Free agent QB Robert Griffin III visits Browns
March 19, 2016Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and Journalism: While We’re Waiting…
March 21, 2016Cleveland Cavaliers (49-20) 101
Miami Heat (40-29) 122
Box Score
On Friday night, I joked that there were reasons to watch the Cleveland Cavaliers face the Orlando Magic on a Friday in March, even while there were other worthwhile life activities (both of the basketball and non-basketball variety) to pursue. Well, I won’t feign the same argument on Saturday night when discussing the Cleveland Cavaliers’ game against the Miami Heat. In fact, were I to ever invent a time machine, my first action upon doing so would be to travel back to Saturday, March 20, 2016, and make sure that you personally never watch this game — even before assassinating Hitler or going back to the Jurassic to kick it with some dinosaurs. I would do those things immediately afterward, after all there would be time — that’s kind of the point of a machine that can travel through time.
Anyway, you would have been better off doing anything other than watching the Cavs play the Heat on Saturday: watching March Madness or, even better yet, an example of what championship-caliber basketball looks like as the San Antonio Spurs matched wits with the Golden State Warriors on ABC; you could have called that nice gentlemen or lady you met for a date on Friday night (yea, it’s weird that he or she has multiple cats, but those things are gold for Vines and Reddit karma); or you could have just sucked Cheez Whiz out of a tube and banged your head against the wall. All better choices than watching the Cavs-Heat game.
Actually, you probably shouldn’t even bother reading this recap of Saturday’s Cavs-Heat game. Wait, no, don’t leave! That was a joke! Damn it. Well, for those remaining, let’s go behind the box score and the woodshed the Cavs were taken behind by the Heat on Saturday.
31 – The Cavaliers allowed 122 points in the game against Miami on Saturday, and that’s bad (you’ll be reading that phrase a lot in the next 700 words). But games start, per se, in the first quarter. The Cavaliers allowed 31 points in the first quarter, the 15th time the Cavs have allowed more than 30 points in the first quarter, and the seventh time in only 28 games since Tyronn Lue took over as head coach. So, the Cavs have allowed their opponent to start the game on a 120-point pace every fourth game.1
On Saturday, the Heat scored 31 points on 13-of-21 shooting (61.9 percent) in the first quarter. Joe Johnson, who the Cavs were rumored to nearly have signed a few weeks ago, led Heat scorers with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting (he would finish with 18 on 7-of-11), but everyone on the Heat was involved in the offense.
The Cavs records is actually only 7-8 in games in which they allow 30 points in the first, and they also allowed 30 in the opening frame 19 times last season (23.2 percent of the time). So, maybe this isn’t as bad as it seems. But it sure feels like the Cavs allow teams to do whatever the hell they want in the first quarter, and then aren’t able to dictate the terms of the game from then on, like parents who don’t discipline their child and then aren’t able to send the kid to its room once the little brat has started setting fire to things in the living room. I don’t think the Cavaliers need any of the high-grade recreational amphetamines available for consumption at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival (just down the street from Saturday’s downtown venue), but a cup of coffee before tip-off might not be a bad idea.
60.7% – The Miami Heat shot only 54.8 percent for the game, which is a misleading figure because they shot 60.7 percent on field goals in the first three quarters, by which time the game was well out of reach. Even more demoralizing, the Heat made 9 of their first 13 three-pointers. So was this just an instance of the Heat catching lightning in a bottle, or an example of bad defense? It was a lot of column A, and a lot of column B. The team’s biggest problem remains a lack of ball pressure and a total inability to stop the simple high pick-and-roll. And so the Victor Oladipos and Goran Dragices go crazy against the Cavs. Joe Johnson (18 points on 7-of-11 field goals), rookie Josh Richardson (4-of-5 on threes and shooting a ludicrous 73.3 percent from three on 30 attempts over his last eight games), and the subject of the next paragraph all seemed incapable of missing in the first three quarters.
24 – Dwyane Wade, object of scorn for Cavalier fans everywhere, seemed invincible on Saturday, as he does so often against the Cavs. At 25.7 points per game, Wade averages 2.0 more points per game against the Cavaliers than he does against the whole NBA, his sixth-highest scoring average against any opponent. He did most of his damage in the midrange game on Sunday, but also took seven shots in the restricted area. Though some of Wade’s midrange shots were contested and challenging, he roamed the court like a wild mustang on the prairie, with his defender frequently losing him — somehow forgetting that Wade is one of the best two-guards of all time.
To tie things back into how the Cavs let first quarters become bad omens, Iman Shumpert lost Dwyane Wade on the first possession of the game, doubling Amar’e Stoudemire for no apparent reason and allowing Wade to walk into the lane, where Kevin Love had no choice but to foul him when Stodemire dumped him the ball. Wade also added four rebounds and four assists to his 24 points in only three quarters of play, passing the 20,000 point mark in the process — which led to a break in the game for the city of Miami to throw a parade.
26 – As good as Wade was on Saturday, James led all scorers with 26 points on a very efficient 13-of-20 (65.0 percent) shooting. Because the game was out of hand so quickly, James looked for his own shot more than Cavs fans are accustomed to (only earning three assists). James didn’t play a great game by any means: he had only three rebounds, had some of those robbed-by-a-ghost turnovers he’s had of late (three turnovers total), and had some bad defensive possessions (one of which is discussed below). But despite his failings, he led all scorers (at an efficient level, no less), attacked the hoop at every opportunity (13 field goal attempts in the lane), and provided some genuine highlights in what was an otherwise unwatchable game. Irving was okay (14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, four assists), but it was the lack of defense/Miami’s shooting that were the stars of the game.
7-of-10 – Richard Jefferson didn’t play fantastic defense, but he attacked the hoop and was a bright spot off the bench, scoring 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting (3-of-4 on threes), though a lot of those points went straight into the dumpster in garbage time.
26 to 42 – The Cavaliers were out-rebounded by the Heat by an astounding 16 rebounds. This was probably the most alarming fact from the game, because there’s no real reason the Cavs should be beat on the boards that badly by the Heat (the two teams’ rebounding numbers are comparable, but the Cavs’ are slightly better). Tristan Thompson only had two rebounds in 18 minutes, which doesn’t even seem possible. Taurean Prince, how did they out-rebound us by 16??? Please speak into the mic, too, because I think the Cavs forgot what a rebound was on Saturday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6A2ZgKV6n0
0 – Timofey Mozgov played ZERO minutes in the first three quarters of Saturday’s game. He was slated to start the game all day, then coach Tyronn Lue sat him ninety minutes before, opting to start Iman Shumpert instead with Kevin Love at center. This was ostensibly done to match up with Miami’s small starting lineup which featured Amar’e Stoudemire at the five and Luol Deng at the four. But instead of using Mozgov off the bench to play alongside Heat seven-footer Hassan Whiteside, Lue opted to leave the Cavs’ best rim protector and tallest player on the bench until the fourth quarter. In a season of wtf coaching decisions, this was one of the wtf-iest. If it’s any consolation, Mozgov played 11 minutes in the fourth quarter.
4 – In the second quarter, the Cavs cut the Heat lead to a mere four points. That’s two or fewer baskets! It really looked like the Cavs were going to pull within respectability by halftime. After a Jefferson hook shot, the score was 36-40 with six minutes remaining in the quarter. Then Hassan Whiteside had a tip in over Not-Timofey Mozgov, James neglected to defend Joe Johnson at all on a corner three, then no one picked up the scorching Josh Richardson on a three from the opposite corner on consecutive possessions. The Heat never looked back. That’s why the fifty-plus win Cavs season can really be boiled down to a series of lapses in concentration. I was already worried about the Cavs facing the Heat before Miami obtained Joe Johnson a few weeks ago. If the Cavs didn’t get the message that the Heat are dangerous in a 15-point loss at Miami in December, they ought to have received it on Saturday night.
- Things weren’t much better under coach David Blatt, as the Cavs allowed 30 points in the first quarter eight out of 41 games (19.5 percent of the time) as opposed to 25.0 percent of the time. [↩]
2 Comments
The only reason LBJ is here is because his wife wants to be.
It’s obvious he’d rather be clubbing at South Beach with Wade.
I’m sure yucking it up with your best bud during the game did wonders for morale.
I’m done with LBJ. Get us a ring then f off.
When I looked at the draft of 6250 dollars, I have faith that brother of my friend was like really generating cash in his free time with his PC…oa His aunt’s neighbor has done this for only 11 months and by now repaid the loan on their home and bought a new Car.
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