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There’s just something about the Portland Trailblazers that brings out a very solid effort from this inconsistent Cleveland Cavaliers squad. The result was not a favorable one on Wednesday, but their performance for the first 47 minutes in the loss was far, far better than that of Tuesday’s narrow victory.
A few lucky breaks led to a furious late-game Portland run that made the 108-96 final mark on the scoreboard very deceiving. The Cavs were in this one until the final minute. If they had gotten just one more call or had just one more of their shots fall in, this could have easily been the team’s most impressive win of the season. That’s especially true considering it was their second game of a back-to-back out west.
Any time you looked away for a second, the Blazers made one unbelievable long-range shot after another. LaMarcus Aldridge had an MVP-worthy game. Damian Lillard is an emerging star. Every player in their rotation is a good shooter, making them a near impossible team to consistently defend. And that’s why Portland, surprisingly, is one of the NBA’s best teams, and the Cavs remain on the outside looking in on the Eastern Conference’s terrible playoff race.
32 and 18 – Tonight’s most valuable player was undeniably the big man Aldridge. The Cavs were actually up 94-93 with under four minutes left in this contest. Then, late in a broken possession, the mid-range-centered power forward somehow made his first three-pointer of the season while fading away. That make was the beginning of the end for Cleveland. Aldridge absolutely dominated the final few minutes, rounding out a tremendous all-around outing of 32 points and 18 boards. He’ll undoubtedly be an All-Star next month for the third straight year. The Cavs didn’t really have a defensive answer for him all game.
16-4 and 15-2 – I’m not sure why. But Mike Brown’s team continues to have serious issues closing out quarters and halves. Tonight, the Blazers finished the first half on a 16-4 run, opening up a six-point lead. They then closed the game on a 15-2 tear, blowing it open into a near rout. The first-half run included three three-pointers by Lillard, the reigning Rookie of the Year – who also hit the game-winner in the prior matchup this season. Aldridge scored nine of the team’s final 15 points to close out the game, including two free throws on an iffy foul call shortly after his wild three. The Cavs really did play solid defense for large chunks of this game. But not when it mattered most.
32 – Total points scored by Cleveland Cavaliers players not named Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters or Luol Deng. The rest of the rotation only combined for 12 points in the first half. The Cavs need significantly more scoring out of their rotation players going forward. They already play at a crutch with their lack of offensive creativity and scheming, so either C.J. Miles or Jarrett Jack just desperately need to make shots every single game. Matthew Dellavedova (12 minutes) and Earl Clark (10 minutes) both went scoreless.
9 – With his 1-for-3 shooting performance, Jack now has nine games this season with one or zero field goal makes. All last regular season, in 79 contests for the Golden State Warriors, he only had seven such games. It’s just not easy seeing where Jack fits in with this team right now. He played only 12 total minutes, the same as Dellavedova, whose hustle and intensity provides a very noticeable spark off the bench. That four-year $25 million deal does not look so good right now.
39 – Is this sustainable? In his first two games in Cleveland, Luol Deng played just 45 combined minutes. There were reports of a minute restriction, as he only just recently returned from an Achilles injury. Those two games were both blowouts too. He then promptly played 38 minutes against the Lakers yesterday and another 39 in Portland tonight. Yes, he had another good offensive game of 25 points and 6 rebounds. He also is clearly showing off his on-court leadership skills. But he cooled off a bit late in the game, which makes one wonder what Mike Brown should target for his minutes range long-term. He averaged a ridiculous 38.7 minutes per regular season game for Chicago since 2009-10. That can’t be the case if the Cavs want to keep every star healthy through the season.
24.1% – That’s Anderson Varejao’s total rebound rate over his last 12 games. It’s very, very elite, especially compared to his 16.0% rate to start the season. He nabbed another 14 rebounds (four offensive) tonight. This impressive run dates back to the Atlanta Hawks game where Andrew Bynum was mysteriously benched in the second half, then later suspended a few days later. During this span, Varejao is averaging All-Star-like numbers: 10.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 32.7 minutes per game. He’s thriving again just as he did last season when healthy. He’s so incredibly valuable to this team, even if neither he nor Tristan Thompson could slow down Aldridge.
9 – Dion Waiters scored or assisted on the first nine points to start the second quarter for the Cavs. It was a rare first-half sighting of the famous Dion Waiters Zone. Besides that? Not such a great game. He successfully attacked former Cavalier guard Mo Williams several times throughout, but finished with only 18 points on 19 shots and three assists in 30 minutes. Good, but not good enough. It still was neat to see Irving, Deng and Waiters all show flashes of their best offensively at times tonight. Irving also was only 1-for-7 from threes.
Overall, I was not too disappointed in the Cavaliers tonight. With a win, I would have been absolutely thrilled. That’s just not likely on the road, where they’re now 4-17 on the season. This dreaded five-game Western Conference swing finally ends on Friday in Denver against the streaking Nuggets. An upset win would give them a 3-2 trip and tons of positive momentum heading back to Cleveland.
Photo: AP Photo/Don Ryan
27 Comments
if the cavs want to be serious contenders then kyrie is going to have to look to get his teammates involved.
he gives up a ball more often – that’s why other players score more pts, only player who stop the ball movement (and can’t guard anyone) is J. Jack
he needs to play defense. it’s getting maddening. I’m actually to the point of thinking the Noel folks were right last year. We need a backline shot-blocker if he’s going to give up so much (last night I’d hope that he would have actually stayed on Lillard outside the 3pt line, but maybe that’s hoping too much?). he has so much skill.
i heard that they had an impromptu practice AFTER the game last night. i am hoping/thinking that Deng is also getting after Kyrie to help him make the most of himself.
I have no problem running Deng out there as much as we can.
Earl Clark should never see the floor. Give his minutes to Delly.
No, even better, start Delly at PG and move Irving to SG.
I thought he wore down in the 4th quarter after playing so many minutes on back-to-back nights. His jump shot was off, and Mr. Cavalier thought it was because he wasn’t able to get his legs into the shot… seemed right to me. At any rate, I do want to see him log as many minutes as possible, but I would have been okay with seeing CJ Miles take some of those 4th quarter minutes to give him a break.
I thought he wore down in the 4th quarter after playing so many minutes on back-to-back nights. His jump shot was off, and Mr. Cavalier thought it was because he wasn’t able to get his legs into the shot… seemed right to me. At any rate, I do want to see him log as many minutes as possible, but I would have been okay with seeing CJ Miles take some of those 4th quarter minutes to give him a break.
Waiters does this too. He may pass the ball, but he doesn’t facilitate ball movement in the offense. The ball stops when it gets to him and he either runs a pick-n-roll or an ISO.
Waiters does this too. He may pass the ball, but he doesn’t facilitate ball movement in the offense. The ball stops when it gets to him and he either runs a pick-n-roll or an ISO.
I haven’t watched too many of Portland’s games, so I may only be seeing the best of him, but from what I’ve seen of Damian Lillard, he is a better player than Kyrie Irving and that makes me sad/jealous. Lillard is so good in every facet of his offensive game and he’s a much better defender. His ability to close out games is phenomenal. So much envy.
I haven’t watched too many of Portland’s games, so I may only be seeing the best of him, but from what I’ve seen of Damian Lillard, he is a better player than Kyrie Irving and that makes me sad/jealous. Lillard is so good in every facet of his offensive game and he’s a much better defender. His ability to close out games is phenomenal. So much envy.
They’ve needed a defensive big man for years if you will an eraser. A guy who can help erase the defensive sieve that is the back court no matter who is playing at the time. Forget Noel the guy was Drummond and count me as one of those who missed on him.
Varejao is really racking up the minutes as well. This has trouble written all over it if you ask me. Brown will ride his trusted guys while others rot on the bench only to see garbage time.
Clark is almost as disappointing as Bennett. Brown vouched for him as well as Bynum not to mention knew about Bennett at UNLV. This is more then enough proof for me to disqualify him from much input the next time personnel is evaluated.
Lillard is a great player but Portland is not only constructed better but coached better as well if you ask me.
Waiters gives Cavs abot 17 ppg while Jack with more minutes give less than 10 ppg ane other numbers aren’t that good either
Yep… wasn’t saying Waiters is as bad as Jack, was just speaking specific to ball movement. You said the only player who stops ball movement is Jack, but I think Waiters does that too.
Yes and no… you can’t play Drummond much in the 4th quarter because of his historically bad foul shooting. If teams want to play hack-a-Drummond, they definitely have that option.
Yes and no… you can’t play Drummond much in the 4th quarter because of his historically bad foul shooting. If teams want to play hack-a-Drummond, they definitely have that option.
Sure, but virtually every team is constructed and coached better than the Cavs 🙂
Sure, but virtually every team is constructed and coached better than the Cavs 🙂
You could say the same thing about Tristan Thompson a year ago.
Not every just most well at least in the west!
Nah, take Tristan’s worst season (his rookie season) and drop over 20% off of that and you’ll finally get to Drummond’s free throw percentage. It’s not just bad, it might trigger Jesus’ second coming.
Well that’s what Zeller would be for to play late if needed but my hope would be that the games would not be close. Even if they were do what Detroit did with Ben Wallace.
And I’m fighting the urge to not throw the hammer down with that last sentence because I have the perfect line but will air on the side of discretion as to not insult anyone’s beliefs.
Yes, I guess there must be ways to hide it… I mean the Pistons hid Wallace somehow… or maybe the teams they played just had a philosophical problem with hack-a-Ben. I don’t know.
And good discretion 🙂
This loss is much easier to swallow than the egg laid in Sacramento. This game should be a building block for the Cavs: played well for most of the game but need to finish. Maybe Denver would want to trade Andre Miller for Jarrett Jack?