LeBron James’ Game-Winner Sinks Warriors (With Video)
Written By: Scott | Category: Cleveland Cavaliers | Comments: 11Cavaliers 106, Warriors 105 (box)
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Part of me feels bad that the Warriors have now lost two straight games by one point. However, that feeling quickly dissipates once I realize that the second of said losses came at the hands of the Cavaliers – a team desperately needing to win on the road while down two key starters. And while I’m sure that the play above was not the way that they would have preferred to take this one home, you have to think that LeBron James oozes a bit of redemption.
Redemption for missing the nearly exact same situation against the Bulls a few nights back. Redemption for the Rick Barry comments on James taking too many jump shots when he’s not from the mid-range. And redemption for allowing the Warriors’ Stephen Jackson to hit the shot that put his team up by one with only a few seconds left on the game clock.
“Payback is a b***h,” said James after sinking the game-winner with zero time remaining. That it is, LeBron. That it is.
A few things worth pointing out:
While watching the game, I asked my buddy when he thought we would see Tarrance Kinsey be “that guy” that plays a huge role in a Cavaliers win. He had several big nights when with the Grizzlies, so the kid has potential. And last night, his 11 points and three boards in 14 minutes may or may not have been that night. Kinsey had a huge six points in the second quarter that allowed the Cavs to be up by one going into the half. Whether or not this earns him some more playing time will be seen, possibly tonight, but I think that he deserves another shot at producing for a bruised wine and gold.
This was not one of Anderson Varejao’s best games. Your center really should never go 3-of-10 from the floor, but his nine rebounds, two steals and two blocks did help. A few non-calls in the first half seemed to get under his skin a bit on the offensive end; but finding a way to contribute elsewhere is what kept him on the floor for more than 33 minutes.
Same goes for Sasha Pavlovic. You can look at his box score with a once over and wonder what the heck he was doing for 27 minutes of play. But that is until you realize that he also had nine rebounds, a steal and a block of his own. He only made one shot inside of the three-point line, but his eight points did help. As long as he keeps playing defense and hustling for loose balls, you can mark down a high grade for Sasha stepping in for the injured Delonte West.
J.J. Hickson had a solid 10 and five with a block off of the bench. Dude still hates passing the ball. His assist total for the season still stands at four. Almost 400 minutes in the books; four assists.
Props go to Mo Williams for not shying away from shooting the ball after tossing up a goose egg in the first half. Williams finished with 14 thanks to a 6-for-10 second slice, adding in six assists and a trey. His biggest play of the night may in fact be one that won’t be seen in the box score: delivering that inbounds pass to James in the corner, ultimately leading to the win. What didn’t make that highlight clip was the fact that Sasha Pavlovic got the first crack at it, but tossed in an ill-advised pass that was tipped out of bounds by Golden State. Mike Brown made the adjustment based on the GSW defense, and Williams put the ball only where James could come down with it. Dagger.
Great win by the Cavs. Now lets hope that they can do it again in Utah tonight. Though, I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t have to do it at the buzzer…
Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 1700 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
I can’t wait to see what Skip Bayles has to say about this one.
LeBron was only 3-10 on shots outside of the paint in this game. Against Portland, he had one of the best outside shooting nights of his career, going 9-21 from the outside according to the shot chart on ESPN.
In the last five seasons (as far as NBA.com’s Hot Spots numbers go), LeBron has now played 353 games. In these games he has averaged going 3.42-9.68 from outside shots (meaning he is a 35.4% shooter away from the paint). Inside the paint, he averages a game of 6.88-11.8 (meaning he is a 58.3% shooter inside the key area).
This season, LeBron is at 36.5% and 61.2% on outside and inside shots, meaning that he is having a career season as an all-around shooter. One negative is that he is currently taking 48.0% of his shots away from the paint, a career-high as his career average stands at 45.0%.
[...] LeBron hits the game-winner against the Warriors or not, it is hard to argue with Barry’s thoughts. Fans hate it when James settles for the [...]
Sasha’s biggest play may have been when he ripped Maggette as he was driving inside, that led to a big basket.
Mo showed us why we love him so much, his second half was great. I’m sure he won’t shoot like that again this season.
LBJ, What can you say? Although his 2nd half shot selection wasn’t the greatest, and only like 2 boards and 1 assist in the 2nd half, still a great win and performance by him.
Watching Wally try to guard Maggette made me wanna throw up, But Wally contributed nicely.
Hickson made some nice plays tonight on the offensive end, and had a nice block.
The officiating was terrible tonight. As Fred pointed out on the telecast, “Andy’s headband didn’t get that way naturally”.
Good to see the Cavs over come these factors against a pretty talented team.
GO CAVS!!!!
Any win on the road is good, regardless of how it happened. That said, I wish the Cavs would drive and kick-out more, as they have the personnel to make that happen.
Either way, if they can keep their tremendous (expecting them to go undefeated is unrealistic) home record, if they can keep racking up wins on the road, it’ll do nothing but help their playoff seeding.
Hey Mike Brown- mental note for you in this great win-
WALLY SZCZERBIAK CAN’T GUARD COREY MAGGETTE!
That is all.
silver lining on the injury cloud?
kinsey-jackson-hickson-pavs getting a lot of play time. hopefully they can keep it up, and keep lorenzen buried on the bench. if they are getting time and producing, it would be huge for the cavs come playoff time.
These wins are important, you gotta learn how to win games on the road when you don’t play your best game.
Championship teams look back on these games come playoff time, not the 20+ point wins.
Wow…first buzzer beater of the season and I miss it…:(
Oh well, the important thing is the win. Hopefully we can keep it up tonight. I think Kinsey does have potential to be a contributor for this Cavs squad – especially while Delonte is out. Its good to see the young guys play and gain some experience, I’m sure that will help us out down the stretch.
Anybody think it was odd how many GS Fans were sitting when LBJ made that shot? He goes back in the crowd after and all the fat cats are on their butts. NO SOUP FOR YOU.-
[...] it was a buzzer-beater win over the Golden State Warriors or 51 points in overtime against the Kings. How about embarrassing [...]