Good afternoon CtB!
The Cavs welcome the Minnesota Timberwolves to the banks of the Cuyahoga River to complete the home and home measuring stick games against one of the West’s elite. The Cavs suffered a third quarter blowout Thursday night at the hands of these Wolves in a game full of weirdness for the good guys. Kenny Atkinson decided to start a lineup that had played exactly zero minutes the entire season together, and a backcourt that has shared a whopping 14 minutes total on the season. Then he decided to punish the starters by playing them all of the fourth quarter, only to have them sputter out the perfunctory loss. Suffice it to say it did not work at all and is yet another black mark on Coach Atkinson’s decision making this season full of questionable decisions that call into question what his plan actually is.
As one can easily tell from this graphic (courtesy of NBA.com), these are the Cavs’ 10 most used 5-man lineups on the season, of which Kenny Atkinson has given the most amount of minutes to the two worst-performing lineups so far this season. The fact that there are so many far more successful lineups receiving insufficient minutes is a damning indictment on his coaching this year. The Cavs are at their best when they lean into the defensive end and play bigger with some combination of Dean Wade, Sam Merrill, Lonzo Ball, DeAndre Hunter, NaeQwan Tomlin, or Jaylon Tyson. Will Atkinson get the memo? Stay tuned…
Also, as it was covered in a previous post, all of the Cavs’ problems would be solved if Darius Garland would simply stop being one of the worst starters in the NBA. The Cavs are sub .500 in games he’s started this season and are performing as a lottery team every time he touches the floor. He is singlehandedly holding the team back with his lack of defense and offensive firepower. Will Kenny Atkinson be a coach and hold him accountable? If the past is any indication, I wouldn’t hold my breath…
Tip off is scheduled for 1:00PM Eastern time and will be broadcasted nationally on Amazon Prime (#SilverForPrison), Go Cavs!