While We’re Waiting… Browns Goals, CLE Fan’s Budget, Braxton Miller Hype
January 29, 2011Browns 2011 NFL Draft Update: Marcell Dareus Emerging as Favorite at No. 6
January 29, 2011Just in case you thought Cleveland’s epic losing streak was bad but not quite historically bad, you finally have some concrete evidence to the contrary. With Friday’s 14-point setback to the constantly tumultuous Denver Nuggets, the Cavs tied a single-season franchise record with a 19th consecutive defeat.
Per usual, the final score hardly describes the full nature of this blowout as Denver led 70-50 at halftime, a similar margin to the 80-49 lead they held at the break over Cleveland on Saturday, Jan. 15. Despite continued productivity from J.J. Hickson (24 points), Ramon Sessions (season-high 13 assists) and Joey Graham off the bench (14 points in 23 minutes), it was all for naught in yet another difficult loss.
For updates on what to expect next from this squad along with some developing commentary related to this latest failure, stay tuned for my news and notes after the jump.
— If you need to hear any comments about how the Cavs’ supposed defense performed in this game, look no further than the commentary provided by Ryan Braun of Cavs: The Blog: “In truth, not a whole heck of a lot to be upset about defensively. Not because the Cavs weren’t awful, but because we’ve established such a sizeable control group of horrific defensive performances, that I fear tonight’s effort may even be worthy of a small pat on the back.”
Beautifully well said Ryan. It’s the simple truth; this team could be one of the worst defensive units in the NBA’s recent history. Not only does Cleveland allow opponents to shoot an unfathomable 43.0% from three-point range, but in the month of January the Cavs are allowing an astounding 109.5 points per game. Let that settle in a little bit.
— Despite those apparent malfunctions on that side of the basketball, head coach Byron Scott seems to think the team has improved of late. Braun noted that Denver clearly only scored 47 points in the second half and something must have been different for that to occur, but I hardly think that is deserving of this quote by Cleveland’s leader:
”On the defensive end I think we’ve gotten better; we just have to continue to do it for 48 minutes, and that’s what we’re going to continue to preach,” said Scott to George Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal.
The big reason for this I believe, is a sense that other teams starting units so dominate the Cavs in the first half, that it appears by the end that something advanced defensively by the end of the game. Entering last night’s game, Cleveland was losing by an average of 55.7 to 48.3 (-7.4 points per game) in the first half. Alongside that stat, opposing starters are out-scoring the Cavs’ top five by an average of 72.1 to 57.3 (-14.8 points per game). Yikes.
— Without Anderson Varejao and Mo Williams in the starting lineup, this is clearly a very poor top five for the Cavaliers right now. In fact, the only two players with an above-average (+15) Player Efficiency Rating on the team at the moment are Ramon Sessions (17.10) and Antawn Jamison (16.88). Nothing is astonishingly different from the majority of the numbers for the players on this team compared to last year or their careers, but it’s just been a while since the NBA saw such a odd conglomerate of middling talent.
— Here is Cleveland’s upcoming schedule as they look to now avoid tying the all-time NBA record of 24 consecutive losses, set combined by the 1981-82 and 1982-83 Cavaliers teams:
Sunday, Jan. 30 @ Orlando Magic (30-17)
Monday, Jan. 31 @ Miami Heat (32-14)
Wednesday, Feb. 2 vs. Indiana Pacers (17-26)
Friday, Feb. 4 @ Memphis Grizzlies (23-24)
Saturday, Feb. 5 vs. Portland Trailblazers (25-22)
Monday, Feb. 7 @ Dallas Mavericks (30-15)
Losing straight through the next five games including the Portland contest would set the new NBA record, which puts a tremendous amount of pressure on that next home game against Indiana. That team is just 6-15 on the road this season and should be one to look forward to as the Cavs hope to finally avoid some form of NBA infamy.
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(Photo above via AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
6 Comments
Ryan Hollins is killing me. First the botched foul against the Nets and then back-to-back three-second violations after the Cavs cut the lead to six points in the fourth quarter.
It’s as if he’s never played the game at this level before…
His defensive limitations are just as bad too. For a seven-footer, I’ve never seen anyone just wander that aimlessly around the court. It’s rough.
Still a fan.. You guys should make Cavs shirts with that as our new slogan. Those 3 seconds violations were the result of the ref being a douche. I see bigs camp in the paint for 5+ seconds almost every time down the court.. The ref was just flexing they called one on the Nuggets as well.
Still fun to watch. Not watching to expect them to win, watching to see how these guys develop. I don’t get to watch too many games, and the ones I do are crappy internet streams, but I’m glad JJ at C is doing good. Seems he didn’t ever need the freedom to be outside, he needs to be restricted to dunks, layups and maybe one 8ft shot a game. You can tell it’s not quite what he’s used to and he needs to learn, but I really really like him there.
The Kings won last night so that puts our lead up to three games.
It’s like a train wreck, I can’t look away.