WaitingForNextYear

This is the second part of a recap of the Cavs-Bobcats game.  It focuses solely on the topic of Delonte West’s return.  Please see the previous post for a wider recap and analysis of the Cavaliers win.

The news of Delonte West being activated spread in the early evening about an hour before the game.  He came out of the tunnel dressed for the game and started warming up.  Brian Windhorst confirmed that he had been activated and no specific playing time restrictions were imposed. West received a standing ovation from the home crowd when he checked in with about four and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter.  It was an unsurprising but impressive gesture from the Q crowd.  While it was good just to see the fan favorite out there running the floor, his play did not disappoint and was integral to the win.

He was relatively quiet in the first half  but made his presence felt in the second as the Cavs cruised.  Delonte scored his first bucket of the season with about 3 minutes left in the 3Q and took off from there.  West played an efficient 24 minutes and finished with 13 points on 5 of 7 from the field.  He also had 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and a steal.  I do not mean to gush but it was pretty rewarding to see him back out on the floor making such an immediate impact.  West was definitely the “player of the 2nd half” for the Cavs when they really started putting it to the Bobcats.  He hit a few step back jumpers after freezing his defender with that trademark jab step.  One of the highlights of the first half was an acrobatic save by West to Lebron, who beat a hard charging defender to the loose ball and lobbed it over the defender’s head for a fastbreak dunk by Anderson Varejao.  I think his presence on the floor lifted up the rest of the team as well and the squad finally felt “whole” or complete and ready to go to battle.

Delonte did get a technical in the fourth quarter.  I watched the game on league pass and was relegated to following along with the Charlotte broadcast team.  Coming back from a TV timeout, they glossed over the reason for the tech and seemed confused themselves so I never did understand why West was t’d up.  He was called for a charge on a previous possession before the TV timeout (which was the result of a stoppage after a Hickson charge on a Delonte led fastbreak).  I assume it was for arguing his own charge call on the previous trip down the floor.  Delonte has not had too many problems with officials in the past but as I stated, I am unclear on what exactly transpired during the TV timeout.  This was the only blemish on a great night for number 13.

Mike Brown will continue to play West off the bench in a backup PG role.  While Brown will have total control over his minutes, it appears that Danny Ferry has the final say over whether or not West will be active.  Windhorst wrote that team leaders Lebron James and Shaquille O’Neal lobbied Ferry to have West activated as soon as healthily possible.  It sounds like the monitoring will continue to be a day-to-day situation with Ferry and the medical staff having complete control with certain protocols and a process in place.