Watch: J.R. Smith sinks half-court shot, sends military member home with $30,000
October 6, 2015Lets talk about fair weather fans: While We’re Waiting…
October 6, 2015More than anything, and certainly more than basketball, Monday night’s Wine and Gold Scrimmage at The Q was about the feeling; how would it compare to last year’s carnival-cum-basketball game? The Kyrie-Love-LeBron Cleveland Cavaliers never had a light show-backed coming out party like LeBron’s last big three had in Miami, but 2014’s scrimmage came close. There was a buzz unsurpassed by any preseason affair that I’ve ever seen. The stadium was legitimately packed and loud to see a glorified practice in reversible jerseys. It was like we were unwrapping Christmas presents for the first time, if we’d been told what the presents were on Halloween.
The 2014 version of the Wine and Gold Scrimmage was an orgy without the sex. There was so much damn passion and emotion and energy, even if no one knew exactly how to handle it. It was our first time seeing all of the new talent together, and not just the All-Star troika that gets all the pub. It was our introduction to James Jones (still here) and Mike Miller and Shawn Marion (not still here). There were new faces at every turn. It was the closest thing pro basketball has to a middle school ice cream social.
This year was less nice to meet you and more nice to see you again. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love didn’t play, nor did Iman Shumpert, but all three were there and all received nice ovations from the crowd.1 LeBron was there, looking vaguely more ready than last year and wearing a gray t-shirt sleeve — the must-have Cavs accessory, it seems — on his head. Delly got a nice round of applause, as did Timofey Mozgov and newcomer Sasha Kaun (note that it’s pronounced cown). Richard Jefferson was given a slightly tepid “we’re not sure if you’re good yet” welcome. Everyone still loves J.R., because who wouldn’t love J.R.?
Sometime shortly before the game tipped off, Jay Z’s “Public Service Announcement” — the one that Hov opens with “Allow me to reintroduce myself” — played, and that song captured the spirit of the night. That re- makes quite a difference. We weren’t meeting the Cavs for the first time, but greeting them after a long summer off. These Cavs aren’t new to us anymore. They aren’t strangers. They’re our guys now. It took a while last season before I felt like this team belonged to us. Everything was so new that it was difficult for it to feel normal. For a long, long time, it felt like a dream.
No longer. We know this team now.
This year was less nice to meet you and more nice to see you again.
This year was less nice to meet you and more nice to see you again.
“Allow me to reintroduce myself” was most appropriate for the return of one Maurice Williams. He’s a little older and his jersey number is a little higher (his hairline might be too), but it was same old Mo Gotti back in The Q. He stood at center court for a moment after the Cavs emerged from the tunnel, doing a slow 360 and taking it all in. He said it himself when he announced his free agency signing, but Monday night confirmed it; he’s home. The players didn’t get individual introductions like last year, but most everyone got a candid close-up shot on the Humongotron, and Mo’s was one of the first. The crowd went appropriately wild, and had Mo been wearing a ballcap, he would have doffed it.2
Mo wasn’t the only one who looked amazed by the crowd. For guys like Shump and J.R., as well as Richard Jefferson and Sasha Kaun (and the host of rookies and camp bodies; raise your hand if you remembered Austin Daye was on this team), this was the first taste of preseason as a Cavalier. The old maxim is that Cleveland is a football town, but sometimes the Cavs crowds make me wonder. There weren’t as many butts in seats as last year, but the lower bowl was filled and some of the upper deck was, too — reported attendance was 14,480. There was so much noise before tipoff — albeit primarily inspired by t-shirt tosses3 — that I wondered if they were pumping it in over the PA. Whether it was the t-shirts or the Scream Team or the Cavalier Girls or the giveaways, the crowd was live Monday, and the players noticed.
There was an aura, if you believe in this sort of thing, of unfinished business, among the players and fans alike. The game action was far from a layup-and-dunk show. Bigs were setting legitimate screens and guards were muscling through them. Anderson Varejao — whose smile can still melt hearts — was very much himself, poking at rebounds and exaggerating contact and even complaining to the refs after a no-call. J.R. Smith blocked a rookie’s dunk rather than giving it to him on the break.4 Someone actually drew a charge. The Cavs didn’t go full Delly or anything, but things looked fairly intense for a scrimmage.
There were still highlights. LeBron hit a three from about 35 feet out. A Mo-to-LeBron alley oop off the backboard made me giggle like a child. Both big Russians ran the floor and hammered home some dunks. Delly knocked down a triple off of a crosscourt feed from Mo. There was the rustiness that one might expect — poor Joe Harris’ first two shots were airballs — but the Cavs dispensed just enough highlights, surely saving the best for the real deal.
That said, it was obviously just a scrimmage, and any meaning I attempt to impart says more about me than the team. BUT STILL; I think our boys are ready. I think everyone, from LeBron on down, can better focus on basketball this year than last. Last year’s Love was playing rhythm guitar after years playing the lead. It was Kyrie’s first taste of a good team since Duke. LeBron spent as much time playing ambassador as basketball. For all parties involved, particularly the most prominent ones, I’ve gotta think the entire year was exhausting.
Last year’s scrimmage felt far too short. This year’s game ran the same amount of time — three 10-minute periods (It may have actually been shorter; it seemed like a few minutes vanished from the clock in the third period) — and that felt just right. We were happy to see the team back out there again, but they didn’t need to put on a show this time. We already have a good idea of who they are and what they can do. There was one goal Monday night, and the Cavs achieved it: stay healthy (please oh please just stay healthy).
The uppercase Goal for the season is not one that can be achieved in October, nor is it one that needs to be explicitly stated. You know and I know and we know and they know what the objective is. Aside from LeBron’s leg or arm or head falling off, nothing that happened last night was ever actually going to affect that pursuit. Yet, the 2015 Wine and Gold Scrimmage was necessary. At its best, Cavs basketball makes fans feel like we’re a part of it — #ALLinCLE and all that — and Monday night did just that. Basketball season is back, y’all. Get ready.
Big shout to Brian Horowitz for the ticket hookup.
- Tristan Thompson was of course absent, though his jersey could be found in the team shop. The Cavs had removed everything with his name and likeness on it to comply with league rules since he isn’t under contract, though ESPN’s Dave McMenamin says that the Cavs have since been given the go-ahead after further discussion with the league. [↩]
- I know it’s preseason, but I was rather disappointed that Mo’s first three-ball didn’t elicit any Godfather music. [↩]
- “How are they ginning up the crowd so much?” I wondered aloud as the game was winding down. “T-shirts,” my friend replied. “The power of the free t-shirt.” I also forgot about the gigantic t-shirt Gatling gun that they have at the Q. [↩]
- I think it was a rookie, anyway. It may have been a vet. [↩]
8 Comments
Delly actually had a mixture of cheers and boos from what I heard – I have no idea why people would boo.
“Matth-yooooooooooo” Surely.
Ya got me pumped up this morning, Will.
Listened to Snyder et al during the scrimmage. I’m so ready.
We can haz Cavs now?
Yesterday it was Ms. Forrester and her fellow blonde on the couch and now today it’s “an orgy without the sex” from Will The Thrill Gibson! If this keeps up the old timers in the Blawg Pound won’t know where to go.
I watched part of the W&G scrimmage was great seeing the guys back on the court especially Varejao and Mo Williams. I didn’t like seeing the photo of Love, Irving and Shumpert sitting on the bench though but if it has to happen I’d rather have it in October then May or June.
Tomorrow and Thursday back to back preseason games and I’m still ALLin!
http://media.giphy.com/media/5nhk5nGrIrdlK/giphy.gif
Thank God (said in the same tone as Harry Doyle after the Indians closed the book on Kellner). Dumb Browns.
Is there anywhere to watch the preseason games on the net for free?