PSA: Grantland is being shut down
October 30, 2015Watch Kevin Love do it all in Cavs home opener win over Heat
October 31, 2015Miami Heat (1-1) – 92
Cleveland Cavaliers (2-1) – 102
Halloween is a time scares — of ghouls, ghosts, bogeyman, the undead, the demonic, the possessed, the menacing, evil, terrors, corporate sponsorship by the Mars candy company, witches, warlocks, magic potions, evil spells, monsters, and the deranged wielding rusty cutting utensils. It’s in this spirit that we continue to watch the horror show that is the Cleveland Browns.
But while the Browns continue to be the cruel, torturous trick that fate perpetrates on the undeserving denizens of Cleveland, Ohio, there is a treat on the next house on the block: basketball season, and the return of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
After a dominant performance against the Grizzlies in Memphis on Wednesday evening, the Cavaliers had a tough assignment on Friday night. The Miami Heat will likely be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference this season, and the Cavs were being asked to win their home opener in a charged environment against the Heat in their third game in four nights. Some favor for winning the Eastern Conference, huh? But it didn’t matter, as the Cavaliers were the chainsaw-wielding maniacs (metaphorically speaking) in this Halloween eve home opener. Let’s crack the crypt for a look behind the box score.
18 – LeBron James something something good at basketball blah blah scored a lot, etc. As you’ll soon find out, I loved virtually everything about the way the Cavaliers played on Friday night. But here’s the thing: They didn’t shoot great — especially in the first half. The dirty little secret in the NBA is that teams don’t need their stars when things are going their way — even Philadelphia has hot streaks. Teams need their stars to sustain them when things aren’t going right. James set the tone early on Friday, scoring 18 points in the first half. He was an absolute assassin on the block, attacking Luol Deng and Justise Winslow at every opportunity. It was a vintage 2012 LeBron game from an efficiency standpoint (13-of-19 from the field), and the Cavs are a juggernaut if they can attain this team-LeBron synergy like they lacked in the Finals.
24 & 14 – Kevin Love is off to a phenomenal start, and if you thought that he would be before the season began given how little five-on-five basketball he had played after having his arm de-socketed last spring, then you’re either Kevin’s mom or much more optimistic than I am.
Above everything, he finally looks comfortable — something Cavs fans only saw in spurts last season. Even though Love didn’t shoot great on Friday (6-of-15) he’s done everything else right on both sides of the floor: playing inside and out, setting screens, playing decent defense, pounding the glass, pushing the ball into the open court. It’s orgasmically delightful. Here’s one of his patented Kevin Love outlet passes to James for the emphatic finish.
One instance with Love resonated with me in particular on Friday: at the end of the first quarter, with one minute left, the Cavs scored an offensive rebound (Tristan Thompson, obviously). Love, realizing that a smaller defender was guarding him and it was an obvious mismatch, yelled for the ball. Thompson obliged him, and Love scored a layup. Last season, I don’t think Love demands the ball in that situation, still feeling like a stranger in a strange land.
3 – The Heat somehow, inexplicably farted their way into three Matthew Dellavedova and Tristan Thompson lob alley-oops. Listen, I hate to give away the secret sauce, but here it is, for all 450 players in the NBA: IF TRISTAN THOMPSON COMES TO SET A SCREEN FOR MATTHEW DELLAVEDOVA, HE’S GOING TO ROLL TO THE HOOP AND LOOK FOR AN ALLEY-OOP. I’m sorry, it had to be said. In the Heat’s defense, two of them were Amar’e Stoudemire’s fault, and after a career of not playing smart defense, why start now?
0 – Goran Dragic is a world-class point guard. In time, once he becomes more comfortable with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade and the rest of Miami’s components, he’ll transform them into an offensive force. He’s great, and he’s crafty. But in the first half on Friday, the Cavaliers defense held Dragic to zero points. The majority of the credit goes to Mo Williams, who has an unfavorable defensive reputation (to put it lightly), but was matched up with Dragic for nearly the entire first half and did a wonderful job. But the team defense made it tremendously easy because they defended the pick-and-roll (a Timofey Mozgov specialty), covered the Heat players Dragic was looking to set up, and didn’t gravitate toward other Heat-ers to give Dragic easy buckets. Dragic ended the night with 11, but the game was well out of reach by then. It’s tough for the Heat to win on the road when their point guard is held in check as he was tonight.
25 – The Cavaliers did a less good job of defending Wade, who absolutely worked J.R. Smith tonight, and Matthew Dellavedova as well. Smith had some tough fouls called against him (especially his fourth), and Dellavedova leaned so hard into a Bosh screen on a Wade head fake in the second half that Wade could have somersaulted to the hoop. That’s OK, though. You can let Wade needle you with midrangers for 25-35 points as long as you bottle up the rest of the Heat offense. Bosh was standard Bosh — arguably the best jump-shooting four in all of basketball, which does not mean he’s the best not-getting-devoured-by-Tristan-Thompson-on-a-drive in all of basketball.
6-of-25 – The best thing about Friday’s game was how methodical, how professional, how businesslike the Cavs were. They played every possession, and every time the Heat narrowed the lead, they simply went and scored some more points. Normally when the Cavs shoot 6-of-25 (a putrid 24 percent) on three-point field goal attempts, you shrug your shoulders and take a loss. Not tonight — and I think that’s a tribute to the team that’s made #UnfinishedBusiness it’s motto.
In fact, both teams played a clean, well-executed game. It was an excellent all-around game, in no small part because the Cavaliers won. Welcome back basketball. Enjoy your Hallo-weekend. Don’t forget to floss after all those malted milk balls.
13 Comments
Agreed on the last point. I thought the Heat played very well (well, mostly – Dragic getting 0 was a blessing, otherwise) and they never really seemed completely out of it, but the Cavs played better ball. Fun stuff, especially w/ the W to go with it.
McRoberts, Dragic – I saw no impact from them at all. If these are the supposed difference makers that will put MIA in the thick of things, I have to laugh.
/waves that little bracelet thing I got last night that flashes
Someone tell the Browns this is how you build a winner!
And yet the Cavaliers never seemed like they were going to lose.
Dragic had a horrible game he’s off to a bad start but Miami really doesn’t have a lot of offensive threats outside of Wade and Bosh. And if people are concerned about LBJ’s health they should be doubly worried about Wade.
Love, LBJ and the bench led by Mr. Thompson who looked like the playoff beast he was last year. If dude plays like he did last night he’ll be worth every penny even coming off the bench.
Keep an eye on LBJ’s efficiency through his FG% it’s clear indication that he doesn’t have to perform his Lone Ranger impersonation. Last night it was off the charts.
You don’t “let” wade get 25-35 points. Wade “goes and gets” it. That being said, we are seeing a team in the cavs that is so loaded with talent that they basically take turns stepping up.
Wade will start dropping off body parts like a Walking Dead zombie as the season goes on. No need to be concerned with him.
This team is crazy talented. They got 8 points from the starting guards on 3-18 shooting (that is rocky mountain cold) and completely controlled the game…without Kyrie and Shumpert. This is going to be a fun year.
You mean, lucking into three lottery wins, and having the best player of his generation grow up 30 miles away?