Taking Care of Business: Celtics at Cavaliers Behind the Box Score
March 3, 2015WFNY’s 2015 NFL Draft Coverage: Joe Gilbert’s Top Five Cornerbacks
March 4, 2015Happy Wednesday, Blawg Pound. We’ve made it to March. It’s still frickin’ freezing out here, Mr. Bigglesworth. But we’re here and we’re presumably alive, so why not warm your loins and read on? Maybe jog in place while you’re doing it to get that blood circulating.
Welcome back to Major League Baseball…sort of. The Cleveland Indians played their first competitive game of the season yesterday. Allegedly, anyway, as they were drubbed by the Cincinnati Reds 10-0. Welp, happy baseball season, everybody. So much for the World Series. Thanks for coming.
I jest, of course. I wasn’t able to watch or listen to the game, being stuck with obligations like “a job,” and I especially missed hearing Tom Hamilton’s voice ringing in the baseballing year. Opening Day is the most magical one on baseball’s calendar, but spring ball starting up is a significant benchmark unto itself.
It’s not really about baseball, though. More than athletic events, Spring Training and the Cactus League (and before that, the Grapefruit League) are harbingers of winter (finally, mercifully) ending. You hear about pitchers and catchers, you see the boys doing long toss in the outfield, you read about a hurler adding a new pitch to his arsenal, and you know that all this snow will melt…eventually.
I have always enjoyed how sports provides little signposts for the year. The Masters and Opening Day nearly coincide, and by that point we’ll have seen some buds on the trees and we’ll have heard a few birds twittering away.* The Kentucky Derby unofficially announces the early days of barbecue season. Then playoff hoops takes over, and we’re in the thick of baseball season, suddenly the Fourth of July is here, and boom, summertime is halfway over.
*I mean, I hope so. Or maybe I’m just getting soft.
Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. There’s plenty going on to keep us amused in the meantime. Including a certain basketball team in town…
The Cavs were back at full strength last night and they trounced the Boston Celtics 110-79. Kyrie Irving returned from his shoulder injury, and Kevin Love played despite some sickness. The Cavs built a 25-point lead against the Celtics in the first half and went on to a 31-point blowout, led by an aggressive LeBron James, a typically sublime Kyrie Irving, forceful interior defending from Timofey Mozgov, and bushels of buckets at the rim.
How lopsided was it? The Cavs bested the Celtics in every standard box score stat: points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, and fouls. No Cleveland player logged more than 26 minutes. Joe Harris played for over a quarter. James Jones scored 10 and had 6 rebounds. Kendrick Perkins threw several right hooks, and they were actual basketball shots.
It was a lovely game to watch, and an impressive win for the Cavs against a Celtics team that is as well-coached as it isn’t talented. The Cavs’ schedule is rough the rest of the way, and they play 9 of their next 12 on the road before getting a reprieve in the form of a three-game home stand. A comfortable victory should be appreciated, especially as injury concerns hang around like an unwanted cubicle visitor.
I am thoroughly excited for the Cavs’ stretch run. I have worked myself into a foamy wine-and-gold lather and spent heaps of time daydreaming about the playoffs. Playoff basketball, man. To me, there ain’t nothing better. It’s been a little while since we’ve seen top-flight summertime basketball in Cleveland, and I’ve missed it. We saw glimpses of tournament-caliber hoops recently when the Cavs played the Warriors and Rockets, and we’ll get more as they face the likes of the Hawks, Spurs, and Grizzlies in the coming weeks.
I have no idea how far this team can go, but I know that they have a damn good team, and that that team includes LeBron. That’s enough for me to think they have a shot to go all the way.
This helps, too:
You guys might enjoy this…The Cavs Big 3 on-court numbers by month. IT’S LEARNING. pic.twitter.com/jQjlNd6aif
— conrad kaz (@conradkaz) March 4, 2015
Presented without comment: OTTO!
Speaking of basketball, a word on Anthony Mason: The former NBA player best known for his brawling with Pat Riley’s New York Knicks of the 1990s passed away last Saturday from congestive heart failure. He was a solid player, averaging better than 10 points and 8 rebounds for his career, but his place in Knicks lore goes deeper. He was tough in mind and body, burly in the post but capable off the dribble, and wedged himself into every Knick fan’s soul.
Rather than try tell you about it myself, I defer to Grantland’s Jason Concepcion, who you may know as netw3rk:
At 6-foot-7 with a carved-obsidian NFL physique and a scowl reminiscent of the actor Bill Duke, Mason appeared, at a glance, to be a hardwood intimidator right out of NBA central casting. Certainly, unapologetic pugnaciousness was an important facet of his game, one that comported nicely with Pat Riley’s Schenectady heel-turn philosophy for the Knicks to be “the hardest-working, best-defending, most-disliked team in the NBA.” After all, Mase broke into the team as a camp invitee in 1991 by fighting with Xavier McDaniel — the Knicks’ marquee offseason trade acquisition, he of Singles and strangling Wes Matthews’s dad fame — five minutes into the team’s first practice. Yet, if brawn, forearm shivers, and six fouls were all there was to Mase’s game, he might be well remembered within the franchise, but he wouldn’t be the revered figure he is today.
At risk of imitating Scene magazine: If you haven’t anything to do Friday evening, and you enjoy some combination of adult beverages and live music, I invite you to enjoy the music and showmanship of Injecting Strangers at Mahall’s in Lakewood. I mentioned the Strangers in this space after seeing them live a shade over a month ago, and I think highly enough of them to make the trip out to the west side, with the requisite passport stamps and all (I’m a Lake County boy). They rock, they roll, and they do it while wearing very, very loud shirts.
So come on out, gang. If you see a tall fellow dancing very poorly, tell him you read WFNY and he’ll buy you a drink. Unless that tall fellow turns out not to be me, that is. Boy, will egg be on your face in that case.
Anywho, thanks for reading, all. I leave you with Injecting Strangers’ music video for their track “Detroit.” The content is a bit adult-y. Act accordingly.
5 Comments
Lake County!
The Deadspin piece on Mason is also well worth reading, for those who try to avoid like the plague anything tethered to Bill Simmons.
http://deadspin.com/anthony-mason-was-from-the-future-1688898205
It seemed like a Lake County Captains game in about the 7th inning of the Indians game yesterday.
Lake County!
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/oh-lake/lake-county-man-upset-over-neighbors-help-starts-blowing-snow-onto-him
Thoughts:
a) Hilarious.
b) That old guy prolly moved there from the west side.
c) I love how the local news actually does an “on site,” with a close-up of the offending snow. Ah, local news.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2hipe10xp1qaedvuo18_r1_250.gif