Game 1: Boston Celtics (0-0) @ Cleveland Cavaliers (0-0) - 8:00 PM ET

[ducler]

[afarmenian]

Ugggg not seeing how Love at Center can work the entire year at all. He looks even more marginalized.

[jbk1234]

Ugggg not seeing how Love at Center can work the entire year at all. He looks even more marginalized.

I'm much more concerned starting Wade ahead of JR.

[afarmenian]

not a feel good win in my opinion

Love looks lost

Wade and Rose disappeared at times.

Shump gives and takes aways as usual

Green the same....Green could be such an asset if he just knew himself but if he is going to try to go 1v1 and toss up junk then god help us

Korver looked OLD

I am very down on the Cavs and we need IT back asap. The only way i can see us have a chance against the warriors is to get IT back healthy and get an actual center at the trade deadline.

[jbk1234]

not a feel good win in my opinion

Love looks lost

Wade and Rose disappeared at times.

Shump gives and takes aways as usual

Green the same....Green could be such an asset if he just knew himself but if he is going to try to go 1v1 and toss up junk then god help us

Korver looked OLD

I am very down on the Cavs and we need IT back asap. The only way i can see us have a chance against the warriors is to get IT back healthy and get an actual center at the trade deadline.

I'm not trying to be mean, but when did Wade look good? He played 28 minutes, he was 3/10 for 8 points in 28 minutes. He looks great off the bench. He destroys our spacing when starts alongside of LBJ & Rose. It really shouldn't take 10 games for everyone to realize the obvious. And yeah Love looks lost because he has no idea when he's getting the ball and when he's not and he's out there with three guys who need the ball, can't shoot a jumper and all like to drive.

[afarmenian]

not a feel good win in my opinion

Love looks lost

Wade and Rose disappeared at times.

Shump gives and takes aways as usual

Green the same....Green could be such an asset if he just knew himself but if he is going to try to go 1v1 and toss up junk then god help us

Korver looked OLD

I am very down on the Cavs and we need IT back asap. The only way i can see us have a chance against the warriors is to get IT back healthy and get an actual center at the trade deadline.

I'm not trying to be mean, but when did Wade look good? He played 28 minutes, he was 3/10 for 8 points in 28 minutes. He looks great off the bench. He destroys our spacing when starts alongside of LBJ & Rose. It really shouldn't take 10 games for everyone to realize the obvious. And yeah Love looks lost because he has no idea when he's getting the ball and when he's not and he's out there with three guys who need the ball, can't shoot a jumper and all like to drive.

did i say wade looks good? He came up huge on defense at least 3 times but he looked ok to me. Look i get it you dont like the spacing but stop making excuses with love, he misses a lot of bunnies and i dont agree with him at the 5 but come on how many wide open shots that he misses in the paint can you stand?

[jbk1234]

not a feel good win in my opinion

Love looks lost

Wade and Rose disappeared at times.

Shump gives and takes aways as usual

Green the same....Green could be such an asset if he just knew himself but if he is going to try to go 1v1 and toss up junk then god help us

Korver looked OLD

I am very down on the Cavs and we need IT back asap. The only way i can see us have a chance against the warriors is to get IT back healthy and get an actual center at the trade deadline.

I'm not trying to be mean, but when did Wade look good? He played 28 minutes, he was 3/10 for 8 points in 28 minutes. He looks great off the bench. He destroys our spacing when starts alongside of LBJ & Rose. It really shouldn't take 10 games for everyone to realize the obvious. And yeah Love looks lost because he has no idea when he's getting the ball and when he's not and he's out there with three guys who need the ball, can't shoot a jumper and all like to drive.

did i say wade looks good? He came up huge on defense at least 3 times but he looked ok to me. Look i get it you dont like the spacing but stop making excuses with love, he misses a lot of bunnies and i dont agree with him at the 5 but come on how many wide open shots that he misses in the paint can you stand?

Tell you what, you show me the tape of him missing wide open shots in the paint & I'll re-evaluate. But you could swap TT for Love and I promise you the results will be worse. I see Lue trying to run an offense where everyone slashes. Not everyone's game is made for that.

JR should start. It would change everything.

[afarmenian]

I'm not trying to be mean, but when did Wade look good? He played 28 minutes, he was 3/10 for 8 points in 28 minutes. He looks great off the bench. He destroys our spacing when starts alongside of LBJ & Rose. It really shouldn't take 10 games for everyone to realize the obvious. And yeah Love looks lost because he has no idea when he's getting the ball and when he's not and he's out there with three guys who need the ball, can't shoot a jumper and all like to drive.

did i say wade looks good? He came up huge on defense at least 3 times but he looked ok to me. Look i get it you dont like the spacing but stop making excuses with love, he misses a lot of bunnies and i dont agree with him at the 5 but come on how many wide open shots that he misses in the paint can you stand?

Tell you what, you show me the tape of him missing wide open shots in the paint & I'll re-evaluate. But you could swap TT for Love and I promise you the results will be worse. I see Lue trying to run an offense where everyone slashes. Not everyone's game is made for that.

JR should start. It would change everything.

Oh ok i will just get on making that mixtape for you, ive got all the time in the world. Be serious. I mean he missed a bunny over Irving and only scored because Irving is 6 inches shorter. I agree the results would not be better with TT..and? TT isnt a good option at center either. I am not trying to dog love here but he isnt going to work at the 5, he is overmatched and not dynamic enough to justify the risk of injury and injury will happen mark my words.

Jr was good off the bench so why would that have made such a difference?

[Stillwater]

Considering it was the fourth time this team has played with LeBron I don't consider anything I see from tonight's game indicative of what's to come.
However I have been in agreement with those who believe a rose wade back court not only lacks in spacing but it's more of an issue defensively. I'll give them three games w/ that lineup before something changes or they figure it out. The latter I'm less confident of.
It was an ugly win, but all things considered a win is a win and we are far from playing at our potential. Good days ahead.

[Stillwater]

Ugggg not seeing how Love at Center can work the entire year at all. He looks even more marginalized.

Jump to conclusions much?
1 game esp only 4th time LeBron playing should make you step back and be patient.
In my opinion love will be fine at the 5.

[afarmenian]

Ugggg not seeing how Love at Center can work the entire year at all. He looks even more marginalized.

Jump to conclusions much?
1 game esp only 4th time LeBron playing should make you step back and be patient.
In my opinion love will be fine at the 5.

Yes i am....you saying love will be fine is also jumping to a conclusion.

Would LOVE to be wrong but how can you not worry with loves injury history.

He was putting in work down low i will give him that but that has to be taxing.

[bb22]

Ugggg not seeing how Love at Center can work the entire year at all. He looks even more marginalized.

Jump to conclusions much?
1 game esp only 4th time LeBron playing should make you step back and be patient.
In my opinion love will be fine at the 5.

You have to be a diehard Love fan to think he will be fine. He's lost almost everything that once made him an all star in minny. Reduced to a floor spacer on offense, and a target on defense. He will always be an overplayed Ryan Anderson on this team. Both sides would benefit from a trade.

[Dupp]

This forum is weird why is the game thread smaller than the pre season game threads?


Kyrie actually looked good offensively, Made smart decisions. Atrocious on defense though. Haywards injury was terrible.

Ugggg not seeing how Love at Center can work the entire year at all. He looks even more marginalized.

I'm much more concerned starting Wade ahead of JR.

It was worse than i imagined. Him and rose are dreadful.

On a positive crowder is a really good cutter. Should be a good weapon.

[Dupp]

Also love can be fin at centre we just have to feature him offensivley... rose literally cannot pass.

[tidho]

My observations:

Ouch!, obviously.

Wade/JR need to start at the guards given LeBron is playing PG anyway.

Love at Center is going to be a problem. Celtics are one of the better matchups for him to play in the middle and it didn't turn out too well.

They need to do a better job getting Love involved early. Realize he picked up a couple fouls, but they weren't doing it.

Thompson needs 5 more minutes, LeBron 5 less. Playing Love and Thompson with Crowder or Green at SF will solve this. They should be able to find those minutes once they fix the lineups (swapping Rose and JR).

Celtics overplayed the perimeter and let Cleveland get inside. Cavaliers need some more options to take advantage of this, beyond isolation.

[Stillwater]

Ugggg not seeing how Love at Center can work the entire year at all. He looks even more marginalized.

Jump to conclusions much?
1 game esp only 4th time LeBron playing should make you step back and be patient.
In my opinion love will be fine at the 5.

Yes i am....you saying love will be fine is also jumping to a conclusion.

Would LOVE to be wrong but how can you not worry with loves injury history.

He was putting in work down low i will give him that but that has to be taxing.

OK well, I have a lot more confidence in Love getting fed the ball better than he was last night once Lue works on the kinks in the line up. If that doesn't happen after a few weeks of a healthy Lebron and a better spaced back court in the starting line up than you are right he wasted at the 5 and they will probably move him back to the 4. But to assume he is the problem( when it is clearly the players around him that negatively impacted his performance) is not an accurate prediction of the future impact he can have offensively against the majority of bigs in this league. Lue already knew he was sacrificing rim protection inserting him into the line up at the 5,but with the direction the league is going it is too our advantage to have an option like KLove at the 5 over a traditional ltd offensive player who gets a few more stops.

[gflem]

My take, I feel bad for Hayward. I hope he can come back the same from this injury.
Too many mins for Lebron. Wade can make a smart play offensively or defensively, but can no longer make an athletic play on either side of the ball.
Jeff Green can often make the athletic plays but not the smart plays often.
Korver looks lost and old.
JR should start at SG, Love at PF and TT at C.
As good as Crowder looked he plays the same position as Lebron, play him behind Lebron and you solve two problems. One limiting Lebron's minutes and putting Love back to where he belongs. Crowder, Wade, and Shump off the bench with either Lebron or Love and pick your C, either Frye or Z depending on match up.
Wade and Rose together looked like what most of us thought it would, not enough spacing.
Its only one game, and they will learn to play together in time but forcing Wade and Rose to play together to keep egos in check isn't the most effective lineup. And regardless of what some people think Love at C for more than a short stint here and there is a bad idea.
If they use him at the elbow and run the offense through him using pick and pop or run cutters through the lane it may work ok but I just don't see them doing that very often, it would take the ball out of Rose, Wade and Lebron's hands and that just isn't going to happen.

[jbk1234]

My take, I feel bad for Hayward. I hope he can come back the same from this injury.
Too many mins for Lebron. Wade can make a smart play offensively or defensively, but can no longer make an athletic play on either side of the ball.
Jeff Green can often make the athletic plays but not the smart plays often.
Korver looks lost and old.
JR should start at SG, Love at PF and TT at C.
As good as Crowder looked he plays the same position as Lebron, play him behind Lebron and you solve two problems. One limiting Lebron's minutes and putting Love back to where he belongs. Crowder, Wade, and Shump off the bench with either Lebron or Love and pick your C, either Frye or Z depending on match up.
Wade and Rose together looked like what most of us thought it would, not enough spacing.
Its only one game, and they will learn to play together in time but forcing Wade and Rose to play together to keep egos in check isn't the most effective lineup. And regardless of what some people think Love at C for more than a short stint here and there is a bad idea.
If they use him at the elbow and run the offense through him using pick and pop or run cutters through the lane it may work ok but I just don't see them doing that very often, it would take the ball out of Rose, Wade and Lebron's hands and that just isn't going to happen.

I think that once (if) IT gets healthy, we can go back to last year's line up with TT at center but I don't think you can have two non shooters on the floor with LBJ (whose jumper isn't 100% consistent either). Starting Wade & Rose is just nuts IMO.

[Stillwater]

Overall I think given we actually played well as a unit in the short time when Lebron sat. This will benefit us long term as he returns to full health(the time they had practicing and playing without him) He was still nursing the ankle and almost got a tpl dbl. The rest of the roster that is new to the org still needs to get acclimated to playing with Lebron and in Wades case the first unit, then we can accurately access the true issues that come up. It is a given however that 2 non spacing guards that either don't play smart defense or are past their level of continuous solid defense cannot be the best option. Everything else is subject to time based cohesion.