Cavaliers Preview Game #1
October 28, 2008Rose Bowl, Anyone?
October 29, 2008New look Cavaliers look like old look Cavaliers at times as they drop their season opener to the Boston Celtics 90-85.
For one half Tuesday night, the Cavaliers looked like true title contenders. They came out strong jumping to a 12-4 lead early and rode their early success to a 50-43 halftime edge over the reigning NBA Champs on Ring Night in Boston. Then, a familiar thing happened….the 3rd quarter.
The Cavaliers reverted right back to old form in the 2nd half last night, using questionable lineups, shoddy defense, sloppy rebounding, stale offense, and giving away turnovers as they allowed the Celtics to gain a lead they would never again relinquish. In the end, it all added up to a 90-85 loss for the Cavaliers on a night which initially looked like it was time for the Cavaliers to make a statement.  Â
This was a tale of two halves, indeed. In the first half, the offense was especially sharp. New point guard Mo Williams showed right away the impact he could have on this team. Mike Brown is always a fan of the “hockey assist” in basketball, and Mo Williams was consistently swinging the ball around to the other side of the court which allowed the Cavs to setup some good looks, back door cuts, and alley oop attempts. Mo hit a big 3-pointer early to help the Cavaliers open up an early lead and he would end up with 5 points in the quarter and seemed well on his way to a 20 point night.
LeBron James was not forcing anything on offense, and in fact, there were several possessions in which he never even had to touch the ball at all. This was key as it forced the Celtics to have to adjust their defense to what the Cavaliers were doing. It was strange to see it, but the Cavaliers were using people other than LeBron to beat the Celtics. This looked like a welcome sight in the first half. The Cavaliers defense was a little subpar at times in the first half, and they definitely gave the Celtics a few too many 2nd chance points and “And One” opportunities because they were slow to rotate the help on defense, but they still held the Celtics to 43 points and this game looked like one the Cavaliers would be able to control.
In the 2nd half, though, everything fell apart and this team looked the same old, ugly team that we can never seem to get rid of. The ball movement on offense dried up, the team gave the ball away time and time again, and on defense there were numerous times where guys were sleeping on the court and completely missed their assignments. After a nice start, Mo Williams looked tentative and even nervous at times in the 2nd half. His hesitation really cost the Cavs as they were never able to find that #2 scorer to help LeBron. Mo ended the game with 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting (3-of-5 from three and 1-of-1 from the line) with only 2 assists while racking up 5 fouls and turning the ball over 4 times.
LeBron had a decent game, but not a great one. He finished with 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, but he also had 4 fouls and 3 turnovers as well. More importantly, perhaps, he continued to miss critical free throws when the Cavaliers needed them most. With a minute and a half left in the game, Kevin Garnett hit a FT to give the Celtics an 86-80 edge over Cleveland and the game felt like it was slipping away. However, Mo Williams came down and hit a big 3 to make it 86-83, and on the subsequent possession, he grabbed a big rebound off a Leon Powe miss. The ball came to LeBron and he had a nice drive and had a good look on a layup, but couldn’t get it to go down with 40 seconds left in the game. After a Paul Pierce miss, LeBron grabbed the rebound with 15 seconds left in the game. On the next play, LeBron drew a foul on Pierce to go to the line, down 3, with 10 seconds remaining. The Cavs needed both FTs to have a chance in the game, but LeBron missed the first. After making the 2nd, the Cavs tried to press but nobody decided to guard Leon Powe who was all the way on the other side of the court. Pierce threw the ball all the way down to Powe for a wide open dunk, and from there the game was essentially over.
You never want to overreact to the first game of a long season, but there were certainly some good things to take away from this one as well as some bad things.
Mo Williams certainly still needs to find his niche on this team. He can’t be scoring only 12 points and having only 2 assists. His defense on Rondo was pretty bad as well, but when the Cavs switched and put Delonte on him, West didn’t fare much better. Rondo just had a great night and was slicing through the Cavaliers’ defense all night. Mo will also have to cut down on the turnovers as well. Many of them seemed almost unforced as well. It looked like he was nervous, and he played like it at times. There were moments where he was very good as well, and it’s definitely a work in progress.
The worst stretch of this game came with the lineup of Daniel Gibson, Delonte West, Sasha Pavlovic, Anderson Varejao, and Lorenzen Wright. This lineup better not be a regular part of the Cavaliers’ repertoire, or there are going to be even more really ugly stretches like this. At the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was only 67-63 in favor of Boston. The Cavs started the 4th quarter with this lineup that had no clue what they were doing offensively and was consistently being punished in the paint defensively, and by the time Mo Williams, LeBron James, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas came back in to try to rescue them with 8 minutes left, the score had been pushed to 76-68 and the momentum of the game was completely in Boston’s favor. Even though the Cavs made some bad plays down the stretch, it really felt like it was this beginning of the 4th quarter where this game was lost. I’m not sure if JJ Hickson was still being punished for being late to the shootaround before the last preseason game or if Mike Brown didn’t want him to get his first taste of NBA action on the road against the defending champs, or what, but he got a big fat “DNP Coach’s Decision” as his replacement, Lorenzen Wright, struggled on offense and was abused on defense as well.
Daniel Gibson played a particularly bad game as well. He came in early and showed a nice running floater that he is hoping to become a big part of his arsenal, but perhaps in all his practicing of scoring with the ball and creating his own shots he forgot to practice his jump shot this offseason. In 23 minutes of action he scored only 6 points on 2-8 shooting from the field, including 0-2 from three, missing a couple critical open 3-point looks.
There were definitely some positives to walk away from this game with, though. Anderson Varejao played a particularly good game, as he logged the most minutes off the bench and scored 9 points while grabbing 9 rebounds. He was keeping possessions alive with 4 offensive rebounds and he also had 3 steals while only being called for 2 fouls. He was the Anderson Varejao we used to remember from days of old, the one who didn’t try to do too much on offense and found his points in the rhythm of the offense rather than forcing it, grabbing key rebound after key rebound, and pesetering the opponents all day long and getting under their skin.
It’s also a positive that the Cavaliers only lost by 5 to the reigning champs on their home opener, season opener, the night in which their banners were raise to the rafters. This was a motivated Celtics team that wanted to come out and make a statement. The Cavaliers held their ground, and if the Celtics really are the best team in the East, this game showed that the Cavaliers are right there with them. Statistically, this game was extremely even. The Celtics shot 44.6% from the field while the Cavs were 42.6%. The Cavs were 20% from distance, the Celtics 21.4%. The Cavs outrebounded the Celtics 41-36, but the Celtics had the advantage with 10 offensive rebounds to Cleveland’s disappointing 8. The Cavs had 16 assists to 21 turnovers while the Celtics had 16 assists to 16 turnovers. The Cavs had 18 points off Celtics turnovers while the Celtics had 14 points off Cavaliers turnovers.
Unlike last season when the Cavaliers came out particularly lifeless and looked really bad in big games, the Cavs looked really good for large stretches of this game. They showed intensity and they showed that they are going to be a tough team to beat. There’s no denying that if the Cavaliers truly want to become an elite team, they are going to have to start figuring out ways to win games like these on the road, but for being just the first game out of 82, I walk away from this game sad that they lost, but encouraged that there is potential here for this to be a very, very great team this season.
45 Comments
Please deep six Lorenzen Wright…….zero energy, lethargic, a total stiff. I’d rather see a raw rookie with a motor (Hickson, Jackson when he returns, et al).
Please…….don’t take too much time to fit this dude where he belongs: the inactive list.
great write up, yeah the announcers said that J.J. was still being punished. I thought lorenzen came out putting all he had into it and actually looking not bad, but then he turned to garbage.
That line up was horrible! I was complaining about it the whole time. Why was boobie playing ball handler and point? Shouldn’t Delonte be our back up PG? I know we kinda need him at the two but boobie just doesn’t create as well for others, or run an offense as well. What was MB thinking?
Overall I liked the signs of dominance we saw in the first half, and the times when mo ran or hit big shots. He really can shoot, but he needs to definitely do a better job running plays and dishing those dimes.
When LeBron is out, Z and/or Mo have to be on the floor. That lineup to start the 4th quarter was awful (Sasha as the go-to-guy?).
I thought Wright played fine in the first half, though I didn’t see him in the second half.
Lebron got burned far too many times by Pierce, and the 3rd quarter overall was painful to watch as shot after shot went ‘clunk’ off the rim by Cavs, including 3’s by everyone except Mo. Naturally, Boston nailed shots on the other end. Frustrating.
Hopefully a week or 2 should smooth some things out, and Mike Brown will trim down his rotation, instead of running a nearly complete lineup of 2nd string players.
Agreed! Wright needs to be at the far end of the bench. I saw nothing particularly good about his game.
Agreed wth BH. If you’re going to have LBJ out, you can’t replace the entire lineup as well. And when Z’s out, LBJ almost HAS to be in at the four with Andy at the five…
Rock – good summary. Here’s the main things I took away from this one:
1) It’s going to take some time for Mike Brown to figure out what he’s got on his hands. It was very clear that Brown was experimenting with different combinations tonight to see what was effective. I think that’s going to continue for the first fourth, maybe even third of the season. That’s ok I think, and considering that the Cavs were still very competitive against a very good Celtics team tonight despite the tinkering, I think the Cavs can still win while experimenting.
2) I think Delonte needs to come off the bench. That’s not an indictment on Delonte’s playing ability either. If anything it’s a compliment. Watching the starting backcourt of Williams and West was like watching two guys play point guard, with neither one doing it all of the way. I think having West in on the second line will free up the ball movement. Last night, they essentially relied on Boobie to play the point, and he’s just not a very good ball handler. This was especially evident in the third quarter when he would dribble around for 20 seconds and then shoot. The Cavs need a better ball distributor in with the second unit because they are counting on Gibson to be their primary scorer in those situations and because of his size, he does much better at getting open looks (either at the arc or on dribble penetration) when the ball is coming to him, rather than him trying to create. I’m not real high on Pavlovic, but I think giving him the start may be a better call in the long run after having seen how tonight played out.
3) The defense is still very much a work in progress. Williams looked bad. Lozenzen Wright was a joke. Wally is simply incapable of playing defense on a competent level. The announcers even made it a point to observe that the Celtics rotated the ball over the Wally’s man every time Wally was in the game.
4) Speaking of Wally – I think he may be done. Granted this was just one game, and he’s bound to have some decent games over the first half of the season, but he looked lost at both ends of the court and bricked some wide open three pointers when the Cavs set him up. If he can’t consistently drain those shots there is absolutely no point in having him in there.
5) Andy looked like his 2006 self – playing hard, grabbing rebounds and playing lock down D against Garnett. The Cavs will need those types of efforts from him every night given how thin this team’s frontcourt is.]
Overall, I was pissed that they lost, but I definitely see the makings of a good thing here. The fact that they hung with the Celtics like they did, leading for over 50% of the game without a particularly great performance from LeBron was very encouraging. I think we’re all going to have to be patient here though for the next month or two as they work out the kinks. If they’re able to, this is a potentially dangerous team.
I caught myself getting very frustrated last night in the 4th quarter. This was the first game of the season and there were a lot of good things going on. Hopefully Lebron gets his free throws in line and the offense figures out a consistent flow as the year goes on.
Tomorrow will be a good test to see where this year’s team is. The Cavs are known for playing down to their opponent’s level
Yup like i said yesterday west is better off the bench. It’ll take a while for mo to get comfortable but i want him taking atleast 15 shots a game. Pierce is the only one that played well imo. I think lebron was too hype for this game even tho he said it was just a normal game. He was over aggressive on defense and got torched by paul. I’m not sad we lost tho. We better win thursday cuz i’ma be there lol
I was really encouraged by the fact that what appeared to be our 2nd swaud, sans LeBron, was able to hold and even widen the lead against the celtics in the second quarter. If anything you have to be happy about the fact that we can rest LeBron for almost a quarter a game and not have to worry about totally mucking it up.
Maybe I had too high of expectations, but I was disappointed by this game once the second half started. It was because I was gaurding myself against the third quarter slump–and my fears were justified. What do those guys do in the locker room anyways? Stare at the back of their lockers? See who can burp the alphabet the fastest? Whatever it is, they seem to lose their focus. Its really frustrating, and I think it kills the Cavs, everytime. We could’ve nailed this game if we came out strong on the 3rd quarter.
Also, I disagree with your assessment of Varajao. What about that bad pass in the first half (actually, I think there were two bad passes…the ones that were thrown out of bounds?). The fouls and and-ones. I don’t know I just get so irritated with him now. He reminds me of a soccer player always complaining to the ref. It may work in Brazil, it doesn’t work here.
We are better than this. We can be champs. That game was ours to lose, and lost it we did.
Ending on a positive, I am really pumped about West and Williams. They had some great plays, and while they still need to progress, I like what I am seeing.
– What was up with Fratello’s hair?
– Surprise, the Cavs came out completely flat in the third quarter. That’s on Mike Clown. Period.
– I didn’t mind “experimenting” with lineups, but when Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley have better ideas than your head coach…
– LeBron has got to figure something out with his free throws.
– Stop me if you heard of this play before… LeBron dribble, dribble, dribble at the top of the arc, while everyone watches…
– Dump Wright and play the rookie, he can’t suck as much as Wright.
– The Cavs played a very good first half, with average not great defense. But they made up for it on the offensive end.
– Celtics had one foul in the third quarter and it came nearly at the end.
– LeBron gets mugged everytime he drives, but somehow no foul. Yet, Pierce gets away with hooking his defender 95% of the time.
– I don’t get the drive with 10 seconds left. If LeBron makes the shot guaranteed he doesn’t get the and one. It took a blatant tackle for the refs to call a foul, and even then I was sure they would call a jump ball. Only 3 maybe 4 players get the basket and foul in that situation: Bryant, CP3, D-Wade, and Arenas.
– Definitely the tale of two halves. Too bad we didn’t win the half that counted.
– Lots of potential, but I fear Mike Clown will waste it yet again.
– I can’t stand Reggie “Mr. Obviously I Would Have Done It Better” Miller. The mute button is my friend.
Most aggravating part of the game was late in the 4th when LeBron grabbed the Offensive rebound from 3 Celtics and laid it in with ease. If he can put that kind of effort in at that point, then why can’t he rebound like that at other points in the game.
Numerous times I saw him casually walk towards a loose ball, when we all know he can snatch it from anyone with his crazy athleticism.
Don’t take this as someone who hates the guy, I love having him on the team and him personally, but wish he would put a little more effort into the little things.
Plus, make some damn FTs
It is what it is, We just need to take one game at a time. We are focused on beating the Bobcats
Another thing that I loved was Charles Barkley’s (sarcastic) comments about the Bucks-Bulls game “I can’t believe we didn’t pick this game up.” haha
@ Dc : I hate watching Pierce play just for the fact that he can hook the defender on every move he makes. Not even just against the Cavs, but everyone. He consistently makes that move, even when he’s bringing the ball down the court. It’s like he’s stiff-arming a tackler. Then he gets thrown off-balance by the contact, and of course the defender gets the foul.
Wish I could say the calls are because we’re on the road. Which I guess is true. But when we return home, we still don’t get the calls. Cleveland seems to be the only city that doesn’t consitently get the home court calls.
one thing i notice more and more is how lbj gets so few calls when he drives while other guys get all kinds of calls. its not an anti-lbj bias however, in my opinion. its just lbj is so big and strong, and has such amazing body control in the air, that a typical bump (which may be a foul) doesnt phase him and the refs just ignore it. i mean, you really have to drill lbj to knock him off balance. a good example for comparison were some of those “hard” fouls on rondo. on the one, the commentators immediately exclaimed “rondo got hammered!” but on the reply, it’s pretty clear he barely got bumped by Wallace on the drive. he was in the air and there was contact, so it was a foul. no question about it. however, rondo is so damn slight and out of control when he jumps, the slightest contact sends him flying. that same “bump” on lbj when he is in the air NEVER gets called. ever. there were at least 2-3 last night that lbj got bumped fairly hard, but no call since he is just a freight train going through the lane.
One game in and we are already complaining about the officiating. Lets just be resigned to the fact the officiating is going to be what it is, uneven and frustrating on both ends, always has been, always will be. The Cavs need to win despite it
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Aub3HGdQvT6Y4tRy63iaeQg5nYcB?slug=aw-lebron102908&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
somebody needs to punch adrian W from yahoo in the face. “lebron has one foot out the door?” unreal!
@Lyon: The best was when Pierce went into the lane and elbowed Z as Z stood there (and you know Z doesn’t jump), and Z got called for the foul and Pierce got the basket. Beautiful. NBA officiating at it’s best. The announcers were actually giving Pierce accolades for initiating the contact. Last I checked throwing an elbow was a foul.
pierce has one absurdly obvious hook on lebron (which was called). he clearly disagreed and doc rivers acted like it was the most atrocious call in the history of the nba. i even saw it right away! i hate the celtics. i really do.
One game into the season and yahoo.com has an article about LeBron having one foot out the door. Apparently it’s well known in all circles and to league executives that he is gone come 2010. Of course no sources are quoted or listed. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
The first half was great to watch and made us all see the Cavs as they could and should be. The second half looked like a team full of people that had never played together against a team full of veterans.
The blame? Mike Brown of course. I really wish there was an award for “Worst halftime adjustments in the NBA,” because there is no doubt in any of our minds who plays the consistently worst 3rd quarters.
It was our first real game with our new team. It was the celtics 110th…. How can you be angry after one game? Its not ohio state or the browns. Sasha should start btw.
Ah, the thngs I forgot after all these months:
– Z , back to the basket, trying to make a move on his defender, traveling and tripping.
– Andy, on offense, showing again that he does not like to spend his off-season learning just one reliable move or shot, no matter the financial implications.
– The magnificent athleticism of LeBron, even on an off night. Like the alley-oop where he hung in the air until he was under enough control to drop it in. I’ve never seen a Cleveland athlete like this one.
– How tense the ends of these games can be.
All in all, great to have it back.
Every time Anderson Varejao touches the ball on offense I cringe.
ben wallace played about 3 minutes? 4?
on another note, bill simmons has picked the cavs to win it all (great):
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/081028
How can you guys be complaining about AV? He was 3-6 from the field and in 26 minutes he had 9 points and 9 boards. By my count, he only took one bad shot. His defense was outstanding, he was only called for 2 fouls, he had 3 steals, and he was the key to the Cavaliers even having a chance in the 4th quarter. Anyone who is complaining about AV’s game last night is WAY off base. And you know I’m anything BUT an AV supporter, but last night he played a great game. No other way to put it.
Bury Szcerbiak deep on the bench. His offense does not even come close to making up for the defensive liability he is. Hit our free throws and bench Wally, and we win that game. Some good signs early indeed. I think Mo is going to be the piece people think he will. He just needs to be in when Lebron is out because a few of those lineups had me scratching my head wondering where the hell the offense was going to come from. And sure enough, it didn’t come at all, and Celtic run, Begin! Good stuff though. Work out the kinks and we’ll win a bunch of games.
I hold my breath whenever Z ‘drives’ towards the basket….it’s like an automatic charge
All I have to say is AV now has the third best hair on the team.
Delonte’s mini-fro has him beat.
And of course Daniel “Batman” Gibson takes the cake.
Now if only sweet hair helped in the third quarter…
Go Cavs! And don’t forget to visit http://www.marriedtosports.com
The commentators were really tough on Andy for attempting a shot last night. It kind of surprised me because last I checked, Andy is still a relatively young player. Is it out of the realm of possibility that he could develop an offensive game from the foul line and in? I am willing to give him some short jumpers and whatever hustle baskets he can scrounge on offensive rebounds and cuts to the hoop. He is never going to load up a sky hook or anything, but you can’t have guys on the court who are afraid to shoot. Ben Wallace is enough already.
Also, Lorenzen Wright is el stinko. I don’t want to judge a guy right away but he gave up at least two or three “and-one” baskets. Those are BIGTIME killers. Andy’s was at the end of the game in desperation time so I let it slide, but Wright’s were just bad.
As for JJ Hickson this is kind of silly. I had this same problem with the Devin Brown benching last year. Devin Brown shouldn’t have been benched for the whole playoffs. They weren’t going to resign him but they hurt the team by sitting him the entire Boston series. I appreciate a guy getting disciplined, but let’s calm it down a bit. Lesson learned.
AV was at his best last night. I can’t say that for any other Cav. LeBron has his typical LeBron off night 22/6/7 or something close, but he seemed off. I think the Mo and West showed what they’re capable of doing, but just need to do it more consistently (and hopefully in the third quarter). Z was Z. Everyone else, I think really underachieved. I don’t necessarily blame the players either. You can’t just throw players on the court like it’s a pickup game, and expect them to perform like a cohesive unit. I’m glad Clown got things ironed out in practice and the pre-season. Deep breath now.
what are you talking about? The only major off season acquisition was mo. The rest of the guys have been playing together since the trade deadline. Why couldn’t they be a cohesive unit?
It is like this every game. Everyone complains about how they play, but they produce results. They lost by two possessions, playing away, against the best team in the league. Grind it out basketball is the style.
The only really frustrating part was Lebron’s missed free throw and that botched defensive play with ten seconds left in the game. That could have been handled better.
Besides, how much better were the cavs supposed to be? They got one player. They were not going to look like an all new team out there. The acquisition of mo willians only has to make the cavs one game better. that is it. Pick up one more win.
Hey, whatever makes you sleep better at night.
Simmons picked the Cavs to go to the Finals two years ago (when not many people were), so hopefully he’ll be right about them a second time!
whoa, whoa, we really have this many compliants? I only saw the 2nd half, but I was very pleased. We actually ran a what appeared to be an offense that the players had practiced before!! Whoo-Hooo!!! LBJ finally SET the screen at the top of the key and played some 4. Excellent.
It appears Mike Brown woke up early to watch the olympics. I wasn’t wild about the line-up in the start of the 4th either, but whatever – those guys will have to figure out how to score as a 2nd unit sometime this season and it allowed Sasha drive a little and talk trash to Pierce.
Plus, all the players looked pretty good: AV hustled, rebounded and annoyed the opposition, Mo looked like a real pg who can shoot and pass, Z rebouned and made jumpers (and awkward drives), Sasha did Sasha things – everyone looked pretty good (except for Wally, he sucked).
I’m getting excited.
Wally needs to go, plain and simple. To think that we could turn him and his bloated contract into a legit stud player is what makes the NBA great.
AV did look better last night, on the offensive side, than I have ever seen him. I was pleased with that for sure. Don’t worry about Wally, he will be gone at some point this season. Wally’s expiring contract will be my favorite phrase of the NBA season. I don’t know who we will end up getting for him, but someone for the stretch run and the push for the title will happen.
I too wish Lebron would hit some free throws, but as mentioned before, he doesn’t get many calls, so maybe it won’t be so bad.
All in all, a lot to like in the first game of the season. Lets not overreact about coaching or certain players yet. It is one game of many. Lets see how it plays out. All we have to do really is get into the playoffs, and that is a pretty sure bet. Then anything can happen.
Delonte West is rediculously turnover prone-everytime he goes into traffic the ball is gone or a terrible pass is cut loose. He should not be playing 38 minutes and starting……..bring him off the bench to provide some energy and spark but please, he’s not an NBA starting two guard.
@Dc : I seem to remember a couple times when Tony freeking Allen drove the lane out of control, lowered his shoulder, and got the and one, all while the defender stood his ground. It might even have been Wright every time. But I guess these are the calls we’re going to be seeing on the road. Just would be nice to see some at home sometimes.
Btw, not saying we lost cuz of officials, just venting. I’m not 1 to blame officials for losses, it’s the player’s job to overcome it.
Did any of you guys watch all bets are off today? We got screwed lol. When rando tossed the ball to the ref it bounced in bounds and then went out. It should have been our ball…. I didn’t notice it till bruce said it on all bets are off. The league is a joke. Cavs should send a tape in like the heat did last year and hopefully we’ll get the ball down by two with 10 seconds left 🙂
That was me busting on Andy yesterday. He did play great, and within himself, and the Cavs need that. Only point I was trying to make is that with his desire for the big new contract, thought he’d develop a reliable little turnaround, short range jumper or something just to be some sort of offensive option instead of still a guy essentially left unguarded. He is no longer really a “young” NBA player with unknown upside. Maybe he just can’t, a la Rodman, Ben Wallace, Chris Dudley, et al.