotation again, like jbk presumes may be the case.