Are You (Playoff) Experienced? Pt. 2
May 24, 2015Digital journalism and the importance of Yeezy Boosts: While We’re Waiting…
May 25, 2015Atlanta Hawks – 111
Cleveland Cavaliers – 114
Cavs lead series 3-0
It’s so easy to be a cynic these days. We now have the ability to greet every asserted truth — no matter how slight or insignificant — with skepticism and have the means to support that skepticism. It’s never been easier to make someone look like an fool. Exhibitions of sentimentality or reverence are met with a parade of snark and derision. In the age of total awareness, there’s no greater sin than to be gullible or naive.
And so it’s trendy to be cynical.
I’m an especially sarcastic offender myself; my ironies are ironic — I can hardly tell when I’m being serious anymore. Possessing a B.S. in Psychology from B.S. University, I’d say my misanthropy is largely a self-defense mechanism: Once you’ve been burned too many times and see how the world works, it’s hard to be an eternal optimist. So it makes my undying love of sports seem comically misguided. But love I do.
I won’t pretend to know how or why LeBron James returned to Cleveland; to voluntarily re-assume the impossibly heavy burden of carrying a team of youngsters and an entire region to a championship. I don’t know how genuine his sappy and professionally constructed essay was with Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins that announced his return to Cleveland — it was easy to disregard it as savvy marketing but I’ll be damned if it didn’t punch me right in the feelings and resonate with me in a profound way. I don’t know how maddening the next several years may be as his famous passive-aggressiveness holds the Cavaliers organization hostage. But when LeBron James gave a visibly emotional postgame interview after his game-winning shot in Game 4 of the Chicago Bulls series, and when the last three-point attempt from the Atlanta Hawks’ Shelvin Mack failed to hit its target on Sunday night, and LeBron James sank to his forearms and knees near the midcourt, it was hard not to feel that you had witnessed an athlete giving quite near 100 percent of his available physical and emotional energy for his team and, if you choose to be a believer, for something more.
Good news everyone. I called all your employers and had them cancel work on Monday morning, so you needn’t bother going in. You’re welcome. So with that news, let’s take a peek behind the box score of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
37, 18 & 13 – It wasn’t always pretty, but when Game 3 is entered into the record books (presumably by a quill pen into a massive leather-bound volume at the hand of some old man resembling Grand Maester Pycelle from Game of Thrones), it will include one of the most statistically prodigious games in NBA playoff history, courtesy of LeBron James. James missed his first 10 field goal attempts and appeared out of sorts, but went 14-of-27 from the field after that. It was only the third 35-15-10 playoff game since 1985, and the first since Charles Barkley’s in 1993.1 It was the first 37-18-13 game in ANY game since Wilt Chamberlain did it in 1968. It was LeBron’s 12th career playoff triple-double (second only to Magic Johnson’s 30). James was dealing with more injuries than a medical school exam, the occasional yet painful cramp, and a backup support unit missing the injured Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. It was Kobe-esque in its inefficiency, and the most field goal attempts he’s ever dared, but his 18 rebounds came from only 20 rebound chances, he defended the penetrating Jeff Teague in the fourth quarter in overtime, and made a three-pointer and contested layup in the last two minutes of overtime that won the game. The way James willed the Cavs to victory was reminiscent of some of Jordan, Kobe, and Bird’s greatest hits, and in a game in which he passed Karl Malone for the sixth most career playoff points no less.
24-21 – Had I told you that LeBron James went 0-of-9 from the field and the Cavs shot 22.2 percent on field goal attempts in the first quarter, you probably would have assumed the Cavs were facing a daunting lead. But the Hawks only led the Cavs 24-21 after the first quarter, unable to capitalize on the slow start. The Cavs had an astounding nine rebounds in the period, and J.R. Smith, Matthew Dellavedova, and Iman Shumpert each pitched in with two field goals to prevent the game from getting out of hand early. The Hawks had a huge opportunity to land a big blow and climb within striking distance of the series, and squandered their chance — but give credit to the Cavs defense and offensive rebounding for keeping it within three.
14 – One of the Hawks’ greatest assets enter the series was their duo of big men who create mismatches, particularly Al Horford. Paul Millsap still earns his numbers (22 points on Sunday) but Tristan Thompson is at least a capable defender, and others can make things difficult for Millsap. But Horford’s blend of inside and outside scoring makes him unusually difficult to stop. Timofey Mozgov did about as well as could be expected against the skilled Horford, but Horford still torched the Cavs for 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the first half, before the refs ejected him for an elbow aimed at Mattew Dellavedova — who had made contact with Horford’s legs as he lost his balance. Horford’s reaction was understandable with the knee problems he’s fought this series, but still unjustifiable. Given the circumstances, it may have been prudent to penalize Horford with a flagrant type 1 foul, instead of flagrant type 2 and an automatic ejection. Dellavedova’s been involved in a handful of “altercations” now (provoking Taj Gibson into an ejection in the Bulls series, and spraining Kyle Korver’s ankle diving for a loose ball in Game 2). It’s impossible to discern any ill intent in Dellavedova’s play (and it’s notable that he was trying to avoid a falling Demarre Carroll when he and Horford tumbled to the ground), so any suggestions to the contrary are false. He’s an unlikely NBA player who is only in the league for the rambunctious play for which he’s now being questioned, and that tenacious mentality is not something he should be expected to turn “off.” Having said that, Dellavedova probably is slightly negligent diving for loose balls around guys ankles and knees (which is not a criticism), and there’s a 100 percent chance Draymond Green knocks one of his teeth out if the Cavs face the Golden State Warriors in the Finals. I couldn’t be happier to have him on my team.
5 – It’s hard to find only one other stat on which to focus to express how awesome the Cavs role players were, so I went with the five players who all played over 38 minutes. LeBron James (46 min.), Tristan Thompson (42), Iman Shumpert (42), Matthew Dellavedova (45), and J.R. Smith (38) all played over 38 minutes, a commendable feat in an NBA playoff game even if you do nothing but run up and down the court. But every guy on the Cavs gave an extraordinary effort: Shumpert, Dellavedova, Smith, and James Jones each added at least two threes; Shawn Marion gave LeBron James a much-needed breather in the first quarter; Smith, Shumpert, and Thompson defended everyone on the court; Thompson and Shumpert played much of the fourth quarter and overtime with five fouls; Thompson, Mozgov, and Smith each had two blocks; and Mozgov had a plus-minus of plus-7.
It was a spectacular effort all around. With Kyrie’s injury, there was a nagging doubt that the longer the series went, the harder it would be for the Cavs to stamp a ticket to the NBA Finals. It being Cleveland sports, nothing is certain. But a 3-0 lead is nearly insurmountable, and — to a man — every Cav that was called upon contributed in a game they killed themselves to win, led by a classic LeBron James performance. Let’s hope there’s a little more magic left with this team yet.
- According to Basketball-Reference.com. Fittingly enough, Charles Barkley was part of TNT’s broadcast team covering the game in both pre- and post- fashion. [↩]
22 Comments
As I put on my facebook page ” Can Reggie Miller just shut up already?” I am so tired of listening to him. Reggie if you read this ( I know you won’t) Maybe your cry baby attitude is why you never won a championship. I have been critical of LBJ in the past. But, his post game comments when he stuck up for Delly have at the very least earned him a ton of respect with me. Delly to me is the weekend warriors hero. He has less talent than most players yet he goes out there and not only competes but he changes games. BTW great opening statement in the article.
Good writeup, but I have to quibble with your thoughts about Dellavadova. I’m usually not bothered by the prattle of the TV commentators, but last night’s extended banter about Delly reached an inflection point of absurdity. Replays from every angle clearly and unambiguously showed Delly being pulled down by Horford, who was pinning him in a manner hauntingly similar to the Olynik-Kevin Love arm-bar. As he was being dragged down, he tripped over Carroll and fell into Horford, precipitating the “retaliatory” elbow drop.
The TNT talking heads – especially Reggie Miller, who seems to produce words rather than thoughts – were totally oblivious to the empiric evidence on their monitors, instead choosing to engage in a night-long discussion about whether Dellavadova is a dirty player, and connecting this to the Korver injury as if there were a “pattern” to be discerned. This is precisely how reputations get created – perception becomes reality – and I found data-resistant nature of their “analysis” to be deeply unprofessional.
Otherwise, an epochal game from Lebron, and I agree Kyle that his actions are absolutely consistent with the sentiments expressed in his letter. It is a privilege to be watching him play at this level in his prime for our city.
We are all taught as youngsters that when we see a loose ball we are to dive for it. You don’t stop and think who else may be in the way, or whose legs are nearby, you simply react. Then we put all of this into context of the last 30+ years – Pistons knocking everyone down on drives to the basket, Knicks hammering players on the opposing team, Lakers-Celtics fights, Artest – Reggie, get over yourself already. Delly makes up in hustle and hard nosed play what he lacks in talent.
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I’m amazed at how ridiculous the national media is when it comes to Delly.
I always thought Miller was a terrible announcer, last night reinforced it. You could tell Webber and Albert wanted to tell him to shut up and call the game.
Agreed, and a tip of the hat to Barkley for speaking the truth!!
Screw the haters, give Delly a new contract, PRONTO.
I agree but I think it’s just you sticking up for the Cavs that makes it worse. As bad as Miller/Webber are ESPN/ABC is horrendous. Something to look forward to in the Finals.
You mean David Aldridge asking anyone associated with the Hawks whether Delly was dirty or not bugged you? It bugged me.
Not sure I understand your point.
We all have to do like LBJ and the Cavs block out everyone who isn’t in the #ALLinCLE family. I wasn’t a Delly fan from the start but now that the guy is being treated like a thug (which I find ironic these days especially in the NBA given Delly’s physical attributes) I’m joining Team Delly!
I’ll go a step further. Instead of defending Delly’s play embrace it and take it to another level. Just keep doing it. I loved the press conference with Delly and LBJ. I loved Delly answering the question straight forward and to the point. I especially loved LBJ saying Delly was one of his guys and he was there for Delly. I also loved him bringing up Antic as well as making the point that if Atlanta is focused on Delly that it’s probably the wrong place for them to be focused. A nice subtle jab at the Hawks choking and being down 0-3 in the series.
Tomorrow I wanna bury Atlanta and I do mean bury. I love this, I eat this up with a spoon, FEED ME MORE!!!
I’m saying that they are overly critiquing one of your players on your team that you like and it’s bothering you. They have been doing this all year it’s just now we have a series where we are hearing it night and day. The media as a whole in sports is a joke it’s all about creating/making drama over everything. They need to create a storyline/persona for Delly because he’s a small white guy that not many people have ever heard of who plays with hustle, heart and tenacity. That’s boring. I mean he doesn’t rain 3s like Curry, he doesn’t grow a beard like Harden I mean Delly doesn’t even dunk. What’s up with that? It’s nonsense. But if you think it’s bad now wait until a possible finals match-up with the league’s new golden boy Stephon Curry. I like Curry but LBJ is showing who the real MVP is when it matters most!
So many contracts to be awarded this summer David Griffin has his work cut out for him!
baiting at it’s best/worst. Austin Carr’s post game rebuttal to Miller was priceless. basically told him to shut up 😛
Agreed. My granddaughter will have to leave the room during the games lol. We need an open thread for games so I have a place to vent
I use Twitter but some of the responses are less then civilized.
I was watching NBATV so I could see the post game press conferences.
I record fox just so I can hear the comments
Oh that, Miller and today on ESPN.
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A much better response than “Horford pulled him down!” which was my response.