Game 30: Pacers @ Cavs 12/16/2022

[ijspeelman]

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[ijspeelman]

I have no intellectual takes. Great come back and game. Love, love, love the heart of the team to come back and win this.

Pacers are no joke.

[jbk1234]

Low key big win.

[jbk1234]

Also, watching Haliburton just embarrass Stevens and LeVert should make people think twice about selling low on Okoro.

[TheLand13]

These last two wins from Cleveland have made me feel a lot better about them than I have as of late. But now the real test begins. After Dallas, they will be going up against I believe Utah, Milwaukee, Toronto and Brooklyn.

They are 0-2 against both Toronto and Milwaukee, but this time they will be at home for both games. And Brooklyn, as we know, have been on a roll lately. I will be very happy if we come out of this 3-1. But we really will need to be at the top of our games for these.

[toooskies]

Also, watching Haliburton just embarrass Stevens and LeVert should make people think twice about selling low on Okoro.

Haliburton was impressive. Got teammates good looks all night, at least until the 4th. He was roasting every bigger guy that got switched onto him, including Mobley and Allen.

Mitchell is a force of nature.

Lamar had a rough night, maybe a little too high after Wednesday.

The Pacers are legit good, just glad we caught Haliburton on an off-night shooting.

[jbk1234]

Also, watching Haliburton just embarrass Stevens and LeVert should make people think twice about selling low on Okoro.

Haliburton was impressive. Got teammates good looks all night, at least until the 4th. He was roasting every bigger guy that got switched onto him, including Mobley and Allen.

Mitchell is a force of nature.

Lamar had a rough night, maybe a little too high after Wednesday.

The Pacers are legit good, just glad we caught Haliburton on an off-night shooting.

Stevens is a role player who is entirely matchup dependent. If he's guarding bigger wings who play bully ball, he's perfect. If you put him out on quicker guards, it's just ugly.

Even LeVert who has been making an honest effort on the defensive end, couldn't stay with Haliburton.

I'm pretty forgiving about JBB's substitution decisions due to the overall roster construction, but tonight's matchup is the reason Okoro is still on the roster. I just don't think you sit there and watch Haliburton get wherever he wants for the entire 3rd quarter.

[JujitsuFlip]

Also, watching Haliburton just embarrass Stevens and LeVert should make people think twice about selling low on Okoro.

Haliburton was impressive. Got teammates good looks all night, at least until the 4th. He was roasting every bigger guy that got switched onto him, including Mobley and Allen.

Mitchell is a force of nature.

Lamar had a rough night, maybe a little too high after Wednesday.

The Pacers are legit good, just glad we caught Haliburton on an off-night shooting.

Stevens is a role player who is entirely matchup dependent. If he's guarding bigger wings who play bully ball, he's perfect. If you put him out on quicker guards, it's just ugly.

Even LeVert who has been making an honest effort on the defensive end, couldn't stay with Haliburton.

I'm pretty forgiving about JBB's substitution decisions due to the overall roster construction, but tonight's matchup is the reason Okoro is still on the roster. I just don't think you sit there and watch Haliburton get wherever he wants for the entire 3rd quarter.

Idk how much better Okoro would be, in that situation, the guy has never been able to clamp anyone since he came in the league.

[jbk1234]

Haliburton was impressive. Got teammates good looks all night, at least until the 4th. He was roasting every bigger guy that got switched onto him, including Mobley and Allen.

Mitchell is a force of nature.

Lamar had a rough night, maybe a little too high after Wednesday.

The Pacers are legit good, just glad we caught Haliburton on an off-night shooting.

Stevens is a role player who is entirely matchup dependent. If he's guarding bigger wings who play bully ball, he's perfect. If you put him out on quicker guards, it's just ugly.

Even LeVert who has been making an honest effort on the defensive end, couldn't stay with Haliburton.

I'm pretty forgiving about JBB's substitution decisions due to the overall roster construction, but tonight's matchup is the reason Okoro is still on the roster. I just don't think you sit there and watch Haliburton get wherever he wants for the entire 3rd quarter.

Idk how much better Okoro would be, in that situation, the guy has never been able to clamp anyone since he came in the league.

It's not about clamping down on players as good as Haliburton. It's about providing some resistance and not letting them get to where they want to go so effortlessly (and that's going to be really important in the post season). Stevens and LeVert were frigging matadors out there. Honestly, the couple of positions Garland got switched onto Haliburton, it seemed like he did a better job.

[toooskies]

Stevens is a role player who is entirely matchup dependent. If he's guarding bigger wings who play bully ball, he's perfect. If you put him out on quicker guards, it's just ugly.

Even LeVert who has been making an honest effort on the defensive end, couldn't stay with Haliburton.

I'm pretty forgiving about JBB's substitution decisions due to the overall roster construction, but tonight's matchup is the reason Okoro is still on the roster. I just don't think you sit there and watch Haliburton get wherever he wants for the entire 3rd quarter.

Idk how much better Okoro would be, in that situation, the guy has never been able to clamp anyone since he came in the league.

It's not about clamping down on players as good as Haliburton. It's about providing some resistance and not letting them get to where they want to go so effortlessly (and that's going to be really important in the post season). Stevens and LeVert were frigging matadors out there. Honestly, the couple of positions Garland got switched onto Haliburton, it seemed like he did a better job.

Stevens is mis-cast guarding PGs, but one of our two PGs should be guarding the other team's PG. But they were hunting switches. Hali made most of the team look bad. Because Hali is really good.

[jbk1234]

Idk how much better Okoro would be, in that situation, the guy has never been able to clamp anyone since he came in the league.

It's not about clamping down on players as good as Haliburton. It's about providing some resistance and not letting them get to where they want to go so effortlessly (and that's going to be really important in the post season). Stevens and LeVert were frigging matadors out there. Honestly, the couple of positions Garland got switched onto Haliburton, it seemed like he did a better job.

Stevens is mis-cast guarding PGs, but one of our two PGs should be guarding the other team's PG. But they were hunting switches. Hali made most of the team look bad. Because Hali is really good.

Smart teams rarely put their weakest defenders on the other team's best players. They find a way to hide them. I agree regarding Stevens. That was JBB allowing hope to triumph over experience.

But the overall point is that you're going to face really good guards in the post season which is why I'm far less eager to give away Okoro for yet another veteran wing who is decent defensively, but not good. What Stevens and LeVert offer offensively isn't enough to make up for what Haliburton did to the Cavs in the third quarter. I'd rather play four on five offensively and actually frustrate the other team somewhat, then play four and half on five offensively and allow a layup drill.

[toooskies]

It's not about clamping down on players as good as Haliburton. It's about providing some resistance and not letting them get to where they want to go so effortlessly (and that's going to be really important in the post season). Stevens and LeVert were frigging matadors out there. Honestly, the couple of positions Garland got switched onto Haliburton, it seemed like he did a better job.

Stevens is mis-cast guarding PGs, but one of our two PGs should be guarding the other team's PG. But they were hunting switches. Hali made most of the team look bad. Because Hali is really good.

Smart teams rarely put their weakest defenders on the other team's best players. They find a way to hide them. I agree regarding Stevens. That was JBB allowing hope to triumph over experience.

But the overall point is that you're going to face really good guards in the post season which is why I'm far less eager to give away Okoro for yet another veteran wing who is decent defensively, but not good. What Stevens and LeVert offer offensively isn't enough to make up for what Haliburton did to the Cavs in the third quarter. I'd rather play four on five offensively and actually frustrate the other team somewhat, then play four and half on five offensively and allow a layup drill.

I don't think Mitchell or Garland need to be hidden as much as you do. Maybe rested.

But I think of we need another player to defend a guard we have Neto, who's definitely pesky on the defensive side of the ball. And while I don't necessarily want Neto to run an offense, he's probably better than Okoro offensively.

[jbk1234]

Stevens is mis-cast guarding PGs, but one of our two PGs should be guarding the other team's PG. But they were hunting switches. Hali made most of the team look bad. Because Hali is really good.

Smart teams rarely put their weakest defenders on the other team's best players. They find a way to hide them. I agree regarding Stevens. That was JBB allowing hope to triumph over experience.

But the overall point is that you're going to face really good guards in the post season which is why I'm far less eager to give away Okoro for yet another veteran wing who is decent defensively, but not good. What Stevens and LeVert offer offensively isn't enough to make up for what Haliburton did to the Cavs in the third quarter. I'd rather play four on five offensively and actually frustrate the other team somewhat, then play four and half on five offensively and allow a layup drill.

I don't think Mitchell or Garland need to be hidden as much as you do. Maybe rested.

But I think of we need another player to defend a guard we have Neto, who's definitely pesky on the defensive side of the ball. And while I don't necessarily want Neto to run an offense, he's probably better than Okoro offensively.

The idea that Neto has the size to defend a guy like Haliburton seems like a real stretch to me.

[toooskies]

Smart teams rarely put their weakest defenders on the other team's best players. They find a way to hide them. I agree regarding Stevens. That was JBB allowing hope to triumph over experience.

But the overall point is that you're going to face really good guards in the post season which is why I'm far less eager to give away Okoro for yet another veteran wing who is decent defensively, but not good. What Stevens and LeVert offer offensively isn't enough to make up for what Haliburton did to the Cavs in the third quarter. I'd rather play four on five offensively and actually frustrate the other team somewhat, then play four and half on five offensively and allow a layup drill.

I don't think Mitchell or Garland need to be hidden as much as you do. Maybe rested.

But I think of we need another player to defend a guard we have Neto, who's definitely pesky on the defensive side of the ball. And while I don't necessarily want Neto to run an offense, he's probably better than Okoro offensively.

The idea that Neto has the size to defend a guy like Haliburton seems like a real stretch to me.

Depends on what final seeding ends up looking like, but assuming the playoffs end up like the standings right now, the guards we need to modify our lineup against is probably Kyrie, then Maxey and Harden in the 3 through 6 seeds. Maybe Brunson. Neto and Stevens are appropriate for them. Rubio, if healthy by the playoffs, is fairly appropriate for the 6'4" Hali, but he's probably going to make a play-in seed and be eliminated by Milwaukee or Boston.

[jbk1234]

I don't think Mitchell or Garland need to be hidden as much as you do. Maybe rested.

But I think of we need another player to defend a guard we have Neto, who's definitely pesky on the defensive side of the ball. And while I don't necessarily want Neto to run an offense, he's probably better than Okoro offensively.

The idea that Neto has the size to defend a guy like Haliburton seems like a real stretch to me.

Depends on what final seeding ends up looking like, but assuming the playoffs end up like the standings right now, the guards we need to modify our lineup against is probably Kyrie, then Maxey and Harden in the 3 through 6 seeds. Maybe Brunson. Neto and Stevens are appropriate for them. Rubio, if healthy by the playoffs, is fairly appropriate for the 6'4" Hali, but he's probably going to make a play-in seed and be eliminated by Milwaukee or Boston.

You're not putting Neto out there as a starter with Garland and Mitchell in the playoffs. He's a munchkin.

[JujitsuFlip]

Stevens is a role player who is entirely matchup dependent. If he's guarding bigger wings who play bully ball, he's perfect. If you put him out on quicker guards, it's just ugly.

Even LeVert who has been making an honest effort on the defensive end, couldn't stay with Haliburton.

I'm pretty forgiving about JBB's substitution decisions due to the overall roster construction, but tonight's matchup is the reason Okoro is still on the roster. I just don't think you sit there and watch Haliburton get wherever he wants for the entire 3rd quarter.

Idk how much better Okoro would be, in that situation, the guy has never been able to clamp anyone since he came in the league.

It's not about clamping down on players as good as Haliburton. It's about providing some resistance and not letting them get to where they want to go so effortlessly (and that's going to be really important in the post season). Stevens and LeVert were frigging matadors out there. Honestly, the couple of positions Garland got switched onto Haliburton, it seemed like he did a better job.

ijs, Okoro gets cooked by Trae and Harden. I'm not saying Hali plays like those 2 or that those 2 even play alike.

More so just pointing out, that anytime the Cavs have counted on Okoro to slowdown a prolific guard, he has failed in that task.

[jbk1234]

Idk how much better Okoro would be, in that situation, the guy has never been able to clamp anyone since he came in the league.

It's not about clamping down on players as good as Haliburton. It's about providing some resistance and not letting them get to where they want to go so effortlessly (and that's going to be really important in the post season). Stevens and LeVert were frigging matadors out there. Honestly, the couple of positions Garland got switched onto Haliburton, it seemed like he did a better job.

ijs, Okoro gets cooked by Trae and Harden. I'm not saying Hali plays like those 2 or that those 2 even play alike.

More so just pointing out, that anytime the Cavs have counted on Okoro to slowdown a prolific guard, he has failed in that task.

This simply isn't true. The Hawks made a point to switch Trae onto Lauri last year in the 1-3 PNR when Okoro was on him. With Harden, it's entirely dependent upon how the game is being officiated, and in the post season, the whistle tighten up.

[JujitsuFlip]

It's not about clamping down on players as good as Haliburton. It's about providing some resistance and not letting them get to where they want to go so effortlessly (and that's going to be really important in the post season). Stevens and LeVert were frigging matadors out there. Honestly, the couple of positions Garland got switched onto Haliburton, it seemed like he did a better job.

ijs, Okoro gets cooked by Trae and Harden. I'm not saying Hali plays like those 2 or that those 2 even play alike.

More so just pointing out, that anytime the Cavs have counted on Okoro to slowdown a prolific guard, he has failed in that task.

This simply isn't true. The Hawks made a point to switch Trae onto Lauri last year in the 1-3 PNR when Okoro was on him. With Harden, it's entirely dependent upon how the game is being officiated, and in the post season, the whistle tighten up.

Trae has cooked Okoro his entire career, it is an absolute horrible matchup for him. The Cavs collective fan base holds their breath when Okoro gets hung up on screens and Trae splashes or when Trae breaks Okoro down and dribbles past him like a traffic cone.

When the only thing a player contributes to a team is defense and he can't even do that, leaves a lot to be desired.