Game 25: Cavs @ Celtics 12/14/23

[Iwasawitness]

I just saw what happens when Allen lets his defense behind him help and it wasn’t great lol

Maybe I’m making too many excuses, but I can chalk this up to lacking Mobley. The Celts size was getting unfair and they are the number one team in the league for a reason

You can very easily chalk both losses as that. Cavaliers just aren’t the same team without Mobley.

[JonFromVA]

So the biggest thing I noticed is when we are pre-switching and rotating and we have a player closing out a little late or even right on time, the Celtics are shooting it every time because they know they we aren’t going give away the lane to the basket.

Because the rotations have looked fast and good today and they Celts are shooting them and making them. If I’m right, I hope we come out of the timeout and figure out a different way to rotate/switch or we go out hard and focus on contesting the shots rather than containing the drive. Then switch it up if needed.

Also, I think Allen can go out to the perimeter and guard players with the caveat that the player is not a player who is efficient self-generating threes. He shows his play too easy leaning his left foot back and right foot towards to the player so he doesn’t get blown by, but, as Tatum did, he just has to lunge forward to get Allen off balance and have an open three point shot. May need to trust the defenders behind him to help…

On offense, we gotta mix it up. It’s been PNR, reset, PNR, reset. Boston is too switchable to typically create openings into the paint which is making our threes not as open. We have had some open ones and we’ve missed them. Our half court offense looks terrible right now.

As to the Allen part, Mobley isn't behind him.

I get it, but we have to try something different imo. Or maybe it’s just best to give them that shot and not allow the lane. Some analytics person with Synergy data knows haha

Funny, I didn't have too much to say about this game, but wanted to talk about how ineffective Allen has been defending in ISO on a switch. It's not at all what I've come to expect from him.

I was going to suggest maybe he's dealing with an injury that's slowing him down; but then I took a look at the box and realized on the 3rd game in 4 nights that JBB decided to play him 39 minutes. So Mobley's absence may be contributing multiple ways.

At least the free throw disparity evened up and I can only hope Ricky's #1 fan wasn't watching to see if Lamaaaar played last night - almost feel sorry for both of them.

JBB tried going small when Allen was on the bench, so at least he tried something new? Alas, Boston went on a 7-0 run against it in the 4th quarter. Our ability to fight back in games is commendable, but closing out has become pretty questionable. Garland and Mitchell are supposed to be stepping up, but we only scored 20 in the 4th and our defense hasn't been good enough to hold Boston under that.

[jbk1234]

As to the Allen part, Mobley isn't behind him.

I get it, but we have to try something different imo. Or maybe it’s just best to give them that shot and not allow the lane. Some analytics person with Synergy data knows haha

Funny, I didn't have too much to say about this game, but wanted to talk about how ineffective Allen has been defending in ISO on a switch. It's not at all what I've come to expect from him.

I was going to suggest maybe he's dealing with an injury that's slowing him down; but then I took a look at the box and realized on the 3rd game in 4 nights that JBB decided to play him 39 minutes. So Mobley's absence may be contributing multiple ways.

At least the free throw disparity evened up and I can only hope Ricky's #1 fan wasn't watching to see if Lamaaaar played last night - almost feel sorry for both of them.

JBB tried going small when Allen was on the bench, so at least he tried something new? Alas, Boston went on a 7-0 run against it in the 4th quarter. Our ability to fight back in games is commendable, but closing out has become pretty questionable. Garland and Mitchell are supposed to be stepping up, but we only scored 20 in the 4th and our defense hasn't been good enough to hold Boston under that.

I don't know that Mitchell has shot well in the last 5 minutes of a game all season.

[ijspeelman]

I get it, but we have to try something different imo. Or maybe it’s just best to give them that shot and not allow the lane. Some analytics person with Synergy data knows haha

Funny, I didn't have too much to say about this game, but wanted to talk about how ineffective Allen has been defending in ISO on a switch. It's not at all what I've come to expect from him.

I was going to suggest maybe he's dealing with an injury that's slowing him down; but then I took a look at the box and realized on the 3rd game in 4 nights that JBB decided to play him 39 minutes. So Mobley's absence may be contributing multiple ways.

At least the free throw disparity evened up and I can only hope Ricky's #1 fan wasn't watching to see if Lamaaaar played last night - almost feel sorry for both of them.

JBB tried going small when Allen was on the bench, so at least he tried something new? Alas, Boston went on a 7-0 run against it in the 4th quarter. Our ability to fight back in games is commendable, but closing out has become pretty questionable. Garland and Mitchell are supposed to be stepping up, but we only scored 20 in the 4th and our defense hasn't been good enough to hold Boston under that.

I don't know that Mitchell has shot well in the last 5 minutes of a game all season.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/shooting.fcgi?player_id=mitchdo01&year_id=2024&quarter=4&time_quarter=0-3&margin=0-5&time_quarter=0-3

^ this is Donovan Mitchell's stats for a margin <= 5 in the 4th Quarter



Looks like Mitchell has been crazy good with < 3 minutes on the clock, but otherwise has been less than stellar.

I do know he draws fouls in this time and this isn't showcased here so his TS% should be a bit higher than his eFG%