June 20, 2013

The Diff: Kyrie Irving’s potential

January 16, 2013 by 8 Comments

Today marks the start of a new era: The Diff, where I’ll write lots and lots about sports stats. Kudos to friend and fantasy football semifinalist Marc Sugerman for coming up with the article name, a shoutout to the Q’s scoreboard. And thanks as always to Mike Brenkus for the design.

The Diff

For my first-ever edition of The Diff, I wanted to focus on some thoughts I had about Kyrie Irving over the last week or so. This all started after the Cavs’ impressive 99-83 victory over the Hawks a week ago today. I was at that game with my dad. But the following conversation took place the next day on Gchat with my brother Sam, who you all might recall from our combined offseason post back in June. Hope you enjoy. [Read more...]

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Box Score: Spurs 114, Cavaliers 98

April 22, 2012 by 1 Comment

The Cavaliers competed, but in the end, they were no match for a San Antonio Spurs team that looks poised for a deep playoff run. The Spurs shot 55% and connected on eight three pointers as they defeated the Cavaliers 114-98 in the AT&T Center. The Spurs were led by their bench of Manu Ginobili (20 points, 9-of-12 shooting) and Stephen Jackson (17 points) as their bench outscored the Cavaliers’ bench 62-27. Antawn Jamison paced the Cavaliers with 21 points, and their starting backcourt shined with Kyrie Irving adding 19 points and Manny Harris posting 14. The Cavaliers are now 21-42 on the season and face the Grizzlies in Memphis tomorrow night.

Cleveland

Starters Pos Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
K. Irving G 29:30 8-18 1-3 2-2 -1 0 2 3 4 3 1 1 2 19
M. Harris G 26:25 5-10 1-3 3-4 +3 2 4 1 0 0 0 1 2 14
T. Thompson C 29:32 4-9 0-0 1-4 +3 5 9 2 2 1 2 0 2 9
A. Jamison F 31:17 8-20 3-10 2-3 -1 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 1 21
A. Parker F 30:03 4-9 0-4 0-0 -1 0 8 4 1 1 1 0 3 8
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
Totals 37-88 5-22 19-28 14 42 14 13 6 4 4 21 98
Percentages .420 .227 .679 Team Rebounds: 8
O. Casspi 20:55 1-6 0-1 3-4 -11 0 4 1 0 0 0 2 1 5
A. Gee 18:37 3-7 0-0 4-5 -23 2 5 0 2 1 0 0 2 10
D. Sloan 18:30 2-4 0-1 3-4 -15 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 7
S. Samuels 18:28 2-3 0-0 1-2 -19 4 5 0 1 0 0 0 5 5
L. Walton 14:00 0-2 0-0 0-0 -14 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
L. Harangody 2:43 0-0 0-0 0-0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
S. Erden DNP – Inactive
D. Gibson DNP – Inactive
D.J. Kennedy DNP – Coach’s Decision
A. Varejao DNP – Right Wrist Fracture

San Antonio

Starters Pos Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
T. Parker G 21:12 3-5 0-1 0-0 +11 0 2 9 1 0 1 1 2 6
D. Green G 18:48 5-8 3-5 1-2 +16 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 14
D. Blair C 27:59 6-11 0-0 3-4 -2 1 7 3 1 2 0 1 4 15
K. Leonard F 31:37 3-8 1-4 4-6 -1 1 7 0 2 1 0 0 1 11
B. Diaw F 22:43 3-7 0-0 0-0 +1 2 7 2 1 0 0 0 5 6
Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts
Totals 42-77 8-20 22-29 5 45 23 14 6 4 4 20 114
Percentages .545 .400 .759 Team Rebounds: 7
S. Jackson 22:28 5-9 2-3 5-7 +14 0 5 3 1 1 1 0 4 17
M. Ginobili 22:00 9-12 0-1 2-2 0 0 3 3 3 1 0 0 0 20
G. Neal 21:03 2-6 1-2 2-2 +5 0 4 2 1 0 0 1 0 7
T. Splitter 20:01 2-3 0-0 4-4 +18 1 7 0 1 0 1 0 1 8
M. Bonner 18:56 0-4 0-3 0-0 +17 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
P. Mills 7:43 3-3 1-1 0-0 +2 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 2 7
J. Anderson 5:30 1-1 0-0 1-2 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
T. Duncan DNP – Coach’s Decision
C. Joseph DNP – Inactive
+/-:
Team net points while player in game
TO:
Turnovers
PF:
Personal Fouls
BS:
Blocked Shots
BA:
Blocks Against

Game Info

Technical Fouls:
None
Arena:
AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
Attendance:
18,581
Officials:
David Jones, Michael Smith, Kevin Scott
Duration:
2:09

 

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Cavs 97, Spurs 102 – LeBron Uncharacteristically Outplayed in Fourth

March 27, 2010 by 19 Comments

The Cavs played the second game of their short road trip last night in San Antonio against a Spurs team coming off a loss to the Lakers on Wednesday night. After a convincing win in New Orleans on Wednesday, the Cavs visited the Spurs before returning home.

The Spurs, still without point guard Tony Parker, brought an aggressive defensive game plan against LeBron James. The Spurs trapped James in isolation sets, forcing him to give up the ball. Early in the game this strategy seemingly was not working for the Spurs, as James found open teammates (most notably Antawn Jamison) for points.

The Cavs were simply outplayed down the stretch, with Manu Ginobili playing the role of game-clincher. While LeBron ended the game with 27 points, Ginobili had 30 points (shooting 4-of-7 in the fourth). [Read more...]

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Mo Williams Bounces Back as Cavs Top Spurs, 97-95

March 9, 2010 by 18 Comments

90043860GS011_SAN_ANTONIO_SThe last time the Cavaliers won without LeBron James in the lineup, Sasha Pavlovic and Ira Newble were counted on to play a heavy amount of minutes.  Given this, it was fitting that last night’s 97-95 win over the San Antonio Spurs featured at least 30 minutes from Jawad Williams, Delonte West and Anderson Varejao – all of whom are (typically) bench players this season.

It was a night where it appeared that the team was dropping like flies.  James was out once again, nursing a sore ankle.  Center Shaquille O’Neal continues to recover from his surgically repaired thumb.  Midway through the game, Anthony Parker was forced to leave with a jammed finger.  And adding even more salt to the wounds, newly acquired forward Antawn Jamison was forced to leave the contest with a sore knee.

Nevertheless, the Cavaliers managed to outscore the Spurs 25-19 in the fourth quarter to record their 50th win of the 2009-10 season.

[Read more...]

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While We’re Waiting… Manu Ginobili’s Injury, Browns Draft Board, and Bootsy Collins on LBJ

April 7, 2009 by 14 Comments

While We’re Waiting aims to be the round-up of the recent WFNY-esque information for your morning viewing. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.

mo-williams-manu-ginobili 

How fitting.  The one team that may have given the Lakers fits loses a key player for the rest of the season. “Manu Ginobili will miss the rest of the season and playoffs for the Spurs after tests Monday revealed that his troubled right ankle has gotten worse. It was the news San Antonio dreaded after Ginobili sat out the fourth quarter in Sunday’s blowout loss at Cleveland, and leaves the Spurs limping toward the postseason in search of a fifth NBA title since 1999.” [Associated Press]

[Read more...]

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Spurs vs. Cavs – Open Thread

April 5, 2009 by 31 Comments

The Cavs are looking to turn this thing around on Sunday vs the San Antonio Spurs.  Follow along here as the Cavs look to do it even more short-handed than normal as Anderson Varejao sits out with a bruised wrist.  Darnell Jackson gets the start to keep Joe Smith coming off the bench.  Who knows?  We might even see Hickson or Lorenzen Wright today.

Go Cavs.

Oh yeah, and the Cavs were able to get insurance to pay Eric Snow’s contract this year, and now he has been officially dropped from the Cavs’ roster.

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Cavs Take Care of Depleted Spurs

February 28, 2009 by 4 Comments
Eric Gay / AP

Eric Gay / AP

Cavs 97, Spurs 86 (Box Score)

So many times this season, I have been so caught up in the Cavs’ injury issues that I sometimes forget that the teams the Cavs get to play are rarely at full strength either.  Such was the case last night with the San Antonio Spurs.  I was still pondering defensive fortitude in a post-Ben Wallace universe and then the game started.  San Antonio had Tony Parker, but they were without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

The San Antonio starting five consisted of Parker, Michael Finley, Kurt Thomas, Roger Mason, and Matt Bonner.  Those aren’t exactly the guys who are responsible for those banners in the rafters.  Still, they are a deep veteran team and they were playing at home.  If the Cavs had continued playing the way they did against Houston the night before, unable to shoot from pretty much anywhere on the floor, San Antonio easily could have made it a game.

But they didn’t really.  The Cavs jumped out to a quick first quarter lead of 27-13.  They gave back 7 in the second quarter losing that quarter 18-25 for a lead of 45 – 38.  Then the Cavaliers exploded in the third quarter, dropping a 32 on the board while holding San Antonio to 18.  From there Lebron was able to rest the entire fourth quarter with a big lead. [Read more...]

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Good Thing Anderson Varejao Held Out

May 29, 2008 by 4 Comments

Anderson Varejao…Because it looks like he may need all of the money he can get his hands on. 

ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that the NBA will look to dish out fines to players that are determined to be guilty of the ever-popular “flopping.” 

The league office has yet to determine exact fine amounts for offending flops and how fines might escalate for repeat offenders, but in-game arena observers and video reviewers will be instructed to report instances of theatrical flopping for potential punishment as part of postgame reports on officiating and other matters.

While I’m unsure as to why you would need in-game observers and video reviewers, I think that this is a step in the right direction for the leauge.  Granted, we have a guy that is most notorious for winding up on his back whenever the ball enters the lane, this will force teams to stop playing like they’re on roller skates. 

If you go to the ESPN link, you’ll find some colorful commentary from Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace.  Needless to say, he’s also supportive of the pending rule-change.

Fines will be imposed for clear cases of flopping [ESPN.com]

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There’s no defending Manu!

February 14, 2008 by Leave a Comment

manucle.jpgWhat can you do? You shoot 51% as a team. You out-rebound your opponent. You hold their star player to 23 points on 38% shooting. LeBron scores 39, Hughes continues his hot streak with 26 points hitting 58% of his shots. The bench comes through with productive minutes from Devin Brown, Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones. None of it matters however, as Manu Ginobili rips the nets for 46 on an unbelievable 75% field goal percentage! He hit 8 of his 11 triples.

What can you do? Do you run two and three players at him as the Cavs did at the end of the game? Do you give Bruce Bowen wide open looks because of it? Bowen knocked down all 4 of his shots, including 2 three pointers. Do you trap Manu? Do you pull LeBron off reserve Ime Udoka? The Cavs did that too, and Udoka hit all 4 of his shots including a huge three in the fourth quarter. Do you foul Manu, sending him to the line? The Cavs did that as well, and Manu hit 8 of his 9 free throws. How much pressure do you try to put on Manu when that leaves Tim Duncan open underneath? Truth is Cavs fans, there was no beating Manu and the Spurs on this night. Nothing worked, nothing rattled him, nothing made a difference as he drilled shot, after shot, after shot. [Read more...]

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02/14 Morning Minute: DNPs, K2 and the Rich Get Richer

February 14, 2008 by 2 Comments

Manu GinobiliManu Ginobili sees your 40, and raises you six more.  With a quick shot back to yesterday’s blurb regarding Branson Wright’s comparison to the San Antonio Spurs, let’s compare injured players. 

  • San Antonio DNP: Brent Barry, Francisco Elson, Matt Bonner, Tony Parker, Ian Mahinmi
  • Cleveland DNP: Eric Snow, Cedric Simmons, Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, Anderson Varejao, Shannon Brown

Two quick things jump out at me.  1) Who the heck is Ian Mahinmi?  and 2) Had at least a few of the Cleveland DNP’s played, we likely would have had more than two players in double-figures.  If there’s any consolation, how often will Tim Duncan drain 7-of-9 free throws?  I mean, that was the difference-maker.  Cleveland’s free throw attempts: 16.  San Antonio: 30.  Done deal, pal.

Is it just me, or did this news regarding Kellen Winslow get a bit of a gloss-over yesterday?  If it wasn’t for my hellacious week, I would have mentioned it, but it obiously isn’t good – even if it may be a rumor.

[Read more...]

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