While We’re Waiting… Stacked Outfield in Columbus, Dontrelle Willis’ Anxiety, and Boozer’s Thought Process
March 30, 2009Lou Saban Passes Away at 87
March 30, 2009Cavaliers 102, Mavericks 74 (Box)
Where to start? The Cavaliers set new highs for regular season wins (60!) and most consecutive wins (12). They are 2 wins shy of tying the club mark for victories at home in a season (1988-89 37 wins). It was Cleveland’s most lopsided victory over Dallas- ever. That’s saying something when you think back to some of those miserable Maverick teams of the 1990’s.But what was most impressive about this win was the manner in which the Cavs accomplished it.
Cleveland came out fired up and having fun. The pregame photo op was a mock-baseball game in which LeBron was again the videographer. For the record Mo Williams hit a home run off Cleveland hurler Tarrence Kinsey. It appeared to be a high fastball. But after a 5-5 start, the Mavericks pulled away as the Cavs found a lid on the basket. Dallas out-hustled the Cavs early, and grabbed every Cavs miss off the board. The Cavs found themselves the victim of hot shooting from behind the 3 point line, not usually a strong point of the Maverick’s game. Dallas’ high moving screens allowed Erick Dampier to storm the basket mostly uncontested. They out-scored the Cavs by 10 in the first, and started to pull away further in the 2nd, pushing their lead to 15 points. That would be all she wrote for the Mavericks.
Cleveland stormed back, led by LeBron James’ passing, and cut the lead to just 2 points by halftime. Then they did something very out of character for this team. They blew an opponent out in the third quarter. I know. If I hadn’t watched it I might not believe it either. It was fantastic. They scored the first 8 points in the quarter, then stepped on the Mavericks throats, choking the fight out of them. By the end of the third the Cavs had held Dallas to their lowest scoring quarter of the season (11 points) while posting a 30 on the board themselves. Game. Sure, they played the 4th quarter, but it was over long before.
LeBron finished with 24 points, 12 assists and 6 rebounds despite sitting out the fourth. He also ran through a ref at the end of the third quarter, and seemed to get the worst of the exchange. Mo Williams was ice cold early, causing me to hit the panic button about his finger, but he heated up down the stretch and finished with 22 points. Joe Smith had his best game for the Cavs this season grabbing 13 rebounds and scoring 12 points in his 27 minutes. Wally Szczerbiak returned from his knee injury logging 15 minutes.
I asked Scott after the game was over where this ranked as far as most impressive win of the season. His response was somewhere in the mix with the Kings and Clippers games. I think this game may be a little more impressive from the standpoint that it was a much more talented team they were playing. In addition, the Cavs were down 15 early, but had a 30 point lead near the end of the game. That’s a 45 point swing against a team 13 games over .500. No matter where you file this game, make sure you put an important game asterisk on it. The Lakers were beaten by Atlanta, which means the Cavs now own a two game advantage in the race for home court play-off supremacy. In the race for the East, Boston won while Orlando was idle. The Cavs magic number sits at 5.
I have to call a foul on the ABC crew for this game. As strange as it sounds, I’m blowing the whistle for an enormous coverage bias FOR the Cavaliers. If you were a Dallas fan watching the pregame show or broadcast you would have sworn that you were getting the Cavs home feed. I don’t think there was a single Mavs segment on the half hour pregame show, and certainly they were little more than an afterthought by the announcing crew during the game. I remember what it feels like to be on the other side of that coin, and if you are going to complain about coverage when you don’t feel your team is getting the respect it deserves, you have to be willing to call shenanigans when the shoe is on the other foot. Bad form ABC.
—
(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
17 Comments
Ah Joe Smith. I love that the Celtics panicked and signed Mikki Moore while the Cavs waited and got Joe. He’s going to win us an important game in the playoffs.
Great article Rick. Totally agree about ABC’s coverage. Whatever happened to just telling the story lines of the game and that’s it? Why do we need all these fluff pieces before and during the game? I know the Cavs are a better team, and probably deserve more coverage, but like you said, there are 2 fan bases watching this.
Not to mention, everything they tell us is usually dated and been mentioned 200 times, so ABC really does nothing useful.
I was at the game and it was magnificent… joe smith got a much deserved standing O when he exited the game in the 4th. when we were playin like crap at the start of the game it was mr smith off the bench that was the steady hand. when big ben comes back this team is as deep and talented off the bench as LA. finish strong cavs!
Jeff Van Gundy. Man, I hate that chick.
Good to know that Joe Smith wasn’t the Cleveland pitcher that gave up the home run, that would not fare well for the Tribe.
As bad as ABC’s coverage was, at least we didn’t have to hear about the interview with LBJ coming up later in the day. For one day, I think CBS forgot to overhype the NCAA tourney while they were broadcasting it. ONIONS!!!
I’ll admit to kind of enjoying the homerism for the Cavs, since usually we’re the dumped on city, but agreed that it was unprofessional. That said, people love to hate on JVG and his annoying voice, but he gives good analysis.
Amen Rick. Although the Mavs are a bit of an afterthought, they could have come up with something to report on them. Also, the Magic interview is like 3 weeks old, isn’t it? Not sure why they played it like it was fresh.
Although in ABC’s defense, I’m sure they realized anyone outside of Dallas that was watching the game, wasn’t watching it for Dirk and Cuban.
I think it was Michael Wilbon, at halftime said “don’t you just get the feeling that the cavs are going to come out in the 3rd and really blow this game open?”
Uhhh No? Obviously you don’t watch many Cavs games.
/sometimes it feels good to be wrong
Also, from Windhorst, via BDL:
He [Kidd]has said he wants to remain a Maverick, but Sunday he certainly made it seem like playing alongside James in Cleveland was a viable option. ‘I could sit and watch from the bench,” Kidd said. “[LeBron] is so talented, he’s going to get guys wide open shots. So we’ll look at free agency and what happens for me next year.'”
If this guy wants to join for the veteran minimum, I’d certainly think that the Cavs would sign him in a heartbeat.
What about Mark Cuban twittering his disapproval of the refs in a recent game? That couldn’t have been a side note somewhere in the coverage?
Yeah, I commented on the Cavs/Mavs preview when I saw that interview that we’ve all seen it like a dozen times now…
@ Rick – he had a great Tweet in response to the NBA – “can’t say no one makes money from twitter now. the nba does”
Made me laugh for about 5 minutes. He sent that out right before the game started.
Disagree that van Gundy gives good analysis on these ABC telecasts, considering what he must be seeing on the floor after so many years of NBA coaching. The problem is that ABC’s idea is obviously to have him and Mark Jackson “entertain” us by lamely cracking on each other during all parts of the game. But he’s not funny/cute/likeable, the shtick is forced, and van Gundy’s inane cackling is just so annoying I almost want to off myself about halfway through the telecast. Jackson would be both more entertaning and informative in a 2-man booth.
@ Harv – completely agree. When the JVG/Jackson/Breen trio first started, I thought they had pretty good chemistry. It’s now so clearly forced and takes away from the game. It also doesn’t help that until yesterday, I felt that the Cavs couldn’t win a game with that crew as the announcers. I really need to start muting them. Tirico and Hubie Brown do such a better job and they focus on the game at hand, not other crap like Jackson and Van Gundy. The only downside if the Cavs make the finals is having to listen to those three. I’ll deal though.
Worst thing was i missed the game, and since it was on ABC and not FSN, there won’t be a rebroadcast. of all the games to miss, i missed a 28 point win. Now i can only read about JJ’s block and dunk and have not been able to find any video of it.
Hubie is the best. He actually talks about the game and I learn something when he broadcasts. My favorite sportscaster (next to Mr. Cavalier of course).
I didn’t say they had good chemistry – if anything, it always sounds like JVG and Jackson are cutting in to say their pieces. But JVG’s analysis of what’s happening seems decent to me (and Jackson isn’t bad either). That said, I wish they had Marv/Fratello instead.
It is sad that the CBS NCAA Tourney announcers are often substantially better at relaying over information and analyzing what’s happening than NBA announcers.
[…] started off well with the Cavaliers coming back from 15 down to win convincingly against the […]