Cleveland State ends regular season with loss, looks ahead to Horizon League tournament
February 29, 2016
The great Cavalier freak out of 2016! While We’re Waiting…
March 1, 2016Indiana Pacers (31-29) 96
Cleveland Cavaliers (42-17) 100
Box Score
Is everyone done with their mandatory freak out? Yeah, the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have a great weekend. The Cavs lost a hotly contested one in Toronto to the Raptors on Friday, then lost a coldly uncontested one in Washington on Sunday. I threw a shoe through my television, abandoned my religion, then abandoned the religion that I abandoned my original religion for, cried four times, ate a pint of ice cream, and started working on my post for how America’s loudest presidential candidate could fix the Cavs. MAKE THE CAVS GREAT AGAIN!
"How Donald Trump would fix the Cleveland Cavaliers, MY COLUMN…"
— Kyle (@kcwelch330) February 29, 2016
Actually, I didn’t do any of those things, because — while prone to overly dramatic postgame recaps — I’m only half-crazy. So while a non-story about Kyrie Irving became a story, I was doing my best to not care. As sophisticated sports consumers (as I trust you all are), it’s important not to be so easily swayed or inflamed by conjecture, rumor, and downright lies. If everything we heard around or about the Cavs over the past two years was to have been true, LeBron James would have signed with all 30 teams (twice), half of Kevin Love’s body would be playing for the Lakers and the other half for the Celtics, Andrew Wiggins would have beaten the Warriors one-on-five in the Western Conference Finals last season, and the Joe Johnson/Dwyane Wade/Carmelo Anthony Cavs would be fast on their way to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. Kyrie Irving made a good point after the game.
Kyrie Irving says there's nothing to address regarding his role with the Cavs. "Media is going to pick [a different] player every week."
— Scott @ WFNY (@WFNYScott) March 1, 2016
Like Old Fashioneds made with Robitussin, winning cures all. The Cavs needed a swig of that cure on Monday night, and were able to find a winning sip against the Indiana Pacers. Let’s go behind the box score and see how.
10 & 7 – When the Cavaliers needed someone to rescue their offense in the fourth quarter, Tristan Thompson came to the rescue just like everyone expected. … Wait, no one in the Western Hemisphere expected that. Thompson was spectacular on Monday, scoring 10 points and seven rebounds in the fourth quarter alone (finishing with 14 and 11 in the game). He was 4-of-4 from the field in the fourth, was the only Cav to make more than one field goal in the quarter, and grabbed five more rebounds than any of his teammates in the quarter. Most importantly, Thompson shot with confidence when the ball was in his hands. He even swung a pass to an open Kevin Love at one point while rolling to the hoop — a total anomaly in his offensive game.
One of the interesting things about Thompson’s game was that it started on the bench, with Timofey Mozgov earning the start. I think this was the right move actually, as Mozgov is the more polished offensive player and works well in the first quarter. Thompson, meanwhile, thrives off the anarchy that infects fourth quarters and ends of games. Thompson is going to get the crunchtime minutes over Mozgov, so it creates more balanced rotations to have Mozgov start. To Thompson’s credit, he didn’t sulk after being moved to the bench, but accepted his responsibility and made the most of it.
When everyone complains about how much money Thompson makes, they seem to forget how much he infuriates other teams. On the offensive glass, Tristan Thompson is made of nightmares. He makes defenders resort to desperate holds and grabs, which help put the other team in the penalty so the Cavs can earn cheap free throws in the middle of the quarter. Thompson was at the center of the game’s two deciding plays: a tough hook shot after a feeble James pass with 39 seconds remaining, and a spine-tingling block on George Hill after teleporting across the lane on the help defense that closed it for the Cavs. It had all the feels of a playoff moment. The Cavs needed a win to stop the bleeding and restore unity, and thanks to Thompson they got it.
https://vine.co/v/igeILHpQrXM
4-of-14 – J.R. Smith shot a lackluster 4-of-14 from the floor on Monday, which I only add to the discussion to note that his poor shooting didn’t shake his poise. Even though Monta Ellis finished with 28 points (Ellis continually chews up the Cavaliers for some reason), J.R. Smith’s effort on the defensive end was superb.1 Soon after, it seemed the basketball gods rewarded J.R. Smith with two three-pointers that seemed to help swing a close game in the Cavs’ favor.
There was a stretch in the third quarter during which J.R. Smith dove on the floor and into the stands chasing loose balls in the span of two or three possessions. Though neither possession resulted in a turnover (Smith finished with only one steal), it galvanized the crowd and the rest of the team. Actually, for as much guff as the Cavs took this weekend, the Cavs dove after every loose ball on Monday, from Love and Mozgov to Smith and Irving. The Cavs haven’t lacked effort in most games (even the losses), it’s just been an uneven and nonresilient effort. But when things weren’t going their way on Monday, they were undeterred — and I think J.R. Smith was a testament to that. He’s been excellent and oddly reliable since the beginning of December.
33, 5 & 4 – LeBron James was quietly spectacular again, with 33 points, five rebounds, and four assists. When the Cavs started slowly (Non-LeBrons made TWO of their 14 field goal attempts in the first quarter), James attacked the rim with force, shooting 6-of-8 in the first quarter. Though the rest of the Cavaliers shot poorly on Monday (a grisly 34.4 percent for Non-LeBrons), the Cavs are difficult to beat when James makes 63.6 percent of his shots (14-of-22 against the Pacers).
6 & 6 – Though neither shot well (33.3 percent combined), I liked how both Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving played (for the most part). They each earned six assists. Love’s six assists were impressive for a stretch power forward, and Irving’s were impressive for a point guard who prefers to dribble in circles.
https://vine.co/v/igenP5rIeIE
Irving penetrated and dished on the attack, and looked for his teammates more than we’ve been accustomed to of late. He eschewed the midrange jumper for attacking the hoop (only three mid-rangers, compared to eight shots in the lane and 11 free throws). He also made all 11 of his free throws, including the four sweaty-palm free throws in the last half-minute. Irving’s fourth quarter pass to Tristan Thompson off the high pick-and-roll between two defenders was one of the best passes he’s made this season, and one of the plays of the game. Both Irving and Love gave a consummate effort on defense. Love became gun-shy in the second half, but I’m convinced both players’ shooting fortunes will change if they continue to do everything else right.
51 – The 51 points combined from Paul George and Monta Ellis kept the Pacers from fading in this one. The two combo’ed for 36 (18 points each) in the second half after the Cavs ratcheted up the defense (no other Pacer had more than five points in the second half, and that was Chase Effing Budinger). George and Ellis are dynamite individual players, and it began to look like they were going to pull another Kyle Lowry against the Cavs by forcing their way to a W.
Thanks to a team effort, solid defense down the stretch, and a banner Tristan Thompson performance, the Cavs earned a tough win that will hopefully put them back in touch with their better, more dynamic selves. The Cavs have three days off before revenge matches against the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics back-to-back. I foresee positive outcomes if they play with the same effort they did on Monday.
- Smith also wasn’t the only one defending Ellis, to be fair. They were matched up a lot, sure, but Ellis did a lot of his damage on switches or on other players. [↩]
14 Comments
2 – the number of times LeBron acknowledged Kyrie was in the building. Once to chime in with JR who was chastising Kyrie for blowing his defensive assignment and again when Kyrie cut the wrong way on the late inbound.
I’m not saying there’s trouble in Tinseltown; but what I am saying is that for LeBron to torpedo his teammate through a beat writer on not sacrificing enough and then proceeding to put his head down and drive to the basket 1 billion times a game ain’t the best leadership look.
…and yes, you read correctly, Early Smith Jr was coaching another player on how to play defense. What a world.
I said last week that I wasn’t rattled by the loss to Detroit because it was a classic hangover game from the OKC win. Sunday in Washington was uglier than it should have been even without Lebron, but pulling out a win on the second night of a B2B after all the travelling we did last week says more to me. March is going to get ugly with FIVE(!!) B2Bs, and a one week stretch of 5 games in 7 nights in 4 different cities (seriously, who the hell gets paid to make these schedules??).
If it sounds like I’m making excuses, I’ll admit I kind of am, but only because come playoff time, excuses go out the window. It would be nice if we were cruisin’ smoothly like GS or SAS, but that’s not how things operate in the CLE. The regular season will continue to be a bumpy ride, but despite what Draymond Green would have you believe, the regular season doesn’t matter all that much. Get to the Finals, then show what you’re made of. Anything can happen.
Is it just me, or was Love extremely tentative in the fourth quarter? It seemed like 2 or 3 times he had wide open looks from the corner and was hesitant to pull the trigger, opting instead to pass it off.
They just came off of 6 games in 9 days. That’s ridiculous.
OKC, Cle, Cle, Toronto, DC, Cle. That’s a lot of travelling and some good competition in OKC, TOR, and IND. Plus, WAS is a rivalry game of sorts.
In general, I’d like to see him take some of those half-chances he gets instead of pump-faking away the opportunity.
It’s the NBA, if you’re half open you’re wide open.
Good to know someone else sees their issues as well.
Its hilarious because for all the hand-wringing everyone wants to do around “sooo many issues” there is really only one…
LeBron is Captain “Do What I Say, Not What I Do”.
He’s a headcase of the highest order; oh and once in a generation basketball player too.
I don’t know why people get so defensive when the team gets criticized. Every team has their own set of problems, except GS of course. And I completely agree about LeBron. The “I’m a leader” stuff, ripping on Blatt and Love, ripping his teammates, etc.
I think each segment of Cavs fan base has it’s own reasons for becoming defensive when the criticisms come out. Everything from “LeBron did us a favor coming back” to “this worked in Boston/Miami why isnt it working here” with a billion of other things they were told in between.
And I do think LeBron yearns to be a “leader of men” but was never taught balance in that skill and so he always pulls too hard in one direction. He had the opportunity to learn it from Riles in Miami but by that time it was too late. He was too good and too big and powerful, his head got the best of him.
Love has kind of a low, slow release and it seems like sometimes he’s unsure whether or not to take the shot as somebody is closing out. Delly struggled with a similar issue last year, and while he still flips the ball up from a fairly low release point, he’s gotten much quicker at taking the shot as long as he’s already stopped his feet when he catches the ball. I agree, as tall as Love is I think he should let fly more often when the window is half-open. Generally in those situations there will be somebody in position to get a shot at the rebound as well.
Varejao’s remarks (or what Bogut says Varejao said to him) about the Warriors consistently giving up good shots to get great shots seems like it was on the top of Kevin/Kyrie’s mind. Indiana was playing pretty lackluster defense and the cavs were still trying to force this extra pass. These situations it felt like they were giving up a great shot to get a good shot… and most importantly be seen as a team player. I want KLove and Kyrie to shoot every time when they are open, why are they both so hesitant to fill up their stat sheet with high percentage shots?
This team baffles me. The body language is all over the place. Watch how people react when they feel like a teammate missed the open man, especially if that teammate is Mozgov, KLove, or Kyrie. Everyone appears to be sick of playing with everyone.
I think the Cavs are having a serious identity crisis right now. The good news is that they have a while to figure it out.
JUST FIRE THE COACH.
And here we were told this year’s schedule would not be filled with ridiculous B2B stretches?
Didn’t see the game, but saw comments that confirmed this throughout Twitter. Although the little of the game I did catch on the radio, it sounded like Love was too tired to get his legs into his shot, so while he may have been smart enough to realize he was too gassed to shoot, the actual problem is that he’s too gassed.