Game 70 Cavs at Wolves, 3-22-24, 47-22

[Nick K]

Love the Naz Reid beach towels! The crowd is going crazy!

[Dalvin]

Aaaaarrrrrooooooo!!!!!! Got some payback to the Cavs! What a game by Conley!

[winforlose]

Anyone else notice how badly Ant was limping

[KGdaBom]

It's a win. 48-22. AAARRRRROOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Taking Care of Business.

[KGdaBom]

Is 13 rebounds a season or career high for Ant?

[Nick K]

Big win as we hold Cleveland to 91 points. Balanced scoring tonight too. Ant only gets 16 but he grabs 13 boards and 5 asts.

We shoot almost 50% from the field and 52% from 3! Great team effort. AAAARRRROOOOO!!!

[winforlose]

It's a win. 48-22. AAARRRRROOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Taking Care of Business.

It’s more than that. It is proof that Ant can have a bad game and we can still win by double digits. Cavs might be missing people, but make no mistake, they still win and are quite dangerous with who they have left. Mike drops 21, Naz drops 18, Jaden 15, JMAC 12 on 4/4 from deep, Kyle drops 10, Rudy 9. Ant only needed 16 on 17 shots. This is a good TEAM win.

[Nick K]

Anyone else notice how badly Ant was limping

Ant is one tough customer. As tough as they come. It's stunning what he plays through. I loved him on draft night but I didn't think he'd be THIS good. He's right up there with D. Wade and Kobe.

[winforlose]

Anyone else notice how badly Ant was limping

Ant is one tough customer. As tough as they come. It's stunning what he plays through. I loved him on draft night but I didn't think he'd be THIS good. He's right up there with D. Wade and Kobe.

That man needs an ice bath. Then another. Maybe he should just move into a walk in fridge for a while.

[Nick K]

I just noticed we've won 48 frickin games with 12 left to play. Last time was 2003. We won 58 games that year with KG as league MVP.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Maybe put ANT for rest next game could be a good idea. This guy is so tough but we need him to stay health. Nice to seeRudy and Naz back. Rudy is not 100% but he seems okay. Great performance tonight , defense was elite one more time.

[Loaf_of_bread]

Maybe put ANT for rest next game could be a good idea. This guy is so tough but we need him to stay health. Nice to seeRudy and Naz back. Rudy is not 100% but he seems okay. Great performance tonight , defense was elite one more time.

No, resting ant is a terrible take. He can handle the run, and we cannot afford a loss based on a planned rest.

[younggunsmn]

Very good win at home. Cavs are tough customers even without Mitchell and Mobely,
Very well coached and play great team defense.
We really zeroed in on Garland defensively tonight and exposed their lack of scorers/playmakers outside of him.
I thought we really outplayed them in the first half, was discouraging we were down 3 after building a 10 point lead due to some spotty reffing (3 BS fouls on Naz Reid) and a sloppy finish to the half.

Jmac is a sniper all of a sudden? Yes I'll take it!
Hitting open shots has always been the one thing keeping him from seeing consistent minutes.
He really looks like he's fixed things, much more fluid and confident. Being fully healthy probably helps too.
Whoever our shooting coach is, he's doing good work with the team this year with NAW and Jmac putting up good numbers, and Conley, KAT, and Naz all having career years from 3.

Great game from Mike. His aggressiveness is just what we needed to break their defense when it was loading up on Rudy and Ant.
Took it to the hole like a running back like Finchy said in the presser.

Our defense just wrecked the Cavs in the 3rd and early 4th and that was the difference in the game.
In this era, to see a defense actually be that aggressive and assertive and change a game rather than being light resistance hoping for a missed shot, it's just a joy to watch. if we can bottle that and unleash it on teams in the playoffs, that is what we will need to do to reach a championship level.
We had similar periods of sustained excellence on the road trip against the clippers and jazz that won us games, and a couple that got us back into the Denver game.
Can we sustain that excellence when KAT comes back though? He's the one guy rotation guy on our roster other teams will hunt and scheme to exploit.

Ant didn't have it tonight but still contributed with good d and 13 rebounds.
That knee to the thigh is going to hurt for a couple days, but hopefully he bounces back quickly.

Team 8/16 from the line is terrible. Jaden 1/4

Jaden had a really good 2nd half though and those 2 cold blooded 3's were huge to help us hold them off.
Glad his confidence is back, but I didn't like his attitude in the first half, that delay of game tech he got for not giving the official the ball back was really dumb. He's also been putting more effort in on the glass the past couple weeks which has been much needed.

[younggunsmn]

I just noticed we've won 48 frickin games with 12 left to play. Last time was 2003. We won 58 games that year with KG as league MVP.

2 or 3 more wins should realistically get us at least the 6th seed, avoiding the play-in.

With 12 to play, we are up 3 on the clippers in the loss column (but +5 wins).
We are up 5 games on the pelicans in the loss column, and 7 on the suns, kings, and mavs.

1 back of the nuggets in the loss column and 2 on the thunder.
Going to be hard to catch either of those teams.

Right now it's shaking out to look like 3 seed is the most likely scenario with suns, kings, or mavs as first round opponent.
Lakers/Warriors a possibility is we climb to 1 or 2 along with suns, kings, and mavs.

Clippers or Pelicans if we fall to the 4 or 5 seed.

Easiest road technically is 1 seed. But IMHO Pels would be just as dangerous as Denver/OKC in the 2nd round.
If we can keep that 3 seed, I will consider the rest of the regular season a success.

[Loaf_of_bread]

I just noticed we've won 48 frickin games with 12 left to play. Last time was 2003. We won 58 games that year with KG as league MVP.

2 or 3 more wins should realistically get us at least the 6th seed, avoiding the play-in.

With 12 to play, we are up 3 on the clippers in the loss column (but +5 wins).
We are up 5 games on the pelicans in the loss column, and 7 on the suns, kings, and mavs.

1 back of the nuggets in the loss column and 2 on the thunder.
Going to be hard to catch either of those teams.

Right now it's shaking out to look like 3 seed is the most likely scenario with suns, kings, or mavs as first round opponent.
Lakers/Warriors a possibility is we climb to 1 or 2 along with suns, kings, and mavs.

Clippers or Pelicans if we fall to the 4 or 5 seed.

Easiest road technically is 1 seed. But IMHO Pels would be just as dangerous as Denver/OKC in the 2nd round.
If we can keep that 3 seed, I will consider the rest of the regular season a success.

6th seed? Are you predicting us only winning 2 or 3 games the rest of the way? Come on now. If that happens, Finch is fired and everyone gives up... why even speculate that..? It's possible, but chances of that with the way ant it playing are maybe 1-2%

[Klomp]

Is 13 rebounds a season or career high for Ant?

Nope. Had 14 in the opener in Toronto. Also had 14 in a game two years ago against Miami.

[Shaka_Zulu]

Nice grinding win. Great to have the bigs back. Thank god for Conley, Jmac and Jaden who all had excellent games. Jaden finally looking like a 3rd/4th star instead of low energy defensive specialist.



But most of all.....Absolutely beautiful SCENES with the support the fans were showing Naz with the chanting and the towels (I want one! Anyone to get one all the way here in Sweden?).

Really special moment: https://youtu.be/e-eIIdoWga0?si=8W8JZyGIi98KkaDQ

[KGdaBom]

I just noticed we've won 48 frickin games with 12 left to play. Last time was 2003. We won 58 games that year with KG as league MVP.

2 or 3 more wins should realistically get us at least the 6th seed, avoiding the play-in.

With 12 to play, we are up 3 on the clippers in the loss column (but +5 wins).
We are up 5 games on the pelicans in the loss column, and 7 on the suns, kings, and mavs.

1 back of the nuggets in the loss column and 2 on the thunder.
Going to be hard to catch either of those teams.

Right now it's shaking out to look like 3 seed is the most likely scenario with suns, kings, or mavs as first round opponent.
Lakers/Warriors a possibility is we climb to 1 or 2 along with suns, kings, and mavs.

Clippers or Pelicans if we fall to the 4 or 5 seed.

Easiest road technically is 1 seed. But IMHO Pels would be just as dangerous as Denver/OKC in the 2nd round.
If we can keep that 3 seed, I will consider the rest of the regular season a success.

6th seed? Are you predicting us only winning 2 or 3 games the rest of the way? Come on now. If that happens, Finch is fired and everyone gives up... why even speculate that..? It's possible, but chances of that with the way ant it playing are maybe 1-2%

I think you very much misread his post. He did mention worst case scenario of 6th seed, but he said most likely is 3rd seed.

[shrink]

Looks like Jarrett Allen only had six FTA’s (closer to his 4.7 season average), instead of the 21 he was given last time.

No Scott Foster.

[Shaka_Zulu]

Looks like Jarrett Allen only had six FTA’s (closer to his 4.7 season average), instead of the 21 he was given last time.

No Scott Foster.

Allen did good this game, but yeah it helps when Foster isn't there acting like Allen is Embiid with his whistle lol