GT #23: Cavs @ Bullets 7 PM (NBCSW/106.7 FM) [12/3/21]

[FAH1223]

YOUR Washington Bullets are 14-8 and coming off a big W against the red hot Minnesota Timerwolves!

Their short homestand concludes Friday night as the Cavaliers (and Ludacris!) come to Capitol One Arena. And speaking of Timberwolves, I just realized two former T-Wolves come off the bench for CLE in Rubio and Love!

The Cavs have won 3 in a row after dropping 5 straight games to the Celtics, Nets, Warriors, and Suns. They are coming off a blowout W over the Miami HEAT.

In the first meeting, Kyle Kuzma and Brad Beal put up some heroics to steal a game in Cleveland. Will the Bullets be able to neutralize the Cavs' huge front court? Or will we see Allen-Mobley dominate?




-------------------------VS-------------------------



Projected Lineups :










Bench:

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Better put a body on Love, he’s been shooting real well. On paper, would seem like a good Deni matchup.

[nate33]

This seems like a bad matchup to me. Our defensive strengths are at the wings with KCP, Deni and Kuzma, and the switchability of our big guards. We aren't so great defending PG's and bigs. Cleveland gets their offense from Garland and their bigs.

Meanwhile, offensively, we are among the worst teams in the league from 3-point range and rely upon Harrell, Gafford and Beal scoring a ton of points in the paint. That's really hard to do against Cleveland's Twin Towers.

To win this, our guys will need to wake up from their 3-point shooting slump and knock 'em down.

[Ruzious]

Cleveland has the kind of big athletic front court that Trez has problems with. Gafford's gonna have to have a helluva game for the Wiz, and we're going to have to make more 3's than they do - big game for Bertans. Home court definitely helps.

[Kanyewest]

Washington somehow pulled out a win last time in Cleveland where they played extremely poorly. The Wizards are 8-2 at home but Cleveland is also 7-4 on the road. I think if Washington can keep it close, they can pull out a win. I haven't been impressed by Cleveland's crunch time lineup from what I've seen in 2 games against Wizards/Lakers. Washington will have to do a good job on Ricky Rubio who seems to be playing with the same confidence that he has in international ball.

[NatP4]

Big game coming from Bertans, and we’re gonna need it.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Cleveland has the kind of big athletic front court that Trez has problems with. Gafford's gonna have to have a helluva game for the Wiz, and we're going to have to make more 3's than they do - big game for Bertans. Home court definitely helps.

We really need a third center. Looking forward to Bryant coming back. Wish we could have afforded to keep Rolo

[Ruzious]

Cleveland has the kind of big athletic front court that Trez has problems with. Gafford's gonna have to have a helluva game for the Wiz, and we're going to have to make more 3's than they do - big game for Bertans. Home court definitely helps.

We really need a third center. Looking forward to Bryant coming back. Wish we could have afforded to keep Rolo

Why would we want to decrease the amount of PT Gafford and Trez get?

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Cleveland has the kind of big athletic front court that Trez has problems with. Gafford's gonna have to have a helluva game for the Wiz, and we're going to have to make more 3's than they do - big game for Bertans. Home court definitely helps.

We really need a third center. Looking forward to Bryant coming back. Wish we could have afforded to keep Rolo

Why would we want to decrease the amount of PT Gafford and Trez get?

Should have clarified. I want a third string, situational type C to play when:

1. One of our top two are injured.
2. One is in foul trouble.
3. Our opponents pack the interior or play a zone and dare us to hit an outside shot (Bryant) or they have a bully ball center who we need a few minutes and a few fouls from our third C (Rolo) to counter with

[Ruzious]

Wiz last report on Bryant was on 9/23 - they said a December return was likely. Since it is December, it'd be nice if they gave us an update.

[nate33]

We really need a third center. Looking forward to Bryant coming back. Wish we could have afforded to keep Rolo

Why would we want to decrease the amount of PT Gafford and Trez get?

Should have clarified. I want a third string, situational type C to play when:

1. One of our top two are injured.
2. One is in foul trouble.
3. Our opponents pack the interior or play a zone and dare us to hit an outside shot (Bryant) or they have a bully ball center who we need a few minutes and a few fouls from our third C (Rolo) to counter with

Yeah, ideally, one of our 2-way players would have been a center and we could have used him to fill as the 3rd string center while Bryant was out. But I'm assuming that they view the 2-way spots as talent development, not emergency depth. If they think Ayayi and Winston are better talents then whatever center was available, I can't blame them for not keeping a center.

It also hurt that Rui was one of the forwards who was out. Rui is probably best-suited among the forwards to play emergency 3rd string center.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Why would we want to decrease the amount of PT Gafford and Trez get?

Should have clarified. I want a third string, situational type C to play when:

1. One of our top two are injured.
2. One is in foul trouble.
3. Our opponents pack the interior or play a zone and dare us to hit an outside shot (Bryant) or they have a bully ball center who we need a few minutes and a few fouls from our third C (Rolo) to counter with

Yeah, ideally, one of our 2-way players would have been a center and we could have used him to fill as the 3rd string center while Bryant was out. But I'm assuming that they view the 2-way spots as talent development, not emergency depth. If they think Ayayi and Winston are better talents then whatever center was available, I can't blame them for not keeping a center.

It also hurt that Rui was one of the forwards who was out. Rui is probably best-suited among the forwards to play emergency 3rd string center.

Good points. Although I’m a UVA fan, I’m not sold on Huff. But I think he’d have been a better two way guy than Ayayi. As much upside, fits a need and could become a rarer commodity - a three point shooting big who can provide some rim protection. He was an incredible post defender in college.

Also, re Winston. I just don’t see anything there that is worth wasting a developmental spot on.

[nate33]

Also, re Winston. I just don’t see anything there that is worth wasting a developmental spot on.

I can't disagree there. Winston does not look like an NBA player to me. He looks like a good guy to run a G-League team in an effort to develop other guys.

I can see the justification of Ayayi over Huff though. Our depth problem at center is temporary. We really do have 3 guys that can start at center, plus Rui who can fill in in a pinch. Our depth at SG isn't so great. Beal and Dinwiddie are the only guys on the roster with SG size and who can actually do anything off the bounce. If one of those guys gets hurt, our SG depth looks pretty anemic. Kispert and KCP could fill in, but they can't really dribble, which would probably mean a lot of Neto at SG. Keeping a SG on the 2-way roster makes some sense to me.

[FAH1223]

Wiz last report on Bryant was on 9/23 - they said a December return was likely. Since it is December, it'd be nice if they gave us an update.

Tommy says Christmas or thereabouts. He expects both Rui and TB to be ready by New Years

Watch on YouTube

[J-Ves]

I can’t imagine this team is as bad from three as the numbers suggest. This would be a great game to break out their slump

[ducler]

Read on Twitter

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Dumb foul by Dinwiddie. What was he expecting to even do there?

[tontoz]

Nice to see them pushing the ball after stops. We are currently 27th in fast break points.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Three touch fouls for Allen and-1s.

[Zonkerbl]

Woof this defense is atrocious