Josh Gordon reportedly fails another drug test, faces one-year ban
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January 26, 2015Oklahoma City Thunder (22-22) 98
Cleveland Cavaliers (25-20) 108
After ending their six-game losing streak last Thursday night against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cleveland Cavaliers entered Sunday afternoon’s game on a five-game winning streak following their best performance of the year against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night. Before Sunday’s contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 24-20 Cavaliers were five games back of the Eastern Conference’s second seed, while the 22-21 Thunder were three games back of the Western Conference’s eighth seed—because geography is much more important than fairness.
Because of the standings, while the Cavaliers were determined to assert themselves within the league and their conference, the Thunder needed Sunday’s game much more than the Cavaliers. But if the Cavs were able to escape with a victory over a dangerous and desperate Thunder team, then faint hints of a potentially long streak of winning basketball would begin to take shape. The Cavaliers eventually pulled out Sunday’s game in the Q, but how did they do it? Let’s peek behind the box score.
98 – Entering Sunday, the Cavaliers were 15-5 when holding opponents to under 100 points per game. Although the Cavs now have an underwhelming 105.8 defensive rating (fifth worst in the league), they had only allowed 99.8 points per game during their win streak despite allowing 121 against the Los Angeles Clippers. Against the Thunder, the Cavs forfeited only 98 against a team that averages exactly 100.0 points per game, elevating their record to 16-5 when allowing less than 100 points. The Cavs held the Thunder to only 39.4 percent shooting, a percentage so low that victory is all but assured. The amazing thing about the 98 points and 39.4 percent shooting is that the Cavs had way too many defensive lapses, allowing 44 points in the paint on what were nearly all layups. What kept the Thunder below 100 was renewed defensive effort after the letdowns and consistently contested jump shots—something the old, pre-bowling Cavalier team(s) would not have done.
48 to 42 – Another thing allowing the Cavaliers to keep this scrapping Thunder team at bay was their dominance on the boards. The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Thunder 48 to 42, which sounds like a pretty slim margin but looked less slim on the floor, where nearly every Thunder possession that was interrupted by a long jump shot ended with a long jump shot. The Cavaliers had more offensive rebounds than the Thunder, even though the Thunder had 11 more missed shots and were fighting to come from behind throughout much of the second half. The Cavs’ rebounding edge was mostly attributable to Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love, who had 16 and 13 rebounds, respectively (as well as the absence of Thunder center Steven Adams). Love had nine rebounds in the first quarter alone, when both teams were throwing enough bricks around to build a block of Greenwich Village apartments. In typical Thompson fashion, he led all players with five offensive rebounds, allowing him to get three easy buckets on four shots.
81.8 percent – As discussed here before, one of the Cavs greatest challenges is finding the appropriate balance between individual and team basketball. It’s easy to sit and say, “Well, they should share the ball like Socialists all the time!” But it’s not that easy. In playoff basketball and fourth quarters, defensive intensity elevates and open shots become more scarce and harder to sink. This Cavs are unique in that they have two exceptional and a few other good one-on-one basketball players. Afternoon games like Sunday’s are a bitch for teams of professionals that are accustomed to preparing their bodies to play at 7 or 8 PM. If my boss called me into work four hours early and demanded something immediately, it’s going to be less than perfect and covered in drool. LeBron James shouldered the offensive burden yet again on Sunday, scoring 34 points in a game where 81.8 percent of his made field goals were unassisted. It might have looked like selfish basketball, and while I would ordinarily agree, when a team has a matchup advantage, it should isolate it and attack it. The Thunder continuously insulted James by defending him with Anthony Morrow and Andre Roberson, upon whom James accordingly and appropriately feasted. In a game where Kyrie Irving, JR Smith, and Timofey Mozgov shot poorly in the first half and the team couldn’t find an offensive rhythm early, James asserted himself and finished with an impressive 34-7-5 stat line. But ideally, a greater percentage of James’ buckets will come via assists in all but the most hotly contested games.
16-of-36 – Another positive side effect of James and Irving orchestrating the offense are open three-pointers. The Cavs shot 16-of-36 from three-point range on Sunday, good for 44.4 percent. The Cavaliers had only attempted more than 30 three-pointers nine times, but expect more of this going forward. Old School Basketball Coach (think short shorts, a whistle, and a sweater with the school affiliation printed on the front) says that attempting that many threes shows bad shot selection, but nearly all of the Cavalier threes were wide open on Sunday as the team becomes visibly more comfortable spacing the floor with one another. Open shots means better shooting, to the tune of 44.4 percent on Sunday—and the Cavs are 10-2 when shooting better than 40 percent from three-point range.
19 and 13 – Kevin Love had 19 points and 13 rebounds on Sunday, giving him 24 double-doubles on the season. Much has been made of Love’s diminished numbers and supposedly diminished play. He hasn’t been otherwordly, sure. But Love’s not going to score 26.1 points per game like he did in Minnesota last season, nor should he. He was brought to Cleveland to put up double-doubles, spread the floor, and be an offensive weapon. On Sunday he scored 19 points on only 10 field goal attempts, including five-of-seven three-pointers. He passed the ball 63 times on 78 touches, and good things happen when he touches the ball in the right place on the floor. So let’s give Kevin some more love at the elbow and in the post already.
9-of-29 – Sunday also marked Dion Waiters long-awaited (okay, maybe not) return to Cleveland since he was traded to Oklahoma City in early January. The Cavs received JR Smith (and Iman Shumpert) in the trade, and knuckleheads Waiters and Smith combined to go 9-of-29 on field goal attempts on Sunday. Smith has been solid for the Cavs so far, always streaky but still hovering near 40 percent for the Wine-and-Gold. But Waiters is now shooting 25.6 percent on three-point field goal attempts in Oklahoma City, highlighting why he was expendable in Cleveland. Nevertheless, I will always miss you Dion, my most favorite least favorite player of the Byron Scott/Second Mike Brown era, as I lamented in my Ode to Knuckleheads at the time of the trade. May your cries of “And one!” fall on sympathetic ears, and may you always be open….
22 Comments
Cautious optimism, schmatious schmoptimism…..
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Let me think do I miss Dion Waiters? Nope.
That game was a great demonstration of why it was a good set of trades. JR Smith did everything that Dion did (shot somewhat poorly, tried on defense but wasn’t that good) except he did it with a smile on his face (better for team). And, we also got Shump & Moz in the deal for just giving up 2 towel-wavers and a late 1st rounder (as the 2nd 1st was from the Dion trade).
This streak should be named “The End of EZ Pass.” As usual Mozgov set the tone early by rejecting Westbrook layups, and that stuff seems to rile up Tristan and Love, who lately direct way more intensity toward opponents venturing into the lane (Love at least moves his feet and keeps his arms up). It’s almost like Timo in theory helps them more than Timo in reality – he shows the rest that there’s a payoff – give effort and we’ll get out on a break.
Maybe one of you x and o experts can tell me why running a 2-man game with Love inside maybe 5 times per night would ruin everything. He has a great, developed inside game, one of the league’s best, and doing it periodically would catch an opponent off guard. They paid a high price for this top of the line machinery but refuse to use 50% of it.
Stupidhead me for listening to the national telecast. The Van Gundy/Jackson loud argung shtick during play is worse than lowest common denominator, it’s transparently fake, amateurish. It’s not Jackson’s fault – he’s clearly following producer directions. Utter idiocy, on their part and mine.
Wait, what?!?!? The national commentators keep saying we traded 2 first rounders for Mozzy! You mean there’s more to it than just that lazy logic??
but my EZ pass makes it so easy to fly through the toll booths on my drive to Chicago…(hangs heads and stumbles away)
There is a button on the remote marked “Mute” and it is a beautiful thing. If there is not enough ambient noise, then you can put on a nice sampling of music. Acoustic Hendrix is my favorite basketball accompaniment.
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An option for crowd noise with no commentary (keeping the stat graphics) would be my dream. My prob is that I don’t know enough about western conference teams and have this anal need to know who just did that, how he’s been playing, etc. I could never listen to acoustic Hendrix to a fast-paced NBA game – the vibe has to match game pace, man, or I might start walking in circles and mumbling.
I agree that a crowd noise with no commentary would be ideal. And, the Jimi was just a suggestion that works for me. Game pace in the NBA is not quite what it seems and Black Gold really helps demonstrate it. A lot happens, but each possession still takes plenty of time. The fluidity of the album helps demonstrate the fluidity of the game. Either that or I just really like the album.
I actually thought J.R. Smith had a pretty good game defensively and that he was way more active than I ever remember Dion being. But, you know, J.R. was covering Durant most of the time and Durant going to Durant.
Preaching to the choir. David Griffin is my MVP. I love that he didn’t sit back and wait with the hope that this team would get better by players simply playing better. Instead he was proactive.
We all know JR Smith’s reputation and how he could be a time bomb but there’s also no denying he has skills. But as you pointed out Griffin also added Shumpert and then Mozgov. I was a little uncertain on Timofey I thought two first round picks was a steep price even though I realized the Cavaliers needed a true big man badly. This is why I wasn’t as upset at the cost for him. But since he’s arrived he’s been the presence in the middle the Cavaliers have so desparetly needed. More importantly he’s allowed Thompson to come off the bench and play with his high motor in the role I always thought he was best suited for in the NBA. Imagine if Varejao hadn’t gotten injured?
So with that all said I am now going to be greedy. I’m hoping Griffin can swing another trade or two. Most likely one more but like I said I’m being greedy. Which brings me to this interesting idea. The Nets are looking to unload a number of their higher priced veterans. What if there was a way to obtain say either Deron Williams or Joe Johnson? I thought about Garnett he’d definitely be one more big man with a presence but I’m not sure his benefits would outweigh his negatives. Negatives being his limited play/effect and all of the antics. So I revert back to the prior pair. Johnson obviously would be a lesser fit now with Smith/Shumpert but what about D.Williams coming off the bench to spell KI? Can you imagine him playing less minutes running a second unit. Of course LBJ plays the point forward but I was just spit balling. I have no idea how the money would match-up either.
I couldn’t understand why Smith was on Durant until the fourth when Blatt made the change and LBJ guarded him. Smith didn’t shoot well yesterday but I thought his effort and play was there as well. We have to remember JR never saw a shot he didn’t like but having him on the perimeter opposed to Waiters has been much better IMO. I also love the attitude JR brings but that’s a double edged sword. If the Cavaliers can keep building JR will be okay simply because of LBJ’s presence. Sorta like when JR was sixth man of the year on Carmello’s Knicks of two years ago.
ABC has to use the horrible ESPN duo but I stuck out the game yesterday in spite of it because of the ways the Cavaliers were playing. I laughed at how many times they talked about LBJ looking like a different player then he did earlier in the season. Ya know when LBJ had no lift and needed two weeks off for health issues. Duhhhh!
As long as JR is shooting around 40% or better on those 3-point shots, I have no problem with him jacking them up. He’s one of those rare players who shoots as well with a hand in his face as he does when he’s wide open. But what I’ve liked about his time with the Cavs is that he isn’t really forcing anything… he’s not dribbling around for 15 seconds before shooting, he’s mostly getting his shots within the flow of the offense. And also (maybe because the team is winning, who knows) JR seems to be a great guy to have in the locker room, contrary to what everyone seemed to be saying before he arrived in Cleveland. He’s always smiling on the court and he seems to be bringing smiles to the faces of the other guys on the team. ESPN kept showing a slow-motion clip last night of one of Kevin Love’s 3-point makes where Love and Smith both jumped up to do that side-bump thing that all of the players do now, and you could see just the biggest genuine smile and enjoyment on both guys’ faces. It’s been a fun ride so far.
I just commented in the stats section regarding JR’s frequency for three pointers that I somehow don’t mind. I agree with what you said. He’s forced a few but a majority have been in the course of the offense. I love seeing him on the wing as opposed to #3/#23 who constantly had his arms up calling for the ball. We saw yesterday why he was ignored. How many did he jack up for OKC?
I really agree about the energy and the passion. I do however believe with JR this is a double edged sword as long as things are going well he’ll be okay.
I looked at this as a big test for the Cavs. How will our new team do against an absolute top tier unit? This was truly a mental health game, as I think our team now has the confidence that there is no one in the NBA that can beat them if they play their best. Very encouraging. What amazes me about the national pundits and broadcasters is how they wonder what is wrong with Love and how he is being used since his ppg has dropped from 27 to 17 this season. How about last year he was the only real scoring threat and this year LeBron and Kyrie are both better scorers. I think that would account for the “missing” 10ppg.
Agreed… Kevin Love still gets plenty of touches in the 1st quarter, but as the game goes on, let’s be honest… it’s the LeBron and Kyrie show. And J.R. Smith needs to shoot the ball because he’s good at it. And lobs to an open Mozgov or Thompson for dunks are a pretty good idea, the Cavs should keep doing that. I don’t know what all of these national media folks expected. There will still be games where Kevin Love is on fire and dropping 25-30 points, but the Cavs’ offense has been functioning at an elite level. Should they stop what they’re doing to ensure that Kevin Love touches the ball more? I don’t think even Kevin Love would agree with that.
no to the Net castoffs
It’s also that PPG is one of the least indicative stats in basketball, even though it’s hyped as the most important stat. To increase a player’s PPG, you just do 2 things: (1) Increase his playing time. (2) Tell him he can shoot whenever he wants.
You can do that with almost anybody and change their perceived value as a player. Back when I was playing not-very-good basketball as a kid, if you gave me 20 good shots inside, there’s a decent chance I’d put in 8 buckets. That 16-point total looks great, but it’s actually quite lousy, since most of my teammates could have put in 12, which would have meant our team would score 24 points instead. (And in case anyone’s wondering, my serious basketball days were over when it became clear I was a 5’9″ center)