Will there be LAN parties in retirement homes someday? – WFNY Podcast – 2015-04-10
April 10, 2015C-Cap Recap: Home is Where the Hurt Is for Indians
April 11, 2015Boston Celtics (37-42) 99
Cleveland Cavaliers (51-28) 90
Happy Opening Day, everyone! What was supposed to be a special day in Downtown Cleveland on Friday, well, was still a pretty special day. But neither of the Cleveland teams providing the live entertainment upheld their end of the bargain. The Indians Opening Day is one of the three most nostalgia-inspiring days of the year for expatriates like myself, only behind Thanksgiving and Christmas. But that’s a different story for a different sport, so I hope all the folks who were downtown on Friday had a glorious day (and night, if your stay downtown lasts long into it).
Beginning concurrently with the end of the Tribe game, the Cavaliers tipped off against the hated Boston Celtics, a team they may play in the first round of the playoffs, which will begin at the end of next week. Earlier in the day, it was announced that Iman Shumpert would sit for Friday’s game. Then, not long before tip-off, we learned that Kyrie Irving would miss the game as well.
It was a mostly uninspired effort for the Cavaliers from the start, but the Cavs had a furious rally in the third quarter to tie the game before resting LeBron James and Kevin Love for the fourth quarter, as the game slowly and depressingly slipped away. Instead of my normal, long-winded analysis of the game, we’re going to play a quick-hitting, mindless game of Too Much, Not Enough, or Just Right! with the numbers. Let’s look at the posterior of the box score.
18 – Not enough… . It was a real shame to watch the Cavs 18 game winning streak, dating back to early January, come to an end in a game they should have won. Alas, time for the playoffs and to start a new streak.
28 – Too Much! The Cavaliers allowed 28 first quarter points, far too many. To make matters worse, they only scored a dismal 17 points of their own. The Cavaliers also scored only 13 in the fourth quarter (yikes), but the tone of the game was set by the abysmal first quarter defense, that forced them to spend the next two quarter fighting their way back from the deficit.
0 – Not Enough! JR Smith, the three-jacking, extraordinary showman, scored zero points in Friday’s game on 0-of-4 shooting. JR also looked unusually lost on defense, in what was probably his worst game in a Cavalier uniform to date. A Shump-less Cavs team without Kyrie Irving can’t afford to have a starter score zero points.
18 – Too much! The Indians allowed a gruesome 18 hits to the Detroit Tigers on Friday in what turned into … wait, wrong sport. Sorry about that. Back to the basketball.
34 – Way, WAY too much! The Celtics starting backcourt of Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart scored 34 points. Exacerbating matters, the Cavs starting backcourt scored a grand total of 9 points. The Cavs need to play tighter defense on the likes of Bradley and Smart, so the team doesn’t get torched by a pair of normally bad shooters, allowing them to shoot 14-of-22 from the field.
7 – Just right! Kevin Love and the thawed-out Mike Miller combined for seven three point field goals, each of them making half of his attempts. Mike Miller is going to need to come off the bench after games without playing time and knock down three-pointers, a nearly impossible task that he pulls off better than nearly anyone. It was also good to see the oft-hobbled Love appear to be mentally connected with LeBron James, who found him for some of his open looks.
41 – Too much, too much too MUCHTOOMUCH PLEASE NO MORE!!! Matthew Dellavedova played over 41 minutes on Friday. I root for Dellavedova, and love his attitude. He’s shown himself competent as a three-point shooter and running the offense for three-to-five possessions at a time while James or Irving are still on the floor. But if Dellavedova plays more than 30 minutes in a playoff game, the Cavs are in some serious serious trouble. If he plays more than 40 in a game, then something disastrous has happened.
:40 – Just Right. Kevin Love and LeBron James played only twenty seconds each on Friday. Although it was a shame to see the home winning streak come to the end, the Cavs have some serious depth issues, and they need James and Love to be healthy, an dsome players were due for some playing time and an in-game workout. Eight minutes felt like a lot of Kendrick Perkins, though. But it’s time for playoff prep. Expect a similar outing on Sunday in Boston to play the Celtics again.
6 Comments
Love that Tribe talk bled it’s way into here.
We also learned that the Cavs don’t want to see the Celtics in the first round if down two starters and sitting LeBron in the fourth. Love always sits the fourth, amirite!
Love that Tribe talk bled it’s way into here.
Losing is contagious! Bring back the Astros.
Booooo.
But, you are just jealous as it took Boston pitchers 19 IP just to get to 13 SO
Michael Garfunkel Bode you know I’m all about the wins, about the wins you can have the Ks!
Is the depth really THAT bad? The Cavs have a legitimate 8/9 man rotation. As good or better than most.
This night, the depth was tested pretty hard. No Kyrie. No Shump. They lost two guys in their rotation. And they rested their healthy stars. I think most teams would struggle.
I 1000.1% agree that Delly is the weakest member of the rotation. But I’m not sure what’s to be done about it at this point, especially if 2 of your guards are sitting.
It’s not great. Obviously, the Cavs can’t sustain an injury to Love, Irving, or James. But because Marion/Jones/Miller have been playing so little, they don’t have a reliable backup for James at the SF. The alternative until last night has been relying on three-guard lineups, oftentimes with Delly.
The biggest problems are: 1. That while other teams are screwed if one of their best three goes down, the Cavs are TOTALLY screwed; and 2. Delly can’t be on the floor without LeBron because he’s not a scoring threat except off the ball.