May 20, 2013

Box Score: Cavaliers 100, Nuggets 99

March 7, 2012 by 17 Comments

Mr. 4th Quarter, indeed.

For the first 3 quarters of this game, Antawn Jamison and Alonzo Gee carried the Cavaliers. Jamison’s monster game will probably be overlooked, but Antawn was essential in making sure the Cavaliers got off to a good start. Jamison had 33 points to lead all scorers and without his and Gee’s offense, the Cavaliers would have fallen behind early.

But this game will be remembered for what Kyrie Irving did in the 4th quarter again. As Fred McLeod was annointing Kyrie as “Mr. 4th Quarter”, the Cavs rookie was living up to the name. Irving had 10 points in the 4th quarter, including a coast to coast drive to give the Cavs the lead for good on their last possession. Irving then got just enough body on Ty Lawson to force the Nuggets’ PG to miss the would be game winning drive.

Irving finished with 18 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals to help the Cavaliers snap their losing streak. Remember, the kid is just a 19 year old rookie. And already he is showing time and time and time again that when the game is on the line, Kyrie will do what it takes to lead the Cavaliers to victory.

Impressive win for the Cavaliers in what was a riveting, exciting game.

Cleveland

Starters Pos Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
K. Irving G 32:48 8-16 0-3 2-2 +15 1 5 8 3 3 0 1 5 18
A. Parker G 27:36 2-5 1-1 0-0 +1 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 2 5
R. Hollins C 18:25 1-2 0-0 0-0 +5 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 5 2
A. Jamison F 36:55 11-21 3-6 8-9 +5 2 9 1 1 0 0 2 4 33
A. Gee F 31:32 7-12 1-3 4-6 +20 1 7 3 3 4 1 0 2 19
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
Totals 37-82 7-23 19-23 5 36 23 13 11 1 5 26 100
Percentages .451 .304 .826 Team Rebounds: 9
T. Thompson 24:34 1-2 0-0 1-2 -5 0 3 2 0 1 0 1 1 3
R. Sessions 21:16 2-7 0-2 2-2 -9 0 0 5 2 1 0 0 1 6
D. Gibson 19:21 2-9 1-5 0-0 -4 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 2 5
O. Casspi 16:28 2-4 1-3 0-0 -19 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 5
S. Samuels 10:36 1-4 0-0 2-2 -4 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 4
M. Harris 0:29 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
S. Erden DNP – Coach’s Decision
B. Uzoh DNP – Coach’s Decision
A. Varejao DNP – Coach’s Decision

Denver

Starters Pos Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
T. Lawson G 40:59 6-14 1-4 5-5 -6 0 5 6 7 2 1 0 1 18
A. Afflalo G 39:37 4-8 1-3 4-6 -5 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 13
N. Hilario C 21:43 5-10 0-0 3-5 -9 2 5 1 4 2 1 0 4 13
C. Brewer F 20:12 2-10 0-4 0-0 -1 1 4 5 0 0 0 0 1 4
K. Faried F 19:44 2-2 0-0 1-2 -7 2 9 0 0 0 0 0 4 5
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
Totals 35-81 4-20 25-32 10 46 23 17 7 5 1 19 99
Percentages .432 .200 .781 Team Rebounds: 11
A. Harrington 33:14 10-20 1-6 1-2 +6 2 8 1 2 1 0 0 2 22
A. Miller 24:05 5-7 0-0 6-6 0 1 2 4 4 0 0 0 2 16
D. Gallinari 22:14 1-7 1-3 2-2 +10 0 4 2 0 1 0 1 2 5
C. Andersen 18:12 0-3 0-0 3-4 +7 1 7 1 0 1 3 0 2 3
J. Hamilton DNP – Coach’s Decision
K. Koufos DNP – Coach’s Decision
T. Mozgov DNP – Coach’s Decision
J. Stone DNP – Coach’s Decision

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  • Ritz

    Wow Kyrie Irving is so good, and so clutch. Its hard to believe how good he has been closing out games and he is only 19. The Cavs may be rebuilding but Irving is an amazing foundation for this team.

  • 5KMD

    Yikes, a -19 for Casspi in the +/- department. I live out of town and don’t get my eyes on the Cavs much. What’s the story with Casspi this year? Any progress or hope for the future?

  • Lyon25

    he shows flashes of being decent, but those are normally hidden behind terrible basketball.  Only positive he does out there is hit the boards.

  • Hear It Now

    Isn’t this Kyrie’s 3rd game winning shot this season? 

    Game winning shot defined as: Player makes a shot to put his team ahead when his team was down by 1 or 2 points in the last 10 seconds of a game.

  • porkchpxprss

    I gotta eat some crow even though I didn’t come out and say it yesterday, I had an eye rolling “we are going to get stomped” reaction to Andrew’s “We can win this game” article.  Sorry for doubting you or KI won’t happen again. 
    I think the biggest question I have from this year is can Gee do this or near this on a nightly basis?  It seems when he gets free for an early dunk or two, or he hits an early 3 his game picks up, but otherwise he seems to drift.  If he can come back next year and give 15 off the bench its huge, if he can give 19-20 as a starter its a monumental gift.  He doesn’t seem to be comfortable right now taking a higher volume of shots which is necessary to be a scorer. 
    Which leads me to big hats of to Jamison.  8-9 free throws?  50% 3′s?  Awesome.  By far this has been the most entertaining lottery bound (maybe not if the Knicks keep sliding) team I can remember.

  • swig

    That game was amazing.  Forget ping-pong balls, wins like that are good for the development of the franchise.

  • Bric

    WFNY nailed this game in advance; excellent call in preview.
    + or – ratings are useless for an individual game.
    Who is playing with you?  Who is on the floor against you?
    Over a season, that rating has some meaning.
    Casspi is a potentially good player, but is very tense.
    Anyone who ever played, at all, knows what tension does to a shot.
    “Pulling the string,” is what they used to call it.

  • sda

    I agree I hate saying this but I think he has TEAM to much on his mind. It seems to me he worries about missing and letting down the team.
    On another note. Did anyone catch Kyrie getting on Hollins? I saw some real leadership from him last night. It was nice to see. Maybe a peek into Jordan/Kobe type of leadership

  • Vindictive_Pat

    I missed that, but it makes me happy to hear.  Hollins was giving less effort than he usually does, which isn’t much.  He was flopping all over the place and playing like a weakling.  1 rebound in 18 minutes?  Manny Harris gave us the same number of rebounds in 29 seconds.  BTW, Manny Harris definitely added some muscle in the offseason.  His legs don’t look like toothpicks anymore.

  • Vindictive_Pat

    I thought Casspi actually had a pretty good game.  He played within himself and didn’t try to do anything he’s not capable of doing (like when he tricks himself into thinking he can post someone up).  I’d say the -19 is more a factor of who he played with.  For most of the time that he was in the game, the Cavs were sporting Ryan Hollins and Antawn Jamison as their interior defense… ouch.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Andrew Schnitkey

    I think that will come with confidence and experience. The leaps Gee has improved from last season to this have been eye opening. Alonzo is a legit NBA player who can contribute a significant role on a good team. I would have never thought that possible last year. He won’t win the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, or even be in the running. But I think he should be.

    I think as he continues to learn to trust himself more consistently, his play will level out as well. You can almost see how he forgets at times that he’s a good player. This is a new experience for him. But it’s developing, and he’s growing because of it. I really, really like Alonzo as a basketball player. He’ll never be a star or anything, but I see him as a dependable part of this team’s future.

  • mgbode

    here, here.   I like Gee as a bench player more than a starter in future seasons (I love that type of energy guy coming off the bench to give the team a kick-start when needed).   But, I do love him as a bench guy and a solid part of a 8-9 man rotation.

  • mgbode

    No talk of the Irving vs. Lawson epic battle the last 3 minutes?    They were clawing at each other on both ends of the court and the Dukie beat the Heel this time.

  • MrCleaveland

     Hear hear!

  • Vindictive_Pat

    I loved that as well… it seems like Irving needs someone to get him fired up and focused, then he just goes off.  Irving had great defense on that last Lawson drive (could have been a foul in another game, but the refs were letting that kind of contact go for both teams yesterday), and he also had a block just a few minutes earlier.  I think eventually Irving will learn to supply that motivation himself.

  • mgbode

    doh!  too early for me to spell correctly apparently.

  • johnnyk124

    I think Kyrie already has more game winners than LeBron does in his whole career.  When you must have a bucket, Kyrie can score.  LeBron can not.

    That being said, I wish Kyrie would come out a little more aggressively at the beginning of games.