While We’re Waiting… NBA Draft, Super Steelers and Cleveland Youngsters
January 26, 2011Buckeye Hoops Report: Ohio State Sends Message to Big Ten
January 26, 2011Heading into Boston, the second night of a back-to-back stint, the Cleveland Cavaliers were 18-point underdogs against the reigning Eastern Conference Champions.
Save for a rough second quarter in which Paul Pierce and company widened the gap between Cavaliers and Celtics, the Wine and Gold managed to stay relatively competitive, equaling their competitions output in the third quarter and allowing a five-point differential in the fourth. The end result was a 112-95 loss with the Cavs covering the spread for the fourth time in their last five contests.
Once again, Byron Scott applauded his team’s effort, praised his young players and stressed the importance of not letting his team allow runs like they did over the second 12-minute stretch. Overall, Scott said his team could have done things better, but did “okay.”
This one is all about silver linings, folks.
Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott opted for a 10-man rotation in this one, with only one player, Antawn Jamison, topping the 30-minute mark. Rarely successful against the Celtics (Jamison has shot 35 percent from the floor against Boston since 2007), the team’s leading scorer on the year mustered 11 points and seven rebounds.
Taking Jamison’s place among the stat leaders were Christian Eyenga and his team-high 15 points; JJ Hickson’s 12 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots; and Ramon Sessions’ 14 points and seven assists.
For the month of January, the four abovementioned players have provided Cleveland with the most hope. Jamison has averaged 23.4 points (eFG of 49.6 percent on 20 possessions) and 7.6 rebounds, Hickson has provided 13.6 points and a season-high split of 10.1 rebounds, and Sessions has amassed his best month of the season with 14.6 points (60.4 percent at the rim, 57.4 TS% on 16 possessions) and 5.7 assists.
With Eyenga, fans are watching a 21-year old who is easily the most athletic player on the roster. On Tuesday evening, he blocked a Ray Allen three-pointer on defense and attacked the rim when given the ball. It would be worth mentioning that all eight of Eyenga’s converted field goals were assisted and he had a fairly inefficient night with 11 points “contributed” on 14 possessions, but we will point back to the fact that he is a 21-year old rookie and this is all about the positives today.
“Every time [Christian] attacks the basket he’s got to look to try to dunk it cause of his athleticism,” said Byron Scott following the game. “Every time he goes in he feels he’s getting fouled, which young guys do, but their not going to call it cause he’s young. So you got to try and dunk, at least they see you going aggressively. I thought tonight he was much better at that, attacking the rim. Got to keep growing and learning and I thought tonight was another step ahead for him.”
Next step for Christian will have to come in the form of passing the ball. While his jump shot is above average for an athletic wing (think Josh Smith as a frame of reference), 60 percent of his field goal attempts are coming with at least nine seconds left on the shot clock and 69 percent of his shots are coming in the form of said jumper. For a guy as athletic as he is, here’s hoping he takes Coach Scott’s advice and gets to the rim a bit more over the second half of the season.
To find out where this team-leading scoring night put Eyenga among the Cavs all-time greats, be sure to check out Stepien Rules later today.
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(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
7 Comments
Pierce, Allen, And Garnett all played about 25 minutes. Celtics disinterestedly toyed with the Cavs. No silver linings. Please dont try to spin otherwise.
So they got that going for them, which is nice.
This is Pathetic
Fourth time in five games covering the spread?! Golly, I can’t wait to see the trophy we get for that accomplishment.
Cavs moratorium?
Wow. 17 boards for JJ last night. He could be a great player if not for the fact that he totally sucks.
I laugh everytime I read the title of this piece but at least the Cadavers competed against my C’s. I was a little disappointed Boston didn’t win by more but that’s how it goes. I found it interesting that according to an SI article that the Celtics came out playing hard simply because they didn’t want to be the team who loses to Cleveland ending the Cavaliers losing streak. 5 more losses and the record of 23 in a row is tied.
Ye ne sayers, we will triumph in the end, just wait