Game #20: Cleveland Cavaliers 105 - Toronto Raptors 91

[mcHAPPY]

Me too. But we know the refs will be watching the matchup very closely. I'd hate to see JJ neutralized by BS ticky-tack calls.

Sadly that is truth.

Superstar treatment on full display tonight

[Bonus Jonas]

I know the Cavs are a good team in transition, but part of me thinks Casey should play 10 deep and try to run the Cavs into the ground. Either force the Cavs to try and play their big Three 40+minutes on a back to back, or force them to play their crappy bench.

This needs to be the game plan.

[Mediumcore]

So did the box score tell you that?

?. I was simply asking if you could expand on the comment you made about Kyrie taking LeBron out of the game. No disrespect intended. If you were just making a comment without any thought behind it then carry on, but I thought you may have some actual information to provide. Yeesh, this really isn't the best place to actually talk ball anymore is it?

[MACK11]

?. I was simply asking if you could expand on the comment you made about Kyrie taking LeBron out of the game. No disrespect intended. If you were just making a comment without any thought behind it then carry on, but I thought you may have some actual information to provide. Yeesh, this really isn't the best place to actually talk ball anymore is it?

What's your problem? I didn't say anything disrespectful at all.

[Mediumcore]

I don't think Irving understands that by him scoring 37 he's effectively taking LeBron out of the game and helping out the opposition.....

The game plan should be let Irving take 1000 shots, so then LeBron doesn't have he ball as much. Because LeBron when engaged is unstoppable but when he doesn't get touches he's out of sync.

I'm just asking what you meant by this comment Mack11. How does Kyrie, in your opinion, take LeBron out of the game by scoring the ball. I mean they both took basically the same number of shots, but Kyrie was hot, LeBron was cold.

I'm genuinely interested in what you think about it because that is the kind of stuff I'm interested in talking about. The different stategies of how to play tough teams, how to create mismatches, what works for teams what doesn't.

I watched the game yesterday and I didn't see that Lebron was taken out of the game because of anything Kyrie was doing. If anything I thought LeBron was laying back and letting Kyrie heat up. He's a vet and best player in the league so he can get his whenever he wants. He can adapt to play with anyone. If anything it was LeBron taking Kyrie out of the game early this year when LeBron was getting asserting his dominance before letting Kyrie get into the rythm. That's what I saw anyways, so was curious what you were seeing because your comment contradicts what I saw in yesterdays game.

[MACK11]

I'm just asking what you meant by this comment Mack11. How does Kyrie, in your opinion, take LeBron out of the game by scoring the ball. I mean they both took basically the same number of shots, but Kyrie was hot, LeBron was cold.

I'm genuinely interested in what you think about it because that is the kind of stuff I'm interested in talking about. The different stategies of how to play tough teams, how to create mismatches, what works for teams what doesn't.

I watched the game yesterday and I didn't see that Lebron was taken out of the game because of anything Kyrie was doing. If anything I thought LeBron was laying back and letting Kyrie heat up. He's a vet and best player in the league so he can get his whenever he wants. He can adapt to play with anyone. If anything it was LeBron taking Kyrie out of the game early this year when LeBron was getting asserting his dominance before letting Kyrie get into the rythm. That's what I saw anyways, so was curious what you were seeing because your comment contradicts what I saw in yesterdays game.

You're right, I was wrong.

[YoungGunRaptor]

Will JJ start tonight? Or will Ross guard Lebron?

[Uncle_Si]

It's going to be a tough game I think. Kyrie is going to be a handful for Lowry, Matrix is gonna be on Ross or GV and Varejao is gonna frustrate JV with the cheap shots he takes. Bench, especially Lou will have to be huge this game because we got all sorts of mismatches working against us.

If they get out to an early lead watch for Lowry to go into beast mode and start playing hero ball. Hope Cav's are tired after yesterdays game and it doesn't come down to that.

Just looking at their starting 5 yesterday

Irving
James
Marion
Love
Varejao

That's a HUGE line up, and super mobile. Do not like our odds in this one. Casey may want to go small and start Lou since he had a good game last time these teams met.

It's a flawed line up who's only bet is to score you out of the gym with 3 of their star players.

We're going to win this game because we're a better TEAM. LeBron and KLove are the only players I'd prefer over our starters. And I'd take the rest of our starters and entire bench over the rest of Cleveland's starters and their entire bench. Not to mention, despite what some might think, our Coach is better

[Mediumcore]

It's a flawed line up who's only bet is to score you out of the gym with 3 of their star players.

We're going to win this game because we're a better TEAM. LeBron and KLove are the only players I'd prefer over our starters. And I'd take the rest of our starters and entire bench over the rest of Cleveland's starters and their entire bench. Not to mention, despite what some might think, our Coach is better

It's definitely not a traditional line up, but there is a tonne of potential to be really good defensively if you consider how long and athletic it is. I actually think that if DeMar was in he might have trouble scoring on a line up that can throw LBJ or Matrix at you. So there is no confusion I think it's going to be a tough game for use because their line up has the potential to really slow down our scoring. Since we've had such a difficult time defending as of of late and they have 3 All Stars which can all go off for 20+ a game I'm just nervous that we may match up poorly against them

I agree that our bench is way stronger and Coach Casey is really good (don't know enough about Cavs' coach to say who I think is better)

[Uncle_Si]

It's definitely not a traditional line up, but there is a tonne of potential to be really good defensively if you consider how long and athletic it is. I actually think that if DeMar was in he might have trouble scoring on a line up that can throw LBJ or Matrix at you. So there is no confusion I think it's going to be a tough game for use because their line up has the potential to really slow down our scoring. Since we've had such a difficult time defending as of of late and they have 3 All Stars which can all go off for 20+ a game I'm just nervous that we may match up poorly against them

I agree that our bench is way stronger and Coach Casey is really good (don't know enough about Cavs' coach to say who I think is better)

Disagree. No team has ever won a championship without a top 10 defence.

Kyrie is AWFUL on D
Kevin Love? AWFUL
Varejao? Meh, plus he's injured a lot
Marion? So so now that he's older and less athletic, plus he's literally no threat on offense so what he gives u on D he takes on O.

Name me another player on Cleveland that is average or above on D outside of LeBron.

[psrs1]

Can someone explain to me why this is not national US TV game tonight? Philly vs OKC...really?

[psrs1]

Will JJ start tonight? Or will Ross guard Lebron?

DC should start JJ but will start TR.

[Mediumcore]

Disagree. No team has ever won a championship without a top 10 defence.

Kyrie is AWFUL on D
Kevin Love? AWFUL
Varejao? Meh, plus he's injured a lot
Marion? So so now that he's older and less athletic, plus he's literally no threat on offense so what he gives u on D he takes on O.

Name me another player on Cleveland that is average or above on D outside of LeBron.

Clevland is currently sitting tied for 11th best in the holding opponents to points per game category, so they aren't very far off that. They started the season with Waiters in the starting line up and have since moved him to the bench, so those numbers are likely only going to get better. This team more than any other team in the league will change between now and end of season and I for one see a lot of potential for them to be really good defensively. No way to know if they will reach that potential, but it makes me nervous for todays game.

[Nilanka]

Lowry's gotta be itching to go hard at Kyrie tonight. He played 44 minutes last night. With all due respect to Calderon, you can guard him on one foot.

[TeamEd]

Clevland is currently sitting tied for 11th best in the holding opponents to points per game category, so they aren't very far off that. They started the season with Waiters in the starting line up and have since moved him to the bench, so those numbers are likely only going to get better. This team more than any other team in the league will change between now and end of season and I for one see a lot of potential for them to be really good defensively. No way to know if they will reach that potential, but it makes me nervous for todays game.

The Cav's DRtg is 16th in the league. They're an average defensive team.

Incidentally, the Raps are now 15th in the league by DRtg. They gotta pick that up.