2018 NFL Draft Early Glance Series: Quarterbacks
February 20, 2018Projecting the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs: While We’re Waiting
February 22, 2018It feels like forever since the Cleveland Cavaliers were playing a game within the confines of Quicken Loans Arena. The team’s thrilling, overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves—with one of the most under-discussed game-winners in recent memory, mind you—feels as if it was lost in the shuffle. Brutal losses to Oklahoma City, Detroit, San Antonio, and Houston will do that to a fan base, but here they are, the Cavs, quietly having won four in a row heading into the All-Star break, littered with new, younger faces, and they return home for the first time in 15 days.
Expectations are a funny thing. I was doing my weekly Tuesday spot on Youngstown 1420AM and they asked what my expectations were for the duration of the regular season. As lackluster as some of the first half of the season was, the Cavs are among three teams reasonably vying for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The Toronto Raptors rode a seven-game winning streak to the top of the pile, while Boston—who had won more games than their point differential would have led one to believe—has fallen two games back.
If we’re talking short-term goals: The Cavs, 6.5 games back, could put another game between them and the Washington Wizards with a win on Thursday. If we’re talking long-term goals: The Cavs play six of their next seven games at home, with only one being against a team with more wins than they have (San Antonio). The six-game road trip that follows, while a west-coast swing that ends in Chicago, provides four lottery-bound teams in the Clippers, Lakers, Suns and Bulls.1 A final two-month schedule that features two games against the Brooklyn Nets, two games against the New York Knicks, two games against the Phoenix Suns, and a game against the Dallas Mavericks is primed for the taking. The catch, of course, is not playing down to competition while also taking care of business against the rest of the conference.
But if we’re talking fan engagement through what is typically the grind portion of the regular season, Koby Altman has you covered. On Thursday night, Cavs fans will get their first, in-person look at George Hill, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance Jr. Since arriving at the trade deadline, all four players have made an impact in the team’s back-to-back wins over Boston and OKC. Hill has shown a willingness to be a point guard who defends (weird, right?). Hood has immediately morphed from a high-usage shooting guard to a catch-and-shoot three-point weapon. Clarkson has provided scoring off the bench, averaging 15.5 points on 70.8 true shooting. Nance, coupled with his nostalgia,2 has brought a weapon similar to Tristan Thompson in that he’s an elite roll man in pick and roll situations, and has provided an athletic defender who can switch on to smaller players when needed.
It’s weird, but this current crop of Cavaliers, will be able to provide something for every level of fan—nostalgic, fair-weather, Xs and Os—through a period of play that is typically met with a “let’s get to the playoffs already” attitude. As a fan, I can’t recall the last time the game following the All-Star break was worth looking forward to as much as Thursday’s. As a writer, the Cavaliers were already at the epicenter of NBA headlines. With new players, a seemingly reinvigorated LeBron James, and a schedule there for the taking, we could finally have ourselves a March and April worthy of the coverage.
This Week in #ActualSportswriting:
- “In Oakland, Jon Gruden is Ready to Grind” by S.L. Price (Sports Illustrated)3
- “LeBron’s Final Act Will Separate Him From Jordan’s Ghost” by Jonathan Tjarks (The Ringer)4
- “My Magical Quest to Destroy Tom Brady and Win a Philadelphia Eagles Mini-Fridge at Super Bowl LII” by Caity Weaver (GQ Magazine)
- “Inside the Corrosive Workplace Culture of the Dallas Mavericks” by Jessica Luther and Jon Wertheim (Sports Illustrated)5
This Week in #ActualNonsportswriting:
- “Jimmy Buffett Does Not Live the Jimmy Buffett Lifestyle” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner6
- “Donald Glover Has Always Been Ten Steps Ahead” by Bijan Stephen (Esquire Magazine)7
This Week in Bleacher Report:
[Narrator: “It would, in fact, make the NBA All-Star Game more competitive.”]
Have a great Wednesday, you guys.
- Quick aside: If Adam Silver does in fact look to change the playoff structure to dismantle the conferences, the Cavaliers’ first-round matchup if things finished where they are today would be against the Denver Nuggets, whom they play on March 7. [↩]
- And Cleveland LOVES nostalgia. [↩]
- Always ready S.L. Price. [↩]
- “Jordan was 34 when he retired the second time, the same age LeBron will turn this December.” [↩]
- Long live investigative journalism. It’s already elicited a response. [↩]
- Tough to find a better current celebrity profile writer than Taffy. [↩]
- “People like Donald Glover aren’t supposed to exist; shows like Atlanta aren’t supposed to get made. [↩]