brian1227
Well-known member
At end of game they sat the whole team.They played tristan and g league players. It a very bad look.; while Knicks wanted to win
Cavs 2023-24
- Thread starter y2h
- Start date
Such a weenie move just to try to “guarantee” a first round playoff series win. Throwing a game out of fear of winding up as the two seed and having to face the Sixers or Heat right away. In doing so they gave away a rare division championship and a playoff path that, as it turned out, would have been the Cavs as the three seed opening with the Pacers, then a great chance of having home court advantage in the next round against the Heat or Sixers and a very real possibility of home court in the conference finals if the Bucks beat the Celtics…which is not out of the question. What a chicken-shyt move by a soft franchise. I can’t root for an organization with that mentality. Here’s hoping the Magic sweeps 4-0 and starts the Cavs back to another prolonged stretch of irrelevancy. It didn’t have to be this way, but the Cavs chose to be cowards.
Cleveland could have avoided Boston until the conference finals. It could have had home court advantage in the second round. Instead, the Cavs got so zeroed in on manipulating the standings that they played themselves into a more difficult path. Given that Orlando’s physical style is similar to the last season’s Knicks, it sure looks like Cleveland chose the tougher path in the short-term, too. The Pacers probably would have been a more favorable matchup for the Cavs.
As the Cavs tanked, the Knicks went all out to beat the Bulls in overtime, earn their 50th win of the season, and secure the No. 2 seed. Remember the fourth quarter against the Hornets if Cleveland runs into trouble in the first round vs. Orlando. This was always their choice.
www.sbnation.com
As the Cavs tanked, the Knicks went all out to beat the Bulls in overtime, earn their 50th win of the season, and secure the No. 2 seed. Remember the fourth quarter against the Hornets if Cleveland runs into trouble in the first round vs. Orlando. This was always their choice.
The Cavs threw last game to manipulate NBA Playoff matchups, and it could haunt them
The Cavs tanking the last game of the season reeks of cowardice and idiocy
www.sbnation.com
wolves82
Highly Respected Expert
Strange decision for sure, very short-sighted. Sure, I'd rather face Orlando in the first round. But now you have made Orlando aware of that also, and they will feel disrespected, so they will come at you hard. And from there you get Boston.
I would have done all I could to stay on the other half of the bracket away from Boston until the East Final.
I would have done all I could to stay on the other half of the bracket away from Boston until the East Final.
What I really hate about all of this is the Cavs are well aware of the league-wide perception that they are a soft team and organization..,and they went out and fed that beast. And how do you just toss away a chance to hang a division champs banner? It’s not the end goal, of course, but it is a tangible award and is forever recorded in the history of the game. And as you said, the Magic are going to be pumped and I really believe they are going to win the series. The backlash from all of this will be unreal.
Spot on. A joke move!
I've been a Cavs fan my entire life and I'll be one until the day I die, but I hate it when my team is scared of playing somebody. And they're scared. And everybody knows they're scared. And this isn't just a JB issue, this is a front-office issue as well because I'm sure they signed-off on sitting starters yesterday and not winning that game.
Bickerstaff explains what happened and why........
Cavs' JB Bickerstaff gets 100% real on roster decision in loss to Hornets
Is JB Bickerstaff right with his decision?
cavsnation.com
Wildcat97
Well-known member
He can't even lie well. Terrible article too. You weren't "locked in" to the 4 at that point. You were set to be 2 or 3, then you shut them down, because you either decided to throw it, or were told to.Bickerstaff explains what happened and why........
Cavs' JB Bickerstaff gets 100% real on roster decision in loss to Hornets
Is JB Bickerstaff right with his decision?cavsnation.com
Yep. And the worst of all is to say they wanted to give all the end of the bench players some time as a reward. This is professional sports. People pay a lot of money to attend the games and buy merch. Advertisers pay a lot. TV networks pay a lot. Gamblers pay a lot. This isn’t fuggin Little League baseball where every kid gets a goddamed at bat! You play to win! Especially with a division title at stake. I mean, they only have seven in their 53 seasons. One you still call a miracle and six more with LBJ. Would have been nice to hang number eight in the rafters.
On the plus side, the Cavs are one of ten teams that sold out every home game this season. I never think of Cleveland as a great basketball town, but even in the bad years the attendance has been good. Obviously the Browns get good attendance. The jackasses that own the Guardians might take note, spend some money to upgrade the roster and I would bet wins and attendance would both trend upward.
nwwarrior09
Well-known member
Both of these teams in this 7/8 play-in game look like crap.
Cavs should be absolutely ashamed ducking both of them with home court advantage.
Cavs should be absolutely ashamed ducking both of them with home court advantage.
They looked like crap against each other, but that doesn’t mean either wouldn’t bludgeon the docile Cavs. I agree, though. It was deplorable to duck any team. Sends a very soft message about the team.
I will go on record saying this was not JB’s call…this came from the front office/owner and he just played foot soldier. This from a front office that lives and dies with awful draft pics…Bennett, Waiters and the 5’7 dude from Oakland…TT, a serviceable player but not a lottery pick, Joe Harris? We kept him in the G league..in Brooklyn he was a knockdown 45% shooter, Sexton, Mobley…while other teams are drafting European players who are ready day 1…..we lived and died with LBJ..now we live and die with Mitchell…we are stuck…no draft capital…and Mitchell maybe walking…it isn’t all coaching..it is front office.
I agree it was the front office who ordered JB to throw the game. JB would love to have that division title attached to his record and no way he just lets that go on his own. But the fact he went along with it shows me what I already knew…that he is soft and has created a culture of softness.
As for the drafts, you can only go by the Altman picks. You can’t saddle him with some of the bad picks of the past, just as you can’t give him credit for any of the great picks from before his time.
With the drafting I was addressing the organization, not JB..
nwwarrior09
Well-known member
In terms of draft picks, Koby has been pretty solid IMO. Respective to draft position and draft class.
Okoro is the easiest to about, but if you go back and look at his draft nobody of any real impact went in the next handful of picks after him. Six picks later Vassell (sp. ?) went, and to this point he's just been a solid scorer for really bad Spurs teams.
Biggest missed opportunity was in 2018. Sexton was a solid pick at #8, but that draft was very deep. There were as many as four players in the next six picks that have probably been better than him to this point. An All-NBA player and MVP contender in Gilgeous-Alexander went three picks later. I'd much rather have SGA now than have Mitchell.
Okoro is the easiest to about, but if you go back and look at his draft nobody of any real impact went in the next handful of picks after him. Six picks later Vassell (sp. ?) went, and to this point he's just been a solid scorer for really bad Spurs teams.
Biggest missed opportunity was in 2018. Sexton was a solid pick at #8, but that draft was very deep. There were as many as four players in the next six picks that have probably been better than him to this point. An All-NBA player and MVP contender in Gilgeous-Alexander went three picks later. I'd much rather have SGA now than have Mitchell.
I could be wrong, but I thought at the time SGA made it known he didn’t want to be drafted by CLE. He may have even refused to work out for them pre-draft. I might be confusing him with someone else, though.
Here we are, a few hours away from the playoffs and there has been no real activity in this thread all week…which mirrors the lack of public enthusiasm in the Cleveland area this week. Could the tanking of the game last Sunday really have done that much damage, or does the public just not believe in this team? I feel like if the Cavs win Game 1 the series will take over the attention of the public in NEO. Right now I hear more buzz about the Guardians and they are only 20 games into a 162 game season.
Are you kidding me? An all female announcing crew on ESPN? Time to do some yardwork and listen to Tim Alcorn call the game on the Bose headphones.
nwwarrior09
Well-known member
I don't recall.
Off of memory, I was thinking that Sexton would have been higher on most draft boards and prospect lists than SGA, Bridges (x2), and Porter. Looking back, that doesn't seem to be the case. Coming out of high school Sexton was a top-5 recruit, but looking at pre-draft stuff most had all three of those other guys ahead of him, with Sexton going somewhere late lottery/mid-1st.
Sexton was a slight reach, and it looks to me like all three of those guys would have been regarded as better picks in the moment.
The pregame show was even worse.. Stephen A yelling like a buffoon and Kendrick speaking a language that was loosely based on English
Just goes to show the disrespect the network has for the Cavs and Magic. There was an analyst this week who said that this was the NBA throw away series. Turn to Bally's for the real telecast.
OldSoulon
Well-known member
That’s just more of ESPN shoving women’s basketball and women announcers at their audience.
OldSoulon
Well-known member
Even sloppier now, and the threes aren't falling