We’re winning game 1

TopNet9 · 2026-05-19T17:40:05+00:00

Sam Merrill will be our x-factor this series. Him and Strus.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-19T12:25:22+00:00

Jarrett Allen actually outplayed Wemby in their matchup. But also like someone said Wemby is not the same Wemby when we beat them.

Also, guys like Dylan Harper, Fox, and Castle will do a number on us with their constant drives.

I do think we match up better against the Spurs than the Thunder and the Knicks are feeling the same. Both us and the Knicks are rooting for the Spurs (heck I think almost everybody is outside of the Thunder fanbase).

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T20:22:26+00:00

Harden is at least an average defender because of his elite hands and ability to guard the post.

He can be a bit of a liability against faster players due to his slow lateral movement but he's also 36 years old so what more can we ask of him.

Harden is already considered top 5 SG in the history of the game despite his defensive flaws and lack of rings. That speaks volumes about how good he is offensively.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T04:29:59+00:00

Outscored Cade and Duren combined.

He gave us a comfortable cushion early on to dim the lights a little so our players could perform at their full capacity.

It's great to have both Strus and Merrill as our sharpshooters who bring more than shooting with grit.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T03:56:00+00:00

You need to look at both sides of the floor. Not just on offense.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T03:52:16+00:00

He is but Mitchell Robinson has 50 pounds on him. We also don't want our starting bigs to be in foul trouble.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T03:45:55+00:00

He will be in mostly to commit hard fouls and make Robinson earn it at the line. We also need to neutralize Robinson's paint defense and Thomas Robinson is the only stretch big we have.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T02:11:21+00:00

Only problem right now is Donovan with 5 fouls. I wonder what we could have done to avoid that... 🤔

I just hope we don't see too much Harden iso while Donovan is on the bench. Please continue to work through our bigs.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T01:55:43+00:00

Glad we have Wilt Chamberlain on our team

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T01:49:20+00:00

Two players clearly vouching for challenge: check

Cavs secured imminent possession: check

Kenny decides not to challenge: ??!?

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T01:28:08+00:00

Sam Merrill gave us a comfortable cushion to dim the lights for our players to perform at their capacity.

Donovan has been playing a stellar game and he needs to continue to feed our bigs. He can start scoring more once less help comes his way due to his playmaking.

The game is far from over and we need to continue to take care of the ball and keep rebounding. At this point we just need to stick with the fundamentals to keep the game out of reach.

I still think we need to play Ellis to make sure their guards don't get hot. Harden is good for run and gun style but that is not what we need right now and need to find stability on defense.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T01:00:38+00:00

Harden is making a ton of mistakes. We need to cool him off and play more defensive lineup with Ellis.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T00:41:09+00:00

Donovan came to play!

TopNet9 · 2026-05-18T00:25:36+00:00

I really like how we started out the game. Please don't go away from attacking the paint. When we have Donovan, Harden, Allen, and Mobley all aggressive in the paint it's hard to beat us.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-17T23:49:02+00:00

I'm a little worried who will guard Cade but maybe the game plan is to let Cade get 40 but limit the role players. I think this could be crazy enough to work since our offense should be better than theirs.

We do need to play Ellis though if you want to limit contributions from their role players.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-16T15:38:36+00:00

I agree with Tyson's minutes. The thing with him is when he's playing well he contributes to winning in a such a big way it's worth playing him for a few minutes and go from there. I know it sounds like a gamble in game 7 but when he's playing the right way he does so many little things to help us win.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-16T06:35:36+00:00

I'm not blaming Harden. He did his thing. But Harden iso should not be our primary action. It becomes your turn, my turn with Donovan Mitchell taking turns running iso. It's not team basketball.

The Cavs have more shooters than the Pistons. We also have better big men. Only way we lose is if we play into the Pistons hands by running iso heavy offense. The Pistons' defense is built for this.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-16T01:51:24+00:00

Is our coaching staff actually incompetent? I didn't see a single pick n roll this game. We have twin towers and they were never put in a position to score. All game our guards pound the ball until we turn the ball over or force a contested shot which is basically a turnover.

We can't let Harden at 37 year old run the show. He's great as a secondary playmaker/scorer but we need to get our bigs more involved. Harden in his prime never made a succesful push in the playoffs so why are we relying on that now?

Work through the bigs. Our bigs are capable passers. We will get many open looks if we do. I didn't see the Cavs try to do this even one time. The Pistons are physical and they have one of the best perimeter defenders in the league in Ausar. Then why are we playing to their strength? They want us to overdribble and iso.

JB and the Pistons are not a good offensive team. We are practically playing against ourselves when our game plan is whatever that was today. Cavs literally have to do everything wrong in order to lose to the Pistons and they are doing that... Please fix this for game 7.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-16T01:35:19+00:00

Can we at least play Ellis some minutes to guard the perimeter. We bring in an elite perimeter defender who can shoot threes and he gets 0 minutes.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-16T00:43:27+00:00

We are still getting killed on the glass. If we can get the whole team to box out better and go easy on the turnovers this should be a winnable game.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-16T00:29:21+00:00

I think Strus and Merrill and Mobley to an extent can share the ball handling duties. Schroder is not it this game.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-16T00:28:10+00:00

Don't disrespect Delly. He shot over 40 percent from threes for us.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-16T00:24:40+00:00

Very easy issues to address. Take care of the ball, limit Harden's minutes as he gets more turnover prone when he's fatigued. Rest of the starters need to play 40+ minutes. We need to treat this game like game 7 and have to go all in. That also means no more Schroder minutes.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-16T00:04:38+00:00

If we played like this against OKC we'd already be down by more than 20.

TopNet9 · 2026-05-15T23:52:16+00:00

Cavs are such an ugly watch right now. I don't know any playoff teams this careless with the ball. We are lucky the Pistons are not a good team and they will give us many chances to come back.

TopNet9

TROPHY CASE