Game 58: Cavs @ Bulls 2/28/2024

Iwasawitness · Post #3 » by **Iwasawitness** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 2:07 am

Games like this are where we really miss Thompson. The Bulls are such a tough matchup with their rebounding and tonight they’re killing us on the boards.

afarmenian · Post #4 » by **afarmenian** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 3:18 am

Mitchell is clearly not feeling well. Not sure why he is even playing he looks awful and a shell of himself

Garland really stepping up

Post #5 » by **ijspeelman** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 3:47 am

afarmenian wrote:Mitchell is clearly not feeling well. Not sure why he is even playing he looks awful and a shell of himself

Garland really stepping up

Mitchell has been noticeably slow tonight (as some of the other guys at this point)

Post #6 » by **ijspeelman** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 3:55 am

The story of the game:

50 rebounds to 90

Drummond has been an animal as a role player

We've honestly been playing really bad, even last game. The offense has just been stale even with the movement. Fingers could be pointed at lack of Dean Wade and Sam in the line-up, small sample size, or just some of our guys being on cold stretches. I like that we get the Pistons are next so maybe we can get some momentum into our Knicks, Celtics, Hawks, Timberwolves stretch

afarmenian · Post #7 » by **afarmenian** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 3:55 am

Welp if we miss out on the 3rd 2nd seed we can look at this Feb stretch as to probably why. Just kicking games away with lackadaisical play. Such a shame but let's see what they do against some of the better teams maybe they have gotten complacent.

JujitsuFlip · Post #8 » by **JujitsuFlip** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 4:29 am

LeVert with 15 assists, what in the world.

JonFromVA · Post #9 » by **JonFromVA** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 4:54 am

The good news is at least nobody got hurt as JBB decided it would be fun to tighten his rotation on the second night of a back to back double OT game....

Post #10 » by **jbk1234** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 7:26 am

Yeah, tonight was a night where at least Merrill should've seen the floor. I was also disappointed we didn't immediately go to the high PNR once Vuc fouled out. That's been Drummond's glaring weakness for going on a decade and he was the only big the Bulls had on the floor. Frankly, the inability to recognize those situations and adjust in real time is my primary concern with JBB.

It's perfectly understandable if Mitchell is still feeling the effects of whatever illness was going around that he'd be off on the second night of a back to back. Less so that he still insist on being the hero in crunch time if he wasn't feeling like himself.

JujitsuFlip · Post #11 » by **JujitsuFlip** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 12:29 pm

Drummond with 26 rebounds, seems our ghosts from last April will still haunt us.

Iwasawitness · Post #12 » by **Iwasawitness** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 12:40 pm

I didn’t like this matchup going in on a night of a back to back with Drummond at center, but why JB played the same guys as the night before is baffling to me. He may have improved, but he’s still got ways to go as a coach.

JujitsuFlip · Post #13 » by **JujitsuFlip** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 12:52 pm

Why was CPJ with the Charge last night and not the Cavs? Odd.

toooskies · Post #14 » by **toooskies** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 2:29 pm

JujitsuFlip wrote:Why was CPJ with the Charge last night and not the Cavs? Odd.

Because he's not close to the rotation most nights and playing with the Charge is better for his development than sitting on the bench with the big league squad. It's also probably better for his game-readiness if someone gets hurt. Not sure if Sharife was available last night, but he'd serve fine as the emergency ballhandler in the case where two of Mitchell/Garland/LeVert can't finish the game.

afarmenian · Post #15 » by **afarmenian** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 3:22 pm

jbk1234 wrote:It's perfectly understandable if Mitchell is still feeling the effects of whatever illness was going around that he'd be off on the second night of a back to back. Less so that he still insist on being the hero in crunch time if he wasn't feeling like himself.

He shouldnt have been on the court. I dont blame him players going to want to play but by the 2nd half it was obvious he was a shadow out there and had no energy or focus.

JonFromVA · Post #16 » by **JonFromVA** » Thu Feb 29, 2024 3:29 pm

toooskies wrote:
JujitsuFlip wrote:Why was CPJ with the Charge last night and not the Cavs? Odd.

Because he's not close to the rotation most nights and playing with the Charge is better for his development than sitting on the bench with the big league squad. It's also probably better for his game-readiness if someone gets hurt. Not sure if Sharife was available last night, but he'd serve fine as the emergency ballhandler in the case where two of Mitchell/Garland/LeVert can't finish the game.

In other words, even playing the second night of a b2b and 3rd game in 4 nights our coach completely ruled out the idea of expanding his rotation. He let a weaker team also on the second night of a b2b beat us by matching our length and then crushing us on the boards with it while getting energy from their 2nd round pick and converted 2-way player.

I too would have liked to have seen the Cavs try to exploit Drummond especially after Vuc fouled out. This lack of situational awareness by our coach and players is problematic to say the least, but lack of preparation is another problem. Setting proper screens without slipping, being able to run a pick & pop ... these are all things we should have in our arsenal.

fwiw, I don't have a problem with letting Mitchell try to close out that game; but like I've said with Garland there's a time and place for the ridiculous hero shots but it's not after finally making a single shot or with tired legs.

JonFromVA · Post #17 » by **JonFromVA** » Fri Mar 1, 2024 4:06 pm

JonFromVA wrote:The good news is at least nobody got hurt as JBB decided it would be fun to tighten his rotation on the second night of a back to back double OT game....

Upon further review ...

28 minutes ago: LeVert is questionable for Friday's game versus the Pistons due to a right elbow sprain.
17 hours ago: Mitchell is questionable for Friday's matchup with the Pistons due to left knee soreness.

For those wondering, this isn't a back to back. Our next game after the Pistons is Sunday against the Knicks in Cleveland.

JujitsuFlip · Post #18 » by **JujitsuFlip** » Fri Mar 1, 2024 5:16 pm

JonFromVA wrote:
JonFromVA wrote:The good news is at least nobody got hurt as JBB decided it would be fun to tighten his rotation on the second night of a back to back double OT game....

Upon further review ...

28 minutes ago: LeVert is questionable for Friday's game versus the Pistons due to a right elbow sprain.
17 hours ago: Mitchell is questionable for Friday's matchup with the Pistons due to left knee soreness.

For those wondering, this isn't a back to back. Our next game after the Pistons is Sunday against the Knicks in Cleveland.

I swear it's the same story for one reason or another. 2022, 2023, and now 2024 as soon as we get a share of the 2 seed or a whole shot at the 2 seed, Cavs just immediately forget how to play basketball.

Then maybe 2024 can differ from the last 2 postseasons but the other 2 seasons resulted in early April post season exits.

JonFromVA · Post #19 » by **JonFromVA** » Fri Mar 1, 2024 8:28 pm

JujitsuFlip wrote:
JonFromVA wrote:
JonFromVA wrote:The good news is at least nobody got hurt as JBB decided it would be fun to tighten his rotation on the second night of a back to back double OT game....

Upon further review ...

28 minutes ago: LeVert is questionable for Friday's game versus the Pistons due to a right elbow sprain.
17 hours ago: Mitchell is questionable for Friday's matchup with the Pistons due to left knee soreness.

For those wondering, this isn't a back to back. Our next game after the Pistons is Sunday against the Knicks in Cleveland.
I swear it's the same story for one reason or another. 2022, 2023, and now 2024 as soon as we get a share of the 2 seed or a whole shot at the 2 seed, Cavs just immediately forget how to play basketball.

Then maybe 2024 can differ from the last 2 postseasons but the other 2 seasons resulted in early April post season exits.

The Cavs have had a very strong team when healthy, we've just rarely been at full strength when it mattered.

To his credit, JBB usually has the guys playing hard, but that does make it hard to evaluate how good the team really is when other team's play hard or when we can't or won't.