Game 69: Cavs @ Heat 3/10/2023

[ijspeelman]

Read on Twitter

With no Garland, I'd still like this win. We really need the three ball tonight to keep our offense afloat imo.

[JujitsuFlip]

Be tough to beat that zone without Garland.

[TheLand13]

The more I watch Kevin play in Miami, the more I'm glad we got rid of him.

[ijspeelman]

It is crazy how good Mitchell is generating shots when we lack spacing. He can always find a way to slither into the paint even when two or three men are draped on him. It does help when he's a flamethrower from beyond the arc as well.

As for all our games against the Heat, we are playing elite D, but then we are giving up a few really really easy ones. I can live with fadeaways from Butler, Bam, and Herro, but when we are giving up ones right under the basket to them, that is not good haha.

[ijspeelman]

That was whole lotta momentum swing right there. Hopefully Cavs can calm the tide

[afarmenian]

With such a short rotation this is one of the few losses you have to just accept and move on. JB shoukd have used his bench more. But back to back against a good team on the road that's just extremely tough.

[ijspeelman]

Honestly, its hard to be mad at this one. It sucks losing this, but without Garland and the insane Heat shot making down the stretch I can write it off.

[afarmenian]

Honestly, its hard to be mad at this one. It sucks losing this, but without Garland and the insane Heat shot making down the stretch I can write it off.

Yeah Hero made some insane 3s

[ijspeelman]

Honestly, its hard to be mad at this one. It sucks losing this, but without Garland and the insane Heat shot making down the stretch I can write it off.

Yeah Hero made some insane 3s

Him, Strus made a few odd ball shots, and Jimmy Buckets with a whole lot of midrange beauties. A lot of these hard ones came at the shotclock too. Hard to stop those.

We definitely had things we could do better. For one, with all the hard shots Miami got, we still gave them a few silly ones (less in the second half tho). Our shooting faltered in the 2nd half as well. I'm honestly not using this as JB slander, but we somehow shot 42% from 3 on pretty decent volume with Cedi playing about 13 minutes and the only other positive volume threats being LeVert and Mitchell. This is one where we'd usually put Dean out there, but with him slumping I get the omission if we are running a shortened line-up (Stevens has been playing quite well).

Also, why does Jimmy always make one flat-footed contested three against us? Its a given every time lol.

[JonFromVA]

I'm just wondering why Stevens was guarding Butler at crucial times rather than Okoro (if it was due to switching never mind), why we can't even try one of the shooters we brought in, and not to ask too much from Mitchell - but when when the bigs are picking up your man, leaving you in the paint, you need to at least try to protect the rim.

[JujitsuFlip]

I'm just wondering why Stevens was guarding Butler at crucial times rather than Okoro (if it was due to switching never mind), why we can't even try one of the shooters we brought in, and not to ask too much from Mitchell - but when when the bigs are picking up your man, leaving you in the paint, you need to at least try to protect the rim.

The more i think about it, barring some crazy post season run, I'm cool with this being JBs final season as Cavs HC. I think they need a guy who understands rotations and in game adjustments better.

JB is a defensive tactician but he can't just be Thibs 2.0 and run the core 4 into the ground. If extensions aren't signed this window with the core 4 is small, gotta capitalize on it.

[JonFromVA]

I'm just wondering why Stevens was guarding Butler at crucial times rather than Okoro (if it was due to switching never mind), why we can't even try one of the shooters we brought in, and not to ask too much from Mitchell - but when when the bigs are picking up your man, leaving you in the paint, you need to at least try to protect the rim.

The more i think about it, barring some crazy post season run, I'm cool with this being JBs final season as Cavs HC. I think they need a guy who understands rotations and in game adjustments better.

JB is a defensive tactician but he can't just be Thibs 2.0 and run the core 4 into the ground. If extensions aren't signed this window with the core 4 is small, gotta capitalize on it.

Realistically this is his and the teams first opportunity to prove themselves in the playoffs and learn from it. Short of catastrophe I expect JBB will make it to the Summer of 2024 if we haven't been able to address our roster problems before then.

Just so happens Dan Gilbert's dream was always to have a defensive coach running the team, but he also realizes if the team stagnates or takes a step backwards that something will have to be done.

[JujitsuFlip]

I'm just wondering why Stevens was guarding Butler at crucial times rather than Okoro (if it was due to switching never mind), why we can't even try one of the shooters we brought in, and not to ask too much from Mitchell - but when when the bigs are picking up your man, leaving you in the paint, you need to at least try to protect the rim.

The more i think about it, barring some crazy post season run, I'm cool with this being JBs final season as Cavs HC. I think they need a guy who understands rotations and in game adjustments better.

JB is a defensive tactician but he can't just be Thibs 2.0 and run the core 4 into the ground. If extensions aren't signed this window with the core 4 is small, gotta capitalize on it.

Realistically this is his and the teams first opportunity to prove themselves in the playoffs and learn from it. Short of catastrophe I expect JBB will make it to the Summer of 2024 if we haven't been able to address our roster problems before then.

Just so happens Dan Gilbert's dream was always to have a defensive coach running the team, but he also realizes if the team stagnates or takes a step backwards that something will have to be done.

Giving him 1 more season after this one is more realistic but he is clearly the Mark Jackson of the rebuild. Cavs need to find their Kerr and without extensions, puts a lot of pressure on the 2024-25 season to win it all or at minimum make a final under a new HC.

[jbk1234]

We just don't have enough firepower without Garland.

[JonFromVA]

The more i think about it, barring some crazy post season run, I'm cool with this being JBs final season as Cavs HC. I think they need a guy who understands rotations and in game adjustments better.

JB is a defensive tactician but he can't just be Thibs 2.0 and run the core 4 into the ground. If extensions aren't signed this window with the core 4 is small, gotta capitalize on it.

Realistically this is his and the teams first opportunity to prove themselves in the playoffs and learn from it. Short of catastrophe I expect JBB will make it to the Summer of 2024 if we haven't been able to address our roster problems before then.

Just so happens Dan Gilbert's dream was always to have a defensive coach running the team, but he also realizes if the team stagnates or takes a step backwards that something will have to be done.

Giving him 1 more season after this one is more realistic but he is clearly the Mark Jackson of the rebuild. Cavs need to find their Kerr and without extensions, puts a lot of pressure on the 2024-25 season to win it all or at minimum make a final under a new HC.

A non-crazy Mark Jackson would have kept his job and Kerr would have been coaching the Knicks.

The problem for the Cavs is finding their Kerr ... Blatt and Beilein sure weren't it. Lue was close, but couldn't handle the pressure of the job or cope with a rebuild. So who knows, maybe JBB turns out to be more flexible than we imagine right now.

[JujitsuFlip]

Realistically this is his and the teams first opportunity to prove themselves in the playoffs and learn from it. Short of catastrophe I expect JBB will make it to the Summer of 2024 if we haven't been able to address our roster problems before then.

Just so happens Dan Gilbert's dream was always to have a defensive coach running the team, but he also realizes if the team stagnates or takes a step backwards that something will have to be done.

Giving him 1 more season after this one is more realistic but he is clearly the Mark Jackson of the rebuild. Cavs need to find their Kerr and without extensions, puts a lot of pressure on the 2024-25 season to win it all or at minimum make a final under a new HC.

A non-crazy Mark Jackson would have kept his job and Kerr would have been coaching the Knicks.

The problem for the Cavs is finding their Kerr ... Blatt and Beilein sure weren't it. Lue was close, but couldn't handle the pressure of the job or cope with a rebuild. So who knows, maybe JBB turns out to be more flexible than we imagine right now.

It's possible but i have zero confidence in JB to make the proper adjustments in game or in series to beat any of the Bucks, Celtics, 76ers, Heat, Raptors, or Hawks in a 7 game series.

Knicks or Nets, Cavs should be able to out talent, even in a 7 game series.

[El Hespiritu]

I never thought about JB as a stubborn coach (or a 'carved-at-stone systems' guy).
In fact, first thing I posted about him when we knew RRubio would play for CLECaus:

Tengo alguna idea sobre JB de sus tiempos en Memphis.
Le tengo por un técnico inteligente y flexible.

He's obviously a defense-first type of coach and I love that kin.

But he's flexible enough... just compare the innovative BigBall systems we played last season with the more standard ones we're currently playing (with even some suspicious smallballing here and there).

[JonFromVA]

I never thought about JB as a stubborn coach (or a 'carved-at-stone systems' guy).
In fact, first thing I posted about him when we knew RRubio would play for CLECaus:

Tengo alguna idea sobre JB de sus tiempos en Memphis.
Le tengo por un técnico inteligente y flexible.

He's obviously a defense-first type of coach and I love that kin.

But he's flexible enough... just compare the innovative BigBall systems we played last season with the more standard ones we're currently playing (with even some suspicious smallballing here and there).

We want to see JBB making adjustments (beyond playing Mitchell and Garland for the entire second half and OT) and fixing problems as they come up (like our constant struggle to inbound the ball, or our defense getting killed by 3's). Getting ahead of problems wouldn't hurt either ... like massaging Love's ego enough that he wouldn't ask for a buyout.

He is young as far as head coaches go, so I try to keep in mind that he can potentially grow with the team in to his job and the spark for that growth might be him holding on to his job after disappointing failure. We can't be sure that will happen, but as long as he doesn't lose the locker-room it's not unreasonable to be patient with him and the team and see.

IMO, it's fair to look at JBB (not week to week or month to month), but over a season and question whether he's improved as a coach in some way. He might not be where we'd like, but some sign of growth is important.

[JujitsuFlip]

I never thought about JB as a stubborn coach (or a 'carved-at-stone systems' guy).
In fact, first thing I posted about him when we knew RRubio would play for CLECaus:

Tengo alguna idea sobre JB de sus tiempos en Memphis.
Le tengo por un técnico inteligente y flexible.

He's obviously a defense-first type of coach and I love that kin.

But he's flexible enough... just compare the innovative BigBall systems we played last season with the more standard ones we're currently playing (with even some suspicious smallballing here and there).

I do not believe anything in his time as head coach with the Rockets or Grizzlies prove that JB is the coach to take this team to a final or conference final, time will tell.

[El Hespiritu]

I can't recall nothing done by any coach at any time at any team proving something so specific, including those who actually did it at CLE in the past.

And hardly any player (a case could be made with LeBald but even so it's too basketball-fiction... different times, different teams).