LeBron James wins 49th Eastern Conference Player of the Week award
November 23, 2015Buckeye struggles and the real J.R. Smith: While We’re Waiting
November 24, 2015Orlando Magic (6-8) 103
Cleveland Cavaliers (11-3) 117
Some of the most well-read basketball scholars of our generation (read: a random Reddit user) maintain that before Kevin Love was a professional basketball player and Kevin’s father Stan Love played in the NBA and Kevin’s uncle Mike Love co-founded the Beach Boys, Kevin Love’s ancestors moved to America five generations ago in search of a better life.
Back then, of course, they were the Lovekowski family. (Or was Lovestanowitz?) But then (again, this according to the most erudite basketball scholars), Kevin’s great-great-great-grandfather Stanislaus Lovekowski decided to shorten their name to Love — thinking that it would help them better integrate into American society by avoiding what was then not-so-latent racism and (most importantly) providing a great last name for headlines from hacks writing about professional basketball.
And so the Lovekowskis became the Loves, and 115 years later jerks like me have a last name that was perfect for cheesy puns and lame headlines on nights that the descendant of Stanislaus Lovekowski score 34 points. One of those nights was tonight: Monday, November 23, 2015. Kevin Love scored 34 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers won handily against the Orlando Magic. Let’s take a journey into the inner depths of the box score and see how.
34, 8 & 4 – Kevin Love exploded for 34 points on Monday, his career high as a Cavalier. After 55 30-point games with the Minnesota Timberwolves (more than nine per season), Tuesday was only Love’s third 30-point game with the Cavaliers joining a depressing Before Bowling loss against the Dallas Mavericks at home (probably the nadir of last season) and a February win against the Los Angeles Lakers. Most of Love’s points came via a first half eruption during which he made 5-of-6 three-point field goal attempts.
Love cooled off in the second half, making only one field goal and sinking a few free throws provoked by well-timed pump fakes on Magic defenders. But he added a few rebounds and a handful of second half assists (such as the trademarked Kevin Love outlet pass below) to finish with a line of 34 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Wait, are we sure that’s not a LeBron James stat line? (Checks. Sips water. Turns and spits water in surprise.) Nope. That was Kevin Love on Monday. Speaking of LeBron James … .
15, 6 & 13 – LeBron James finished with a stat line that would have been LeBron-esque if only it had more points and less assists; 15-6-13 is more of a Rajon Rondo line than a LeBron James line. But James continues to display his tactical mastery of the new, dynamic Cavs offense by watching from afar, moving chess pieces, then scoring whenever the team needs it or he feels like it.
It was appropriate that James matched his season high in assists on a night when he joined the great Oscar Robertson as the only other NBA player in the top 25 in both career points and assists. Despite all the other awards and accolades bestowed on him in his career (such as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award given to him on Monday), this — joining the Big O in the pantheon of scorers and distributors — might be his most hallowed career milestone so far. James will move into 18th place on the career scoring list soon (passing Reggie Miller), but there will still be 17 players in front of him — and he may never catch Kareem. But to be balanced enough as a basketball player to join Oscar, one of the most uniquely gifted players in league history (ranked 6th in career assists and 13th in career points) demonstrates the breadth of James’ talents and basketball acumen more than any other milestone.
In the first half, James only attempted four field goals, choosing instead to softening up the Magic defense (which was pretty bad at denying Cavs players the ball or running them off the three-point line all night). By the end of the third and fourth quarters, James was casually torturing them with insane cross-court, no-look, and behind-the-back passes such as the one to James Jones below. I don’t even think James bothered looking on half of his passes in the last two quarters.
18 – The Cavaliers finished with 18 made three-pointers on Monday night, only one away from tying the franchise record of 19 three-point field goals. It’s also the third time they’ve netted 18 threes in a game in the last ten months. Matthew Dellavedova (4-of-6), J.R. Smith (6-of-10), and Kevin Love (6-of-9) were all scorching from beyond the perimeter — and shooting with confidence. The Cavs offense has stalled at times this year, but the hope is that if they trust in the offensive machine they’re building and continue to shoot with confidence, that they’ll develop into an offensive juggernaut. They’ve proven to be able to do it at home, winning two straight games with ease in which they were short-handed. Whether the Dellavedovas and Smiths of the offense can keep it up on the road might be the only thing between the Cavs and 65 wins.
79.1 – The Cavs finished with 34 assists on Monday, assisting on a stupid 79.1 percent of their 43 made field goals. That’s a Warriors-esque number — the ex-Finals foe from the Golden State that the Cavs are attempting to emulate en route to a championship — and improves their already excellent assist percentage to 64.4. It’s not often you see a team with one guy posting a line of 34, 8, and 4, and another one of 15, 6, and 13. But ball movement like this is how you KO lesser teams early in the second half, and how you win with four of your top seven players out with injuries, a dilemma the Cavs faced on Monday (Kyrie Irving, Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert, and Mo Williams all sat with injuries).
0 – The giggles worth of positive human joy experienced by Magic coach Scott Skiles during Monday’s game. I don’t know what to make of his Magic team. They have a few slashers surrounded by some good mid-range jump-shooters, but lack a well-defined identity. I didn’t know who their alpha dog was watching them on Monday. Shabazz Napier? They were offensively solid against the Cavs, but beyond lousy defensively. I walked away from the game thinking only: 1. Nikola Vucevic has a great 15-foot jumper; and 2. Scott Skiles looks miserable on the bench, as he sports his best assistant principal “who pooped in the urinal again?” look in the picture above.
14 Comments
Good early season role for LeBron: 35 minutes of strolling the work floor, pat on the back here, suggestion there, stepping in a few times, back to the office.
Great win! The Cavaliers are actually playing better since Mo and Mozgov got hurt. #ironic
Lebron kinda checked out after he got slammed down on that 1st half dunk attempt. He wasnt even running down the court on some transitions. Time to sit him out a game.
Not sure if you are being sarcastic- but I never can get a handle on that guy. He chides teammates for being slackers (good) but is an obvious slacker himself at times (eg. Chill Mode).
Just tell me this isn’t one of those things that’ll develop into something bad, that apparently everyone saw coming over time except me (a la Buckeye football team discontent).
he got it all wrong. they were Kapowski*. that’s right, a direct connection to Saved by the Bell and the Beach Boys (which then are directly connected to Full House). Kevin Love knows no bounds.
*note: this item was not fact-checked and some might consider it made up nonsense.
I’m dead serious I was there and have nice upper seats. It was plain as day. The thing is 60% of LBJ is still better than most players. He spit some fire at a few officials early and they put him in a cooler. So Love and JR were hot and he just went into neutral.
Try landing on a hard word surface on your hip/back from at least 7 feet in the air and let me know how it feels. Also LBJs back has been a concern all year but I guess you missed the memo.
His neutral is 10x better then a lot of guys drive. That was a hard landing he took. His back is an ongoing concern which is why he sits on a chair with a foam cushion 5 inches tall every timeout. As soon as more guys get back the depth on this team should only help in lessening the burden on #23.
Kevin Love knows rebounds!
Yeah you’re thinking I’m attacking him when I am saying he checked out – which he did. I am sure he hurt like hell, which is actually why he went easy.
He chose to not even follow play down court and just stood in the key at the defensive end at times. Dont shoot the messenger here.
I just thought he took a hard fall that was completely unnecessary. If you watch the replay Oladipo goes to lend a hand and LBJ rips his arm away. I don’t blame him. Oladipo’s attempt was completely unnecessary and could have injured the King.
But you are right I’ve seen LBJ not go full throttle a lot. For the most part it doesn’t bother me but sometimes it looks bad. The other night when Iman Shumpert was sitting in with Fred & AC he screamed at LBJ, “Get back ‘Bron get back!”
That’s just a great opening monologue, Kyle. Well done sir.
You people quit covering the Cavs?