Pics: Nike’s “Rubber City” LeBron 12 to release in late-April
April 8, 2015Frank Robinson, Fantasy Baseball, and Variable Uniformity: While We’re Waiting…
April 9, 2015Even before the final whistle, the Cavaliers (whether they were notified or not) clinched the Central Division title (for the fourth time in franchise history) as well as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs by virtue of Chicago’s loss against Orlando. With plenty of put-back slams (watch the one below) and a gritty team effort from the wine and gold (and navy), the Cavaliers now have 51 wins this season, their most since the 2009-10 season (61).
Cleveland Cavaliers – 104
Milwaukee Bucks – 99
Even before the final whistle, the Cavaliers (whether they were notified or not) clinched the Central Division title (for the fourth time in franchise history) and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. With plenty of put-back slams (watch the one below) and an impressive game from the wine and gold (and navy), the Cavaliers 51 wins this season are the most they have had since the 2009-10 season (61).
22-of-42 – The Cavs “Big Three” shot an impressive 22-of-42 (52.4 percent) from the field Wednesday night. The 22 made shots included plenty of slam dunks by LeBron James, ridiculous video game-like moves by Kyrie Irving (below), and shots from all over the court by Kevin Love. On the season, James, Irving, and Love have shot a combined 46.7 percent from the field.
17 – Irving’s 17 second quarter points gave the Cavaliers a 52-44 lead heading into the locker room. Scoring 17 of the team’s 26 points in the quarter, Irving took control of the game in the second stanza. Although the Bucks rallied in the third quarter, Irving’s dominating second quarter gave the wine and gold the lead that they needed.
21, 9, and 8 – Following his first triple-double of the season, James had another balanced game against Milwaukee. With a couple of very impressive put-back slam dunks, he finished with 21 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.
44-32 – Led by Love (11 rebounds), Tristan Thompson (10), and James (9), the Cavaliers dominated the boards over the Bucks. Not only did they out-rebound them, 44-32, but Cleveland also had 11 offensive rebounds that led to 13 second chance points. For reference, the Cavs average 11.1 offensive rebounds per game this season.
21-of-26 – The wine and gold made 21-of-26 free throws in the game. That’s the equivalent of 80.8 percent, which is more than respectable. On the season, they shoot 75.5 percent from the line. Hopefully they can continue their hot stroke from the free-throw line that they had tonight through the playoffs.
11 and 10 – In 24 minutes, Thompson recorded a double-double (11 points and 10 rebounds). The most impressive part of the double-double was the fact that Thompson attempted just three shots (made all three). Three of Thompson’s 11 points came in a crucial and-one with 6:35 remaining in the game, to give the wine and gold an 88-84 lead.
+7 – Matthew Dellavedova may have made just 1-of-5 shots tonight, but he had the highest +/- of any Cavs player tonight, +7, in just 12 minutes. Heading into the playoffs, each minute Dellavedova plays is important, because that (most likely) means that Irving is on the bench. If he can provide quality minutes while Irving is getting rest, that is huge for Cleveland.
3 over 40 – One of the only negative parts of this game was the fact that three Cavaliers (James with 40, J.R. Smith with 40, and Irving with 41) logged at least 40 minutes tonight. This is too many minutes late in the season, especially for three players. Luckily for the Cavs, with them locking up the two-seed, they can go on cruise control for the final week or so of the regular season.
1 of 3 – Cleveland earned their first of (hopefully) three banners tonight that will be hung up in Quicken Loans Arena for the 2014-15 season. Now, they just need to focus on the other two that can come from playing well into June..
With the division and No. 2 seed in the East locked up, some key players will most likely start to receive less playing time in the final week or so of the regular season. The remaining four games of the regular season are almost meaningless for the Cavaliers. The most important part of these last four games is that the wine and gold stay healthy.
3 Comments
agree too many minutes.
Also, Josh, afraid your recap is so Cavs-centric that you missed a central game story: even though the Bucks are fighting for playoff seeding Jason Kidd benched his starting center for the entire game, apparently for violation of disciplinary rules or failure to play defense. http://www.jsonline.com/sports/bucks/kidd-refuses-to-shed-light-on-benching-antetokounmpo-b99477571z1-299146041.html
Mozgov should have really gotten off in his absence but instead played kind of soft, at least for him, maybe because he knew he was playing the second string.
Front page all day: division champions! After the last four years of basketball Cavaliers fans should be happy I mean just look at all of the comment…uh wait.
As far as the minutes go I’d be willing to bet you will see guys being held out of games this last week or so as Josh mentioned.
JR Smith drops another bomb this time photo bomb:
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/04/j-r-smith-videobombs-postgame-interview