Ball Played: Indians survive game of bunts
April 15, 2015The Lukewarm, The Playoffs, and Paul Pierce’s Craziness: While We’re Waiting…
April 16, 2015Washington Wizards 108
Cleveland Cavaliers 113 (OT)
Box Score
An overtime period in a completely meaningless game. Twenty-seven minutes of Kendrick Perkins. A Matthew Dellavedova double-double.1 A Brendan Haywood go-ahead jumper. A Wizards five-second violation in the closing moments. A clinching steal and dunk from 36-year-old Shawn Marion. One last victory for the Wine and Gold.
And just like that, the Cleveland Cavaliers 2014-15 regular season has come to an end. We smiled, we frowned; we laughed, we cried; we moaned in agony and yelped in ecstasy. It would be a fairly wild year in a vacuum, going from 19-20 to 53-29, but all of the surrounding storylines made it wilder, and even moreso when you remember that the Cavs bumbled their way to 33 wins last season — that number still feels high for a team that employed Andrew Bynum, Anthony Bennett, and Dion Waiters.
If last season was like skydiving with a Swiss cheese parachute, this season was a roller coaster. The preseason was strapping into the seats and going up the lift hill, all wide-eyed anticipation. The early season struggles were the big drop; our hearts jumped up into our collective throat and we couldn’t help but feel some nerves. It seemed at times that the ride would never smooth out, but the acquisitions of Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith, and Iman Shumpert added some welcome grease to the tracks. David Blatt took the guys bowling, and it was all loops and corkscrews from there.
This last game against the Wizards was the coast back into the station. We’ve had our hair blown back and our breath taken away. We got our souvenir photographs. It was a blast, but it had to conclude sometime.
The regular season was merely a prelude, however, the token ride on Blue Streak before taking on Top Thrill Dragster. The playoffs start Sunday, and they will be faster and grander and more thrilling than anything we’ve seen thus far.
But let us not get ahead of ourselves. We have one last game to discuss. It was sort of a game, anyway — LeBron didn’t play, and the rest of the Cavaliers regular starters only played the first half. John Wall and Bradley Beal sat for Washington. Kris Humphries hit a 20-footer and Delly banked in a straight-on three. Iman Shumpert missed another dunk. Kendrick Perkins and Brendan Haywood played. Together. A lot.
Still, a game’s a game. For the last time of the 2014-15 regular season, let us go behind the box score.
19 in 18 – Before taking a seat for the second half, Kevin Love had himself a nice little night. He scored 19 points in 18 minutes, shooting 6-of-12 from the field and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. He did most of his work from the left wing, the chunk of the floor he favored most last season. He looked relatively spry out there, though the first quarter was more of a pick-up game than professional contest.
74 – The number of bench points the Cavs scored Wednesday night. The starters — Kyrie, Love, J.R., Mozzie, and Mike Miller — played just 77 combined minutes, with the rest of the time going to the reserves. Shumpert and Delly led the way with 18 points each. Tristan Thompson scored 12 and grabbed 7 rebounds in 22 minutes. Shawn Marion added 8, including the final dunk.
It was the most bench points the Cavs have scored since December 11, 2007, when they beat the Indiana Pacers behind a 36-point effort from Larry Hughes. LeBron came off the bench in that game as well. That box score serves as a reminder of just how far we’ve come.
16-of-30 – The Cavs shot a sizzling 53 percent from three-point land, and it was through the long ball that they were able to climb out of an early hole. Love’s shooting kept the Cavs within range early, and the feared perimeter combination of Delly and Shump hit a combined 7-of-10 from distance. The Cavs got some open looks, and they hit some others that they probably didn’t deserve to. Everything was coming up Cleveland Wednesday night.
43 – Forty. Three. Minutes. Combined. For. Kendrick. Perkins. And. Brendan. Haywood. It. Was. Beautiful.
It was like watching a hippopotamus and a rhinoceros play tetherball. It was like watching Andre the Giant and Big Show figure skate. It was like watching two mastiffs try to fit through a poodle-sized doggie door. It was like watching offensive linemen with gout jump rope. It was like watching sumo wrestlers in ballet class.
Honestly though, good for them. I was glad to see those guys get some run, if you’ll allow me to stretch the meaning of that last word.
1 – Vine that captured the spirit of the evening.
82 – Games played this season. An as-yet-undetermined number yet to come. Here’s hoping that 16 wins are in the cards. It’s been a great year, gang. Thanks for joining us for it. Get ready, for the best is yet to come.
11 Comments
Hard to believe they were 19-20 once.
This game reminded me of the last game of 08-09 season when the bench lost to the 76ers in overtime. We all know how that season ended, so maybe this win will be a good omen. 😉
Something is wrong with me. Didn’t tune in until Shumpert was the best player on the floor, but still became emotionally invested in the outcome. So many guys with old man games going at each other. At the end Perkins looked like my Uncle Morty at the end of geezer court time, nobody wanting to guard him lest they touch his disgusting sweaty old man back but him too tired to hit a lay up, never mind jump.
Wanted to see Joe Harris’s development – yuck. Went for 27 the night before in the D-League, playing NBA scrubs. But not only looked like a tentative turnover machine but maybe that he actually has less confidence than in December. Wonder if J.R. and Imam have abused him so thoroughly in practice since Dion moped away that he’s even lost confidence in his jump shot. Maybe time for Blatt to take him onto the empty court way early in the morning with a tape measure and go all Hickory High.
Anyone else think they jumped on Marion because that was the last NBA play he’ll ever make at the end of a game and it was such a classic way to go out?
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Good call on Marion. That’s totally it.
i absolutely agree on Marion.
And, i agree with you. I got home late last night but still decided to watch the game on DVR. I got to the last half of the 4th quarter because it looked close, and i watched all the way through. I was VERY invested in the result. It just felt like it was so important for those bench guys to come through. It was a real feel-good game at the end.
I’m not sure about Harris. He can still hit an open 3, but he doesn’t handle the ball well. It doesn’t bode very well for your NBA future when you’re a poor man’s Matthew Dellavedova, who is a poor man’s JR Smith, who is a very poor man’s LeBron James. So, basically, you’re getting the 8th grade version of LeBron – which, as we know, could have scored 27 in a D-League game.
ALSO….
The Wizards announcers were beside themselves with that 5-second call. Until they ran the replay and they counted to 5 with the official. Then they were like, “Well, it was 5 seconds…but it’s never just 5 seconds!”
Oh, and I love beating Washington.
Only thing better would have been for Perk to lay the smack down on someone from the Wizards heck I’d have even taken a fellow Cavalier. Seraphin came close but Perk daddy backed off the youngin’!
Wasn’t that “The Wally Game”? If so that was exactly the one I was thinking of while watching this game.
Go Cavs! Wish we didn’t have to see the Bulls rd2 but glad we get to crush the Bulls rd2.
Kevin Love said he was “fine” with him not being a part of Kyrie’s dancing on the bench, but looked sullen when saying it. I dunno could be trouble.
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