Break the Jinx: Blazers-Cavs, Behind the Box Score

Portland Trail Blazers (9-14) 100

Cleveland Cavaliers (14-7) 105

Box Score

‘Twas only a week ago that the Cleveland Cavaliers were 13-4 and cruising to an uncontested repeat Eastern Conference Championship. The team was confident, they were undefeated at home and crushing teams at home, people weren’t talking about trading Kevin Love. Some Cavs fans were bored! Imagine that!

Then one of the best sportswriters on the planet started wagging his metaphorical pencil around Cleveland’s good fortune looking for one of his “stories.” “It’s a think piece about a mid level band struggling with their own limitations in the harsh face of …” err, wait, that’s the story pitch for Almost Famous. Let’s try that again. “It’s a think piece about the superstar prodigal son struggling with his own limitations in the harsh face of mortality and an unstoppable planet-destroying basketball Death Star known as the Golden State Warriors.” Then, last Tuesday, Sports Illustrated posted Lee Jenkins’ cover story on LeBron James on their website.

The Cavs proceeded to lose their next three games in discouraging fashion. It began with their worst game of the season against the Washington Wizards (at home, no less), followed by an overtime loss against the New Orleans Pelicans and a non-competitive James-less defeat against the Miami Heat.

I’ve never been one to believe in jinxes, but this was getting ridiculous. We all saw what happened to the Indians last season after earning Sports Illustrated‘s “blessing.” By midway through the second quarter of Tuesday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, I was beginning to buy into this jinx thing. Sure, the SI jinx might not do anything to the almighty Warriors or the soulless Yankees, but Cleveland sports teams succeed on fragilest of karmas. Let’s not tempt fate! Don’t mess around with a ouija board in a haunted house on an ancient Indian burial ground. Lee Jenkins — I love your way with words — but how about you just stay away from my teams for as long as you bear the power of The Cover. Take your beautiful prose and keen perception of humanity elsewhere.

The Cavs eventually warded off the curse in the second half on Tuesday, but not without some effort. Let’s take a peek behind the box score and see how.

14 – LeBron James led the way in the fourth quarter again on Tuesday, finishing the final frame with 14 points. He currently leads the NBA with 8.9 points per game in the fourth quarter, and only Anthony Davis is within one point of him. James has been very assertive in the fourth recently, following up on his 23 in the fourth of last Friday’s game against the Pelicans. On Tuesday, he did most of his fourth quarter damage in the post on Al-Farouq Aminu. He finished with an efficient 33 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists (tying his season low), and — most importantly — the team seemed to feed off his energy in the second half.

It certainly looks like he wants to win these December games more than any other player on the floor. His effort culminated in a drawn charge in the fourth quarter, and some tough layups with impressive footwork. Surely players have other ways of expressing desire without beating their chest and roaring after made baskets. But, well, watch the games. He picked up another off-ball jam with a big dunk on the Mo Williams dime in the fourth quarter shown below.

34 – The young guard Jared Cunningham earned 34 minutes on Tuesday night, which is symbolic because of what it meant for the Cavs in the second half. David Blatt rolled the dice in the second half, starting Cunningham and allowing him to play more than 21 minutes after only 12 in the first. The change meant that the Cavs were playing a small lineup that would reward perimeter defense. Cunningham wasn’t a spectacular defender but he was a willing defender, fighting over screens and harassing ball-handlers like Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, who both torched the Cavs with 14 points and 15 points respectively in the first half. Lillard and McCollum (330 native) were still effective in the second half, but it wasn’t so damn easy like it was in the first half, and the Cavs were able to slow the Blazers down enough to get back in the game despite Cunningham only attempting three field goals. Going small and playing the feisty guards was one of Blatt’s better decisions in a season in which his lineup choices haven’t always made sense. Matthew Dellavedova also deserves some gold stars here for busting his hump for 36 minutes.

7 trillion – At the expense of Cunningham’s increased playing time was Timofey Mozgov, who managed no recordable stats in seven minutes of playing time, achieving the rare, elusive 7 trillion.¹ (Unless you count his plus/minus of -12.) His recent disappearance should be a grave concern for Cavs fans, as Mozgov was instrumental in the team’s success last season. I’m going to do more investigating on his struggles and I suspect they may be related to his recent knee injury, but my principal hypothesis now is “trauma after an alien abduction.”

Mozzie working on a cool 7 trillion right now (cc: @clubtrillion) pic.twitter.com/uIyh6zYHYo

— Will Gibson (@wjcgibson) December 9, 2015

12 – Matthew Dellavedova attempted 12 field goals on Tuesday, a season high (and tied for the second highest in his career). With Kevin Love’s shot struggling from anywhere but the free throw line (where he picked up eight points on Tuesday) and Mo Williams’ nagging knee injury slowing him, the Cavs need someone to pick up their workload. Dellavedova struggled early, but remained aggressive, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He’s also been sizzling from three-point range (3-of-5 on Tuesday), and showed some fire defending Lillard and throwing down the much larger Mason Plumlee for a flagrant foul. In the past several months, Dellavedova’s become like … a real basketball player. It’s been fun to watch. The Cavs will continue to need his production in both the short- and long-term, and he looks up for the role.

1. Trademark of Club Tril founder Mark Titus. [↩]