Chase Down Podcast Live, presented by fubo: Thunder Top Cavs After Early Storm
The short-handed Thunder blew the Cavaliers out to start a Saturday matinee showdown, and Cleveland wasn’t able to make up the ground. Justin and Carter react.
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12 Comments
Are coach loves Dean Wade And Sam Merrill. These two should almost never see the floor
They played very poorly and I blame Coaching, they had plenty of time to study this Team and OKC has SGA & Williams out which was supposed to be a solid Win for the Cavs. I always said..Fire Kenny Atkinson who isn't an elite Head Coach who knows how to compete against the better Teams and it shows in how he Coaches. Stop trying to make him look like a Gregg Popivich & Phil Jackson type cause that's not who he is. It's only gonna get worse with what they have now because he doesn't know True Basketball & how to master his line ups.
1. They have to figure out the Mobley lineup. What is his role.
2. You could see moments where they appeared to be lost when plays fell apart. Need more time here.
3. Active defense tonight but Harden is a liability against fast pace offenses. He doesnt keep up
4. The cosching is questionable. Went away from the pick and roll moved to pick and pop and never cane back.
5. Mobley CANNOT be the position to shoot that 3. Call tine out or have a play ready for mitchell or harden
My notes:
That first quarter was a punch in the mouth and it lost them the game. The Cavs were fine after that point and their defense had lots of good moments but yikes. There’s good and bad things to take away.
Keon’s defense was good unless it was in zone. In general when a screen comes and Keon is guarding a man, Keon likes to switch off and basically pop into help position. It’s a fine style, pretty unique although it means that the other Cavs defender(who is now guarding the ball) has to be similarly fast getting in position. However, it’s also a tactic that allows Keon to be in help position while still watching the ball. In simple terms, Keon is great at ball-watching but he’s still ball watching.
The problem is that zone defense requires you to be more positional sound that normal so Keon is getting hit by the screen and since it’s not man defense where there’s extra help on the nail, it’s leading to Keon being ineffective. I don’t know if zone defense is ideal with Keon on the court. At least not with him at the top of the key. I’d stash him on the nail or play more traditional coverages.
The Cavs could use a more aggressive Harden as a shooter. Harden’s shooting inside the paint isn’t very great but there will be times where Harden can cook his matchup and create consistent advantages in isolation. I’m fine with him not doing it this game but a more aggressive Harden is a solution to these problems offensively.
The Cavs need Max Strus back in matchups like these. Dean Wade’s defense simply doesn’t have much of a place unless he’s guarding a scoring threat. And it wouldn’t come at a huge tax to the rebounding.
Jaylon Tyson looked flustered. A lot of it was him playing at the 4 and being uncomfortable with rolling into traffic and defending closer to the rim but he’d benefit from this experience.
This loss wasn’t good but a lot of the problems in this game are fixable. The Cavs need to empower Jaylon Tyson more and play him more because that’s their only way of getting Mobley and Allen involved against teams that pack the paint unless they go to Sam Merrill(which comes with defensive drawbacks). Max Strus would be really nice to have as an alternative to Dean Wade at the 4 when the team is healthy though. Everyone( but Mitchell and Schroeder) could’ve been better at something than they were, including Kenny Atkinson. It’s time to start to see that improvement happen.
D.Wade is NOT why we lost this game. He is a role player…PERIOD…play good up and down D..grab some boards..and move the ball! That's his job. The PROBLEM that Kenny KNOWS he has to figure out is the 2 big line-up. I personally want to see MOBLEY in the paint ..at all times..using his size and length for high percentage shots..and put-backs/rebounds or back-taps! Has any noticed that TYSON's play amd minutes have dropped off? That TURNOVER shit-show to start that game..can't happen! I like Nae'Qwans future for sure…BUT…Kenny needs to tighten the rotation so that the 5 combos he puts out there can get used to each other! DM..o for 6 from 3…brought back BAD MEMORIES of his HORRIFIC 3 point shooting against INDY last year in games 1 and. 2 at HOME..that NOBODY ever really talked about! I like DM going to the basket as well!! That really is his strength!
Unfortunately…we lost A LOT of street cred in this VERY DISAPPOINTING game against the OKC B team!
Carter…SO GLAD you talked about the DM AWAL 3 ball!
And FINALLY….KENNY…PLEASE stop playing that ridiculous ZONE D! It just gives good teams..WIDE OPEN SHOTS! Trust your personnel!
The team continues to seem unprepared against top opponents. I blame the coaching staff
We should start Tyson or Ellis over Wade
What the hell happened to our DPOY? Paid over 40 million / year and starting with that type of effort is pathetic and unacceptable.
The Cavs outscored the Thunder by 15 in the final 40 minutes of the game.