WFNY Roundtable: Browns attempt to recover from Kick-Six
December 4, 2015Cleveland Cavaliers to rest LeBron James on Saturday
December 5, 2015Cleveland Cavaliers (13-6) 108
New Orleans Pelicans (5-15) 114 (OT)
After giveaway Tuesday at the Q against the Washington Wizards in what was their worst game of the season so far, Cleveland Cavaliers fans hoped that the Cavs would respond with renewed urgency and zeal in Friday night’s game in New Orleans against the Pelicans. A big win could have righted the ship toward what should be an inevitable Eastern Conference championship, and a loss could have steered the ship into the middle of seas teeming with Krakens and U-boats.
Without giving away too much about what happened on Friday, let’s just say the Cavs better have brought some water wings.
When asked after the game if the Cavs were simply treading water waiting for guards Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert to return, LeBron James said, “There’s only one guy ever in the world that everything will be all right when he comes back and that’s Jesus Christ. Other than that you can’t bank on nobody … .”
Strong words from a man thought to be the savior of Cleveland. It’s been said that Jesus Christ can’t hit a curveball. But how’s his jump shot?
23 – LeBron James willed his way to 23 fourth quarter points, giving the Cavs the lead with just under two minutes left for the first time since early in the third quarter. It was reminiscent of last season’s Cavs team — and both all the good and bad things that entails. James looked like the raw, unstoppable, primal force he’s been for the last decade, but at the expense of the elegant basketball that made this season’s Cavs unbeatable when they’re at their best. His teammates only attempted seven field goals in the quarter (making two of them).
Sure, the isolation brand of basketball that James employed in the fourth quarter is precisely what the Cavs have tried to do less of this season. And sure, in hindsight Kevin Love should have been more involved in the offense. But watching it live, with the Cavs entering the quarter down seven and lacking energy, it felt like a signature James “I got this” performance was the only way the Cavs were going to win the game — the non-‘Brons shot only 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) in the second half.
James responded by bullying his way to the hoop repeatedly in the fourth quarter for 23 points. It wasn’t creative or poetic, but it was beautiful in its awesomely powerful and destructive way. The strong jump stop and underhanded layup below with Anthony Davis right in James’ face was more beautiful than anything you’ll see in MoMA. Whether it’s true or false, James sure looked like he wanted to win Friday night’s game more than anyone else on the court on either team — and that’s why every game he plays is a must watch. It should have been enough to win the game for the Cavs. Alas, it was not.
5-of-22 – After the first quarter, the Cavs shot 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) from three-point range, including 3-of-15 (20.0 percent) in the second half and overtime. J.R.’s first quarter outburst of 15 points on 5-of-7 from three-point range softens the blow of those bad shooting numbers, but it also obscures the fact that the Cavaliers need to shoot better from three-point range without Irving giving them another guy who can drive (more on this below).
If we ignore J.R. Smith’s opening spurt, everyone struggled from three, including James (1-of-5): Kevin Love (0-of-5); James Jones (1-of-5); J.R. Smith (1-of-6); and Mo Williams (0-of-2). In the second half, Jones and Smith missed some wide open threes that need to be made for the Cavaliers to win games on the road. The lone exception was Matthew Dellavedova, who shot 2-of-3 from deep, and continues to be reliable on open threes. James did hit this heave from Tallahassee, though, that was kind of cool.
31 – Anthony Davis was stellar on Friday night, scoring 31 points. His jump shot was particularly deadly in the fourth quarter and overtime. It still took a dumb James turnover that J.R. Smith somehow failed to recover,1 and a fluky contested three from Jrue Holiday to send the game to overtime, but once the Pelicans got it there, Davis took over at the start of the extra five minutes with some killer makes.
5 – There’s a lot that’s been wrong with the Cavs offense recently — but if you’re looking for one answer to “WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE OFFENSE???” it’s this: no one but James takes the ball to the hoop. The Cavs had five drives from players not named “LeBron James” on Friday night, according to NBA.com’s player tracking data. FIVE! James had 21 drives on his own.
Last season, Kyrie Irving and LeBron James each had over nine drives per game. On Friday, Mo Williams had two measly drives (one of which resulted in an easy alley oop to Timofey Mozgov), James Jones had one, Matthew Dellavedova had one, and Timofey Mozgov had zero (but was credited with one). J.R. Smith had zero drives despite taking 13 three-pointers! Kevin Love took five threes, but had zero drives to the hoop. Mo Williams repeatedly passed up drives to settle for midrange jumpers — which is not always bad, but when the defense knows that the Cavs are never going to pump fake and drive on their open threes, they become much easier to defend.
Moreover, when no one’s driving except James, the fluid, elegant ball-movement offense that led the Cavs to an eight-game winning streak becomes stagnant and gross — a lot staring at James and circles of perimeter passes that don’t generate good shots. No one expects Kevin Love to turn into Chris Paul. But it doesn’t take much to pump fake a guy that’s sprinting out to contest a three and drive to the hoop. It’s unconscionable that J.R. Smith’s willing to take 13 threes without even attempting to generate a shot that’s less than 22 feet from the basket. Again, no one needs to replace Kyrie Irving. But Cavs shooters and point guards need to be willing to drive to harass opposing defenses. That’s enough. And that’s the biggest problem with the Cavs offense right now. (Other than missing Kyrie Irving.)
- By either kicking the ball out-of-bounds or picking the ball up (in which case it would have resulted in a shot clock violation). Basically, anything but what Smith did, which was hand the ball to Davis for an uncontested layup. [↩]
9 Comments
Is it just me or is that the most open LeBron has been about his religion?
Baseball players talk openly (Lindor often refers to being blessed by God to be able to play in MLB), but NBA players much less so. I’ll be interested to see if it was a one-off comment or not.
Personally, I love the quote. Great perspective.
Ok, right now we have 2 freakin all-stars and a handful of pretty good players, and every game is STILL a damn struggle.
I don’t get it.
Time to man up and drive to the hoop. I’m looking at you Love and Smith.
Nothing in the middle offensively or defensively is the biggest issue I see right now. Mozgov doesn’t look remotely like he did when he first came to the Cavs of course he’s had the off season knee surgery and shoulder to deal with too. Thompson gives you zero offense. Varejao barely plays and even when he does he doesn’t present a threat on offense. So that pretty much leaves Love. He’s away from the basket more then he’s inside so that leaves a gaping hole in the middle as I see it.
The only guy who drives is LBJ well drives with success. Otherwise they make themselves a perimeter team that doesn’t share the ball. I don’t know what’s going on with Mo Williams. Reportedly he volunteered to be demoted supposedly so he could start getting accustomed to doing it once KI is back. I’m not sure if I completely believe that though. Maybe he’s hurt more then we thought I would just think as a competitor who showed the first two weeks he still has it he wouldn’t volunteer to be demoted.
Frustrating loss especially after hearing them say what a great practice they had with KI and Shumpert included. Not only that but two days off after being beaten at home. It wouldn’t sit well with me.
But they have a chance to wipe it all out tonight. We’ll see what happens on the second night of a back to back against a solid Miami team.
Blaltt puckers too much and ignores his bench. Play Kaun, dammit.
Well he played tonight against the Heat LoL.
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