Game 1: Cavs @ Nets 10/25/2023

[ijspeelman]

Okoro remains Okoro. His "dawg mentality" is always a joy to watch until it results in untimely fouls. I cannot fault him at all for Cam Thomas going off. He was hitting tough shot after tough shot on everyone

Okoro put up 18, 6, 4, 2, 1. This was an Okoro that was insulted by his contract offer.

Most of his fouls wouldn't have been called in the playoffs.

I’ll be honest didn’t realize his box score looked like that after this game. I’ll have to rewatch his points and assists tomorrow.

Quick positive I’ll throw his and JB’s way, I liked how they used him as a screener and a pseudo center when Mobley and Jones were off. Was an interesting small ball lineup and I think it worked?

[toooskies]

Okoro remains Okoro. His "dawg mentality" is always a joy to watch until it results in untimely fouls. I cannot fault him at all for Cam Thomas going off. He was hitting tough shot after tough shot on everyone

Okoro put up 18, 6, 4, 2, 1. This was an Okoro that was insulted by his contract offer.

Most of his fouls wouldn't have been called in the playoffs.

I’ll be honest didn’t realize his box score looked like that after this game. I’ll have to rewatch his points and assists tomorrow.

Quick positive I’ll throw his and JB’s way, I liked how they used him as a screener and a pseudo center when Mobley and Jones were off. Was an interesting small ball lineup and I think it worked?

The big thing for Okoro was that we didn't just put him in a corner and use him as a last option. Talking heads have tossed out "can he be Bruce Brown" over the years but he's never been given that kind of role in the offense. Doing things like pushing the ball up the floor and getting into sets earlier is good for him.

Glad Okoro was able to get some points on the board from behind the arc, too. Looked like he took contested shots instead of wide open ones. Even if he doesn't start, he might be the guy we've wanted at the 3 for so long, eventually.

We did get outrebounded by 12 against a team that only has one big on the floor at a time, despite Strus and Okoro doing their part on that end. Luckily we won the turnover battle.

[JonFromVA]

We may be seeing early signs of a team that's falling in love with playing offense. Getting Allen back will help, but he also provides another excuse to the perimeter players to not try as hard. And as much as I love seeing Isaac used more diversely, we really do need him to be a defensive stopper who frustrates whoever we put him on. I did like how he got a shove in on Bridges after he took a hit trying to run in transition - the problem is that in both cases the foul was on him.

On the bright side we did turn up the defensive intensity when we had to, and Mitchell rose to the occasion to win it for us like I expect from him; but we shouldn't have let this game get away from us in the first place. Strus was fantastic and made a strong claim for the SF spot, but he set the bar really high with his shooting in this one.

One note about Brooklyn is I wonder if Simmons and Dinwiddie are going to continue to be zero-sum when playing together? Dinwiddie seems the type who needs the ball in his hands to get himself going, but defenses are going to pack the paint if Simmons doesn't have it in his hands.