Andrew Hawkins delivered an excellent speech regarding his call for justice
December 15, 2014Audio: Bernie Kosar goes scorched earth on Browns front office
December 16, 2014Charlotte Hornets (6-18) 88
Cleveland Cavaliers (14-9) 97
[Box Score]
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Last season the Charlotte Bobcats were one of the NBA’s pleasant surprises. In the preseason last year there were a lot of hope that the Cavaliers would be the team to make the leap into the postseason, but while the Cavaliers faltered and fell apart, it was the Bobcats who surprised everyone and made the leap into the playoffs.
Fast forward to this season, and Charlotte are now the Hornets once more. They added Lance Stephenson and were really hoping to build upon what they had going last year. It hasn’t worked out that way. Stephenson has clashed with Kemba Walker and other teammates and the Hornets are really struggling, leading them to open up trade talks for Stephenson already.
The Cavaliers came into this game with a two game losing streak and they needed to take care of business before playing Atlanta on Wednesday. They came out on fire in the first quarter and this one looked like it was going to be an easy blowout. But the Hornets fought back in the second quarter and by the third, they had closed to within two points. But the Cavaliers regrouped and played excellent defense down the stretch to pull away.
Overall, this was a pretty solid overall game for the Cavaliers. While it was disappointing to see them let the Hornets back into the game, the Cavaliers were still able to take care of their game and let their talent take over and win the game.
Now lets look at some numbers.
- 27/13/7 – LeBron James had one of his stereotypical box score stuffing games. He scored 27 points on 11 of 19 shooting to go with his 13 assists and 7 rebounds. He also had 3 blocked shots and 1 steal. This was a throwback game for LeBron. He’s had his ups and downs this season, but his performance in this game was quite reminiscent of his prototypical games he used to have in his first go-round with the Cavaliers. He was setting his teammates up early with six first-quarter assists, and then down the stretch in the late third and fourth quarter he was aggressive looking to score when his team needed it the most. Beyond just his offense, though, his defense was throwback tonight as well, as he was very active in the second half especially in leading his team to elevate everyone’s defense.
- 18 – Kevin Love virtually matched LeBron in terms of all around game. In the first quarter it was Love’s offense that got the team going as he scored 12 points in the quarter in leading the Cavaliers to a 34-17 lead. Love finished with 22 points. As great as the early scoring was, it was Love’s rebounding that stood out the most in this one as he finished the game with 18 rebounds. Love also added 5 assists. That makes 49 points, 25 rebounds, and 18 assists between LeBron and Love. If you add in Kyrie Irving’s 16 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds, you have 65 points, 28 rebounds, and 23 assists for the Cavaliers’ Big Three. Not a bad all around game for the trio.
- 14 – Al Jefferson is one of the best offensive bigs in the NBA. He has some holes in his all around game, but scoring has never been a problem for Big Al. He did manage to score 14 points against the Cavaliers, but it was a quiet 14. He didn’t have much of a stamp on this game. A lot of the credit goes to Anderson Varejao, who looked a little more energetic on defense than we’ve seen for much of this season. He and Tristan Thompson both had some success disrupting the Hornets down low. The Hornets did have 42 points in the paint, but a lot of those came off drives from the outside. I thought the post defense was pretty solid in this game.
- 20 – The Cavaliers’ bench scored 20 points which, again, isn’t particularly great. Only Tristan, Dion Waiters, and Matthew Dellavedova scored off the bench. We’ve seen the bench production be much worse than this, but this remains an area of concern for the Cavaliers. Tristan was excellent off the bench, providing energy, defense, and some timely and efficient scoring, but he was quiet on the boards again. Not having Mike Miller doesn’t help, but Miller wasn’t exactly lighting up the court when he was healthy.
- 28 of 38 – The Cavaliers made 38 field goals and assisted on 28 of those. That makes 73.68% of their shots were assisted, which is pretty good number. Stats like this are identifiers that show overall improvement in team offense and chemistry. The Hornets have been struggling on defense this year. Last year they were 4th in opponents scoring and 5th in defensive efficiency. They haven’t been able to recapture that kind of defensive performance this season on a consistent basis, but the Cavaliers’ offense deserves some credit, too. They were active, sharing the ball, and setting each other up for good looks.
There’s not much more to say about this game. The Cavaliers just went out and did what they were supposed to do on their home floor. Despite a couple stretches of poor play, they still managed to lead this game wire to wire and they came away with one of their better overall team performances of the season. It was very timely because now on Wednesday the Cavaliers face a stern test in the form of the Atlanta Hawks, who are playing some very good basketball. It should be a fun one.
8 Comments
It probably has only happened a couple of times, but it seems like the Cavs have jumped out to big, early leads this season only to see that lead evaporate by halftime. I guess the correct way to look at it is “basketball is a game of runs”, but I’d love to see the Cavs bury bad teams with their superior talent.
LeBron and K-Love were fantastic in this one and it was really fun to watch them play off of each other. We got a couple of outlet passes for easy buckets from both Love and LeBron. Tristan Thompson picked up his game late and helped close out the Hornets. He had one alley-oop dunk that he almost finished in spite of being dangerously undercut by a Hornet where it looked like his body was shaped like a reverse “L”.
Shawn Marion’s shot seems to have completely abandoned him lately. He missed both free throws that he took in this one and it seems like he hasn’t hit a 3-point shot in weeks. I still love him though… he does Matrix-y things every game that you just don’t see anyone else do.
I think that’s somewhat indicative of the inconsistent bench play. The starters come out and get the big lead then the bench lets it slip away. Hopefully Blatt can get this tightened up a bit.
Will the Cavs ever find a way to stop former University of Dayton legend Brian Roberts?!?!?!?!??!?!?! Finished the game with a +12!!!! Cavs should obviously trade for him instead of Lance Stevenson!
That’s a good point. Tristan seems to be getting towards being a consistent 8-10 points off of the bench, but it’s a roll of the dice to figure out what we’re going to get from Dion. Right now, Blatt is really only giving consistent minutes to 8 guys, so I’m not terribly surprised that the Cavs don’t get a lot of bench points.
It’s too bad Roberts can’t play against the Cavs every game of the season. He always plays really well against the team from his motherland.
Dion seems to be coming around a bit as well, hoping it’s more of a scenario where everyone starts to get more comfortable with the system and each other. Love Tristan’s energy hes providing off the bench!
That says a lot more about the inaccuracies of +- than it does about Brian Roberts.
Agreed. And honestly, I think the Cavs’ bench points paranoia that I’ve seen on NBA telecasts is kind of silly and overblown. The Cavs almost always have one of their Big 3 on the floor and usually they have at least two. I think the real issue is that the Big 3 are playing a ton of minutes, not necessarily that the bench can’t score.