Joe Johnson snubs Cavs, signs with Heat
February 27, 2016Cavs struggles, Academy Awards chatter, and John Oliver talks Trump: While We’re Waiting…
February 29, 2016Cleveland Cavaliers (41-17) 99
Washington Wizards (28-30) 113
Box Score
Anyone who turned this game off before its conclusion is to be forgiven. The last Sunday in February was beautiful and warm, a day not to be wasted watching a listless Cavs team get embarrassed by the Wizards in Washington. LeBron James got the day off to rest. The remainder of the Cavs took a personal day as well. Even the Verizon Center crowd had a tough time getting too excited despite the blowout victory. To put it bluntly, the whole thing sucked.
It wasn’t like Friday night’s loss to the Toronto Raptors. While that defeat was disappointing, at least the level of play was reasonably high on both sides. Kyle Lowry was superb, and the Raptors deserve plenty of credit for pulling out the win. Cavs-Wizards just stank. The Cavs gave up 28-plus points in each of the first three quarters, offering precious little resistance to John Wall and company. The hosts scored however they pleased — on the break or in the half court, from beyond the arc or at the rim. The final score flatters the Cavs. Hungover brunch-goers show more urgency than they did Sunday.
It’s all a little worse in the shadow of Saturday’s brilliant Thunder-Warriors game. That game was as good as NBA basketball gets, even before Steph Curry’s game-winner. Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook all played exceptionally, while supporting players Draymond Green, Serge Ibaka, and even Andre Roberson and Steven Adams made significant contributions. It all made for a delightful viewing experience. If Thunder-Warriors was worthy of an Oscar, Cavs-Wiz deserves a Golden Raspberry.
Perhaps it was an anomaly. Perhaps it was just a bad combination of being without LeBron, playing five games in four cities in one week, and a bad night’s sleep. Perhaps the Cavs had Oscar parties to get to. Perhaps it’s all for naught and everything is meaningless as long as the Warriors are healthy and Steph is alive.
Whatever it was, it was bad. Let’s look at the stupid numbers.
96 — The Wizards scored 96 points in the first three quarters. They shot 57 percent from the floor and made 10 of their 23 threes up to that point. They won the third period alone by a 33-16 margin, and only a lackluster performance by their bench in garbage time depressed their final statistics. Five Wizards finished in double figures and seven scored at least eight points.
21, 13, 7 — John Wall is the Wizards’ engine and he was at full speed Sunday. He finished with 21 points (on 8-of-11 shooting), 13 assists, and 7 rebounds in just 29 minutes. Time and again he got a full head of steam in transition, finishing plays either at the rim by himself, kicking out to open shooters, or setting up Marcin Gortat for bunnies. His speed gives the best teams problems. In their drowsy state, the Cavs barely stood a chance.
28 — Kyrie Irving scored 28 points, had 6 assists, and shot well (.450/.500/1.000), but it felt like something of an empty calories performance. This is more an indictment of the Cavs at large than Kyrie alone, though he shoulders some of the responsibility with LeBron out. Plenty of shots came after one or two simple actions — say, a ballscreen or a dribble handoff — but lacked for those beautiful in-and-out, side-to-side swings that result in open threes or layups.
24 — Kevin Love only played 24 minutes. He left the game with a right leg injury midway through the third quarter and did not return. The Cavs went to Love in the post against Jared Dudley early and often, but he didn’t have the touch. He finished with 12 points and 4 rebounds on 4-of-11 shooting in his abbreviated action.
+15 — Hey, D-League callup Jordan McRae posted a +15 plus-minus and scored eight points in seven minutes of garbage time! Attaboy, Jordan.
5:42 — It was with 5:42 left in the game that LeBron James left the bench for the locker room. Per NEOMG’s Chris Haynes:
With 5:42 remaining in the game and the Cavaliers down 27, James left the bench to head to the locker room. He had seen enough. James’ absence shouldn’t have equaled this outcome. In garbage time with the game out of reach, the Cavaliers’ reserves trimmed the margin to 14 to make the game appear respectable.
66 — At the time of this writing, the temperature in Cleveland is 66 degrees. Go outside and enjoy it.
15 Comments
DBMs, start your engines!
Thanks for the heads up – another thing on the DVR that I’ll just delete, consistent with my fan motto: Never care more about a game than your team does.
Somewhere David Blatt is snort-laughing.
Do the divas really need LeBron to be on the court barking at them all game in order to succeed? What an embarrassment.
Wake me up after the regular season. I know I’m supposed to enjoy the ride, not just get off at the destination, but too many bumps are making me carsick. I don’t even know if we have legit chance this year, but at least once the playoffs roll around I’ll start to hope and pray for miracles.
Hey, maybe the team is galvanized by the loss.
Nah, only a sad or bitter fired coach like Mark Jackson would snort-laugh at a meaningless loss like this. Blatt seems classier, even if he did get tossed out with Sunday’s trash.
The Grit is gone.
http://memecrunch.com/meme/B4H2N/miss-me-yet/image.png?w=650&c=1
What is up with this team? Ugh. I mean, it hardly matters since the warriors are a buzz saw but man…
David Blatt = Lawrence Vickers redux
Well at least we know the issues go beyond coaching.
http://memecrunch.com/meme/B4HAC/my-turn-yet/image.jpg?w=628&c=1
I always thought he looked like a Muppet.
https://media.giphy.com/media/qcZ1A1peO4u2c/giphy.gif
2 of my friends and I made the trip to DC to see this game. Thank the gods that it was a beautiful weekend and worth the trip irrespective of the game. But man, that arena was a mausoleum at times.
And yes, we left early to get out and enjoy the day.