GT: Cavs @ Nets Jan 4, 7:30PM

[exculpatory]

I'm so confused, apart from the first 8-10 minutes of the 3rd quarter we were the better team throughout this game, yes they are worse but so what? At the end of the day we beat them. We lose, people complain, we win people complain. There's no pleasing some of you guys is there?

You guys are bitching about Kidd's coaching in the 3rd and it's a fair point another is the fact that he decided to close the game with Reggie instead of Blatche but I digress.

Anyway back to the game, you look at the first half and we just dominated them, we were getting easy looks througout and in fact there was a point where 10 points in a row came from easy lay ups and dunks because of the ball movement, you look at every single one of JJ's FG attempts, I'd say 6 of the 7 were all good/great looks that really he should've buried, heck even at the start of the 3rd when all of our players were cold, they were getting good open looks, with Mirza being guilty of missing a couple of open 3s, our offense was really good at finding the open man which is what they were supposed to do against any team good or bad, they just couldn't hit their shots.

Our D could've been quicker to rotate on 3-point attempts but not everything can be perfect, but apart from that the D played well today, yes they're without Irving and yes Cleveland are a pretty bad offensive team, but again apart from the 3rd they didn't really cause any problems, our D handled them pretty well which is a good thing since that's what they are supposed to do against bad teams.

People say no positives can be taken from tonight, but IMO DWill's play today was very good, as was Pierce. We were in control of this game despite the 3rd quarter mishaps and that was pretty evident in the 4th after we retook the lead.

Fair analysis.

DWill was indeed very good & Paul created almost every easy hoop at the rim in Q2 (aside from scoring well).

Nonetheless, I will remain "skeptically hopeful" until I see the team perform VS the Hawks, Warriors, Heatles, & Raptors this week.

[kerry kittles]

The two biggest problems in this game were, and of the season as well,:
1. Kidd
2. Three point defense

1. Part of the 3rd quarter struggles can definitely be pinned on DWill. He should've looked to drive, get to line and score from the charity stripe instead of deferring to Pierce at every opportunity.
But Kidd called just one timeout that entire third quarter. He just sat there and watched this team blow a 13 point loss and took it. The team couldn't score at all, there were a number of dump passes to Reggie who just fumbled it out of bounds, blew the layup, etc. Plays that Blatche would've easily converted. I don't know why the team was looking for him like he was an offensive threat.
But, I digress he waited until 3:30 left in the 3rd to sub out Evans for Blatche. The team scored more in the final three and half minutes of the quarter than it did the rest of the quarter. Coincidence? I believe not. He also waited until 5:30 left to sub in AK for a struggling Johnson and Anderson for Livingston. Mirza didn't come in until 1:30 left.


2. There needs to be a greater commitment to defending the 3. We're the worst team in the league defending the three and this isn't emphasized enough. So many players caught staring at the ball, losing sight of their man, over rotating and just poor awareness and collectively low basketball IQ.
I said during half that the biggest issue I had in an overall great half was three point defense. Cavs were 6/11 from 3 in the first half. And stopping the 3 was not one of points emphasized during half, rebounding was, an area where were doing a fairly good job.
The Cavs came out in the 3rd and made 4/6 from deep. This coupled with the lack of offense was the reason the Cavs got back in the game. Letting a team get open looks from 3 is the easiest way to let that team back in the game.
Guess what the Nets stepped up their D in the 4th and the Cavs went 0/5 from 3. Need to consistently play better three point defense.

The Nets have the talent to at least split these next four games. Can't let a guy like Korver get open looks from three. The Warriors are going to light us up if this is not emphasized further.

[Paradise]

I still can't believe Evans got put in for blatche at the end of the game. And no plumlee tonight? Sad.

Hopefully AK can get to the point of giving us 20+ mpg.

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And that's why I'm not excited about how we won. Mirza and Mason played very good the last few games and they barely get playing time over Reggie who blew atleast 5 open layups. Jason Terry comes in makes his first shot and barely gets any PT when we went through a drought in the 3rd.

Kidd's rotations are so sickening and inept It's unbearable. The only way to possibly escape his idiocy is a healthy roster which isn't guaranteed.

[therealbig3]

We're going to get crushed by the Warriors. But I think we can beat the Hawks, Heat, and Raptors. KG, Pierce, and Deron have all stepped up and played a lot better lately.

[BK nets BK]

We can beat the heat guys

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[Prokorov]

I'm so confused, apart from the first 8-10 minutes of the 3rd quarter we were the better team throughout this game, yes they are worse but so what? At the end of the day we beat them. We lose, people complain, we win people complain. There's no pleasing some of you guys is there?

you are missing the point....

We complain when the team plays poorly. regardless of a win or a loss, because if you continue doing so you are going to lose more often then not. we play poorly against cleveland, a team we should have run out of the building in blowout fashion.

Whats worse, is we keep doing the same things poorly. 3rd quarters are STILL an issue.

being better then a bad, struggling cavs team sans kyrie irving is nothing to be proud of.

[treiz]

I'm not missing the point, I understand frustration but during that game what you guys were complaining about was mostly utterly ridiculous. The thing is, we wasn't struggling we were in control for 3 of the 4 quarters and were really good, we were consistently getting getting open shots throughout. The shots just wasn't falling and like I said out of JJ's 7 attempts, 6 of them were with him having a good/great look and even had time to set his feet, the shots just didn't fall, even Mirza despite converting 3-6 from 3 should've really converted all of them that's how good his shots were and how well worked they were.

It wasn't because we were playing poorly, we limited them to around 35% FG% on the defensive end, we made it really difficult for them to get their shots off and the only way they could score was by mostly 3 point attempts, which I already addressed as something that needs to be worked on and I think we all knew that this was going to be a problem throughout the year, mainly due to our lack of athleticism. Again this is a bad Cleveland team without Irving so it should be expected, and to say the team didn't deliver in that regard is just grasping

I'm not saying we played the perfect game, but we were better throughout and we played well enough to beat this Cleveland team (no matter how bad they are) to at least give the players (and maybe Kidd, apart from a few of his decisions mainly his rotations) enough credit, they played without really breaking much of a sweat, after retaking the lead that we lost in the 3rd I don't think anybody here can honestly say that we were going to lose that game, we were so in control. The only few blemishes I can think of from this game was the 3rd quarter (even then we were still getting good shots off, again just not falling), 3 point D, and Reggie finishing the game.

[Prokorov]

The two biggest problems in this game were, and of the season as well,:
1. Kidd
2. Three point defense

1. Part of the 3rd quarter struggles can definitely be pinned on DWill. He should've looked to drive, get to line and score from the charity stripe instead of deferring to Pierce at every opportunity.
But Kidd called just one timeout that entire third quarter. He just sat there and watched this team blow a 13 point loss and took it. The team couldn't score at all, there were a number of dump passes to Reggie who just fumbled it out of bounds, blew the layup, etc. Plays that Blatche would've easily converted. I don't know why the team was looking for him like he was an offensive threat.
But, I digress he waited until 3:30 left in the 3rd to sub out Evans for Blatche. The team scored more in the final three and half minutes of the quarter than it did the rest of the quarter. Coincidence? I believe not. He also waited until 5:30 left to sub in AK for a struggling Johnson and Anderson for Livingston. Mirza didn't come in until 1:30 left.


2. There needs to be a greater commitment to defending the 3. We're the worst team in the league defending the three and this isn't emphasized enough. So many players caught staring at the ball, losing sight of their man, over rotating and just poor awareness and collectively low basketball IQ.
I said during half that the biggest issue I had in an overall great half was three point defense. Cavs were 6/11 from 3 in the first half. And stopping the 3 was not one of points emphasized during half, rebounding was, an area where were doing a fairly good job.
The Cavs came out in the 3rd and made 4/6 from deep. This coupled with the lack of offense was the reason the Cavs got back in the game. Letting a team get open looks from 3 is the easiest way to let that team back in the game.
Guess what the Nets stepped up their D in the 4th and the Cavs went 0/5 from 3. Need to consistently play better three point defense.

The Nets have the talent to at least split these next four games. Can't let a guy like Korver get open looks from three. The Warriors are going to light us up if this is not emphasized further.

the 3 point defense is going to be one we struggle with all year. most of the open looks come because opposing point gaurds have little resistance getting penetration, and on screen and rolls our gaurds can never fight through screens and always trail heavily which causes break downs.

Williams is the biggest culprit. its a bit better now with KG at the 5 instead of lopez since he plays it much better, but overall, whena teams gaurd can breka you down with 15+ seconds on the shot clock there are going to be open looks

[Prokorov]

I'm not missing the point, I understand frustration but during that game what you guys were complaining about was mostly utterly ridiculous. The thing is, we wasn't struggling we were in control for 3 of the 4 quarters and were really good, we were consistently getting getting open shots throughout. The shots just wasn't falling and like I said out of JJ's 7 attempts, 6 of them were with him having a good/great look and even had time to set his feet, the shots just didn't fall, even Mirza despite converting 3-6 from 3 should've really converted all of them that's how good his shots were and how well worked they were.

you are missing the point. you said we complain during wins and complain during losses. i pointed out we simply complain when the team plays poorly. the cavs game we played poorly, and against most teams would have lost - or possibly even been blown out.

Being in control for 3 quarters means jack. Good teams play 48 minutes. we dont come near that. it only takes 1 quarter of awful play to blow a game. weve seen that over and over.

I dont care if we were "missing open looks". when you play a bad team without its best player you should blow them out even if your shots are off. also, asking anyone to "convert all their open shots" is just silly.

It wasn't because we were playing poorly, we limited them to around 35% FG% on the defensive end, we made it really difficult for them to get their shots off and the only way they could score was by mostly 3 point attempts, which I already addressed as something that needs to be worked on.

this isnt a minor issue. its a major issue. and the fact that it continues is extremely worrysome and deserves tons of criticism.

I'm not saying we played the perfect game, but we were better throughout and we played well enough to beat this Cleveland team (no matter how bad they are) to at least give the players (and maybe Kidd, apart from a few of his decisions mainly his rotations) enough credit, they played without really breaking much of a sweat, after retaking the lead that we lost in the 3rd I don't think anybody here can honestly say that we were going to lose that game, we were so in control. The only few blemishes I can think of from this game was the 3rd quarter (even then we were still getting good shots off, again just not falling), 3 point D, and Reggie finishing the game.

again, being better then a cleveland team without kyrie doesnt mean much. and im not giving players any credit for a horrible lack luster effort and for playign 36 minutes instead of 48 (again).

we play like we did vs. the cavs against atlanta and we will lose by 20

[Prokorov]

We're going to get crushed by the Warriors. But I think we can beat the Hawks, Heat, and Raptors. KG, Pierce, and Deron have all stepped up and played a lot better lately.

we have no shot against the warriors, heat, and hawks. we could beat toronto but i really doubt it.

that trio has been awful defensively, especially the past few games. williams defense has been pathetically bad.

[treiz]

you are missing the point. you said we complain during wins and complain during losses. i pointed out we simply complain when the team plays poorly. the cavs game we played poorly, and against most teams would have lost - or possibly even been blown out.

Being in control for 3 quarters means jack. Good teams play 48 minutes. we dont come near that. it only takes 1 quarter of awful play to blow a game. weve seen that over and over.

I dont care if we were "missing open looks". when you play a bad team without its best player you should blow them out even if your shots are off. also, asking anyone to "convert all their open shots" is just silly.

this isnt a minor issue. its a major issue. and the fact that it continues is extremely worrysome and deserves tons of criticism.

again, being better then a cleveland team without kyrie doesnt mean much. and im not giving players any credit for a horrible lack luster effort and for playign 36 minutes instead of 48 (again).

we play like we did vs. the cavs against atlanta and we will lose by 20

The problem is we didn't play poorly, we was in control of that game. Even when they took the lead I still felt that we would still win that game. I agree with the 2nd sentence, yes good teams play for 48 minutes, I have no qualms with that but the problem is we aren't a good team and our record shows that. All I said was we performed well on this game, we were in control throughout and heck they were in the lead for like 3 minutes, they had no answer for both our O and D. We were good, yes Cleveland are a crap team and I suppose that means that this shouldn't be credited for that much, but we're not much better and our record proves that.

Again, I agree with losing 1 quarter can lose you a game. Like you said we've seen it with this team time and time again, it is frustrating. But what tends to happen is after we lose the 3rd then the team doesn't recover and hence we lose the game. In this game, after we lost the lead we got it right back and never looked back, that is some form of development for this team, especially considering how this season has gone.

My point was in that, despite missing all these chances we were still outscoring them on a regular basis. Again, I agree, even if they are open to expect every shot to go in is just lunacy. But the team found a gameplan designed to give the players easy opportunities to score, as well as deny the opposing team easy buckets and executed that throughout the whole game really without any problems. At the end of the day the ball has to go in the hoop, but to say we played poorly just because our shots isn't falling despite our team having our way with them is just unfair.

I never said the 3 point D is a minor issue, I did say that it needs addressing and the fact that this has been one of our main weaknesses throughout the season is indeed worrying. We all knew this would be a problem at the start of the year and the fact that the coaching staff hasn't really done anything is worthy of major criticism, you really have to wonder what the hell is Kidd doing.

I'm not saying whether against a good team we would win or lose, in fact it doesn't really matter at this point. Because this team is so damn inconsistent, and quite rightly crap. So to say we would lose against the Hawks based on that performance when throughout the season this team has proven to be bad is a better way of engaging that discussion.

I'm not saying that this is the greatest performance ever by this team, not even close to it. But if you can't see how good this performance was (albeit for 3 quarters, although I would say the 3rd was a tie, we were still having our way with them, we just went cold and Kidd being Kidd didn't call a TO) in comparison to other games considering what has happened throughout this season, this is probably the first time in a long while we can say we were the better team no questions asked. Now I know against the Hawks this team will probably go back to its garbage self if they were to stick to trends but it was fun to watch while it lasted

[therealbig3]

We're going to get crushed by the Warriors. But I think we can beat the Hawks, Heat, and Raptors. KG, Pierce, and Deron have all stepped up and played a lot better lately.

we have no shot against the warriors, heat, and hawks. we could beat toronto but i really doubt it.

that trio has been awful defensively, especially the past few games. williams defense has been pathetically bad.

Good call bro.

[therealbig3]

This coming week will be a real test with Atlanta, Warriors, Heat, & Toronto. I remain hopeful but certainly not overconfident.

Hope is an illusion. God bless you but...that's a 4 game losing streak

Good call bro.