The Haves vs. the Cav-Nots

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I have a meeting late this afternoon so I will have to catch the League Pass replay, but I thought I would kick off the game thread. The Wolves have been Have-Nots for so many years, it's difficult to avoid giddiness upon reading Marc Stein's power rankings. At least in the mind of one ESPN pundit, the Wolves have moved into the rarified air of the Elite. The Cavs on the other hand are talent-challenged, and underachieving at that. Irving is a marvelous point guard, but is really struggling with his shot in the early going, and he really doesn't have many sharpshooters to pass to. Varejo was putting up freakish numbers last year before his injury, but doesn't appear to be fully recovered with only 7 rebounds per game.

The Wolves have a big talent edge, but they arrived in the Mistake by the Lake late last night after an exhausting game in the Garden, and may be suffering from heavy legs. The oddsmakers recognize this, and have installed the more talented Wolves as a 2-point dog. As many pointed out last night, Pek, Love and Rubio logged over 40 minutes last night, and Martin wasn't far behind. They will need Corey, JJ, Shved, DC, and the Caged Lion to really step up tonight to win this game, and we may even see cameos from the rookies (especially Dieng)...even AJ has a shot of getting into this game.

Could go right down to the wire tonight, and if it does, it will be interesting to see if our guys are resilient enough to pull another one out. We have a real chance of pulling a minor upset and going into the Golden State game 4-0.

[mjs34]

The most important thing is to go into the GS game healthy. I don't want to see Adelman riding guys like he did last season. You have to look at the big picture.

Adelman has been better already this season in that he isn't making wholesale substitutions. Let's hope that strategy continues. I would like to see him sub out Pek or Martin after 6 minutes, and then get them back in when Love sits down (for an extended amount of time tonight).

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I agree, sjm. The elite coaches in the league like Popovich understand the concept of coaching for the season, not just for one game. I want them to win tonight, and the game is winnable, but Wednesday night is a much more important game and keeping our core players' minutes under 32 is essential tonight. I especially don't want to push Martin with his injury history. Hence, Shved becomes a key player tonight.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I'd like to see us keep our composure the whole game tonight. I'd actually kind of like a close one, or even one where we need to come from behind. We've gone into the last three quarters of the last three games with nice big leads, but after that played about even ball or even lost points. I'd like to see a fourth quarter like our last 3 first quarters tonight.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Rough start so far defensively, and that has made all the difference, because it's taken away our transition game and we don't look like we're playing with energy. This is looking bad.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Shved looks terrible, and so does our offense right now. And we've got Pek on the floor. Why aren't we getting that guy the ball every time down the court?

[Yosimar]

Adelman's rotations and the lineups he uses and when puzzles me. When his team was blowing someone out he left the starters in longer then he should have when they could've rested. Meanwhile in this game they're letting this game get away from them and the starters are on the bench...

[Yosimar]

Barea with his patented dribble around pass to no one and shoot (airball).

[thedoper]

It is an evil barea night.

[Yosimar]

Shved still on the floor, team's getting badly outplayed. I think Adelman and the wolves have conceded this one already.

I mean the Cavs got this lead with their bench.