While We’re Waiting – Tayshaun on LBJ’s improvements, Pistons’ mental stability, and Browns fans’ mental stability
April 25, 2009Consistency eludes Tribe, who loses 5-1
April 25, 2009Joe. Beast. I’ll return to this point later, but I felt that this needed to be said right off the bat.
The Cavs traveled to Detroit last night to play game 3 of their first-round series against the Motor Parts. Some good thought was thrown around that the Cavs, if truly an elite team, would come out and take care of business last night and effectively put the series out of reach for the Pistons.
Before delving into things too deep, let’s get a few things out there: Firstly, the Cavs’ backcourt was a monstrosity on offense. Mo and Delonte combined to shoot 1-18 from the floor (5.6%) and scored 4 points between them. Mo missed a technical free throw, his only trip to the line. Daniel Gibson had 9 points in 24 minutes. This means of the Cavs’ 79 points, 13 were scored by guards.
The Cavs looked to have done this early (I say this based on the box score, as I was deciphering Swedish furniture instructions until midway through the second quarter). The Cavs went into halftime with a seven-point lead, with both LeBron and Z having solid first halves, highlighted by Z’s fouette pass to LeBron on the break, leading to an and-one.
However, the Pistons came out playing great defense in the third quarter lead by Kwame Brown and Antonio McDyess. You read that correctly – Kwame Brown. Your Cavs only mustered 9 points in the third and ended the quarter tied with the Pistons 53-53.
In the fourth something happened. Correction – someone happened. Who might that be? Joe. Beast. I told you I’d come back to this. Though the Cavs had a great night from LeBron (25, 11, and 9) and Z (13, 6, 3 blocks), the night truly belongs to Joe Smith in my opinion. In 19 minutes off the bench, Smith scored 19 points and pulled in 10 boards, 4 of them being the offensive variety. What’s more, he hit one of the Cavs 4 threes of the night (another coming from Z). Smith was on, and came through huge when the Cavs backcourt wasn’t providing any offense to speak of.
The two men on the court last night with the word “Beast” tattooed on their bodies played like just that – Beasts.
A few observations:
- LeBron and Andy worked a few great pick and rolls, and in the second quarter LeBron had a great pass off the double team from the baseline to Andy streaking to the basket. These playoffs have to be a sign to Danny Ferry that Andy has to be gone after as seriously as they can afford to do.
- Even on a night when he wasn’t shooting well, Mo played 42 minutes and pushed through his struggles. Even with Mo struggling to find his show, LeBron gave the ball up at the start of possessions and let Mo run the offense. This speaks volumes to me to LeBron’s trust in Mo.
- LeBron’s line was an assist shy of a triple double. One a night when the starting guards shot 5.6%, this is absolutely absurd.
- Mo had a beautiful alley-oop to LeBron in the fourth that really blew the game open. LeBron yelled afterwards, and it looked like his Vogue cover.
- Orlando fell to the 76ers last night on a last-second layup by Thaddeus Young. Even if the Magic win, the series is going to at least 6 games. The Cavs are the only team to go up 3-0 in these playoffs so far. Rest is good.
8 Comments
Good one Denny. That dunk in the fourth might possibly be my favorite all year.
The key to simplifying Ikea assembly? Listening to ABBA. True story.
Agreed on Joe Beast, agreed on Sideshow Bob. Still disappointed that this team could look that bad in a game I felt they should have been more up for, but ultimately the countdown continued anyway.
Two things beyond debate, though. LBJ=MVP, and Danny Ferry is the Exec of the Year.
[…] noticed, there were a few other things that may have taken precedence in Cleveland fans’ minds. Fausto Carmona pitched six innings […]
I think that Joe Beast is probably a better nickname than Knee Pads Juice.
NK
Sure our offense struggled, but the Pistons scored 68 points. It is pretty tough to lose a game when the opposition is under 70. Especially since we haven’t scored under 75 all year.
are some of these articles supposed to be funny?
When there’s not a million things going on with the NFL draft, they might be funny. Howevaaa, I’ve been rather preoccupied. I hear there’s plenty of funny movies, or videos on the internet if you require humor on your weekend.
[…] close the game strongly after having an abysmal third quarter and terrible games from the guards. Good thing we had Joe Beast. Today’s game saw the Cavs sweep the series in a game that was largely over midway through […]