Johnny Manziel’s friends decked a touchy-feely fan on Friday
November 24, 2014Giving thanks to you, While We’re Waiting
November 25, 2014Orlando Magic 74
Cleveland Cavaliers 106
[Box Score]
I know what a lot of people are thinking. What’s the big deal? The Cavaliers are a much better team than the Orlando Magic. They’re supposed to win a game like this. But man, the Cavaliers needed this one.
We heard all offense about how effective this offense was supposed to be. We knew the defense would struggle, but the offense and the talent level at the top was supposed to rise above. So far this season, the offense has been a bit of a mess much of the time and the defense has been as bad as some had feared.
Tonight, though, the Cavaliers showed really great energy and focus and finally put together another good game from start to finish on both ends of the court. The Cavaliers extended their lead every single quarter in this one, from 10 at the end of the first to 18 at the half to 23 at the end of the third to 32 at the end of the game. You can point to the opponent all you want, but the Cavaliers have played poorly against teams of all types and makeups. Nothing should be taken for granted at this point in the season with the way this team has played. It’s just a matter now of whether or not the team can maintain this level of play on a more consistent basis.
Now lets get into the numbers…
- 51.2% to 33.3% – The Cavaliers certainly aren’t strangers to getting off to quick starts. We’ve seen the Cavaliers get off to plenty of early leads, only to see them suddenly either stop doing what’s working or else fail to adjust to their opponents’ adjustments. In this game, the Cavaliers managed to stay engaged and shot 51.2% from the field while holding the Magic to just 33.3% shooting. The Cavaliers were pretty active on offense, getting 15 assists on their 22 baskets in the first half as they took a 56-38 lead into halftime. Again, it’s tempting to write this off as things that should happen every game, but with the way this season has gone, you have to look at this stuff as positives in any context.
- 22 – LeBron scored 22 points in the first half as he seemed determined to back up his pre-game talk about needing to play better. This is the type of leadership that will benefit this team. Not the passive attempts at proving some kind of point. LeBron was aggressive scoring, but he was also setting up teammates and communicating to the team both on and off the court. LeBron finished this game with 29 points on 17 shots with 11 assists and 4 rebounds, all while taking the fourth quarter off. It cannot be stressed enough, for the Cavaliers to continue to grow, develop, and work their way into a contender, they need this version of LeBron James. This is an absolute confidence builder for the whole team for sure, but confidence is only as good as your last game played. Now the Cavaliers need to continue to build on this and LeBron needs to continue to exert his leadership and to change the culture of this team. This game was a great first step in the right direction.
- 10 – Coming out of the half, one of the things I was most curious to see was how the Cavaliers would respond to their good first half. Would they maintain their energy? Would they extend the lead? Or would they come out flat and give the Magic some hope? Early on, it looked like Victor Oladipo was going to will the Magic back into the game, as he scored the Magic’s first three baskets of the third quarter, followed by a Vucevic layup and the Magic had the lead down to twelve. But Anderson Varejao would come to the rescue. Andy missed his first shot of the quarter, but then he made four huge shots in a row to allow the Cavaliers to maintain their lead. He scored ten points total in the quarter and his energy absolutely set the tone for the team as they pushed their lead to 23 at the end of the third. With so much pressure on the “Big 3” this season, it was good to see Andy show some of his old form we’ve seen from him the past few seasons as he has steadily improved his all around offensive game.
- 53 – The “other” Cavaliers, meaning the guys not named LeBron James, Kevin Love, or Kyrie Irving had 53 points in this game. It was nice seeing other guys find ways to contribute to the team. It also allowed the Cavaliers to rest the starters for much of the fourth quarter. Anderson Varejao finished with fourteen points and Shawn Marion added nine, while five players scored off the bench including Lou Amundson and James Jones. When you consider that the Magic only scored 74 points total, it means the Cavaliers’ “Big 3” only need to make up 21 points combined to secure the win. Of course, LeBron did that and more himself.
- 4 – To start the 4th quarter, the Magic had four turnovers including a pair of steals by Kyrie Irving and another one for Will Cherry. The turnovers led to seven points for the Cavaliers as they extended the lead to 30 and really set the tone that there would be no comeback in this game. After so many games in which the Cavaliers seemed to put themselves to sleep, it was just refreshing to see them keep up the activity on the defensive end to setup some easy offense the other way. The Cavaliers had a total of 14 steals and 9 blocked shots, scoring 25 points off turnovers. They had 30 assists on 42 made field goals. This was just such a quality team effort from top to bottom.
Sure, it’s just the Orlando Magic. The Cavaliers only did exactly what they’re supposed to do. They dominated a home game against a weaker opponent from start to finish. This isn’t anything to go overboard celebrating, nor should anyone proclaim an end to the team’s struggles. However, the Magic came into this game with one more win on the season than the Cavaliers. With the way the Cavaliers have played, they can’t take any team for granted. So sure, this was a good win. This was one of those nights where we saw the team laughing again and having a good time. It was refreshing.
But Wednesday everything starts over from scratch as the Cavaliers take on the Washington Wizards again. For the Cavs, they need to figure out how to build on this, not use it as evidence that everything is back to “normal”. It’s time for this team to start putting things together and to start stringing together some nice win streaks and to start avoiding back to back losses.
8 Comments
Biggest thing for me is Blatt’s rotations. He gave Kyrie a break while Love and Bron still played. Until the 4th, I don’t think all 3 were sitting at the same time. This is key to this team
First, I don’t think there was a recap of the Toronto game, so I had nowhere else to put this – I was at the Q Saturday night, and I was FLOORED by how many Raptor fans there were. There was almost an entire section of them behind one of the baskets, and many many more spread throughout the arena. The chants of “Let’s go Raptors” were louder than most of the cheers by Cavs fans. Now granted, they had much more to cheer about, but still, I don’t even understand how they got so many tickets, let alone in one section. It was actually quite disheartening for me as a fan, I have to imagine it was for the team as well.
Now about last night’s game, I had to follow most of it on my phone because I couldn’t get in front of a TV, but I thought the lineup that ended the game was interesting – Amundson, Haywood, Cherry, Jones, and…Waiters! Is Blatt trying to send Dion a message? I know Harris was pretty ineffective last night in (somewhat) serious minutes, so why not let him try to shake it off in garbage time? Dion’s psyche is so fragile as it is, do we really want to rattle it a little more by putting him with the garbage time crew?
And will someone more informed than me please tell me why James Jones never plays but Mike Miller does?
I don’t know why this is so hard for him to figure out. We all seemed to get it rather quickly. One of them has to be on the floor at all times. Rotate and substitute accordingly.
I wondered the same thing about Waiters… maybe Blatt wanted to make sure he had a chance to put up some stats? We all know that Dion loves to score the ball and he really hadn’t played much up until that point.
That’s a great question re: James Jones. Mike Miller was supposed to provide that deadly 3-point shot, but he’s been terrible so far this season. Jones hasn’t played much, but it seems like he is automatic from the 3-point line any time someone finds him open.
I was very impressed with Kyrie Irving in this game. After the Cavs had built their lead in the 3rd quarter, Irving was pushing his teammates to keep the pace up and keep attacking. Will Cherry responded really well to that. He came up with a couple steals and looking menacing for the first time this season.
Mike Miller = Jason Giambi to me. Great clubhouse guy who had one specialty but is too old and washed up to do it consistently enough, thereby being more of a liability than an asset when he’s in. I don’t know enough about Jones really, but I just assume he can’t be any worse.
I think that’s a good comparison. I’m just shocked that Miller has slipped into Giambi territory so quickly. He had a great season for Memphis in 2013-2014. James Jones has the same defensive liabilities that Miller does, but one of those two guys needs to provide floor-spacing for the Cavs.
My favorite number of the game?
1 – 3 point attempts by Kevin Love. I want him playing in the post more, and not forcing 3s just because. I don’t want him attempting just one every game, but it sure feels good to see it in a game they won by over 30.