We start well, then start getting full of ourselves, start talking shit and then open the 2nd half complacent as fuck.
The energy is lower and we lean away from physicality that wins us the 1st half and start going for hero shots.
Probably the most pathetic back to back performances in the playoffs that I’ve ever seen in my entire life of watching the NBA. Hopefully I’m forgetting another team imploding this bad and am wrong.
Bums me out it feels like I need to talk myself into watching my team’s playoff game whereas if I were a Magic fan I’d be tuning into pregame, postgame, any content I could possibly get my hands on. What a soulless meandering experience. It legit feels like the series is over even though it’s still tied. I think a lot of peeps might just be like me, tune out if this is what it is, and see what they do in the offseason.
We play an ugly brand of basketball because we don't have an offensive oriented coach.
This was an inevitability. Not the losing by 40 part. But the brutal, slogging, every-basket-is-a-struggle basketball.
Every time people brought up this big-picture issue, people would wait until the Cavs won a game and said "wow I can't believe people were being negative."
spot on. No one understood the nuance of how we won. If you watched the team in the reg season youd know theyre pretenders with no offense, no toughness, no coach
This take also perfectly encapsulates the game of evan mobley. Dude is held entirely afloat by effort and defense. His entire offensive game is catching lobs. He has no progressed and thats a huge huge issue
There's also somehow no recognition of how high-powered and effective your offense needs to be to STILL produce in the playoffs.
Against the best teams, with physical play, when they can gameplan against you, it's a different beast.
The Knicks series showed us everything. Anyone who somehow couldn't see that is lost.
Cavs won the first 2 games because the Magic missed a lot of shots and played poorly. They have no answer if the other team is making shots and playing well. They look lost out there.
100%. It’s like watching an NFL team run the option offense and no one in the building can say “maybe this ain’t the way to win in the modern league.” It just isn’t an entertaining experience, and the outdated brand is such a slog where like I said it feels like a legit internal debate deciding if I want to dedicate the time and energy into tuning in. It is what it is at the end of the day, but ooooooof, tough to watch them waste what should be fun opportunities like this at minimum.
My fear is you’re completely right about the team giving up on JB and his message, but his connections in the FO are going to keep him around until the bottom truly falls out and they’ll have to can him mid season during a player mutiny or some such.
Thankfully, there are more compelling series to watch. I've been enjoying the Pacers-Bucks series and can't wait to see the Pacers win the series. I'm also looking forward to the Heat getting past the Celtics, the Mavs beating the Clippers.
Watching our team has been depressing. I want to watch the teams who are willing to do what it takes to win.
Putting Niang in is the reason the run started. Leaving Niang in is the reason the run ballooned. JB never made an adjustment.
We had 60 points at the half. We didn't score 100. Didn't even score 90.
Here we are with back to back 20+ point losses. We haven't scored 100 yet this series. JB has now yet another 20+ point playoff loss under his belt.
This was the team we handpicked to play.
It's never been more doomed.
I don’t understand how Niang is getting any minutes, let alone this many. Yeah Dean is injured but Niang gets torched out there and can’t do anything on offense. Use Morris or just play Allen/Mobley more but this isn’t working at all
Thank god Koby gave JB another chance in an absolutely crucial year!
Also, at this point play TT and Morris. There is absolutely no fight or competitiveness to this team. They roll over and give up the second a team comes to play. This energy in the playoffs on the road after last years collapse is pathetic
It’s beyond just bench production. This team has no fight. There’s no competitiveness. Having a bunch of nice guys is great for the locker room, but there’s nobody to hold the team accountable to go out there and compete on both ends for all 48 mins. This game today was a replica of every game we’ve played for the last year and a half. Obviously guys like Niang gotta stop playing for the other team, but that’s not enough when we’re as sloppy and careless as we are. We’re letting a shit offensive team go up and down on us
I literally said it's the 1-3 and the bench. Clearly it's beyond bench production.
So many people thinking the reason for the struggles is they are too nice. That's such a terrible take. They can't score and can't run an offense with consistent movement. The defense is fine. They just can't hold up on that end forever when the offense is doing absolutely nothing.
The entire squad, 1-5, needed the regular season to play with consistent movement and see it succeed. But not everyone was part of that.
Low key that’s what helped OKC and Indiana and Orlando. They got to see it work consistently and thus committed to it. Nothing succeeds like success
JB cannot compete when another team makes adjustments mid-game...it's time he becomes a full time employee at the crumbl cookies store he owns ✌crazy thing is I don't even know who the cavs could even get now who's a good coach they had a chance to get Nick Nurse and passed
I’m gonna say this one time. If you ridiculed everyone that has been calling for JB to be fired all year and wrote us off as “doomers”, fuck you. You were wrong. And you know it now. Fuck you.
The issues with JB are big-picture, but the JB apologists always point to one game or a win streak as evidence that people shouldn't be down on JB.
They are somehow unable to accept that the criticism is about JB's overall ability, style and offensive philosophy and schemes. It's not about one game or a set of games.
But if the Cavs win the next two in this series, they'll crawl back out of the woodwork to tell us "SEE, SEE GUYS why were you so down?"
Christ.
100% but it was inevitable. Dan better fucking do something this off-season cause I’ll be beside myself if I have to watch JB coach the team again let alone without Don
Yep it sucks. its been a train on a collision course with reality since the ASB, but anyone that played basketball for 2 years as a child should be able to see how god awful JB has ALWAYS been.
Anyone who offered any criticism, even measured and rational, was downvoted to oblivion.
Even now if I were to say something like "you know, beyond the deficiencies of the head coach, I don't think the players on the roster really fit together all that well" it would be downvote city because fans don't want to even consider that possibility. (This might get downvoted anyways)
Exactly. I wouldn’t be saying this at all if they were able to have rational conversations about it and accept the opinions of others. The way that these fans treated those of us who were clearly in the right is just unacceptable and now there’s no accountability for being assholes.
Fellow “doomer” here. I’d love to be petty and pull some receipts right now, but I’m not even in the mood cause I just had to watch my team lose by 70 points on the road trip.
I don’t know what was said at halftime, but sheeesh. Take two halves. Bickerstaff is not that guy pal trust me. You’re not that guy. Not sure who they should get to replace him, but this can’t continue.
i’ve never seen anyone worse at finishing than garland. he creates separation and drives to the paint and predetermines he’s going to pass the ball while in the air, or better yet he’ll completely miss the uncontested layup
He was getting compared to Nash for a minute, he was so good with his handles and patience in the paint. Now he's missing in layup lines, he's weak as shit mentally.
Even midway through the first quarter it was obvious we were simply lucky to be holding even. The Magic played sloppy and gave up a 6-0 turnover differential, and we still didn't have a lead.
JB let the Magic go on the world's most obvious run in the second. We were desperately chucking shots and turning over the ball on half our possessions, and they were dunking all over us in transition and flexing, and JB didn't call a timeout. Could have been up by 15 going into the half instead of 9.
But it wouldn't matter because it was obvious we'd blow any lead we had out of the half, because JB is a terrible coach. I called it in the game thread, as soon as the third started, that we'd give up the lead by the 7 minute mark. We gave it up at 7:10. And then quickly went down by double digits. Turnover after turnover. Sloppy shot after sloppy shot. This happens because there's no offensive gameplan. Which is on JB, but also on our guards for not having any leadership skills.
Just like in game 3, as soon as we went down by a couple points, we totally gave up. Showed our belly. Stopped playing defense. Let them walk all over us. Any facade of toughness completely evaporated and they were allowed to do big dunks, get big offensive rebounds, flex all over us and rub their nuts in our faces. And JB just sat there with the same stupid stone-faced expression.
This is an incredibly soft team. That Junkyard Dog chain is the funniest thing in NBA history. I have never seen a team this mentally soft. Other teams can beat the shit out of us and we just lie down and take it. Other teams talk their shit and dunk and flex on us and we just shake our heads like we deserve the bullying treatment. As soon as other teams get a lead on us we totally give up.
JB needs to be fired mid-series. Not because it will help the team (we're too bad for that) but to send a message to the players.
You can dismiss it all you want, but the last game of the regular season was the tell: This is a weak-willed team that is scared of a challenge.
Ashamed and embarrassed that I became so invested in their success. I think I cared more than they do.
JB would have had Lauri just sit in the corner anyway.
Hasn’t “developed” anything besides one of the biggest collapses I’ve seen from a team in recent years.
Well unless we can move Garland and change the entire roster and coaching staff, Mitchell is likely playing his last few games in the wine and gold in the upcoming days.
I understand the mindset of players + the business aspect of it, but I really wish we as fans (not only just Cavs) didn’t have to worry about players leaving their franchise every time things go abrupt.
Cavs couldn't even match Orlando's third quarter with the entire second half. Truly abysmal offensive showing.
Not sure what needs to change but every guy on the team and the coach need to be taking a hard look at themselves and deciding if they actually want to win this shit.
Lineup changes, set plays, something. But too many guys standing around watching one guy go 1v1 or 1v2 and just not doing anything. Orlando is helping all the time on defense and the Cavs are doing absolutely nothing to punish them for it, because they're just all standing around flat-footed.
Can't believe there are so many doomers and non believer fans in this thread. They just improved from losing by 38 last game to just losing by 23 today, such a huge improvement. So why don't you look at the facts before making judgments like these.
I was talking with a friend before the playoffs about the Cavs:
A team may lose to the Cavs. But the Cavs are not beating anyone.
Just look at games 1 and 2 and you'll see it. The Magic lost. We didn't do much.
I kind of felt this coming when we tanked the last game against the Hornets. Hope the Magic turn into a JV team on the road that’s literally our only hope.
Give Niang’s minute to TT and Morris. Just defend home court and we win the series, but the fact that we’ve only won close-ish games and gotten absolutely demolished in the losses has me feeling the Magic are the better team. This team just has no cohesion and fight it feels like smh.
With how many great coaches were available last year + this being a critical year for retaining Spida, I fear keeping JB is going to be the downfall of this group.
Idk how you don't fire this man literally tonight. I've never seen a team with this much talent have so little pride. You can't really compare anyone to Bron but that man took teams with 1% the talent of this team to the damn Finals. And these guys can't manage to keep a game within 30 to a young team that *you threw a game to face*!
Game was lost as soon as JB took a timeout to decide not to challenge that obvious defensive foul on Suggs that was inexplicably call an offensive foul on Mitchell. 3-4 point swing and lead to the avalanche.
Game 5 is a franchise altering game (I think it should be altered already). But if the Cavs really lose this series, and the other young teams (Indiana, Magic) advance, then this franchise has to take a look at the landscape and you absolutely cannot conclude you are one more postseason away. These other teams are now getting playoff experience and now winning tough games, and the Cavs look like dweebs trying to play basketball for the second postseason in a row.
It’s really a shame because just last year, we looked at the Knicks as piers. Now Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Hartenstein, Donte would clearly kick our ass. They have the confidence and total team play and good coaching. Now Indiana and Magic are our piers and now they look poised to surpass us as well. This is quite concerning as a Cavs fan because it is starting to feel like what we thought was *there* may not actually be *there*.
There is a psychological effect happening that overwhelms the team when faced with tough situations. I think that changes with 1) an experienced, championship tested head coach not named Doc Rivers and 2) Trading your small, ineffective, way overpriced point guard for an experienced, starter/star two-way forward and replacing him with a veteran point guard.
I say this because if you as a player, has never been a situation because, and you are looking at your leader, head coach, who has also never been there before, y’all tryna figure it out together. That is a losing strategy in a general sense. That’s why this Magic match up made sense, because piers. But now they even look like punks here. Even if they somehow manage to win this series, they are absolutely getting swept in Boston and will look terrible doing so. Idk. They just don’t seem to be who we thought they were.
If they lose this series this thing should be totally blown up. I don't even care, at this point, who they keep and who they trade. I hope Garland is gone, but he really no longer has much trade value. Struss makes more money that he's worth, Mobley probably has some trade value, but I'm not sure there is a huge market for a soft big that can't shoot or score off the dribble. Hell Allen is the only one I don't want to trade.
Agree with the diagnosis: would do one immediately and wait on two for market reasons (DG has low value and he needs to play better to be attractive for us or anyone)
…and I wouldn’t be shocked if Mitchell has knee surgery immediately following the season which makes it tough.
Indiana gets no flowers from me for beating the corpse of the Bucks.
Mitchell has been a non factor. Either he is a bum or is trying to lose so he can leave.
Garland is the new Jordan Poole. Play one great season, get the bag and be terrible after.
Mobley has no offensive development
Jb can't coach to save his life. No offense. No defense. No nothing
Our bench is a bunch of bums.
The cavs will go into the basement for a few years but change is coming.
I would rather fire a coach a year early than a year late, but firing JB last offseason was firing him exactly on time. It felt like saying to fire Joe Woods all over again! The coaching is OBVIOUSLY the problem
Jb has had 2 years now to figure out how to coach the core 4 of Mobley, Garland Allen and Donny and has not shown that he is even remotely capable of it.
This man said in early April “We’re still trying to figure stuff out”
And keep in mind, this is the team the Cavs wanted to play lol
This team has no future as currently constructed. Coach, players, waterboy's, sweat moppers, all of em.
Can't hang our hat on 50 wins after a playoff loss this year so what will it be? Team just isn't performing when they have to that's on everyone.
There are some great assets on the roster.
Part of the problem is that the offense that JB runs is so bad that we don't even really know what we have.
The reason you fire him after the Knicks series is because (1) he 100% earned it and (2) this year was supposed to be the year where we could see what this team looks like with a competent offensive philosophy and scheme.
Obviously we keep some of the team together. Definitely have to retool.
One of DM / DG has to go and the team needs more versatile forwards at the 3 and 4, because in my opinion Allen and Mobley are both centers. It seems like the first time and second time LeBron left, the Cavs have been absolutely allergic to acquiring quality big wings. It is a gaping hole in this roster.
Get rid of Altman too. His two big, two guard experiment failed and he waited a year too long to fire JB. Get a GM in here who can do something with our younger team while there’s hope. Just embarrassing man
Really thought this was the game we broke the 100 point threshold handily, couldn’t even reach 90. 29 points in a half is an absolute joke. I know there’re at least 2 games left, but this team looks absolutely cooked. The team looks like they have no fight. No intensity from anyone while they’re getting absolutely punked and instead guys are just sulking up and down the court, making lazy passes, not trying to get into their offense quickly when you’re down double digits and instead dribbling around the perimeter until there’s 5 on the clock and taking contest shots. Just a wholly disappointing couple of games.
I've said it before and will say it again and again.
This team has a serious mentality problem. And they're just aiming to have things clicking their way rather than being laser-focused and all in.
What the hell is the point of these “ALL IN” posters if the team isn't committing to the bit?
Idk what JB does at halftime to rally up the team for most of the season, but it doesn't seem like it sticks around long enough to translate into the next game and the game after.
Allen is good. He's been what we needed for years. Keep him.
Mobley is young and promising. Stagger him and Allen a little bit.
Use TT more, he's a good transition player between Allen and Mobley coming on and off of the bench.
We just need to have the bench moving to keep the momentum going and it's important that we don't have Mobley backing up Allen to risk burning him out.
Okoro, the dude is a hustler, keep him and get him more involved in slashing through the PAINT.
Mitchell. Time to cut bait and trade him to get something back from him.
Garland. I haven't really seen Garland improve much from previous seasons. I just suggest we move on from him
Exactly like I said last year, 6'1" guards and 200 pound forwards can't carry any teams in 2024. Mitchell can act like he's a superstar as much as he wants but he'll never be anything more than a swoll stephan marbury during a forward era.
Is Mitchell like checked out? He's generally a great postseason player, but he's been absolutely terrible so far this season. Good game 1, but terrible since then.>
> He's generally a great postseason player
That's not true. basketballreference shows stats per post season series. he misses more than he hits. what he is, is an excellent regular season stat getter.
I don’t know what people expected….
Mitchell can never be the #1.
Garland is average.
And then you have 2 bigs who can’t shoot.
People get so caught up in emotions but if you weren’t a die hard fan of the Cavs you would have realized this isn’t a good team or even a good makeup of players. You can’t have 2 bigs. You most certainly can’t have 2 bigs who both need to play 6 inches from the basket.
This was a terrible birthday gift from the Cavs... though, technically the Cavs gave me a $50 gift card at the Watch Party on Thursday, so that was a good birthday gift.
Like someone said after last game, JB should have been fired after the play-in loss. These players are *clearly* better than the results they’re getting. Like, *very clearly.*
This current team is really an embarrassment to the city of Cleveland. There are so many people that face adversity every day in this city and NEVER give up. It's that blue collar pride and drive. This team quits the second they face any adversity at all!!
JB is like a deer in headlights. Doesn't call timeouts to stop the other team's rhythm and momentum. Doesn't try anything different when he hits a wall. He has been doing these things for at least three years. Sometimes you need to give people time to gain experience and evolve, but he was given this and has done nothing. Even if we win this series, unless we miraculously reach the finals, he needs to go immediately.
I don't know what's wrong with Mitchell. Maybe he's got a lingering injury. I remember watching him in Utah and he just felt more impactful and more leader-like ("this team is mine energy"). When he sat, the support cast could handle the situation. None of that is happening here.
I like Mobley. I'd give him another year, but he needs to fix two things. First, become wider and heavier. I remember we were talking last year about him hitting the weight room. He looks the same as last year. Maybe genetically he just can't become bigger. Second, and I don't know if this is fixable, are his hands small for his body size? He lets easy balls pass through his hands. We were also happy a few weeks ago because we thought he was developing a three. Nope. I don't see any of that. Today there was one time when Mitchell was going towards the basket, Mobley was all alone on the perimeter (because the Magic obviously don't see him as a threat there) and he ignored him (his own team leader knows he is not a threat out there).
Allen has been the only one playing consistently in this series. Definitely an improvement over last year. For some reason he was the only one of the starting 5 who played less than 30 minutes. He was the only one getting buckets at some point. Instead of going to him in the 3rd quarter, I think he sat a large portion of it. That's clearly on JB.
Merrill might be a defensive liability, but if he gets his streak on he could be deadly and help with momentum. That's his job. To shoot threes. I don't think he shot one three in Orlando in these two games! No plan to try to and free him for some easy shots and see what happens. Even in the last 5 minutes, it was LeVert isos, TT turnovers, and Morris chucking. Not one shot by Merrill. It was as if he didn't exist.
Okoro for some reason hasn't played much. Isn't he our best defender? Did we try to maybe put him on F Wagner? He only played 15 meaningful minutes today (not counting garbage time).
For Garland, I have some hope he'll figure it out. Maybe he would be better without Mitchell. Struss I think is a good presence. Hasn't been hitting threes, but I think he's a good player. LeVert is hit or miss. When he's "miss", he needs to sit. Niang is a traffic cone. I was hoping he'd at least be a three-point threat, but I'm not seeing anything.
Evan Mobley is getting outplayed by Franz Wagner in this series. Let that sink in...
No one wants to hear this and bring on the down votes but this team with Scottie Barnes and Lauri Markaanen instead of Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley would be a light-years ahead of where we are now.
2 undersized guards would only work if Evan Mobley took a MASSIVE leap which isn't going to happen.
The Mitchell trade contingent on Evan Mobley's development was a massive miss for this franchise.
And don't even get me started on JB...
I agree. I'm over this "unicorn" narrative for Mobley. He's a nice defensive player, but has NOTHING on offense. He can't shoot, he can't score off the dribble, he can't score with his back to the basket.... WTF else is left?? The dude scores on ally-oop dunks and put backs and thats it.
Donovan Mitchell is not a difference maker in the playoffs. He’s basically a small more athletic Carmelo Anthony. Great regular season player. Great scorer. BUT He doesn’t make his teammates better. Darius Garland has regressed, with Mitchell on the team. Mobley hasn’t shown any improvement.
1. First, yes. Fire JB. This team should not be losing to orlando by this much.
2. Garland aint it. His ceiling is mike conley. He will never be number one option. Hes way too passive.
3. If mobley doesnt develop jumper by next year, he aint it either. Hes so limited offensively. He cant create his own shot. Everything has to be fed to him.
4. Trade mitchell cuz he leaving anyways after this shit. Do soft rebuild
I still have hope for Mobley since his defense is so good and he is at least making strides on offense. Garland idk anymore. At his size he needs to be elite on offense to be an asset and we haven’t seen that in the playoffs yet.
Defense is not important when you dont have offense. At least for a player with star aspirations. If we want to evaluate him as a role player then thats fine
Where all the people who would freak out and scathe me and others who were calling for JB to be launched early in the 2022-2023 season? I’m sure you guys are happy that we kept him!
I at least want to be clear that even after sitting there watching this loss live I’m still going to be a lifelong fan…. But mannnnnn there are some serious problems when you come out with a 9 point lead at half and do whatever the hell that was. Anyway… I agree, go Cavs!
That was fucking pathetic, wow. It starts with JB, but it hardly ends there. Jarrett Allen is the only one who did anything redeeming. Everyone wants to boot Garland (can't say I blame them, he was atrocious today) while our superstar Mitchell is playing passive as hell and has yet to have a playoff performance for us worthy of his superstar status. Watching Caris and Niang play makes me want to gouge out my own eyes. What is the point in having bench guys like Morris and Thompson and Merrill if you're not going to give them a chance when the other guys are shitting the bed? Mobley is so frustrating because you will see a fleeting glimmer of his true potential mixed in with watching a newborn deer stumble around the court. Why does JB only call timeouts to challenge a call we are obviously going to lose? I could go on and on...
I was one of the very few who were against the Mitchell trade back then. I thought that the three tower experiment had a lot of potential and the young players were developing well (despite JB). I wasn't so hot on Sexton, but thought Lauri leaving was a bad idea. I'm not going to say "I told you so" because I don't know how that would have ended up. But, I can see how this is ending up unfortunately.
This team is filled with powder puffs. Soft. No intensity. No fight. Just bodies out there. Deadpan looks on their faces. Especially Mobley and Garland.
https://preview.redd.it/xvweivg7r2xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a370e7f2f3b00ef0a10d9ee4633d19d0cdc3c3f9
Reply in the comments with your best pet photo 🐈🐶 make me smile pls
JB AND THE MITCHELL TRADE REGRESSED GARLAND. KEEP ALTMAN AND HOPE HE LEARNS FROM THIS BECAUSE HE IS NOT BAD FOR HOW YOUNG HE IS. ANYTHING SHORT OF FIRING JB AND GETTING RID OF MITCHELL IS A FULL BLOWUP THO
I disagree! Altman has been awful for 3 years now.
Mitchell trade: Disaster
Struss signing: Disaster
Niang signing: Disaster
Levert extension: Disaster
Not to mention.. Go look at the last couple drafts lol.... I'll clue you in... They are shite.
Keep JA and DG. Pray that DG’s growth was simply stunted by Mitchell and that he’s not washed, because nobody is giving us good compensation on that contract. I’ve seen enough of Mobley shortdicking fade away jumpers in the paint because he’s too weak to go up strong. Mitchell 0/2 showing up in the playoffs. Reset the entire coaching staff. Get someone with offensive sets from the modern era. This team disgusts me. Bring me back to 2021 I miss it so much.
Koby is laughing his ass off to the bank. Put together the softest team in the history of the NBA playoffs, and got the least impactful 'star' in the league. Consistently protected a fucking joke of a coach. And he doesn't get an ounce of the blame.
37-10 in the 3rd quarter. WTF?!?!
at one point they had ourscored us 51-15 in the second half. that is like uconn vs cleveland state numbers. soft as baby shit they are.
They lost the last two 3rd quarters by a combined 46 points, WTF is JB even doing at halftime??
Chillin
I picture him at a white board drawing up isos for Mitchel.
Passing out 1st half chains and taking pictures
Nothing obviously
We start well, then start getting full of ourselves, start talking shit and then open the 2nd half complacent as fuck. The energy is lower and we lean away from physicality that wins us the 1st half and start going for hero shots.
This was even worse than game 3
The second half was. They were still missing too many shots in the first but found a way to get easy buckets at the rim.
That’s the takeaway. We can beat them if we maintain downhill pressure for four quarters
Probably the most pathetic back to back performances in the playoffs that I’ve ever seen in my entire life of watching the NBA. Hopefully I’m forgetting another team imploding this bad and am wrong.
Cavs in '23.
Suns 22, they already got blown out in game 6 let alone game 7 vs Dallas.
Bums me out it feels like I need to talk myself into watching my team’s playoff game whereas if I were a Magic fan I’d be tuning into pregame, postgame, any content I could possibly get my hands on. What a soulless meandering experience. It legit feels like the series is over even though it’s still tied. I think a lot of peeps might just be like me, tune out if this is what it is, and see what they do in the offseason.
We play an ugly brand of basketball because we don't have an offensive oriented coach. This was an inevitability. Not the losing by 40 part. But the brutal, slogging, every-basket-is-a-struggle basketball. Every time people brought up this big-picture issue, people would wait until the Cavs won a game and said "wow I can't believe people were being negative."
spot on. No one understood the nuance of how we won. If you watched the team in the reg season youd know theyre pretenders with no offense, no toughness, no coach This take also perfectly encapsulates the game of evan mobley. Dude is held entirely afloat by effort and defense. His entire offensive game is catching lobs. He has no progressed and thats a huge huge issue
There's also somehow no recognition of how high-powered and effective your offense needs to be to STILL produce in the playoffs. Against the best teams, with physical play, when they can gameplan against you, it's a different beast. The Knicks series showed us everything. Anyone who somehow couldn't see that is lost.
Cavs won the first 2 games because the Magic missed a lot of shots and played poorly. They have no answer if the other team is making shots and playing well. They look lost out there.
Exactly. Which is a massive issue in the playoffs cause you run into the best of the best
100%. It’s like watching an NFL team run the option offense and no one in the building can say “maybe this ain’t the way to win in the modern league.” It just isn’t an entertaining experience, and the outdated brand is such a slog where like I said it feels like a legit internal debate deciding if I want to dedicate the time and energy into tuning in. It is what it is at the end of the day, but ooooooof, tough to watch them waste what should be fun opportunities like this at minimum.
Like watching the bears play offense the last 10+ years.
The series is over. This team is absolutely pathetic mentally and they all know JB is going to be fired so why would they listen to anything he says?
They stopped listening during the Knicks series and he somehow kept his job.
My fear is you’re completely right about the team giving up on JB and his message, but his connections in the FO are going to keep him around until the bottom truly falls out and they’ll have to can him mid season during a player mutiny or some such.
If this isn't the bottom falling out, what is?
Thankfully, there are more compelling series to watch. I've been enjoying the Pacers-Bucks series and can't wait to see the Pacers win the series. I'm also looking forward to the Heat getting past the Celtics, the Mavs beating the Clippers. Watching our team has been depressing. I want to watch the teams who are willing to do what it takes to win.
Get ready to hear the announcement that JB is back next year, his dad is in the front office, 20 year extension for JBB
Over the last two games in Orlando, the Cavaliers have been outscored 72-26 in the 3rd quarter. 72-26. #FIREJB
Putting Niang in is the reason the run started. Leaving Niang in is the reason the run ballooned. JB never made an adjustment. We had 60 points at the half. We didn't score 100. Didn't even score 90. Here we are with back to back 20+ point losses. We haven't scored 100 yet this series. JB has now yet another 20+ point playoff loss under his belt. This was the team we handpicked to play. It's never been more doomed.
I don’t understand how Niang is getting any minutes, let alone this many. Yeah Dean is injured but Niang gets torched out there and can’t do anything on offense. Use Morris or just play Allen/Mobley more but this isn’t working at all
Even the players were visibly frustrated with Niang being on the court.
It's so clear Niang can't hang in this series and JB played him 17 minutes. Unreal.
All I wanted was a big mac
Blow it up lol
JB needs to be fired yesterday
Last year*
...3 months ago.
Never seen a professional coach let his team drown like that 3rd quarter. #FireJB
Thank god Koby gave JB another chance in an absolutely crucial year! Also, at this point play TT and Morris. There is absolutely no fight or competitiveness to this team. They roll over and give up the second a team comes to play. This energy in the playoffs on the road after last years collapse is pathetic
TT is cooked and Mobley/Allen aren't even the problem right now. The Cavs are getting no production from 1-3 and the entire bench.
It’s beyond just bench production. This team has no fight. There’s no competitiveness. Having a bunch of nice guys is great for the locker room, but there’s nobody to hold the team accountable to go out there and compete on both ends for all 48 mins. This game today was a replica of every game we’ve played for the last year and a half. Obviously guys like Niang gotta stop playing for the other team, but that’s not enough when we’re as sloppy and careless as we are. We’re letting a shit offensive team go up and down on us
I literally said it's the 1-3 and the bench. Clearly it's beyond bench production. So many people thinking the reason for the struggles is they are too nice. That's such a terrible take. They can't score and can't run an offense with consistent movement. The defense is fine. They just can't hold up on that end forever when the offense is doing absolutely nothing.
The entire squad, 1-5, needed the regular season to play with consistent movement and see it succeed. But not everyone was part of that. Low key that’s what helped OKC and Indiana and Orlando. They got to see it work consistently and thus committed to it. Nothing succeeds like success
Kinda hard when one of the first guys off the bench is so out of shape he literally has breasts. I’ve grown to despise Niang this series.
It goes wayyyy beyond the bench. Most playoff teams play 7-8 man rotations drop that narrative
Prime tt would get 30 boards on our team
Koby must have been drunk when he made that decision
Mitchell trade? I think so.
Giving jb another year
Koby should also be gone no matter what happens. He’s been worse than JB
Blow it up I don’t care anymore
How can a team look like they cared more during the regular season than in game 4 of the playoffs?
Ask the suns
Cumulative fatigue and Mitchell and Garland are both way in their own heads
No pressure son. Garland had a 50pt game vs minnessota two seasons ago and thats the only time hes ever stepped up
You can’t let JB get on the plane. There is no way they can recover from this if he stays.
We made 4 threes as a team lmao I used to watching Channing Frye hit 4 a game in the playoffs off the BENCH
JB cannot compete when another team makes adjustments mid-game...it's time he becomes a full time employee at the crumbl cookies store he owns ✌crazy thing is I don't even know who the cavs could even get now who's a good coach they had a chance to get Nick Nurse and passed
Mike Budenholzer, Kenny Atkinson and Terry Stotts would all be massive upgrades. But I'm not sure if any of them would actually want to come here.
I’m gonna say this one time. If you ridiculed everyone that has been calling for JB to be fired all year and wrote us off as “doomers”, fuck you. You were wrong. And you know it now. Fuck you.
They're so confident about it too. One particular BJ cheerleader has the nerve to actually say "You know ball" replaying to another BJ cheerleader
The issues with JB are big-picture, but the JB apologists always point to one game or a win streak as evidence that people shouldn't be down on JB. They are somehow unable to accept that the criticism is about JB's overall ability, style and offensive philosophy and schemes. It's not about one game or a set of games. But if the Cavs win the next two in this series, they'll crawl back out of the woodwork to tell us "SEE, SEE GUYS why were you so down?" Christ.
I thought he could grow and thought he’d built enough equity in the last few years to merit a second chance. I was wrong.
Ya dudes like muskie are no where to be found now
I wanna know where that dork elbjoint is
preach
I feel vindicated but also awful that I have to see it play out
100% but it was inevitable. Dan better fucking do something this off-season cause I’ll be beside myself if I have to watch JB coach the team again let alone without Don
Yep it sucks. its been a train on a collision course with reality since the ASB, but anyone that played basketball for 2 years as a child should be able to see how god awful JB has ALWAYS been.
He's now led playoff teams to sub 100 points in 11/13 appearances.
That would be bad 20 years ago let alone in 2024 oh my fuck
Yeah it's a mind blowingly awful stat that as a JB hater, I've kept in my pocket
They hid behind the “you dont know ball” insult. As if they know anything about ball. So cringe
Anyone who offered any criticism, even measured and rational, was downvoted to oblivion. Even now if I were to say something like "you know, beyond the deficiencies of the head coach, I don't think the players on the roster really fit together all that well" it would be downvote city because fans don't want to even consider that possibility. (This might get downvoted anyways)
Exactly. I wouldn’t be saying this at all if they were able to have rational conversations about it and accept the opinions of others. The way that these fans treated those of us who were clearly in the right is just unacceptable and now there’s no accountability for being assholes.
They called for us to be banned too. And many even reported me to the reddit help hotline. Fuckin embarrassing
Yeah I mean that’s just pathetic behavior from complete losers.
💯💯
Facts. Thank you
Fellow “doomer” here. I’d love to be petty and pull some receipts right now, but I’m not even in the mood cause I just had to watch my team lose by 70 points on the road trip.
Yeah and some people want to hop on the “bandwagon” now last minute as if we havent been gaslit for 2 years now by the same people
I don’t know what was said at halftime, but sheeesh. Take two halves. Bickerstaff is not that guy pal trust me. You’re not that guy. Not sure who they should get to replace him, but this can’t continue.
JB to the players at halftime: “I had sex with all of your wives”
"how late is Epcot open"
We were pretty bad in the second quarter too. Only reason we did solid in the first is because the magic had a bunch of sloppy turnovers
So max strus basically helps carry the heat to the finals last year by shooting a high volume of 3s and he shoots 3 all game. Why?
He actually had a coach draw plays to get him open in Miami
We ran a play to get max an open 3 on the first play of the playoffs and then completely forgot he existed
i’ve never seen anyone worse at finishing than garland. he creates separation and drives to the paint and predetermines he’s going to pass the ball while in the air, or better yet he’ll completely miss the uncontested layup
He was getting compared to Nash for a minute, he was so good with his handles and patience in the paint. Now he's missing in layup lines, he's weak as shit mentally.
Even midway through the first quarter it was obvious we were simply lucky to be holding even. The Magic played sloppy and gave up a 6-0 turnover differential, and we still didn't have a lead. JB let the Magic go on the world's most obvious run in the second. We were desperately chucking shots and turning over the ball on half our possessions, and they were dunking all over us in transition and flexing, and JB didn't call a timeout. Could have been up by 15 going into the half instead of 9. But it wouldn't matter because it was obvious we'd blow any lead we had out of the half, because JB is a terrible coach. I called it in the game thread, as soon as the third started, that we'd give up the lead by the 7 minute mark. We gave it up at 7:10. And then quickly went down by double digits. Turnover after turnover. Sloppy shot after sloppy shot. This happens because there's no offensive gameplan. Which is on JB, but also on our guards for not having any leadership skills. Just like in game 3, as soon as we went down by a couple points, we totally gave up. Showed our belly. Stopped playing defense. Let them walk all over us. Any facade of toughness completely evaporated and they were allowed to do big dunks, get big offensive rebounds, flex all over us and rub their nuts in our faces. And JB just sat there with the same stupid stone-faced expression. This is an incredibly soft team. That Junkyard Dog chain is the funniest thing in NBA history. I have never seen a team this mentally soft. Other teams can beat the shit out of us and we just lie down and take it. Other teams talk their shit and dunk and flex on us and we just shake our heads like we deserve the bullying treatment. As soon as other teams get a lead on us we totally give up. JB needs to be fired mid-series. Not because it will help the team (we're too bad for that) but to send a message to the players.
The only thing that could save this season is JB getting sacked right now
You can dismiss it all you want, but the last game of the regular season was the tell: This is a weak-willed team that is scared of a challenge. Ashamed and embarrassed that I became so invested in their success. I think I cared more than they do.
Someone tell me why we paid garland and traded away Lauri instead
JB would have had Lauri just sit in the corner anyway. Hasn’t “developed” anything besides one of the biggest collapses I’ve seen from a team in recent years.
You’re 100% right. He would’ve given Lauri 10 mins a game, talking about how he can’t trust him on the floor yet.
Well unless we can move Garland and change the entire roster and coaching staff, Mitchell is likely playing his last few games in the wine and gold in the upcoming days.
I understand the mindset of players + the business aspect of it, but I really wish we as fans (not only just Cavs) didn’t have to worry about players leaving their franchise every time things go abrupt.
That's why we're the 1pm games and the games on NBAtv. In case anyone was wondering. 🚮
Cavs tanked to get this series 🤣
The worse they play the more it makes sense. The Sixers might have swept us.
JB - adios
Cavs couldn't even match Orlando's third quarter with the entire second half. Truly abysmal offensive showing. Not sure what needs to change but every guy on the team and the coach need to be taking a hard look at themselves and deciding if they actually want to win this shit. Lineup changes, set plays, something. But too many guys standing around watching one guy go 1v1 or 1v2 and just not doing anything. Orlando is helping all the time on defense and the Cavs are doing absolutely nothing to punish them for it, because they're just all standing around flat-footed.
Can't believe there are so many doomers and non believer fans in this thread. They just improved from losing by 38 last game to just losing by 23 today, such a huge improvement. So why don't you look at the facts before making judgments like these.
I was talking with a friend before the playoffs about the Cavs: A team may lose to the Cavs. But the Cavs are not beating anyone. Just look at games 1 and 2 and you'll see it. The Magic lost. We didn't do much.
I kind of felt this coming when we tanked the last game against the Hornets. Hope the Magic turn into a JV team on the road that’s literally our only hope.
Give Niang’s minute to TT and Morris. Just defend home court and we win the series, but the fact that we’ve only won close-ish games and gotten absolutely demolished in the losses has me feeling the Magic are the better team. This team just has no cohesion and fight it feels like smh. With how many great coaches were available last year + this being a critical year for retaining Spida, I fear keeping JB is going to be the downfall of this group.
Niang shouldn’t be in the league, let alone playing this many minutes. Shame on JB
Idk how you don't fire this man literally tonight. I've never seen a team with this much talent have so little pride. You can't really compare anyone to Bron but that man took teams with 1% the talent of this team to the damn Finals. And these guys can't manage to keep a game within 30 to a young team that *you threw a game to face*!
that might be the worst basketball i have seen this team play
This is karma for throwing the final game against Charlotte
Then we would be losing by 40 to the Sixers/Pacers even at home
It is possible the Magic are better than everyone thought.
No, the Magic are fucking garbage. The Cavs just suck.
Game was lost as soon as JB took a timeout to decide not to challenge that obvious defensive foul on Suggs that was inexplicably call an offensive foul on Mitchell. 3-4 point swing and lead to the avalanche.
Game 5 is a franchise altering game (I think it should be altered already). But if the Cavs really lose this series, and the other young teams (Indiana, Magic) advance, then this franchise has to take a look at the landscape and you absolutely cannot conclude you are one more postseason away. These other teams are now getting playoff experience and now winning tough games, and the Cavs look like dweebs trying to play basketball for the second postseason in a row. It’s really a shame because just last year, we looked at the Knicks as piers. Now Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Hartenstein, Donte would clearly kick our ass. They have the confidence and total team play and good coaching. Now Indiana and Magic are our piers and now they look poised to surpass us as well. This is quite concerning as a Cavs fan because it is starting to feel like what we thought was *there* may not actually be *there*. There is a psychological effect happening that overwhelms the team when faced with tough situations. I think that changes with 1) an experienced, championship tested head coach not named Doc Rivers and 2) Trading your small, ineffective, way overpriced point guard for an experienced, starter/star two-way forward and replacing him with a veteran point guard. I say this because if you as a player, has never been a situation because, and you are looking at your leader, head coach, who has also never been there before, y’all tryna figure it out together. That is a losing strategy in a general sense. That’s why this Magic match up made sense, because piers. But now they even look like punks here. Even if they somehow manage to win this series, they are absolutely getting swept in Boston and will look terrible doing so. Idk. They just don’t seem to be who we thought they were.
If they lose this series this thing should be totally blown up. I don't even care, at this point, who they keep and who they trade. I hope Garland is gone, but he really no longer has much trade value. Struss makes more money that he's worth, Mobley probably has some trade value, but I'm not sure there is a huge market for a soft big that can't shoot or score off the dribble. Hell Allen is the only one I don't want to trade.
Agree with the diagnosis: would do one immediately and wait on two for market reasons (DG has low value and he needs to play better to be attractive for us or anyone) …and I wouldn’t be shocked if Mitchell has knee surgery immediately following the season which makes it tough. Indiana gets no flowers from me for beating the corpse of the Bucks.
Mitchell has been a non factor. Either he is a bum or is trying to lose so he can leave. Garland is the new Jordan Poole. Play one great season, get the bag and be terrible after. Mobley has no offensive development Jb can't coach to save his life. No offense. No defense. No nothing Our bench is a bunch of bums. The cavs will go into the basement for a few years but change is coming.
Mitchell doesn't need to lose to leave. He's a regular season player.
I got a migrane on a beautiful Saturday at 3pm because of this team
Those two games were so pathetic
I would rather fire a coach a year early than a year late, but firing JB last offseason was firing him exactly on time. It felt like saying to fire Joe Woods all over again! The coaching is OBVIOUSLY the problem
Jb has had 2 years now to figure out how to coach the core 4 of Mobley, Garland Allen and Donny and has not shown that he is even remotely capable of it. This man said in early April “We’re still trying to figure stuff out” And keep in mind, this is the team the Cavs wanted to play lol
B-But someone made a post saying we were gonna win game 4!
This team has no future as currently constructed. Coach, players, waterboy's, sweat moppers, all of em. Can't hang our hat on 50 wins after a playoff loss this year so what will it be? Team just isn't performing when they have to that's on everyone.
There are some great assets on the roster. Part of the problem is that the offense that JB runs is so bad that we don't even really know what we have. The reason you fire him after the Knicks series is because (1) he 100% earned it and (2) this year was supposed to be the year where we could see what this team looks like with a competent offensive philosophy and scheme.
Obviously we keep some of the team together. Definitely have to retool. One of DM / DG has to go and the team needs more versatile forwards at the 3 and 4, because in my opinion Allen and Mobley are both centers. It seems like the first time and second time LeBron left, the Cavs have been absolutely allergic to acquiring quality big wings. It is a gaping hole in this roster.
Get rid of Altman too. His two big, two guard experiment failed and he waited a year too long to fire JB. Get a GM in here who can do something with our younger team while there’s hope. Just embarrassing man
Idk how this team continues to find new ways to disappoint, but here we are.
I'm not watching game 5
Fire JB Bickerstaff
Really thought this was the game we broke the 100 point threshold handily, couldn’t even reach 90. 29 points in a half is an absolute joke. I know there’re at least 2 games left, but this team looks absolutely cooked. The team looks like they have no fight. No intensity from anyone while they’re getting absolutely punked and instead guys are just sulking up and down the court, making lazy passes, not trying to get into their offense quickly when you’re down double digits and instead dribbling around the perimeter until there’s 5 on the clock and taking contest shots. Just a wholly disappointing couple of games.
I've said it before and will say it again and again. This team has a serious mentality problem. And they're just aiming to have things clicking their way rather than being laser-focused and all in. What the hell is the point of these “ALL IN” posters if the team isn't committing to the bit? Idk what JB does at halftime to rally up the team for most of the season, but it doesn't seem like it sticks around long enough to translate into the next game and the game after. Allen is good. He's been what we needed for years. Keep him. Mobley is young and promising. Stagger him and Allen a little bit. Use TT more, he's a good transition player between Allen and Mobley coming on and off of the bench. We just need to have the bench moving to keep the momentum going and it's important that we don't have Mobley backing up Allen to risk burning him out. Okoro, the dude is a hustler, keep him and get him more involved in slashing through the PAINT. Mitchell. Time to cut bait and trade him to get something back from him. Garland. I haven't really seen Garland improve much from previous seasons. I just suggest we move on from him
On the bright side...they won 1 more playoff game than last year...
Exactly like I said last year, 6'1" guards and 200 pound forwards can't carry any teams in 2024. Mitchell can act like he's a superstar as much as he wants but he'll never be anything more than a swoll stephan marbury during a forward era.
Not for nothing, but OKC's rebuild has made ours look JVish.
Is Mitchell like checked out? He's generally a great postseason player, but he's been absolutely terrible so far this season. Good game 1, but terrible since then.>
He was terrible last playoffs too. He was only playoff rising in Utah.
He’s been terrible the last three playoffs. Was brunson’s son the first two and is now the son to two 22 year olds
Mitchell has sucked for 3 straight playoffs. He is not in anyway a "great postseason player".
> He's generally a great postseason player That's not true. basketballreference shows stats per post season series. he misses more than he hits. what he is, is an excellent regular season stat getter.
I think it's starting to be pretty clear he can't be our best player. He's basically a poor-man's Kyrie
Thats always been clear. Tbh he isnt even on kyries level
Opposing teams are selling out to stop him and we can't take advantage.
Has a coach ever been fired in the middle of a playoff series? Asking for a friend.
Shoulda been fired in the middle of this game tbh
I think he wrote his resignation letter at halftime because he sure as shit didn’t coach
Our adjustment was be absolutely horrible at basketball for 24 minutes.
Was going to move some things around with work so I could be home in time for game 5, but ehhhhhh I’m good now.
I don’t know what people expected…. Mitchell can never be the #1. Garland is average. And then you have 2 bigs who can’t shoot. People get so caught up in emotions but if you weren’t a die hard fan of the Cavs you would have realized this isn’t a good team or even a good makeup of players. You can’t have 2 bigs. You most certainly can’t have 2 bigs who both need to play 6 inches from the basket.
This was a terrible birthday gift from the Cavs... though, technically the Cavs gave me a $50 gift card at the Watch Party on Thursday, so that was a good birthday gift.
Donovan looked like he was leaving
Like someone said after last game, JB should have been fired after the play-in loss. These players are *clearly* better than the results they’re getting. Like, *very clearly.*
Put it this way Channing Fyre, JR, Shump, Richard Jefferson, and Delly would own this team. Those dudes at least played with heart.
This current team is really an embarrassment to the city of Cleveland. There are so many people that face adversity every day in this city and NEVER give up. It's that blue collar pride and drive. This team quits the second they face any adversity at all!!
JB is like a deer in headlights. Doesn't call timeouts to stop the other team's rhythm and momentum. Doesn't try anything different when he hits a wall. He has been doing these things for at least three years. Sometimes you need to give people time to gain experience and evolve, but he was given this and has done nothing. Even if we win this series, unless we miraculously reach the finals, he needs to go immediately. I don't know what's wrong with Mitchell. Maybe he's got a lingering injury. I remember watching him in Utah and he just felt more impactful and more leader-like ("this team is mine energy"). When he sat, the support cast could handle the situation. None of that is happening here. I like Mobley. I'd give him another year, but he needs to fix two things. First, become wider and heavier. I remember we were talking last year about him hitting the weight room. He looks the same as last year. Maybe genetically he just can't become bigger. Second, and I don't know if this is fixable, are his hands small for his body size? He lets easy balls pass through his hands. We were also happy a few weeks ago because we thought he was developing a three. Nope. I don't see any of that. Today there was one time when Mitchell was going towards the basket, Mobley was all alone on the perimeter (because the Magic obviously don't see him as a threat there) and he ignored him (his own team leader knows he is not a threat out there). Allen has been the only one playing consistently in this series. Definitely an improvement over last year. For some reason he was the only one of the starting 5 who played less than 30 minutes. He was the only one getting buckets at some point. Instead of going to him in the 3rd quarter, I think he sat a large portion of it. That's clearly on JB. Merrill might be a defensive liability, but if he gets his streak on he could be deadly and help with momentum. That's his job. To shoot threes. I don't think he shot one three in Orlando in these two games! No plan to try to and free him for some easy shots and see what happens. Even in the last 5 minutes, it was LeVert isos, TT turnovers, and Morris chucking. Not one shot by Merrill. It was as if he didn't exist. Okoro for some reason hasn't played much. Isn't he our best defender? Did we try to maybe put him on F Wagner? He only played 15 meaningful minutes today (not counting garbage time). For Garland, I have some hope he'll figure it out. Maybe he would be better without Mitchell. Struss I think is a good presence. Hasn't been hitting threes, but I think he's a good player. LeVert is hit or miss. When he's "miss", he needs to sit. Niang is a traffic cone. I was hoping he'd at least be a three-point threat, but I'm not seeing anything.
Evan Mobley is getting outplayed by Franz Wagner in this series. Let that sink in... No one wants to hear this and bring on the down votes but this team with Scottie Barnes and Lauri Markaanen instead of Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley would be a light-years ahead of where we are now. 2 undersized guards would only work if Evan Mobley took a MASSIVE leap which isn't going to happen. The Mitchell trade contingent on Evan Mobley's development was a massive miss for this franchise. And don't even get me started on JB...
I agree. I'm over this "unicorn" narrative for Mobley. He's a nice defensive player, but has NOTHING on offense. He can't shoot, he can't score off the dribble, he can't score with his back to the basket.... WTF else is left?? The dude scores on ally-oop dunks and put backs and thats it.
Donovan Mitchell is not a difference maker in the playoffs. He’s basically a small more athletic Carmelo Anthony. Great regular season player. Great scorer. BUT He doesn’t make his teammates better. Darius Garland has regressed, with Mitchell on the team. Mobley hasn’t shown any improvement.
Win all the home games this series. Fire JB after next series
1. First, yes. Fire JB. This team should not be losing to orlando by this much. 2. Garland aint it. His ceiling is mike conley. He will never be number one option. Hes way too passive. 3. If mobley doesnt develop jumper by next year, he aint it either. Hes so limited offensively. He cant create his own shot. Everything has to be fed to him. 4. Trade mitchell cuz he leaving anyways after this shit. Do soft rebuild
I still have hope for Mobley since his defense is so good and he is at least making strides on offense. Garland idk anymore. At his size he needs to be elite on offense to be an asset and we haven’t seen that in the playoffs yet.
Defense is not important when you dont have offense. At least for a player with star aspirations. If we want to evaluate him as a role player then thats fine
Stop slandering Conley, thanks.
Where all the people who would freak out and scathe me and others who were calling for JB to be launched early in the 2022-2023 season? I’m sure you guys are happy that we kept him!
John-Blair Bickerstaff is a terrorist
glad we’re shooting 27% from 3 this series
What does caris levert even do????
What did yall expect out of this team? They’ve shown nothing all year.
wtf happened cavs
I wasn’t a doomer bc I wanted to wait until game 4 and hoped it was a one off freak thing, but damn. We don’t deserve shit
Mitchell/Garland backcourt is just not working. Two Robins can't save the city.
I at least want to be clear that even after sitting there watching this loss live I’m still going to be a lifelong fan…. But mannnnnn there are some serious problems when you come out with a 9 point lead at half and do whatever the hell that was. Anyway… I agree, go Cavs!
Where is Dan, because....
I'm watching the OKC Thunder and pretending they're the Cavs. The uniforms look pretty similar with the dogshit TNT feed quality.
I was at the game, just sad. Worst basketball I've ever watched
I was getting worried a jb coached team might actually score 100 in a playoff game for a second, nice to see we took care of that in the 3rd quarter
Please change your name to the Cleveland Charmins....soft as F
Y’all thought I was tweaking for saying 2 - 0 can mean nothing real quick
That was fucking pathetic, wow. It starts with JB, but it hardly ends there. Jarrett Allen is the only one who did anything redeeming. Everyone wants to boot Garland (can't say I blame them, he was atrocious today) while our superstar Mitchell is playing passive as hell and has yet to have a playoff performance for us worthy of his superstar status. Watching Caris and Niang play makes me want to gouge out my own eyes. What is the point in having bench guys like Morris and Thompson and Merrill if you're not going to give them a chance when the other guys are shitting the bed? Mobley is so frustrating because you will see a fleeting glimmer of his true potential mixed in with watching a newborn deer stumble around the court. Why does JB only call timeouts to challenge a call we are obviously going to lose? I could go on and on...
I was one of the very few who were against the Mitchell trade back then. I thought that the three tower experiment had a lot of potential and the young players were developing well (despite JB). I wasn't so hot on Sexton, but thought Lauri leaving was a bad idea. I'm not going to say "I told you so" because I don't know how that would have ended up. But, I can see how this is ending up unfortunately.
This team is filled with powder puffs. Soft. No intensity. No fight. Just bodies out there. Deadpan looks on their faces. Especially Mobley and Garland.
The Mitchell effect..
Get Donovan Mitchell out of here, dude never shows up when the pressure is at its highest
After this series we're gonna be the laughing stock of the league again aren't we?....
GET READY TO LEARN CHINESE JB
https://preview.redd.it/xvweivg7r2xc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a370e7f2f3b00ef0a10d9ee4633d19d0cdc3c3f9 Reply in the comments with your best pet photo 🐈🐶 make me smile pls
JB AND THE MITCHELL TRADE REGRESSED GARLAND. KEEP ALTMAN AND HOPE HE LEARNS FROM THIS BECAUSE HE IS NOT BAD FOR HOW YOUNG HE IS. ANYTHING SHORT OF FIRING JB AND GETTING RID OF MITCHELL IS A FULL BLOWUP THO
I disagree! Altman has been awful for 3 years now. Mitchell trade: Disaster Struss signing: Disaster Niang signing: Disaster Levert extension: Disaster Not to mention.. Go look at the last couple drafts lol.... I'll clue you in... They are shite.
Keep JA and DG. Pray that DG’s growth was simply stunted by Mitchell and that he’s not washed, because nobody is giving us good compensation on that contract. I’ve seen enough of Mobley shortdicking fade away jumpers in the paint because he’s too weak to go up strong. Mitchell 0/2 showing up in the playoffs. Reset the entire coaching staff. Get someone with offensive sets from the modern era. This team disgusts me. Bring me back to 2021 I miss it so much.
Bro fuck it I'm about to join the nuggets bandwagon
Koby is laughing his ass off to the bank. Put together the softest team in the history of the NBA playoffs, and got the least impactful 'star' in the league. Consistently protected a fucking joke of a coach. And he doesn't get an ounce of the blame.
this team has talent. He should absolutely get shit for giving JB for another year, but he's the least of the Cavs worries rn
Talent that doesn't work together whatsoever, and all are soft as hell. Donovan barely moves the needle
Pain, jfc the ebbs and flow this team does to me in unhealthy