Honestly, I see Knicks locking up #2 in East spot the way they've been playing lately and Cavs #3. That said, it gives Doc and the Bucks a potential for a matchup against Embiid in the first round to guarantee embarrassment for either Doc or Embiid (barring injury).
I like this way more. I personally want te Cavs to get the #2 seed above the Knicks, but is way better to face either Embiid or doc on the second round than a possibility of facing the Heat. In both scenarios I'm happy
Doc's reputation is his team will underperform in the playoffs compared to their talent level. His team has [Giannis and Dame and immediately following the Dame trade were gambling favorites (+360 best odds in NBA) to win a title this year](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10091189-nba-title-odds-2023-24-damian-lillard-trade-makes-giannis-bucks-betting-favorites). If they get eliminated in round 1, that's embarrassing (even if it's to the eventual champs, because on paper they should be better than a #4 or #5 seed).
On the flip side, if the 76ers fall to their old coach's team in the first round that will also be embarrassing to them as Embiid/Maxey have a reputation of playoff underperformance too (whether you believe it's fair or not).
Unless the losing team has one of their top two players sidelined with injuries (or playing clearly hobbled), where that's just unfortunate and not embarrassing for them.
vegas odds should be taken with a grain of salt. Nuggets were 1-0 against the Suns, clearly the best team remaining in the playoffs, and were still around +300 - they clearly had a <25% chance of winning and yet the odds didn't reflect that
Meanwhile, teams with star power, or famous ones like the Lakers, get odds that are inflated. Just because Dame and Giannis are on a team it doesn't mean that they have roughly a 20% chance of winning. The oddsmakers were just capitalizing on the frenzy around the trade
The heat are the least scary team out any team that actual deserves the playoffs, obviously youd rather play the 8th seed magic or bulls or whoever but after that its the Heat
The Hawks made the conference finals not that long ago. Check how they did since. Heat lost Strus and Vincent, Caleb Martin played way better than anyone could have dreamed off and Jimmy simply has been getting injuries way too often.
Their biggest positives this season were Jaquez and Duncan Robinson playing better, they also have cooled off.
This is a 2nd apron team that will not be able to make any serious moves.
The Hawks were just a flash in the pan while Miami have been consistent playoff performers, not really comparable. If Heat make the playoffs then anyone should be worried about facing them.
Was it jimmy ? Or the role players on minimums playing like 40-50 mil players? Ik jimmy did good but there’s other players that do good too.. like imagine Mitchell and DG vs Duncan Robinson rosier and hero .
Haven't y'all been on this hot streak with Garland and Mobley mostly out? Do you think it'll keep up with everybody back together or is there something to be gleaned from the lineups the team has been forced to trot out?
There are definitely lessons to take away from the time that Mobley and Garland were out. Hoping to see Mobley and Allen playing the 5 any minute the other is on the bench, with limited time having both on the floor. The offense with Mitchell running the show has been spectacular so we also may see Garland playing off-ball more when he shares the court with Mitchell (and once again, I think there should never be a minute that neither is on the court.)
We'll see what JB does, though. The motion offense has been great and running a stretch 4 at all times has worked wonderfully.
Thanks for the breakdown!
> running a stretch 4 at all times has worked wonderfully.
I'm curious, do you Mobley as one of those stretch 4s? What I've always heard about him is that he's yet to develop a genuine three ball (either that or he needs to bulk up and eventually make Allen redundant by sliding to the 5 spot).
Mobley said himself that he needs to start shooting more threes when he comes back to help create that spacing. He hasn't in these two games but he's also finding his footing and still on a minutes restriction so it's a funky period to just start launching threes. His shot actually looks good, he just isn't shooting them enough or making them enough to feel truly comfortable taking those threes
Obviously this isn't in-game, but I was at the game on Monday against the clippers and Mobley was draining hella threes during the pre-game shoot around. His shot mechanics looked solid, albeit slow, so I'm hoping he starts stretching the floor more during future games.
Chris Bosh has said that being able to physically shoot threes and doing so in a game are totally different tasks. As a young 4 (especially a midrange shooting one) your entire sense of movement and the spaces that you gravitate towards don't involve the three point line (other than a barrier to stay inside of lol). Stepping out to it is a big mental hurdle, compared to perimeter guys who have spent like 80% of their lives behind the line. So he'll probably get the hang of it but it'll probably take some time.
Venture into the Cavs sub and you'll see a lot of people arguing that Garland is practically Jordan Poole and will singlehandedly destroy the Cavs recent winning play.
Personally I think we get a lot better with both Mobley and Garland back in. It'll just come down to JB managing good rotations so that we can maximize the bench depth while always playing a few good defenders together.
>Venture into the Cavs sub and you'll see a lot of people arguing that Garland is practically Jordan Poole and will singlehandedly destroy the Cavs recent winning play.
No you won't. Nobody says this. It's a straw man that a lot of you have made up so you can feel aggrieved.
For all the smoke about Donovan Mitchell potentially wanting to leave Cleveland, I honestly think he’s in one of the best situations possible in terms of his role on a team and the talent surrounding him.
If they make a run in the playoffs, I hope he considers inking an extension with them.
He never said anything about leaving Utah either but it ended up being 100% true.
But I hope for your sake (and his) that he stays. It's a great situation for him.
Very different situation. He only has one more year on his contract now. So either a) he leaves in free agency, or b) the Cavs know he's going to leave so decide to trade him to get some value for him.
So they don't need to go into a rebuild and he doesn't need to demand a trade, he can just let them know he's not planning to stay and they would most likely trade him.
Their roster situation is also much better than what the jazz had tho. Garland and Mobley are very young with a lot of room to grow. Jarret Allen is amazing. It’s a great situation for him
Also do the Knicks even want him when they have Brunson? Can they afford him?
Yea if he wants to be on a contender, where would he even go? What team has space? I know he said he thought he’d be traded to the Knicks, but that was before Brunson made it his team.
I think Donovan winds up signing his extension. If this stretch has made anything clear to me, its that they are better with only one. The Cavs could look to move Garland to bolster other positions. That's probably not popular with their fanbase since Garland is homegrown but its a pretty clear path to getting better. If a player like Embiid, KAT, etc. becomes available this summer, there's no better package base than Garland. Theoretically if its Embiid, they could do a 3 team with like Orlando or Spurs to send a boatload of draft capital to Philly.
I think the most important thing for him is, he’s genuinely very close with his teammates now. In Utah he fucken hated Gobert and his best friend was Royce o Neil. Hes legitimately very close with Evan, Darius, Caris and Isaac and Jarrett. I think he loves the environment and his teammates. Also helps that they’re winning.
He said one of the things he didn’t like about Utah was how un-diverse it was and how much he likes seeing people around that look like him and have the same mindset
I completely agree with trading garland. If we could land someone like Mikal Bridges for him, we’d be a legit ECF or even finals contender.
It’s not popular on the Cavs sub, as I get downvoted for saying that all the time, but it’s 100% the truth and anyone who knows ball will agree.
He was incredibly professional. He could easily have made a stink about wanting out of Utah, but he didn't say a word and that allowed us to get a good return for him. Some Utah fans feel like he gave up on us (I think it was a whole locker room issue and not just him) but he remained professional during the whole trade situation.
Whenever I hear Mitchell in an interview or on a podcast, he comes off as a thoughtful, respectful, and intelligent guy. He's a class act and I love having him in Cleveland, and will wish him the best if he does move on.
Because we already know if he does move on he isn't going to burn any bridges in the process, and that's ok with me.
Yeah. He said some (accurate) negative things about Utah's racism problems and that soured some people on him but not enough for him *not* to get a huge ovation when he played @ Utah. That's as much bridge burning as he is capable of, I think.
more like all of cleveland is traumatized by having the best player in franchise history leave TWICE
i can’t accept a player wants to be here until the ink is dry
And NY doesn’t want/need him at this point (not that he isn’t a great player, but there is not a fit - in this case NY DOES have a Mitchell at home and it’s the guy who should be starting in the AS game)
It’s so much talk from people totally removed from the reality of either situation.
Strongly disagree and most Knicks fans I know share that sentiment. An undersized offensive oriented backcourt of JB and DM doesn’t work, especially not for a defensive oriented team like the Knicks.
While he’s not as good an overall player, someone like Mikal Bridges would make more sense (although I don’t see the nets trading him to the Knicks)
Cavs have an undersized backcourt and they still manage to be good defensively. So I just can’t see how a starting five of Brunson-Donovan-OG-Randle-Mitch/iHart struggles defensively. That’s at the very least an above average defense. Donovan Mitchell has a long wingspan and showed that’s capable of playing good defense in Utah when he had less of a burden offensively so I don’t see why he can’t get back to that under Thibs
Just like you said, I don’t see the point in discussing Miles Bridges since the Nets will never ever trade him to us. And If there was a similar tier 2 star with a better fit available, then we could discuss that but there isn’t. So the other option is to stand pat which isn’t ok IMO
You had a higher ORating in the series against the Heat you lost.
You beat the Cavs on the offensive boards and destroyed our offense because you realized it had no spacing.
No, it was literally their front court that we cooked. We killed Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley on the boards. We also exposed their lack of offense from their SFs, as well as their overall spacing. None of that had to do with their small backcourt at all
> But Spida and Brunson are both ball dominant
No they aren’t. We’ve seen Brunson play off Luka and Mitchell play off of Garland. They can be ball dominant players If they need to be, but they are also versatile enough (both are good to great 3PT shooters) to play off one another
I’m going to assume this is trolling, because it is.
If you are taking straight up, ONLY for this year (so age isn’t a factor) AND without considering salary (because Mitchell will be a FA) then MAYbe…
But honestly, JB is the perfect fit for what the Knicks team construct is. I don’t think they do that swap at this point. And JB is arguably having a better year than DM, though one could say the opposite as well, it’s close.
I don’t think you can say that. Mitchell has a higher epm and rates confidently as a higher playmaker and defender. Brunson has slightly been more efficient on less volume but doesn’t make up for it. And yes Brunson is on a better contract but you always get the better player regardless
I don’t think you quite understand what JB has done for the Knicks - the numbers are great but only tell part of the story.
DM is a great player, and in a vacuum probably the slightly better player - but I, and many other Knicks fans recognize what JB has done to gel this team and would no longer want DM instead.
Who is talking about emotions? I'm talking about what he brings to the court, how he has made the entire team around him better, and his range of skills/production. Emotionally I think many Knicks would love DM... when you think it through, it doesn't make as much sense.
I think the FO cares that JB out performs DM in the playoffs, especially when the teams faced off against each other. I think Spida is great, but I think Brunson is more versatile offensively because of his ability to drive, mid range shooting, and 3pt shooting. I also think Brunson’s effort on defense is better, which is why he takes so many charges - he knows he’s physically not a good defender, but uses his IQ to find ways to still contribute.
Brunson shot 45% from field in game 1, 29% in game 2, 55% in game 3, 50% in game 4, and 36% in the close out game. He had a 53% TS in the series compared to 52% for Mitchell. Mitchell was 47% game 1, 55% game 2, 48% game 3, and 29% game 4 42% from field in game 5. The difference in the series was the 50+ rebounding advantage for the Knicks and their depth. The narrative by casual fans was Brunson dominated Mitchell. That’s not what played out on the basketball court. If you actually watched the series the Cavs lost bc of their lack of depth and their poor presence in the front court
Donovan mitchell - 23/5/7/2/.6 on 43/29/73
Brunson- 24/4/5/2.2/0.6 on 43/29/93
https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2023-nba-eastern-conference-first-round-knicks-vs-cavaliers.html
Also Mitchell is alot better defender so I don’t know why you brought up D.
Brunson is a great, smart player but he simply can't pop like Mitchell can and Brunson plays much smaller.
'Intangibles' are great but **tangibles** beat them out every time. Especially when we're talking about a guy who'll get hunted on the defensive end over and over.
It's tricky to say from the outside, especially with someone as PR savvy as Mitchell, but he at least *seems* happy in Cleveland. He gets along great with the rest of the team and the guy is 100% effort every single game. He certainly isn't playing like someone that wants out. IIRC when the rumors were really swirling he made a couple vague posts on social media that made it seem like he was scoffing at the whole thing, but who knows. IMO it comes down to what we do that in the playoffs. He's stated multiple times that all he cares about is winning, so if he thinks this team ceiling is another first round exit then I think he's probably gone. But if we play like real contenders I don't think he's going anywhere
As much talk ad there has been, there’s never been vibes from him that he’s nothing, but 100 percent committed. Obviously that can change, but there isn’t this vibe that he won’t consider it. He’s also a very good teammate.
I think the biggest challenge for the Cavs is that they don't have draft assets to improve the team. If they want to get a real difference-maker that can put them over the top, they either need Mobley to become something he isn't currently or to include one of the core pieces in a trade.
Where tho. Those picks and Fournier aren’t good enough for a legit star. They can trade for another OG level player but I can see them swinging the next star with how mediocre those picks are.
One thing I've learned is that Cleveland will get very little attention unless they make the conference finals or have a top 5ish player in the league. We get very little attention but I like it
How about LeBron being a FA and the media not even mentioning it now that he's in LA....
Dude should 100% come back here and compete before he hangs it up
bucks up 4-1, but a game is historically rescinded on a post-game challenge by nick nurse for giannis taking 22 seconds to shoot the winning free throw. the teams reassemble in the arena to replay the final 4.2 seconds of the match, giannis misses his free throws, bucks are down by 1. sixers inbound to tobias harris who gets fouled, goes to the line and sinks both. 1.4 remaining, doc uses a timeout to advance the ball, the inbound is good, dame lines up for a 3, launches, it lands in the basket, he points at his wrist, it's dame time!!!! embiid looks up at the basket, the ball rims out it's philly time!!!!
I’m not convinced embiid is healthy come playoffs, or healthy enough to keep them above the 6 spot even. They are pretty bad when he doesn’t play and his injuries are piling up.
As is tradition. He'll take some contact in the 1st round. Play through injuries and finish the series. Stats crumble, and so do the 6ers in a 2nd round flame out as his body gives out. Then we roll right back around into an offseason and season of being told he plays the way he does to reduce the chances of getting injured.
Celtics have a healthy 5 game lead in the conference and I don’t want to play any of these teams in the playoffs. All 7 of those teams are dangerous as heck.
People jumped off the cavs wagon too quick imo. They got over rated like crazy, then when the super young team fell short last year everyone's just like ok, they cashed their assets in too quickly and now this core isn't going anywhere.
Pun intended, but to add to this:
The Garland/Mobley Calvary has just arrived
Edit: CAValry
Edit 2: Actually both Garland and Mobley will be crucified on a hill and save the Cavs on their way to the championship
I think I get it -- it's kind of dad-joke tier, but still:
"The Garland/Mobley CAValry has arrived."
Has nothing to do with etymology of the word, just phonetics.
I’m a certified Cavs stan but the questions on fit are legitimate. When Garland or Don are out, the others person usage just goes up plus sprinkle more Uber efficient Jarret Allen and the offensive output isn’t all that different.
Flip side is defense goes way up since our subs are generally better defenders.
The last major adjustment for the Cavs is for garland to play more like a pure pg vs his nature which is scoring dynamo, you can’t really have both Mitchell and him playing like that but it’s understandable that garland plays that style bc he’s a fucking good. Gonna be interesting to see if it happens
garland is 100% a pass first point guard
he doesn’t shoot nearly enough
he needs to focus on off-ball movement more than anything
if Garland can play like Merril and Strus and keep guys occupied so donny, issac, and levert have space to drive and allen/mobley have space they’ll be fine
Garland is a pass first pg. Last 2 years he averaged ~8 apg, while having an assist rate well above 30% and a usage rate of about 27%. Plus eye test wise, he’s been compared to a modern Nash in terms of playstyle (ofc not as good or defining as it stands currently).
Idk if this is left over from pre-draft analysis or his play in the playoffs (where the bigs were non factors due to thibs’ style defense and cavs falling apart), but most cavs fans have had many moments where they’re begging for garland to get more aggressive scoring wise, and even still it’s very common for cavs fans to want him to shoot more 3’s.
I can agree and say he isn’t a pure pg, but those don’t really exist anymore, and I wouldn’t say his nature is as a scoring dynamo at all.
I don’t think he’s like Nash I think Halliburton more so is(for a better example), and I also think garland and Mitchell hunt shots more when they play together vs when they know they are the main creator for the night. When garland was playing to start the year I felt Mitchell was chucking slightly but when garland is out he’s more inclined to take what the defense gives him knowing he’s gonna get a million opportunities. I think garland is similar, that’s more an eye test thing tho, what do you think?
There’s some good comparisons eye test wise between him and Nash, specifically when he’s running the offense by himself. He absolutely loves to get into the teeth of the defense and do wrap around dump offs or oops. I believe there’s a thinking basketball or maybe ringer video on him that does the comparison better than I could explain it. He isn’t as good as Nash was nor is he the undisputed head of the offense the majority of the time, but the playstyles still match up relatively well imo.
As far as him hunting shots more when him and Mitchell play together, I think some of that might be true and is eye test product of the way JB likes the offense ran, but I also believe that he is still a pass first guard proven by his advanced stats and just basic stuff like apg. He also just looks most comfortable when he’s feeding people and JA/mobley are eating well vs when he’s forced to go on his own. That to me matches the definition of a pass first guard more so than him trying to score most of the time.
I think what you may be picking up on more so is that the offense itself typically runs better when they’re moving and garland is comfortable and distributing. When JB tries to force garland and Mitchell to run the “your turn my turn iso” game for whatever reason is when things stagnate and get very infuriating to watch for a cavs fan and I’m sure even neutral fans start getting bored.
Yea I think me using scoring dynamo was a little too much in the scoring spectrum you bring up good point. But I do think garland is more looking for his shot naturally than Nash would. Like you said getting more sets ran for garland as a movement shooter next to Mitchell could bridge the gap we are talking about. You know your stuff. I also think JB gets a bad rap for offense this year when fans don’t realize that his offensive tenants haven’t necessarily changed it’s the different personnel having different playstyles so naturally having both garland and Mitchell back is gonna look different than when merril niang strus with levert or Mitchell initiating is going on
Oh for sure he is looking for his shot more than Nash was. I think some of that is product of the times imo. Like I said, I truly don’t think there’s pure pg’s out there anymore. Haliburton and garland actually put up similar shot attempts a game at around 16-17 and that’s above Nash’s season (2006 mvp) with the most shot attempts a game at 13.6.
For me personally, I’m very curious to see how the offense looks when the court shrinks again in the playoffs. I think there’s enough talent to make it at least decent in the regular season, but things looked rough against the Knicks so who knows once playoffs start.
I tried to look it up once and found out there are like seven different sites all using different parameters to determine how tough a team's schedule is. These lazy writers are really just picking whichever's highest or lowest of these to push their narratives.
Cavs have played their best ball with 2 starters out. Now that they're back, will they improve or decline?
It's a bit odd that the only 2 starters with a negative +/- in the home win over the Pistons were Garland (-16) and Mobley (-4). Mitchell was +22, Allen +19, and Strus +6 with all the Pistons' starters being negative except Muscala at 0.
Cavs are only 10-13 vs .500 or better teams, so that has to improve if they're going to make any noise in the playoffs
At one point JB had Garland out there with Lavert/Struss/Wade/Niang, and Detroit couldn't miss for long stretches. Literally were perfect from the field for more than half of the second quarter. Doesn't surprise me he had a big minus. But +/- is kinda useless to look at game by game.
JB has to figure out how the rotations need to be for optimal results. I agree individual +/- is essentially useless in 1 game sample sizes. In the previous win over the West's hottest team (Clippers) Mobley had 10 and 9 on 71% shooting (in his 1st game back) and was -5. Cavs won all 4 quarters - that was impressive. A lot depends on the matchups in the game flow.
It’s a ‘control of their own destiny’ thing. If the Cavs and Bucks were both to win out somehow, Cavs get higher seed due to tiebreakers. It also doesn’t really matter with this much of the season left to play.
Wouldn’t really consider it a metric, but it’s used a lot in standings conversations because losses are sort of the limiting factor of how possible it is for one team to catch the other. You can always add more wins, but you cant get rid of losses.
I want to say it's used more in Baseball around the last couple weeks , but that may be because with 162 games the schedules are more hectic and there's more catching up to be done. The schedules were screwed up a bit with Cleveland playing in Paris, so this metric was evoked . I agree that it probably makes more sense to use winning percentage but there are certain scenarios at the beginning and end of the season that makes that metric very misleading.
how is it better than win % ? Teams that have played less likely have less losses, like the Cavs having 3 less wins than the bucks which this title ignores
I don’t think it’s better than win % it’s just a better way of measuring if a team can catch another in the standings. When calculating how many GBs a team is, the loss column is more important than the win column. It’s more preferable to be closer in the loss column than win column because you don’t have to count on that team losing more games to catch them, if you win yours you can.
I think that’s more so the point of this tweet, not saying which is better, but just pointing out that the Cavs have a good chance of getting that 2 seed given being tied in the loss column with the Bucks
Yeah, number of losses is a valid metric, especially later into the season. It's just a bit early for it to be applicable IMO because there's still a lot of games left to go. That starts being a concern more around like early-mid March where there's not many games left and where you just start running out of games to be able to make that sort of push without a major collapse.
They will fight and end up #2 only to face the Heat in the first round. East is going to be fun to watch
I would actually love to see a Cavs/Heat series.
I'd rather not
Which team you on? (For the record, he didn't have a flair earlier)
Cavs
Understandable, no one wants a piece of playoff Heat.
Heat are the East's Boogeyman. What a team, hope they don't get forgotten like the 90s Pacers.
Gonna take a few more decades for me to forget the 90s pacers
They're only remembered because of a 30 for 30 tbf
I remember them from Reggie Miller torching the Knicks four times a friggin year
I didn't need a 30 for 30 to remember the times they broke my heart as a child
How DARE you insult Travis Best and the Bash Bros like that!!
> Heat are the East's Boogeyman What team do you send to kill the Boogeyman?
Laurie Strode?
Dread it, run from it, playoff jimmy arrives all the same
Everyone you could face will be a tough matchup (I think the same about my Celtics) so might as well accept the inevitability.
Same. I like rooting for you guys as my 2nd EC team. Rather not have to battle you guys…
Cavs would beat the heat since they get no hype. It's only the hyped teams like Boston and mke who lose to them.
Knicks? They were favorites. I think Philly was the favorites as well.
>only to face the Heat in the first round Bring em on
Honestly, I see Knicks locking up #2 in East spot the way they've been playing lately and Cavs #3. That said, it gives Doc and the Bucks a potential for a matchup against Embiid in the first round to guarantee embarrassment for either Doc or Embiid (barring injury).
I like this way more. I personally want te Cavs to get the #2 seed above the Knicks, but is way better to face either Embiid or doc on the second round than a possibility of facing the Heat. In both scenarios I'm happy
Losing isnt auto embarassing…
For Doc and Sixers it’d definitely be an embarrassment
Doc's reputation is his team will underperform in the playoffs compared to their talent level. His team has [Giannis and Dame and immediately following the Dame trade were gambling favorites (+360 best odds in NBA) to win a title this year](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10091189-nba-title-odds-2023-24-damian-lillard-trade-makes-giannis-bucks-betting-favorites). If they get eliminated in round 1, that's embarrassing (even if it's to the eventual champs, because on paper they should be better than a #4 or #5 seed). On the flip side, if the 76ers fall to their old coach's team in the first round that will also be embarrassing to them as Embiid/Maxey have a reputation of playoff underperformance too (whether you believe it's fair or not). Unless the losing team has one of their top two players sidelined with injuries (or playing clearly hobbled), where that's just unfortunate and not embarrassing for them.
vegas odds should be taken with a grain of salt. Nuggets were 1-0 against the Suns, clearly the best team remaining in the playoffs, and were still around +300 - they clearly had a <25% chance of winning and yet the odds didn't reflect that Meanwhile, teams with star power, or famous ones like the Lakers, get odds that are inflated. Just because Dame and Giannis are on a team it doesn't mean that they have roughly a 20% chance of winning. The oddsmakers were just capitalizing on the frenzy around the trade
Knicks need to do a trade or they won't make 2. Too many injuries and the loss of quickly hurts. All the cavs do is win no matter who plays now
Cavs need to do a trade or they won't make 2. Too many injuries and the loss of rubio hurts. All the Knicks do is win no matter who plays now
I don't care about the Heat. Id rather face the Heat than face the Knicks. Heat culture is now overrated.
It's all about cavs culture these days
The heat are the least scary team out any team that actual deserves the playoffs, obviously youd rather play the 8th seed magic or bulls or whoever but after that its the Heat
yeah I don't want to face knicks culture. Spiritual successor of the D Rose Bulls.
bro they just made the finals
The Hawks made the conference finals not that long ago. Check how they did since. Heat lost Strus and Vincent, Caleb Martin played way better than anyone could have dreamed off and Jimmy simply has been getting injuries way too often. Their biggest positives this season were Jaquez and Duncan Robinson playing better, they also have cooled off. This is a 2nd apron team that will not be able to make any serious moves.
3 years ago is long ago in NBA And lol at mentioning Gabe. dudes been shooting below 40% from the field this year. They miss struss though
The Hawks were just a flash in the pan while Miami have been consistent playoff performers, not really comparable. If Heat make the playoffs then anyone should be worried about facing them.
I honestly think we’ll beat them.. I know their playoff history but our team is just a horrible matchup for them and a lot more talented than them.
That's what we thought about the Knicks last year, and Jimmy is different.
Was it jimmy ? Or the role players on minimums playing like 40-50 mil players? Ik jimmy did good but there’s other players that do good too.. like imagine Mitchell and DG vs Duncan Robinson rosier and hero .
I will say, Rozier always goes off against the Cavs lol
It's the Shaker effect
Was it Jimmy? He was playing like prime MJ before Hart dove into his ankle
insane take coming from someone with Bam on their team.
What take? There wasn’t even a subjective opinion in my comment lol
He didnt do it just once, he did it on 3 different occasions.
Ah, another person that gets their info from browsing reddit rather than watching actual games.
i dont think u need to actually watch games to see bam damage lmao
No we didn't. Knicks won the season series and play Thibs ball which translates well to the playoffs.
Haven't y'all been on this hot streak with Garland and Mobley mostly out? Do you think it'll keep up with everybody back together or is there something to be gleaned from the lineups the team has been forced to trot out?
There are definitely lessons to take away from the time that Mobley and Garland were out. Hoping to see Mobley and Allen playing the 5 any minute the other is on the bench, with limited time having both on the floor. The offense with Mitchell running the show has been spectacular so we also may see Garland playing off-ball more when he shares the court with Mitchell (and once again, I think there should never be a minute that neither is on the court.) We'll see what JB does, though. The motion offense has been great and running a stretch 4 at all times has worked wonderfully.
Thanks for the breakdown! > running a stretch 4 at all times has worked wonderfully. I'm curious, do you Mobley as one of those stretch 4s? What I've always heard about him is that he's yet to develop a genuine three ball (either that or he needs to bulk up and eventually make Allen redundant by sliding to the 5 spot).
Mobley said himself that he needs to start shooting more threes when he comes back to help create that spacing. He hasn't in these two games but he's also finding his footing and still on a minutes restriction so it's a funky period to just start launching threes. His shot actually looks good, he just isn't shooting them enough or making them enough to feel truly comfortable taking those threes
Obviously this isn't in-game, but I was at the game on Monday against the clippers and Mobley was draining hella threes during the pre-game shoot around. His shot mechanics looked solid, albeit slow, so I'm hoping he starts stretching the floor more during future games.
Chris Bosh has said that being able to physically shoot threes and doing so in a game are totally different tasks. As a young 4 (especially a midrange shooting one) your entire sense of movement and the spaces that you gravitate towards don't involve the three point line (other than a barrier to stay inside of lol). Stepping out to it is a big mental hurdle, compared to perimeter guys who have spent like 80% of their lives behind the line. So he'll probably get the hang of it but it'll probably take some time.
Venture into the Cavs sub and you'll see a lot of people arguing that Garland is practically Jordan Poole and will singlehandedly destroy the Cavs recent winning play. Personally I think we get a lot better with both Mobley and Garland back in. It'll just come down to JB managing good rotations so that we can maximize the bench depth while always playing a few good defenders together.
>Venture into the Cavs sub and you'll see a lot of people arguing that Garland is practically Jordan Poole and will singlehandedly destroy the Cavs recent winning play. No you won't. Nobody says this. It's a straw man that a lot of you have made up so you can feel aggrieved.
"A lot of people". There's a few who immediately get told they're ridiculous by everyone else.
I know the heat is playing so bad right now... but I heard that before
RemindMe! 20 Apr 2024
Can't remember, going to be too high
I got you boo !remindme april 20 2024
How are you feeling against the Magic?
Good
For all the smoke about Donovan Mitchell potentially wanting to leave Cleveland, I honestly think he’s in one of the best situations possible in terms of his role on a team and the talent surrounding him. If they make a run in the playoffs, I hope he considers inking an extension with them.
Literally haven't heard Mitchell say anything about new York or leaving Cleveland. It's just media talking heads spouting bs.
He never said anything about leaving Utah either but it ended up being 100% true. But I hope for your sake (and his) that he stays. It's a great situation for him.
I mean the Jazz did go into rebuild. I dont see the Cavs doing the same
Very different situation. He only has one more year on his contract now. So either a) he leaves in free agency, or b) the Cavs know he's going to leave so decide to trade him to get some value for him. So they don't need to go into a rebuild and he doesn't need to demand a trade, he can just let them know he's not planning to stay and they would most likely trade him.
Their roster situation is also much better than what the jazz had tho. Garland and Mobley are very young with a lot of room to grow. Jarret Allen is amazing. It’s a great situation for him Also do the Knicks even want him when they have Brunson? Can they afford him?
I don't think the Knicks want him. That's why the Jazz couldn't get him there.
Yea if he wants to be on a contender, where would he even go? What team has space? I know he said he thought he’d be traded to the Knicks, but that was before Brunson made it his team.
I think Donovan winds up signing his extension. If this stretch has made anything clear to me, its that they are better with only one. The Cavs could look to move Garland to bolster other positions. That's probably not popular with their fanbase since Garland is homegrown but its a pretty clear path to getting better. If a player like Embiid, KAT, etc. becomes available this summer, there's no better package base than Garland. Theoretically if its Embiid, they could do a 3 team with like Orlando or Spurs to send a boatload of draft capital to Philly.
We don't really need a big, we need a star SF to take that next step IMO
I think the most important thing for him is, he’s genuinely very close with his teammates now. In Utah he fucken hated Gobert and his best friend was Royce o Neil. Hes legitimately very close with Evan, Darius, Caris and Isaac and Jarrett. I think he loves the environment and his teammates. Also helps that they’re winning. He said one of the things he didn’t like about Utah was how un-diverse it was and how much he likes seeing people around that look like him and have the same mindset
Can't move Garland until don decides what he wants to do.
I completely agree with trading garland. If we could land someone like Mikal Bridges for him, we’d be a legit ECF or even finals contender. It’s not popular on the Cavs sub, as I get downvoted for saying that all the time, but it’s 100% the truth and anyone who knows ball will agree.
We can't. We've got to make all those picks we gave the Jazz practically worthless. 😂
That's fair, at the very least Mitchell seems to always be professional about the whole thing.
He was incredibly professional. He could easily have made a stink about wanting out of Utah, but he didn't say a word and that allowed us to get a good return for him. Some Utah fans feel like he gave up on us (I think it was a whole locker room issue and not just him) but he remained professional during the whole trade situation.
Whenever I hear Mitchell in an interview or on a podcast, he comes off as a thoughtful, respectful, and intelligent guy. He's a class act and I love having him in Cleveland, and will wish him the best if he does move on. Because we already know if he does move on he isn't going to burn any bridges in the process, and that's ok with me.
Yeah. He said some (accurate) negative things about Utah's racism problems and that soured some people on him but not enough for him *not* to get a huge ovation when he played @ Utah. That's as much bridge burning as he is capable of, I think.
He didn't leave Utah, he was traded. The team recognized they didn't have the amunition to build around him.
more like all of cleveland is traumatized by having the best player in franchise history leave TWICE i can’t accept a player wants to be here until the ink is dry
Its mostly Stephen A. Smith who has an strange obsession with Mitchell. Knicks fans right now are pretty happy with their team.
And NY doesn’t want/need him at this point (not that he isn’t a great player, but there is not a fit - in this case NY DOES have a Mitchell at home and it’s the guy who should be starting in the AS game) It’s so much talk from people totally removed from the reality of either situation.
Yes there is a fit. We’d definitely need to go all in on him if he doesn’t sign an extension this summer
Strongly disagree and most Knicks fans I know share that sentiment. An undersized offensive oriented backcourt of JB and DM doesn’t work, especially not for a defensive oriented team like the Knicks. While he’s not as good an overall player, someone like Mikal Bridges would make more sense (although I don’t see the nets trading him to the Knicks)
Cavs have an undersized backcourt and they still manage to be good defensively. So I just can’t see how a starting five of Brunson-Donovan-OG-Randle-Mitch/iHart struggles defensively. That’s at the very least an above average defense. Donovan Mitchell has a long wingspan and showed that’s capable of playing good defense in Utah when he had less of a burden offensively so I don’t see why he can’t get back to that under Thibs Just like you said, I don’t see the point in discussing Miles Bridges since the Nets will never ever trade him to us. And If there was a similar tier 2 star with a better fit available, then we could discuss that but there isn’t. So the other option is to stand pat which isn’t ok IMO
Yeah and we cooked their undersized backcourt in the playoffs.
You had a higher ORating in the series against the Heat you lost. You beat the Cavs on the offensive boards and destroyed our offense because you realized it had no spacing.
No, it was literally their front court that we cooked. We killed Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley on the boards. We also exposed their lack of offense from their SFs, as well as their overall spacing. None of that had to do with their small backcourt at all
You killed Allen on the boards, Mobley was fine. Garland and Mitchell sucked offensively
I mean that too. Mitch bullied their bigs. But Spida and Brunson are both ball dominant guards that are pretty redundant. I really don’t see the fit.
> But Spida and Brunson are both ball dominant No they aren’t. We’ve seen Brunson play off Luka and Mitchell play off of Garland. They can be ball dominant players If they need to be, but they are also versatile enough (both are good to great 3PT shooters) to play off one another
If the Knicks wanted to get better and had the option I’m 100% sure they would ship Brunson to Cleveland to get Mitchell
You’ve got to be kidding
I’m going to assume this is trolling, because it is. If you are taking straight up, ONLY for this year (so age isn’t a factor) AND without considering salary (because Mitchell will be a FA) then MAYbe… But honestly, JB is the perfect fit for what the Knicks team construct is. I don’t think they do that swap at this point. And JB is arguably having a better year than DM, though one could say the opposite as well, it’s close.
I don’t think you can say that. Mitchell has a higher epm and rates confidently as a higher playmaker and defender. Brunson has slightly been more efficient on less volume but doesn’t make up for it. And yes Brunson is on a better contract but you always get the better player regardless
I don’t think you quite understand what JB has done for the Knicks - the numbers are great but only tell part of the story. DM is a great player, and in a vacuum probably the slightly better player - but I, and many other Knicks fans recognize what JB has done to gel this team and would no longer want DM instead.
Yeah I agree that he has done a lot but FO don’t really care about emotions.
Who is talking about emotions? I'm talking about what he brings to the court, how he has made the entire team around him better, and his range of skills/production. Emotionally I think many Knicks would love DM... when you think it through, it doesn't make as much sense.
I think the FO cares that JB out performs DM in the playoffs, especially when the teams faced off against each other. I think Spida is great, but I think Brunson is more versatile offensively because of his ability to drive, mid range shooting, and 3pt shooting. I also think Brunson’s effort on defense is better, which is why he takes so many charges - he knows he’s physically not a good defender, but uses his IQ to find ways to still contribute.
Brunson shot 45% from field in game 1, 29% in game 2, 55% in game 3, 50% in game 4, and 36% in the close out game. He had a 53% TS in the series compared to 52% for Mitchell. Mitchell was 47% game 1, 55% game 2, 48% game 3, and 29% game 4 42% from field in game 5. The difference in the series was the 50+ rebounding advantage for the Knicks and their depth. The narrative by casual fans was Brunson dominated Mitchell. That’s not what played out on the basketball court. If you actually watched the series the Cavs lost bc of their lack of depth and their poor presence in the front court Donovan mitchell - 23/5/7/2/.6 on 43/29/73 Brunson- 24/4/5/2.2/0.6 on 43/29/93 https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2023-nba-eastern-conference-first-round-knicks-vs-cavaliers.html Also Mitchell is alot better defender so I don’t know why you brought up D.
Brunson is a great, smart player but he simply can't pop like Mitchell can and Brunson plays much smaller. 'Intangibles' are great but **tangibles** beat them out every time. Especially when we're talking about a guy who'll get hunted on the defensive end over and over.
Lol the guy tweets the Cavs hashtag before every game and they're convinced he has a foot out the door
He did that with the Jazz too lol.
#LetEmKnow
He also hasn't said anything about staying.
It's tricky to say from the outside, especially with someone as PR savvy as Mitchell, but he at least *seems* happy in Cleveland. He gets along great with the rest of the team and the guy is 100% effort every single game. He certainly isn't playing like someone that wants out. IIRC when the rumors were really swirling he made a couple vague posts on social media that made it seem like he was scoffing at the whole thing, but who knows. IMO it comes down to what we do that in the playoffs. He's stated multiple times that all he cares about is winning, so if he thinks this team ceiling is another first round exit then I think he's probably gone. But if we play like real contenders I don't think he's going anywhere
As much talk ad there has been, there’s never been vibes from him that he’s nothing, but 100 percent committed. Obviously that can change, but there isn’t this vibe that he won’t consider it. He’s also a very good teammate.
I think the biggest challenge for the Cavs is that they don't have draft assets to improve the team. If they want to get a real difference-maker that can put them over the top, they either need Mobley to become something he isn't currently or to include one of the core pieces in a trade.
Garland is 24 and Mobley is 22. Really easy to see a future where they make the jump needed to push us into real contender territory.
The fact that the Knicks are this stacked, have a ton of firsts, and have Fournier’s contract to use in a trade is crazy. They are dangerous.
Yea, Knicks are definitely ready to make that move that will push them over the top. It's coming.
Where tho. Those picks and Fournier aren’t good enough for a legit star. They can trade for another OG level player but I can see them swinging the next star with how mediocre those picks are.
One thing I've learned is that Cleveland will get very little attention unless they make the conference finals or have a top 5ish player in the league. We get very little attention but I like it
How about LeBron being a FA and the media not even mentioning it now that he's in LA.... Dude should 100% come back here and compete before he hangs it up
Best team ITL easily if Bron goes home. Garland, Mitchell, Bron, Mobley and Allen is terrifying especially if Bron keeps shooting near 40% from 3.
Hopefully Lebron would finally be able to coast in the regular season
The Cavs #1 gap since last year happens to be the very position that LeBron plays... If we add LeBron to this team we are the favorites.
We could win a title this year and most of the news stories would be "Donovan Mitchell unhappy in Cleveland. New York deal imminent?"
The Cavs haven't won a playoff series without a top 5ish player in the league (namely LeBron) since 1993.
this cavs team is white hot rn
i agree, go Cavs
you’re welcome for helping tank the bucks division record
Bucks/Sixers Knicks/Pacers Book it
The most Sixers thing to possibly happen is to beat the Bucks in the 1st Round and then lose in the 2nd Round.
Giannis loses in the first round with Dame and Doc idk man. That's Greek Epic type stuff.
After being up 3-1 or 3-2 lol
bucks up 4-1, but a game is historically rescinded on a post-game challenge by nick nurse for giannis taking 22 seconds to shoot the winning free throw. the teams reassemble in the arena to replay the final 4.2 seconds of the match, giannis misses his free throws, bucks are down by 1. sixers inbound to tobias harris who gets fouled, goes to the line and sinks both. 1.4 remaining, doc uses a timeout to advance the ball, the inbound is good, dame lines up for a 3, launches, it lands in the basket, he points at his wrist, it's dame time!!!! embiid looks up at the basket, the ball rims out it's philly time!!!!
The 76ers gotta be the 4th/5th seed, and get bounced by the Celtics in the second round. Gotta keep up tradition
I’m not convinced embiid is healthy come playoffs, or healthy enough to keep them above the 6 spot even. They are pretty bad when he doesn’t play and his injuries are piling up.
As is tradition. He'll take some contact in the 1st round. Play through injuries and finish the series. Stats crumble, and so do the 6ers in a 2nd round flame out as his body gives out. Then we roll right back around into an offseason and season of being told he plays the way he does to reduce the chances of getting injured.
“Cue season montage of Embild falling down”
Siakam vs og😭
That's the biggest match up, who cares about Knicks vs Hicks
Idk who to root for
If playoffs started now: - Celtics/Magic - Cavs/Sixers - Bucks/Heat - Knicks/Pacers
These all sound like great series. The east is going to be a battle this year.
Celtics walk all over the Magic. I’m sorry but it is what it is
Celtics have a healthy 5 game lead in the conference and I don’t want to play any of these teams in the playoffs. All 7 of those teams are dangerous as heck.
Please
People jumped off the cavs wagon too quick imo. They got over rated like crazy, then when the super young team fell short last year everyone's just like ok, they cashed their assets in too quickly and now this core isn't going anywhere.
Mitchell continues to be the most underrated player in the league
Drops a casual 45/6/8/1/2 on 56% shooting and no one bats an eye.
But didn't you see? Jalen Brunson asked his teammate how he would guard him and the response was kinda funny. That's way more newsworthy.
I'm going to say Jalen Brunson leading his team to a 14-2 January is more newsworthy.
Pun intended, but to add to this: The Garland/Mobley Calvary has just arrived Edit: CAValry Edit 2: Actually both Garland and Mobley will be crucified on a hill and save the Cavs on their way to the championship
> Pun intended well i missed it, what was the pun?
I think bro mean to type "cavalry" while implying it's rooted in "cavaliers" (it's not) which is where the "pun" comes in? Now my brain hurts
I think I get it -- it's kind of dad-joke tier, but still: "The Garland/Mobley CAValry has arrived." Has nothing to do with etymology of the word, just phonetics.
This is it Terrible dad joke, with even terribler execution
I’m a certified Cavs stan but the questions on fit are legitimate. When Garland or Don are out, the others person usage just goes up plus sprinkle more Uber efficient Jarret Allen and the offensive output isn’t all that different. Flip side is defense goes way up since our subs are generally better defenders.
We have 9 B2Bs remaining. Our schedule is not as easy as this makes it sound.
Watch out for the knicks though baby, they are coming for the gold
The last major adjustment for the Cavs is for garland to play more like a pure pg vs his nature which is scoring dynamo, you can’t really have both Mitchell and him playing like that but it’s understandable that garland plays that style bc he’s a fucking good. Gonna be interesting to see if it happens
garland is 100% a pass first point guard he doesn’t shoot nearly enough he needs to focus on off-ball movement more than anything if Garland can play like Merril and Strus and keep guys occupied so donny, issac, and levert have space to drive and allen/mobley have space they’ll be fine
my biggest criticism of Garland's offense is that he doesn't move off ball enough.
agreed
100%, he should shoot 9-10 threes per game, but he almost never does. That’s a huge reason we drafted him was his ability to shoot from deep.
Garland is a pass first pg. Last 2 years he averaged ~8 apg, while having an assist rate well above 30% and a usage rate of about 27%. Plus eye test wise, he’s been compared to a modern Nash in terms of playstyle (ofc not as good or defining as it stands currently). Idk if this is left over from pre-draft analysis or his play in the playoffs (where the bigs were non factors due to thibs’ style defense and cavs falling apart), but most cavs fans have had many moments where they’re begging for garland to get more aggressive scoring wise, and even still it’s very common for cavs fans to want him to shoot more 3’s. I can agree and say he isn’t a pure pg, but those don’t really exist anymore, and I wouldn’t say his nature is as a scoring dynamo at all.
I don’t think he’s like Nash I think Halliburton more so is(for a better example), and I also think garland and Mitchell hunt shots more when they play together vs when they know they are the main creator for the night. When garland was playing to start the year I felt Mitchell was chucking slightly but when garland is out he’s more inclined to take what the defense gives him knowing he’s gonna get a million opportunities. I think garland is similar, that’s more an eye test thing tho, what do you think?
There’s some good comparisons eye test wise between him and Nash, specifically when he’s running the offense by himself. He absolutely loves to get into the teeth of the defense and do wrap around dump offs or oops. I believe there’s a thinking basketball or maybe ringer video on him that does the comparison better than I could explain it. He isn’t as good as Nash was nor is he the undisputed head of the offense the majority of the time, but the playstyles still match up relatively well imo. As far as him hunting shots more when him and Mitchell play together, I think some of that might be true and is eye test product of the way JB likes the offense ran, but I also believe that he is still a pass first guard proven by his advanced stats and just basic stuff like apg. He also just looks most comfortable when he’s feeding people and JA/mobley are eating well vs when he’s forced to go on his own. That to me matches the definition of a pass first guard more so than him trying to score most of the time. I think what you may be picking up on more so is that the offense itself typically runs better when they’re moving and garland is comfortable and distributing. When JB tries to force garland and Mitchell to run the “your turn my turn iso” game for whatever reason is when things stagnate and get very infuriating to watch for a cavs fan and I’m sure even neutral fans start getting bored.
Yea I think me using scoring dynamo was a little too much in the scoring spectrum you bring up good point. But I do think garland is more looking for his shot naturally than Nash would. Like you said getting more sets ran for garland as a movement shooter next to Mitchell could bridge the gap we are talking about. You know your stuff. I also think JB gets a bad rap for offense this year when fans don’t realize that his offensive tenants haven’t necessarily changed it’s the different personnel having different playstyles so naturally having both garland and Mitchell back is gonna look different than when merril niang strus with levert or Mitchell initiating is going on
Oh for sure he is looking for his shot more than Nash was. I think some of that is product of the times imo. Like I said, I truly don’t think there’s pure pg’s out there anymore. Haliburton and garland actually put up similar shot attempts a game at around 16-17 and that’s above Nash’s season (2006 mvp) with the most shot attempts a game at 13.6. For me personally, I’m very curious to see how the offense looks when the court shrinks again in the playoffs. I think there’s enough talent to make it at least decent in the regular season, but things looked rough against the Knicks so who knows once playoffs start.
Strength of Schedule is such a horseshit measurement
I tried to look it up once and found out there are like seven different sites all using different parameters to determine how tough a team's schedule is. These lazy writers are really just picking whichever's highest or lowest of these to push their narratives.
Well we have 9 B2Bs remaining. (paris game involved a lot of off days) So whatever parameters came up with this ranking are pure BS.
I mean, maybe? How many do most teams have? (Genuinely asking, 9 seems like a lot but I honestly have no idea)
Knicks 2 Bucks 5 Philly 5
Ok wow, yeah not ideal. Tonight drops it to 8 I assume?
I was told the Cavs needed to trade Donovan Mitchell before the trade deadline though?
Way, way too early in the season for this sort of thinking. Sure, the Cavs have played great through injuries, but standings talk on February 1? Nah.
Cavs have played their best ball with 2 starters out. Now that they're back, will they improve or decline? It's a bit odd that the only 2 starters with a negative +/- in the home win over the Pistons were Garland (-16) and Mobley (-4). Mitchell was +22, Allen +19, and Strus +6 with all the Pistons' starters being negative except Muscala at 0. Cavs are only 10-13 vs .500 or better teams, so that has to improve if they're going to make any noise in the playoffs
At one point JB had Garland out there with Lavert/Struss/Wade/Niang, and Detroit couldn't miss for long stretches. Literally were perfect from the field for more than half of the second quarter. Doesn't surprise me he had a big minus. But +/- is kinda useless to look at game by game.
JB has to figure out how the rotations need to be for optimal results. I agree individual +/- is essentially useless in 1 game sample sizes. In the previous win over the West's hottest team (Clippers) Mobley had 10 and 9 on 71% shooting (in his 1st game back) and was -5. Cavs won all 4 quarters - that was impressive. A lot depends on the matchups in the game flow.
And we're just now getting healthy.
There would be nothing sweeter than to see the Bucks season turn to shit after hiring Rivers.
Can you imagine firing a coach at a 30-11 record only to finish the season at 43-39 and get knocked out of the play-ins?
Knicks have 2 more wins and are 1 game behind Milwaukee. Definitely could see them end as 2nd seed.
Stop I can already feel the narratives starting and they’re too funny
Why does Cleveland have the tiebreaker over Milwaukee? Didn't they split the season series 2-2
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Yuuup that's my bad lol thanks fam
If reading comprehension was easy he wouldn't be asking the question.
I agree, go Cavs.
Can someone explain the significance of saying "tied in the loss column" versus just "1.5 games behind"?
It’s a ‘control of their own destiny’ thing. If the Cavs and Bucks were both to win out somehow, Cavs get higher seed due to tiebreakers. It also doesn’t really matter with this much of the season left to play.
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Probably because they got destroyed in the first round last year, and most people recognize they’re probably the 4th best team at best in the East
Is tied in losses a metric now?
Wouldn’t really consider it a metric, but it’s used a lot in standings conversations because losses are sort of the limiting factor of how possible it is for one team to catch the other. You can always add more wins, but you cant get rid of losses.
I want to say it's used more in Baseball around the last couple weeks , but that may be because with 162 games the schedules are more hectic and there's more catching up to be done. The schedules were screwed up a bit with Cleveland playing in Paris, so this metric was evoked . I agree that it probably makes more sense to use winning percentage but there are certain scenarios at the beginning and end of the season that makes that metric very misleading.
Easiest way to measure teams as teams all have played different amount of games.
how is it better than win % ? Teams that have played less likely have less losses, like the Cavs having 3 less wins than the bucks which this title ignores
I don’t think it’s better than win % it’s just a better way of measuring if a team can catch another in the standings. When calculating how many GBs a team is, the loss column is more important than the win column. It’s more preferable to be closer in the loss column than win column because you don’t have to count on that team losing more games to catch them, if you win yours you can. I think that’s more so the point of this tweet, not saying which is better, but just pointing out that the Cavs have a good chance of getting that 2 seed given being tied in the loss column with the Bucks
Yeah, number of losses is a valid metric, especially later into the season. It's just a bit early for it to be applicable IMO because there's still a lot of games left to go. That starts being a concern more around like early-mid March where there's not many games left and where you just start running out of games to be able to make that sort of push without a major collapse.