Game 14: Cavs @ Sixers 11/21 @ 7:30 pm ET TNT Ugly Court Game 4 Thread

[Iverson Armband]

If Maxey is going to be our star guard next to Embiid, he needs to be able to get off a better shot than that putrid 3. That is not going to cut it.

[HotelVitale]

Not that mad at this game, we played awful in the first half-- bad defense and terrible decision making, bad shooting in addition to bad offensive execution--and we still had a good chance to win. You can see how good our baseline should be and I don't think there's any reason not to expect us to tighten it up for most games.

That said, we do need some real offensive threats. Can't just energy our way to wins against good teams.

[Mik317]

team misses the bulk scoring that Oubre provides

and thats bad lol

They miss his size and athletic ability too.

They miss his energy and cutting on offense, too much standing around tonight.

Games like this show why LaVine is not the answer. Need one or two more starters solid two way players in the starting lineup, not a no D rarely passes gunner.

I mean that is exactly how one would have described Oubre before this year too tho.

[76ciology]

Great game. We need more games like this so we know what we need or dont need.

[M2J]

team misses the bulk scoring that Oubre provides

and thats bad lol

Which is why I keep beating the drum that they'll need more offense for the playoffs. 2 way potential ideal.

However, hopefully Oubre is that much of a difference maker . But I doubt it, because while playing with pace is a big deal at any level, fast break points in general are not reliable in the playoffs and certainly not vs elite teams nightly... Plus not enough 3s., and I actually think the top 3 guys were fine tonight...

[Kova]

Stupid loss. We were out of the game and decided to turn up in the 4th. But too late. Kept getting punished because of Embiid's 5 fouls.
Boston lost in Charlotte and we had a nice opportunity to get one back, but we blew it. And yeah, we're out of the tournament as well.
Pretty disappointing.
AND we're playing in Minnesota today, which is probably another L. All of a sudden we're 10-5 which is worse than we should have been.

[76ciology]

We had two chances. That Biid jumper at right elbow and that Maxey drive (the Celtics-Tatum set). I think we’d make those two shots more often than not.

[76ciology]

Stupid loss. We were out of the game and decided to turn up in the 4th. But too late. Kept getting punished because of Embiid's 5 fouls.
Boston lost in Charlotte and we had a nice opportunity to get one back, but we blew it. And yeah, we're out of the tournament as well.
Pretty disappointing.
AND we're playing in Minnesota today, which is probably another L. All of a sudden we're 10-5 which is worse than we should have been.

Season is still way too early

[Zumramania]

team misses the bulk scoring that Oubre provides

and thats bad lol

They miss his size and athletic ability too.

They miss his energy and cutting on offense, too much standing around tonight.

Games like this show why LaVine is not the answer. Need one or two more starters solid two way players in the starting lineup, not a no D rarely passes gunner.

I think the team will now ban BMX riding lol

[LordCovington33]

I love Embiid, but he is not the guy. Again poor shot efficiency when the pressure is on for win. I also noticed a lot of hesitation too.

[mjkvol]

Stupid loss. We were out of the game and decided to turn up in the 4th. But too late. Kept getting punished because of Embiid's 5 fouls.
Boston lost in Charlotte and we had a nice opportunity to get one back, but we blew it. And yeah, we're out of the tournament as well.
Pretty disappointing.
AND we're playing in Minnesota today, which is probably another L. All of a sudden we're 10-5 which is worse than we should have been.

Season is still way too early

Exactly. I don't really start watching record and seedings until March-April. It's more about how the team looks, how it's taking to the new scheme, rotations, health, and whatever moves might get done to the roster in that time.

Last night was a fun game that could just as easily have been a W if Embiid's elbow shot or especially Maxey's layup had dropped - don't know how that stayed out. It's nice to get a little juice and playoff feel in regular season games here and there, and like you said, this type of game is great to see how the group responds and to show what we need.

[youngcrev]

I'm kinda surprised there's this much pushback on Embiid getting that shot. Maxey was awful in that game. Roasted on defense and couldn't get anything to fall.

They lost that game in the first half. And took longer than they should have in the 2nd half to dig themselves out of that hole by complaining to/about the refs.

Can't lose that one after exerting that much effort on the front end of a back to back. Batum should be fresh at least... (This was by far his worst game since getting here, and not just the fouling).

On the plus side... They did show that they can crank things up defensively to a really high level. If only they had half that effort in the first half.

[mjkvol]

I love Embiid, but he is not the guy. Again poor shot efficiency when the pressure is on for win. I also noticed a lot of hesitation too.

He's been much better this season with regard to hesitation, and he's still getting comfortable with the motion and ball movement. The only really glaring example of his hesitation was off the P&R when Maxey got him a wide open elbow jumper and he turned it into a contested fall away shot, which with his size should never happen. Funny, though - he made it.

[Jailblazers7]

Definitely saw some bad habits reemerge from Embiid & Maxey wasn’t sharp at all. He obviously missed the layup but also missed a ton of quality shots. That one felt like a bad luck game honestly, we missed a lot of easy shots.

I know it’s blasphemy around here but I would’ve liked to see Tobi more involved in the 4th quarter offense. He was the only one that looked like he had his shooting touch last night.

They definitely solved our defense in that one tho I’d be curious to see a film breakdown.

[ExplosionsInDaSky]

I loved the defensive effort in the second half. As it turns out, our offense was the problem and shots just weren't falling for us. Also turns out that the 35-foot bomb that Stus hit before the half was a dagger. Things like that are what drive me crazy with this team. We can't give up stuff like that because it potentially bites us later on down the line.

My main concern is still the inability to finish these tight games. Doesn't matter who the coach is, we can't seem to do it. Embiid got a great look at the end of the 4th and bricked it, the missed Maxey layup was costly as well. We had two seconds left on the clock which is plenty of time to get off a shot and we immediately threw the ball away to end the game. That too is maddening when that happens.

I know this sounds like a bunch of complaining from me, but this season so far has been fun and that's all I wanted out of this team this year. We are undermanned yet overachieving. Pat Bev isn't the answer off the bench, but he's fun, Kelly Oubre has been charismatic and fun, Maxey is fun, Tobias is finally having fun as a member of this team, Nick Nurse is a great coach and we are in good hands with him as long as he doesn't burn our guys out. Morey is a great GM and always has something cooking for us. This is a great era of basketball for this city compared to the mediocre, ho-hum 8th-seed teams that we were constantly looking at during the mid-2000s/early 2010s era. I mean, we were stuck back then. Good enough for an 8th seed, but never bad enough to get a lotto pick worth a damn.

Short of writing a novella here, I think this team lacks another lead guard to pair with Maxey. That guard doesn't have to be Donovan Mitchell but if Cleveland wants to trade him, then I'd be all in on the idea of getting him as opposed to trading for LaVine. I think it's a bit more simple than that. I think a player like Gary Trent Jr would really help us out. A bigger guard can shoot, not a liability on defense. Again, we're not talking about adding another star player, just a starter-level talent that we can add to the team concept. Trent is a great fit due to his familiarity with Nurse along with his ability to play as a starter or off the bench.

The loss of Oubre is hurting more than I initially realized. We've been a below .500 team without him and we're not as athletic. I'm not saying he's this massive piece we're missing, but he's more important to this team than given credit for. We get KO back and those second quarters are going to flow a bit better for us. You add a Gary Trent to the roster along with a healthy Oubre and our bench is going to be much improved. Stan Van Gundy kept reiterating last night about how our bench had given us nothing all game long. Nurse has his hands tied with that situation at the moment. He wants defenders out there, but we need scoring. We had that with Oubre, he'll be back, but it's still going to be the cause of our downfall come postseason unless we find a way to address it.

One more thing, I notice that we struggle against fast, athletic teams. Since both Covington and Batum are older wing players, we're going to have to get it done collectively as group. I guess it's safe to say at this point that KJ Martin will not be in the rotation any time soon? I was hyped about us getting him in the trade with the Clippers, but he looks even more lost than Jaden Springer out there. From one angle this team looks older and slow, but then you add in Oubre, Springer, Paul Reed, and the "idea" of KJ Martin and it's like "holy crap, this team is fast and athletic." What's the trade-off though? Do you sacrifice the experience and stability that a Pat Bev, Covington, and Batum give you and go with youth and athleticism? We're clamoring for more minutes for Springer, but the kid can't handle the basketball and he's getting himself in bad situations on offense every time. He's also fouling a lot on defense and getting burned in PnR situations. But...More time and experience might fix that for him. KJ Martin is a ghost at this point, he should be playing, he can impact games, and he has a little experience, but he can't shoot to save his life, he's a liability on offense, but the potential and ability IS there for him.

All in all, I expect the rotations to change a bit as the season goes on. Guys that are playing now WILL not be playing later on in the season and vice versa. It's a long season and it's a feeling out process right now. We're off to a good start, guys are still getting acclimated, this is basically Springers rookie year, KJ Martin has never played on a good team so he doesn't know what that's like, Paul Reed isn't ascending the way we hoped, but he's solid as a backup. We'll be ok.

Apologies for the long post.

[youngcrev]

Definitely saw some bad habits reemerge from Embiid & Maxey wasn’t sharp at all. He obviously missed the layup but also missed a ton of quality shots. That one felt like a bad luck game honestly, we missed a lot of easy shots.

I know it’s blasphemy around here but I would’ve liked to see Tobi more involved in the 4th quarter offense. He was the only one that looked like he had his shooting touch last night.

They definitely solved our defense in that one tho I’d be curious to see a film breakdown.

Maybe down the stretch (and on the other end with Garland banking that 3 down the stretch was a killer).

I'd say it was more just terrible effort in the first half defensively. Perimeter guys couldn't get over screens and Embiid kept getting caught in no man's land partially because of that (and partially because he just wasn't doing a good enough job).

When they turned up the intensity in the 2nd half I thought the Cavs really struggled to create good looks.

[youngcrev]

Read on Twitter

Clearly this was the issue. Garland used some type of MonStars technology to steal some of Maxey's juice. The NBA should look into this, but of course they won't, because it's the Sixers. SMH

[Ferry Avenue]

With regard to whether the team can advance beyond the second round for a change, the team's record over 14 games is far less informative than whether there is evidence within the team's character on the floor that it possesses the ability to accomplish that. I'd say the evidence at this point is inconclusive but not hopeful.

[Lou_23]

Very dissapointed loss, and not only because we are eliminated, the reality is that we lose at home vs the two good teams in the group.

[the_process]

The ceiling on this team hasn't changed. The feelings changed because a boat anchor was untied from the team's leg.

Anyway, it's still November. There's plenty of time to bitch and moan later. No need to do it now.