Breaking Down CSU’s Shot at the Conference Title
February 26, 2015Kyrie Irving to undergo MRI after injuring shoulder
February 27, 2015Certain regular season games just mean more. The Cavaliers have been on an absolute roll, but many wanted to see them square up against a fellow title-contending team out of the Western Conference as a more recent measuring stick. Well, Thursday night at the Q, fans received just that as the NBA’s best team at the moment and for most of the season, the Golden State Warriors, came to town and went home without a W. The Cavaliers largely held the Splash Brothers in check, and LeBron James poured in a season-high 42 points as the wine and gold (and navy!) took their 11th straight in the Q and improved to 18-2 in their last twenty games with a 110-99 win.
Cavaliers 110
Warriors 99
Box Score
10-for-30 – We have to start with the Cleveland defense on Splash Brothers Curry and Thompson. The duo was relegated to the kiddie pool as the Cavaliers did a very good job of chasing them off the arc with under control closeouts and good rotational defense. Curry had a 12-point first quarter and managed just six more points after that in the final three quarters. After connecting on 3-of-4 treys, he misfired on his last five including an air ball in the game’s final moments.
15-of-24, 35 – The Warriors did get spectacular contributions from a pair of frontcourt players in Draymond Green and David Lee. Green is the ultimate glue guy that is a versatile defender and fits the Bay Area squad’s style well. He threw down a couple of ferocious slams, and his line of 16 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 steals was largely what kept the Warriors within reach. As for David Lee, he came off the bench and rattled off a string of buckets to pour in 11 first quarter points. He finished with 19 points and was much more effective than Andrew Bogut.
32-of-39 – While they didn’t shoot it well overall, almost every bucket that fell for the Warriors was assisted. The team had 32 assists and 16 secondary assists, compared to just 16 dimes and 4 secondary helpers for the Cavaliers.
42 on 25 – LeBron was laser focused in this high-profile matchup. We saw James spend a good chunk of the first half down in the low post, working 1-on-1 matchups against a combination of Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala. He needed just 25 shots to get his season-high 42 points, of which 38 came in the first three quarters. The King also pulled down a team-high 11 boards that helped the Cavs edge Golden State 51-44 on the glass. The Cavaliers pulled down 43-of-57 defensive rebound chances, while Golden State corralled 30 of a possible 38. On the downside, James piled up a half dozen turnovers for the 13th time this season, and he committed five personal fouls. LeBron deservedly heard the MVP chants, however, as he willed his team with his focus on offense and defense. It’s evident that James has flipped the intensity switch following the All-Star break.
20 – There were a minimal amount of transition buckets in this game, and the Cavaliers did themselves a favor by slowing the tempo. While the Warriors had a 14-6 advantage in fastbreak points, that amount was negligible as the Cavs picked up their man as soon as they got past halfcourt and forced the Warriors to work for every bucket they got. The Warriors derive 19% of their scoring from fastbreak points, so holding them to 14 is a terrific feat. It went a long way to holding the most offensively efficient (111.4 ORTG) and highest scoring team (110.4 PPG) in the league to 99 points and 42% shooting.
29-of-35 – Wearing out a path to the line throughout the game, the Cavs got Golden State to boil over with a pair of technical fouls for coach Steve Kerr and Draymond Green. James and Irving took turns slicing up GSW on the offensive end, drawing 14 fouls as a duo with each making double digit trips to the line. Kyrie made all ten attempts, while James was 8-for-11. Meanwhile, the Warriors were just 10-of-19 at the charity stripe.
27.4 – the NetRtg (ORtg minus DRtg) in the nearly 25 minutes that Timofey Mozgov was on the floor. Mozgov notched a double-double with 10 and 10 and hit a couple of mid-range jumpers to space the floor. Mozgov continues to completely change the way the Cavaliers play on the defensive end. With Timo playing a large role, the Cavs have the sixth best DRtg (100.3) since their hot streak kicked off. Teams are also managing just a 46.2% eFG% against the Cavs in that same stretch, second only to the Charlotte Hornets.
Under the radar: Both Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson failed to pop off the stat sheet in this one, but I thought they both played great games at both ends. Love quietly posted 16 points on just 5-of-10 shooting and pulled down 8 rebounds while doing his part in helping on the Bay Area backcourt on D. Thompson came up with a couple of critical hoops just as the Warriors had sliced the Cavalier lead back into single digits. Thompson had 12 points and 8 rebounds for the Cavalier cause. Frontcourt play is where the Cavaliers did and will have an advantage against the Warriors should they meet again. Green and Lee both put in fantastic, somewhat uncharacteristic offensive efforts. Andrew Bogut struggled, but this team’s backcourt is what makes them tick.
1: Just keep swimming, Cavaliers. The wine and gold now trail the Toronto Raptors, losers of three straight, by only one game in the standings in the chase for the two seed.
Can the Cavaliers avenge one of their two losses during this hot streak when they roll into Indianapolis again on Friday night? They’ll have to do so in all likelihood without point guard Kyrie Irving, who injured his left shoulder in the second half of this game. He will undergo a MRI and is listed as doubtful for the game, but it would seem to be a positive sign that Irving was able to finish out the game this evening. Meanwhile, with All-Star Paul George nearing a return, the Pacers are 7-3 in their last ten and plenty of time to get as high as 7th in the East playoff picture. They could be a very formidable first round matchup.
18 Comments
I was worried about tonight’s game even with Irving. Classic hangover game. How is it that Indiana keeps getting us at their place in the second game of a back-to-back? If CJ Miles plays like he thinks he deserves some sort of revenge again, and they hit crazy stupid shots like the three (I think) George Hill made last time, they may join the Hawks as the only teams to beat us more than once this season. In the long run, I won’t really care if we lose tonight because of the situations. It just stings extra because we’re definitely the better team.
Even though we’re playing 5 games in seven nights ending in Toronto on Wednesday, hopefully Boston doesn’t put up much of a fight Tuesday night so we can go into Toronto well rested and ready to prove we deserve the 2-seed.
“Frontcourt play is where the Cavaliers did and will have an advantage ” – so nice that this is actually a true statement sometimes!!
News is the Cavs’ plane had trouble last night and eventually they sent everyone back home – they’re only flying to Indy now. Sit Kyrie, take the loss.
Yikes…if that’s true, I pull a Coach Pop and leave Kyrie, Kevin, and Lebron at home, suck it up and screw my lovable stat above.
Not as thrilled about last night as most. LeBron played like ’07 – tons of hero ball until teammates looked hesitant to shoot. Really looked to me like LeBron was trying to make a personal point – which he did.
Whatevs, still a good win. Man, does GS have a good, deep roster. And I commend the refs for not tossing Kerr like they could have and just letting him blow steam. His team’s been on the road forever and had trouble catching breaks.
Disagree.
Having not been through a playoff series this team needs tastes of this now.
Dropping a back to back hangover game to Indy in December is one thing, but I really want to see them come out in this one.
LeBron’s play is so beautifully frustrating I don’t know what to do with myself sometimes.
Drops 42, but has 6 turnovers.
Let’s players waltz by to the rim, but then jumps the lane perfectly for a steal.
Except that Pop’s guys have multiple rings on their fingers and know what it takes in Playoff and Finals series.
If I’m Blatt, I’m full steam ahead for tonight. If Kyrie can’t go he can’t go, but everyone else better be dialed in.
Part of the reason Pop’s guys have multiple rings on their fingers is because they sit out games like these. Yesterday and Sunday are playoff prep. Tonight is meaningless.
They sit them out now.
They were not sitting them out back in 2003, 2005 and even 2007.
That’s because they need it now, didn’t back 12, 10, or even 8 years ago. Lebron wouldn’t need to sit back then. Now? He takes 2 weeks off in the middle of the season. And we all “know” how Love feels on the second night of a B2B.
agree. LeBron looked like his back went out at the end last night – was laying on the floor during his rest. Toronto is just one game ahead now and is slumping with 20+ games to go and a head-to-head soon. I’m not saying try to lose. But let the rest of the roster try to win. This is the wrong time to let LeBron’s back go chronic.
On the other hand, Tristan is playing like a guy with millions riding on every rebound. Just try to beat him to a 50-50 ball. Love those contract years.
Obviously a win would be great. But a half-efforted loss may be the difference between winning and losing a game or two later…like, say, Wednesday against those same Raptors who we’re chasing for the time being.
You lost me on how a up and coming team who have never faced the adversity of a back to back playoff night with adversity needs rest now but did not in the past.
LeBron signed up to play with youth so that he did not have to carry the scoring load for 82 games. With that he better realize he needs to be the one carry the load in showing them what it takes to succeed in the playoffs/finals.
Love’s game on a back to back night, yep it ain’t pretty but dude better either claim injury sit and heal for two weeks or shut up and get into the game.
This team hasn’t won anything yet. A double digit victory over Golden State is great, but it’s not advancing us to the ECF.
They still have a lot to learn and a lot to grow.
Jesus I sound like a downer. WHY AM I A DOWNER? ITS FRIDAY AND WE WINNING.
Hate the year after the contract year.
Especially if Tristan get $14 million from us.
Tonight is not a playoff-type game, nor the only back to back of the season. Wednesday at Toronto will be both. I’m all for facing adversity to get the up and comers ready for the real season. I just don’t think tonight is that situation. Kyrie asking Mike Miller “is this what the playoffs are like” against the Bulls earlier this season – that doesn’t happen tonight vs Indiana, despite what CJ Miles might lead you to believe.
I agree we haven’t won anything yet, and I guess we’ll have to disagree about tonight. Give me a more rested team Wednesday against Toronto in a game that will have more playoff impact and possibly help us get to that ECF as opposed to forcing the issue tonight.
Understood.
I just see tonight as the “WE BEAT GOLDEN STATE WE CAN BEAT ANYONE” hangover loss that everyone is expecting.
And if I’m leading this team I look them dead in the eye and remind them the Pacers embarrassed us in the last game and it’s time to cut their throat to remind everyone we’re not playing around.
A win tonight saddled with a Toronto loss puts us the 2nd seat with a chance to further the distance when we do meet Toronto next week.
Sorry for the violent imagery, RGB’s Breaking Bad gifs on the other thread kinda have me amped up.