All That Jazz: Cavs-Utah, Behind the Box Score

Cleveland Cavaliers (47-19) 85
Utah Jazz (32-35) 94
Box Score

After the Cleveland Cavaliers coasted their way through two games in a four-day sojourn in Los Angeles — a victory in the indulgent and much-ballyhooed King-Mamba “Finale,” and a dominant win over the fourth-place Clippers — I (sort of) joked that the Cavaliers could win a championship … as long as they played the rest of their games in Los Angeles.

Good news: The Cavs can win a championship. Bad news: They have to play the rest of their games in LA.

— Kyle (@kcwelch330) March 13, 2016

The Cavaliers have won their last four games in Staples Center — and last season’s back-to-back wins over the L.A. teams launched them on a 12-game win streak during which they attained an aura of invincibility that they haven’t been able to recapture since — except for maybe the four-game sweep against the Boston Celtics in the opening round of the 2015 playoffs. The Cavs started their four-game westward road trip with wins of 120, 120, and 114 points. They played fast and loose and with a fun, refreshing energy.

They lost on Monday night in Utah against a Jazz team with a formidable defense fighting for a playoff berth. The Cavs shot horribly, but otherwise played … satisfactorily. But it was another loss for what continues to be 75 percent of a great team. Anyway, let’s roll up our sleeves, slip on a latex glove, and give this box score a thorough inspection.

10 of 42 – The Cavaliers attempted — well, “attempted” may be too strong a word; maybe “participated in” … “regurgitated”? — 42 three-pointers on Monday, converting 10 (23.8 percent) of those regurgitations. They shot a ghastly 2-of-16 (which I think is a negative percentage, but I’ll need to double check the math) on threes in the fourth quarter alone. Their 42 threes were tied for the third most all season, only two away from their season high of 44 three-point attempts. The Cavs shot 44, 35, 37, and 42 threes on their road trip, an average of nearly 11 more three-point attempts than their season per-game total of 28.8. Even the trigger-happy Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets only average a smidge over 30 threes per game, well below the 39.5 the Cavs jacked up on the road trip.

Shooting a lot of three-pointers isn’t worthy of reprimand on its own. Actually, the Cavs moved the ball fairly well to create a lot of open threes — they just didn’t make them. (The Cavs were an astounding 13-of-46 on uncontested field goals.)

But it’s also probably not a good idea for the Cavs to become so enamored with the three that it throws the entire balance of the offense out of whack. The Cavs had some success with Kevin Love in the post in the third quarter, and didn’t go back to it in the fourth. I’m not condemning the reliance on the three — spacing is a major of tenet of modern basketball, and the Cavs probably win on Monday if they make the shots they’re accustomed to making. No one cared when the Cavs made 48.6 percent of their 37 threes against the Clippers on Sunday. But the Cavs would probably benefit a little by shifting the center of their offense into the paint — have the offense orbit a gravitational center at the top of the key or on the elbow, instead of being a collection of celestial bodies swirling around the perimeter without a focal point inside the three-point line.

36.7% — If you remove LeBron James from the equation (10-of-20), the Cavs shot 36.7 percent from the field. The Cavs are now 4-7 when shooting below 40.0 percent, as they did on Monday. It’s just not easy to win these miss-or-miss games, especially on the road.

20 – The Cavaliers received a total of 20 points from their starting backcourt, putting a large burden on the frontcourt and bench to muster a point total that can win an NBA basketball game. We all know that J.R. Smith is basically a dice roll every night, and on Monday he game up as a one and skull with X’ed out eyes, which I’m pretty sure isn’t even on a standard-issue casino die.

As much as I delighted in how Kyrie Irving had been playing last week, I was just as dispirited on Monday. Irving thinks the best way to get out of a slump is to shoot out of it (7-of-23, 30.4 percent on Monday) — which sometimes seems like trying to get out of a hole by just digging downward faster. He even passed up a rolling LeBron James off the high pick-and-roll multiple times in the second half. I can forgive the shot volume — Irving’s a scorer, that’s what his game is. But shooting ZERO free throws and attempting only four shots in the restricted area while heaving nine three-pointers? That’s not even Irving’s game. I can only shake my head and gaze to the cosmos in a vain attempt at greater understanding.

2 – Last week I wrote about how LeBron James doesn’t benefit from positive treatment from officials. I didn’t pretend it was convincing proof that James is treated unfairly by officials. But it’s a real head-scratcher when he attempts nine field goals in the restricted area and only shoots two free throws, or 28.5 percent as many as Derrick Favors. James was really the only Cavalier who played above average on Monday. He also miraculously corralled another terrible alley-oop pass from J.R. Smith, following up last Thursday’s pass that he threw off the top of the backboard (nearly) that James had to slow time to retrieve.

https://vine.co/v/iwvgDKlLzi5

1 – The number of elbows Channing Frye took to the groin from Trey Lyles, and the probable length of what will likely be a forthcoming suspension. Frye reacted by yelling at Lyles and telling him to “Watch his fracking elbows” (I’m guessing, there) and initiated a headbutt with Lyles. I feel bad for Frye, because that’s about as peaceful a reaction one can expect from a man whose most vulnerable organ was just put in danger of life-altering pain; especially with Manu Ginobili’s surgery so fresh in the minds of American male sports fans. My only remaining question: What does Deadspin do for a punchline when there’s an actual groin punch? Do they just say, “Channing Frye literally gets hit in the groin”? Or do they come up with something else humiliating to compare it to? On second thought, don’t tell me.

1 in 0:00 – Shooting the flagrant foul shots for the ejected Channing Frye (Jazz coach Quin Snyder was able to pick the shooter) Sasha Kaun had one point in zero minutes and zero seconds played. Yay, box score anomalies!

28 – The Cavaliers allowed 28 points in the fourth quarter, losing by nine a game that was tied 66-66 after the third quarter. It wasn’t exactly a case of bad defense, rather the Jazz suddenly stroking jumpers they ordinarily don’t make with regularity (combined with the Cavs aforementioned offensive struggles). I had a Stars Wars movie-like bad feeling about things when Raul Neto (yes, that Raul Neto) hit a turnaround fadeaway jumper at the top of the key early in the quarter. Rookie Trey Lyles (from Kentucky) had 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Derrick Favors (19 points, five rebounds), and Rodney Hood (28 points, fourth highest total of his career, 9-of-16 shooting) each added five points in the quarter after excellent all-around games. Also, Shelvin Mack (career 5.6 points per game) had 17 points on Monday and penetrated the lane with ease, an encore from his stunning 24-point outburst on 6-of-6 from three against the Cavs last season (then with the Atlanta Hawks).

And here the Cavs thought they would have an edge over the Jazz with their leading scorer, Gordon Hayward, sidelined with plantar fascistitis (damn fascist plantars). Instead, the Cavs dropped the last game of their road trip and LeBron James lost his fifth straight game in Utah.