This Oregon fan lost a bet and had to get a Buckeyes tattoo
January 21, 2015Billion-dollar franchises and your brain on empty calories: While We’re Waiting…
January 22, 2015Utah Jazz (14-28) 92
Cleveland Cavaliers (23-20) 106
[Box Score]
Click here to sign up for WFNY’s Cleveland Cavaliers email newsletter
It’s not fun to think back to November 5, 2014. It was the fourth game of the season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and they were in Utah to play the Jazz. The Cavaliers lost that game 102-100, but the score doesn’t tell the story. That was the infamous Kyrie Irving 34 point, 0 assist game. The Cavaliers had an appalling 6 assists as a team. The Cavaliers fell to 1-4 and that moment still feels like the absolute low point of the season.
It’s not fun to think back on that game, but it’s so important to not forget it. It was a watershed moment for this team. It was the first real moment where everyone on the team had to look themselves in the mirror and realize this wasn’t going to work if it was just going to be a bunch of guys playing for themselves. If Jack Shephard was on the team, he would have given one of his “Live together, die alone” speeches.
If that was a watershed moment for rock bottom on this season, the rematch against the Jazz might have featured a watershed moment for the resurgence in the third quarter (more on the play I’m talking about in a minute). The Cavaliers came out in this one against the Jazz and played with the most energy on both sides of the ball that we’ve seen all season in leading wire to wire for the second straight game. Can anyone even remember the last time the Cavaliers trailed in a game? It’s been a while.
Make no mistake, the Cavaliers are playing incredible team basketball right now. There were moments in this game where they almost seemed to have too much energy and it looked at times as if they actually needed to calm down a bit. They are playing outstanding defense, they are being selfless on offense, and they are all feeding off the excitement of setting up their teammates. This was a fun game, and this game was a testament to just how much better this team has been since the return of LeBron and the trades.
Now lets get into the numbers…
- 25% – The Utah Jazz didn’t score their 50th point of this game until the 3:00 minute mark of the third quarter. As a whole, the third quarter was special. In that third quarter, up until the Jazz scored that 50th point, the Cavaliers held them to 25% shooting from the floor. They held Utah to two shot clock violations. The Cavaliers had four steals and two blocks. But there was one moment in particular that felt like a culmination of all the frustration, the hard work, and the resurgence of this team. The Jazz had a 3-on-1 break with only Kyrie Irving back on defense. So many times in Kyrie’s career we’ve seen him halfheartedly stab at the ball handler only to let them walk right on by for an easy basketball. This time was different. Kyrie stepped over to challenge the ball handler. When the Jazz tried to loft the ball up for an easy basket, Kyrie didn’t give up on it. Instead, he lunged into the air to knock the pass away. JR Smith, who also never gave up on the play, was trailing and was able to get his hands on Kyrie’s deflection and back-tapped the ball away from the three Jazz players. Tristan Thompson stepped up and gave a quick touch pass back to Kyrie who was already breaking back the other way. Kyrie took a quick dribble and as soon as he crossed half court he lofted the ball up to the basket where Kevin Love was waiting to throw down a monstrous dunk that sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy. The game felt like it was over at that point. It’s astounding to think about this play against the Jazz and juxtaposing against what we saw in the game in Utah. It speaks volumes to how far this team has come.
- Five Double Digits, Again – Once again, all five Cavalier starters were in double digits scoring. In fact, for the second game in a row, all five starters scored at least 15 points. Prior to last game, that hadn’t happened in 20+ years for the Cavaliers. Now it has happened in consecutive games. LeBron led the way with 26 points, but this wasn’t the LeBron James show. It wasn’t the Kyrie Irving show. It was the Cleveland Cavaliers show, and boy was it a fun show to watch.
- 5 to 0 – Kyrie Irving had five steals in this game against zero turnovers of his own. Sure, he had 18 points and 4 assists, but look again at those efficiency numbers. Five steals, zero turnovers. For all the (deserved) criticism Kyrie has taken for his defense in his career, he deserves equal credit for the way he has transformed his game on that end of the floor. In addition to his steals, Kyrie was consistently moving his feet to cut off drive attempts, he was diving all over the floor, and just in general disrupting the Jazz guards as much as possible. Again, remember, it was just a couple short months ago when Kyrie had his 0 assist game and in which it felt like there might be a small divide between he and his teammates. Something has clicked with Kyrie since then. He’s not a Top 5 defensive PG or anything like that, but just his effort alone on defense seems to be energizing everyone on the team.
- Quadruple Doubles – Kevin Love and Timofey Mozgov each had double-doubles in this game. Love had 19 points and 13 rebounds while Mozgov had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Nobody is mistaking them for Tim Duncan and David Robinson, but there’s no question the Cavaliers’ frontcourt has been much more formidable since the acquisition of Mozgov. Timofey’s presence has opened things up in the post for Love and taken some of the pressure off of Love in the frontcourt. When both players are scoring and rebounding like this, the Cavaliers feel like a much bigger team and they are a much more difficult team to handle.
- 22 to 6 – The Cavaliers had 22 fastbreak points compared to just 6 for the Jazz. Again, this is a testament to the defensive energy, effort, and persistence the Cavs are showing right now. One of my biggest criticisms of Byron Scott’s teams was that he preached playing a fast paced, up tempo style, but he didn’t preach any defense. The easiest way to play with energy and pace and to create fastbreak points is to defend like the Cavaliers did in this game. When guys are flying all over the floor, scrambling for loose balls, scratching for every rebound, it makes it so much easier for players to find the space and energy to leak back on the fastbreak. It’s also a sign of growing chemistry. There was a play in this one where the Jazz put up a shot, LeBron started leaking out, and Love crashed the board. How Love saw LeBron breaking out is beyond me, but without even hardly looking, Love just grabbed the rebound, turned around on a dime, and fired a long pass down the floor to setup a thunderous dunk for LeBron.
There are plenty of quotes out there about forgetting the past causing those to repeat it. There’s a certain degree of truth to that, of course, and nowhere is that more appropriate than in comparing these two Jazz games this season.
When the Cavaliers were stuck in their recent losing streak, there was a lot of external noise surrounding this team. There were whispers of guys being unhappy, of a mutiny against the coach, of things falling apart. But as I said in a recent WFNY podcast episode, winning games cures a lot of that stuff. Guys were hurt, the Cavaliers had zero depth, and things were frustrating. Bringing in reinforcements, guys getting healthy, and the team winning games has quieted the noise for now. The players look like they’re having fun again, and the fans are having fun again as well. Lets hope the fun times last a little longer this time.
37 Comments
Thanks for the Lost reference!
Once Shumpert takes the majority (if not all) of Delly’s minutes, this team could really take off. This is what we all signed up for this season, so enjoy it!
The best part of this: I’m fairly certain this is the kind of play Blatt has been trying to get his players to buy into all season long. And now that they’re having success doing it, they’re likely to continue to play that way. Heck, Kyrie hearing cheers for his defense is going to push him in the right direction.
Some other points of interest:
– Shawn Marion and Tristan Thompson both had 100% shooting. You can’t ask for much more accuracy and discipline than that on the offensive end. They didn’t try to score often, but when they did they drilled it.
– Minutes for Love and LeBron seem to be going down – Love played 33, LeBron 36. I suspect Kyrie will get some more rest when Shump gets back in.
If I see it 100 times it will never stop amazing me to watch Love grab a rebound whip around and throw a pinpoint 85 foot pass to a streaking Lebron.
Second only to the shock of seeing Kyrie trying on D, he doesn’t have to be great he just has to try.
I also think the loss of Dion (who I really did love), has helped. Given his comments in OKC (they never let me touch the ball in CLE. “Whaaaa?) Anytime the biggest pain in the butt in your workplace leaves its bound to improve everyone’s attitude.
Ok, I’m also the guy who thought they might have found something 5 games after the trade for Marrese Speights, but man, Mozgov’s presence seems to be changing everything. Utah is no powerhouse but this guy is so big, nimble and tenacious in the paint that he discouraged a bunch of drives and forced penetrators to alter almost every shot – and hesitation and uncertainty really drops the opponents’ shooting percentage. And kudos yet again to Kyrie’s defensive effort. Seeing how effective he can be illustrates that he gave no effort past seasons. But his laying out on the defensive end after he got paid illustrates character.
As you say, Andrew, winning cures whining. This team is a bunch of thrown together parts with new starters still being added even this weekend. Maybe the west coast bowling and bonding was The Moment, and maybe being awash in good feelings for a few weeks against crappy opponents at home is just what the doctor ordered. Maybe once they embrace what each of them is supposed to be doing they’ll be ready and trusting enough to move on to the graduate-level stuff, like how to close out close games with precision offense and suffocating defense. It’s a good thing it’s a long season; they need every week of it.
I loved the defensive energy. I love Mozgov, and how he fits in. The best part about winning is that we don’t need to deal with all the negative articles about the Cavs. Winning cures all. The on thing that still drives me crazy is LeBron in iso, and for 10 seconds he pivots. Pivot pivot pivot…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n67RYI_0sc0
Seems pretty simple: LeBron got healthy and it elevates everyone’s play
I will never, ever pass up any opportunity to use a Lost reference. I don’t know if it was the best show ever (it almost certainly wasn’t), but it is absolutely my favorite show ever. To this day I re-watch the entire series of Lost once a year. And every time I find something new that I had previously missed.
Which is funny because Dion’s USG% and his FGA per 100 possessions are almost identical. The only thing that has changed is that he’s playing a few more minutes and he’s making more of his shots.
Increasing cautious optimism! Prudent optimism?
Absolutely. I’m encouraged to hear both David Blatt and LeBron say after this game that the team still has a long way to go and a lot of work to do. I don’t get the sense anyone is comfortable yet with where this team is.
You should have heard the Utah announcers gushing about LeBron all night. It was awesome.
My optimism is getting less cautious by the day!
Mine too! Particularly because the Mozgov deal looks pretty good based on this (small) stretch of games.
The last couple games are the first I’ve been able to watch with Mozzy and I’m LOVING what he’s brought to this team.
When everyone is healthy, I envision the lineups being something like:
Irving — Delly
Shump — JR
Lebron — Miller
Love — Marion
Mozzy — TT
with Miller seeing the most limited action, and him and Delly getting relegated to situational minutes come playoff time.
Heard something on the radio this morning about Lebron being down in Miami and possibly still trying to get Ray Allen on board…do we even need him at this point?
Guarded cautious potential optimism.
Maybe.
JR is capable of running the point a bit. Bringing in Ray could potentially allow them to have Ray be the #2 SG andJR the #2 PG, which would allow Delly to be used more situationally.
You had me at “which would allow Delly to be used more situationally”
Hopefully, he can convince Mr. Shuttlesworth to join him.
I’m not comfortable with Kevin Love’s 3-point shot right now. It’s been awful lately, and he really needs to get it working again by the time the playoffs start. I wouldn’t be surprised if the back spasms are tied to the dip in form.
This is a totally different team now.
1. So I guess LeBron was a lot more injured than I realized. Wow is he a different player now! I remember seeing him have a weird hip twist on a break away dunk in the 3rd game of the season and doing my best Cleveland sports move to say “Whelp, there goes the season.”
2. Kyrie is trying his best to be a defensive specialist and actually shutting down opposing guards. He used to put people on an island, now he’s putting them in a cage. If I’m reading the signs right, I have a pretty good shot at tomorrow night’s Mega Millions.
3. Mozgov is earning Griffin a summer bonus. In one game after his trade, other teams went from casually walking into the lane for an easy score nearly every trip, to teams being afraid to shoot anywhere near the paint. It’s also done wonders for Love’s defense since he doesn’t get stuck out of position as much anymore.
That game was just plain fun. The entire thing seemed like a Sportscenter highlight. My wife “watches” the games with me while doing various other things and always asks me to rewind the DVR when Fred and Austin are going nuts or the crowd is amped up, and it felt like I did that 20 times last night. That was a SHOW.
“Delly to be used more situationally.”
As in those difficult in-game situations where the team is out of towels and needs someone to run to the back to get more or when in an intense 7 game playoff series Bron Bron’s shoe comes undone and needs someone shorter than him to tie it.
…that’s about the only situations I need to see him in once Shump is healthy.
Totally agreed, it seems everything (even FT’s) out of his hand are flat. He’s got no lift to his shot which could definitely be his back.
Depends on what type of game-shape he is keeping himself. Miller & Marion don’t seem to be helping much as buddy-signings.
That KI/JR/TT/KI/Love sequence happened with James on the floor- but he wasn’t even involved. Didn’t need to be.
Seems significant.
Marion hasn’t surprised me, but Miller? It’s like he forgot how to shoot a basketball.
16 year career – worst 3pt%, worst FG%, 0 FTs
Age can show up quickly.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/giphymedia/media/14wdnwyGkMMpWg/giphy.gif
IMO it would be huge to get Allen. We see how Smith’s shooting affects the team. Would be key to get another guy that can shoot lights out- and who has performed in playoff crunch time. Much is made of a lot of that team not having postseason experience.
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view6/3728169/chose-poorly-o.gif
What will be awesome is when someone has a box score line that has The Numbers in it. Has to have happened at some point, right? Like:
42 minutes
23 points
16 rebounds
15 free throw attempts
8 assists
4 steals
Amazing how an upgrade in talent can effect how a team looks well that and like everyone else said LBJ being healthier. I’m eager to see Shumpert take the court which will only increase team talent more.
I heard Griffin is still looking for a veteran back-up PG as well as possibly one more big man for depth. Not sure how he’d get that done but if he can the Cavs will look like the team that the media was all over this summer.
Great point about Love. Once Andy went out with the injury, Love was routinely being exposed in the post with no help whatsoever. Tristan is pretty good one on one defender, but he is not a great help defender whatsoever. And so teams went at Love. Over and over and over. Now? Not so much. Because not only is Mozgov a good one on one post defender, but he is very active in helping. He is always trying to react and to defend the rim in some way. It’s been quite the experience to see this defensive transition unfold so quickly in the matter of a few games.
He chose…..
….poorly.
Didn’t watch the game last night but it sounds like this team might come together to be a contender. The defense is improving (mainly because of Lebron) and will only get better when Shump is back. The article in the Plain Dealer about Shump’s return was awesome, and hopefully he can keep that attitude when he’s placed in the lineup.
And I think JR is figuring out his role in the offense. He didn’t have the best shooting night last night, but he’s definitely a better catch and shoot guy than Dion was, and the numbers indicate that the Cavs are starting to score more efficiently when he’s on the court.
I hope they can continue trying to find ways to use Love more effectively. He’s getting his shots but he’s not hitting them at the rate he did last year. I don’t know if he is not getting his shots in his hot zones, or if he needs to have the offense run through him more, but it would be great if they could continue to figure out the best way to use him in this offense while still having the other guys be effective.
Like how the Indians started playing better once Asdrubal and Masterson got traded.
Typing as someone who really likes waiters as an individual player, I agree wholeheartedly