Cleveland Sports: The Future is Now
October 30, 2014Running new streets, high school bloopers, and Minus the Bear… While We’re Waiting
October 31, 2014New York Knicks: 95
Cleveland Cavaliers: 90
[Box Score]
Post-Game Writing Music: Mark Lanegan Band – “Phantom Radio”
The emotion was palpable. That’s not even the right word for it. As the cameras moved in on LeBron’s face before the game, you could read every last emotion he was feeling. The heightened empathy could move anyone caught off guard to tears.
The start of this game was everything we thought it was going to be, and then some. The emotional intro videos, the starting lineups, the chalk toss, the crowd. All of it was a level of intensity unto itself.
The Cavaliers rode that energy through the start of the game and put on a show. They delivered on every promise of how good this offense has the potential to be. As the first quarter faded and the reality of an NBA game settled in on the second quarter, the energy began to dissipate. And with it, the Cavaliers turned into something very ordinary. Stagnant offense, exponential turnovers, lackluster defense, and a spirited opponent all came into play as the Cavaliers dropped their first game with LeBron James since 2010.
This wasn’t the script any of us were expecting. But I have a couple of thoughts before anyone overreacts and takes too much out of this game. First, the Cavaliers have now lost four consecutive season openers with LeBron James. They went 3-1 in season openers without him. Season openers are always a funny thing. Expectations weigh some teams down while the emotion of hope carry others.
Second, I want to go back to the last thing I wrote in the final Behind the Box Score that I did at the end of last season:
While I was writing this, the Atlanta Hawks came back and beat the Boston Celtics. That means it is officially over. The Cavaliers no longer have any scenario in which they can make the playoffs. It’s not surprising. The losses last weekend pretty much ended that. But it’s still pretty sad and disappointing to see the finality of it and to know for sure that all those preseason hopes will not be realized. Lottery, here we come again!
Before we fall into too much despair over one game, just remember the season we are coming out of as fans. The last time we saw the Cavaliers play, things were as bleak as they could possibly be. The Cavaliers were facing a mid-lottery pick, Kyrie’s impending free agency, and anyone mentioning LeBron James was incessantly mocked.
So yes, this game was a bummer. There are a couple of things worth worrying about and a whole mess of things that need work. But man was this game refreshing. Seeing the level of talent on the floor wearing Cleveland jerseys was such a stark contrast from where we left off. A bad game last year meant a 20+ point loss from a team that didn’t seem to care to give 100% effort and/or energy. This was a bad game, but it’s not the kind of thing we need to worry about until it becomes habitual. A one game sample just cannot tell us anything even remotely definitive about this team.
Now lets get into the numbers…
- 22/5/7 – I want to start with a positive. Kyrie Irving had 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists along with 2 steals and a block. Kyrie was sensational in this game. He was patient early in the game and for the most part looked totally comfortable in the offense. He understood when the team needed him to exert himself, but he did it without ever seeming to really try to do too much himself. Not having the pressure of having to shoulder the load by himself is really going to do Kyrie wonders this season. He was facilitating when he was in with LeBron and Love and he was aggressive when LeBron was on the bench. This is exactly why LeBron wanted to come play with Kyrie. When LeBron is resting and the team needs to keep their foot on the pedal, Kyrie is going to be able to step up.
- 2.8 – Ok, so lets get into LeBron. That 2.8 number was LeBron’s Player Impact Estimate (PIE) for this game. Basically, that number is meant as an estimate of a player’s impact on the game. The only Cavaliers with a lower impact in this game were Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson, and Mike Miller. LeBron scored 17 points on 5-15 shooting with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. He had 8 turnovers and no steals or blocks. This was about as stunning of a game as I’ve seen LeBron play in a very long time. You could tell there were some serious nerves early in this game, and as the game progressed the nerves turned into frustration. LeBron was a team-worst -13 in plus/minus for this game. Some of LeBron’s turnovers were the result of an obvious chemistry issue, as several passes for teammates were misplaced. This is simply a matter of needing more time to generate a feel for where everyone is on the floor and where their movement tendencies are. Still other turnovers were the result of sloppy ball handling which could have been the result of nerves. Or maybe it was just rust. Whatever the case, I don’t think this is the LeBron James we will see all season long. I’ve been trying to preach all offseason that there would be growing pains. This will all take some time to gel.
- 41-12 – The Knicks bench outscored the Cavaliers bench by a 41 to 12 margin. Much has been said and written about the Cavaliers’ role players and depth. So it was surprising not only to see the lack of bench production, but just the sheer lack of bench playing time period. Tristan Thompson played nearly twenty minutes and Matthew Dellavedova played eighteen minutes, but outside of those two, the minutes were sparse. Shawn Marion got ten minutes and Mike Miller got three. That’s it. LeBron and Kyrie played 43 minutes each with Kevin Love getting 38 minutes. On the front end of a back-to-back to open the season. So much for limiting minutes, huh? This was this first game for David Blatt, too, and maybe the minutes just kind of got away from him. Or maybe he was really desperate to deliver a win in his first game as coach. Whatever the case, this rotation (or lack thereof) simply cannot be the norm. The Cavaliers need more minutes from the bench, yes. But they also need better production. We can chalk this up to first game trial and error, but this is something to keep an eye on.
- -2 – The Cavaliers were outrebounded by the Knicks 35 to 33. It’s funny, we talked about how this could be one of the best offensive teams of all time, and they scored 90 points on 45.7% shooting with just 22 assists. We also talked about how this could be one of the most elite rebounding teams. And they got outrebounded in their first game. It certainly wasn’t Kevin Love’s fault, as he brought down 14 rebounds. But nobody else had more than five. Anderon Varejao only had four rebounds and Tristan Thompson only had two. This is definitely an area that can and will be improved upon.
- 60.6% – In the second half, the Cavaliers let the Knicks shoot 60.6% from the field. That is simply unacceptable. There were moments where the Cavaliers defense actually looked pretty decent. But in the third quarter especially, the offensive struggles really seemed to lead to a lack of energy on defense. The Cavaliers were giving up too much space, particularly in the frontcourt. The Knicks seemed to be able to generate almost any shot they wanted, and they were knocking down the open looks when they got them. The more the Cavaliers pressed on offense, the more they seemed to give up on defense. I’m sure Coach Blatt is going to have a lot to say about this to the team and there is still a lot of work to be done on defense.
This was the first game and certainly nothing to be worried about by itself. But now the Cavaliers have to go to Chicago on Friday night to play a Bulls team that just got done dismantling this very Knicks team. The Cavaliers are facing straight down the barrel of an 0-2 start. I can’t wait to see how this team responds.
I actually think going on the road right away might be a good thing. It will get the team away from the pressure and emotion of the phenomenal home crowd and allow them to galvanize a bit as a unit. There were flashes in this game of what the team can be. Kevin Love ripping down rebounds and throwing beautiful outlet passes. Love scoring from inside and outside, giving defenses fits in trying to figure out how to guard him. Kyrie Irving using his ball handling skills to create space and set up cutting teammates of getting to the lane himself. Dion Waiters hitting open shots in the flow of the offense. Anderson Varejao being a disruptive force.
The thing we didn’t really see much of was LeBron James. Not the LeBron James we all know, anyway. It’s a shame to have such an off game in this kind of environment, but it’s not the end of the world. All that matters now is how he comes back in Chicago and how the team responds. This is all still such a big work in progress. As I said earlier, there are things to worry about for sure, but I’m not really going to get into any of that until these worrisome things become the norm. For now, this is just one sample out of 82. We’ll know more about this team as every game passes. For now, it was just fun watching Cavaliers basketball again and seeing the collection of talent on the floor. Hopefully in Chicago we see better output and better results.
52 Comments
“If he keeps that up, he’ll be the next Larry Hughes of this team, and we don’t want that.”
http://heydionwaitersstoptakingsomanybadshots.com?
oh man…was hoping that someone started that site up.