Cavs: the Blog - Cleveland Cavaliers TrueHoop Blog

There were twelve games played simultaneously tonight; one on ESPN, and also on all ten League Pass channels.  For this Cavs fan living in Indianapolis, one game lacked broadcasting…Cleveland at Charlotte.  Clearly, this is an outrage.  Fortunately, the Memphis – Utah game looms large for the Cavs; a Grizzly win nets Cleveland the Lakers pick.  Also, Phoenix is squaring off with Denver; that could impact the number of Wine & Gold lottery chances.  How about a running diary of tonight’s NBA action?  That’s not what you wanted?  Well, it’s what you get; life isn’t fair.

Tonight's most valuable player...the Memphis Grizzlies?

8:30 – Derrick Favors scores off a Randy Foye dish, Grizzlies and Jazz end the first quarter tied at 17 – 17.

8:32 – Oy.  Scoping out the Cavs box score, it is 12 – 25 Bobcats with two minutes left in the first.  Tristan has six rebounds; the rest of the team…one.  The Bobcats have eight assists on nine field goals.  Fate hath dealt me a favor tonight.

8:34 – Andre Miller finds Anthony Randolph for a filthy slam, staking the Nuggets to an early 15 point lead…hopefully the Cavs are keeping one eye on the scoreboard.  Oh, and Andre Miller is a lot of fun…maybe he wants to end his career where he started it…didn’t he guarantee a ring or something?

8:39 – Fortunately, Memphis is still battling the Clippers for home-court advantage.  They are giving it their all tonight.  How can I tell?  Sixteen minutes in, and no sign of Jon Leuer yet.

8:40 – What the hochuli?  Cavs trail 18 to 36?!  The NBA’s 28th ranked offense is shooting 67% from the field?  The fact I can’t watch this game appears that karma is smiling on me today.

8:43 – If I’m going to sit here and be snarky, might as well get a beer.  Bells Two-Hearted in the fridge.

8:48 – Phoenix came prepared to fight for the league’s third-worst record tonight…Denver leads 49 to 27 after 17 minutes.  As expected, Grizzlies – Jazz looks like the game to watch.

8:55 – My wife came to talk to me about our daughter’s milk-drinking habits.  So, I missed some stuff, but Zach Randolph converted back-to-back to take Memphis to a 36 – 31 lead.  Finish them, Memphis, then when the Lakers lose tonight, 17th pick, come to Cleveland.

8:58 – Kyrie tallies 7 points and 2 assists in the last three minutes…Cavs claw back to 34 – 48.

9:09 – My wife wanted to chat about our son’s birthday party, so some more missed action by your intrepid reporter.  Wow!!  Kyrie with five assists over the final three minutes of the half!! That must be his quarter-of-a-quarter record for dimes!!!  Kyrie remembered that he is a 21-year old burgeoning super-star, and I missed it; how could League Pass skip-over this game?  I want a 15 assist game in November.

9:12 – Kyrie with 16 and 8 at the half.  Casspi has 6 rebounds.  He has been rebounding like a fiend lately…12 per 36 minutes over the last six-and-a-half games.  What, you’re not impressed?

9:14 – All twelve tilts are at halftime.  Grizzlies narrowly lead 40 – 38, playing their typically high-octane style of play.  Denver is running Phoenix out of the gym, attempting to outscore the combined points of Memphis and Utah.  66 to 40 at the half in Mile High City.

9:25 – Grizz vs Jazz up-and-running (?) again.  Mike Conley nets a runner in the lane, then an and-one in transition.  I wonder if he can sneak onto the second-team all-defense this year.  League-leader in steals.  Combined with his 18 PER, of all the blue-chip Ohio State recruits over the last seven years, he stands a cut-above.  Memphis leads 45 to 40.

9:27 – Someone has been honing their clutch-gene.  Mo Williams 2 of 8 from the field with 1 assist and 3 turnovers.  He missed a free throw and a three as the Jazz continue to battle from behind early in the third.

9:30 – Mo sensed my derision.  He slashes for an easy lay-up…Utah cuts the lead to two.

9:33 – Cleveland trails 56 – 67 midway through the third.  Josh McRoberts sits at 13 points on perfect shooting, with 4 rebounds.  I’ve liked McRoberts, probably more than I should, since his 2010 – 2011 season with the Pacers.  He’s actually one of the League’s better passing power forwards.  According to the Hollinger Stats Page, he is 3rd of NBA power forwards for assist ratio this year (5th in assists per minute), after finishing second last year, and fifth the year before.  Maybe he is worth a look this summer to fill the ball-moving power-forward role that Walton offered for the Herculoids?

9:38 – I got lost down a Josh McRoberts rabbit-hole for a moment there.  Zach Randolph just scored eight points in two minutes, as my Cleveland surrogate mounts an eight-point lead.

9:41 – Mo Williams missed a jumper, then passed up an open-three.

9:42 – Zach Randolph!!  Twelve points in four minutes…no question whether Zach Randolph wants the Cavs to pick 17th.

9:45 – The third quarter ends in Charlotte.  Following two A-Gee threes and a Speights bucket, the deficit was cut to three, but a small Bobcat run stretches the score to 69 – 76 heading to the fourth.

9:50 – Memphis’s defense is suffocating.  Utah’s third quarter included 13 points and 4 turnovers.  Who are their assistant coaches?  The Grizzlies carry a 65 to 51 margin to the fourth.

9:52 – Technically, the Lakers are tied with Atlanta and Chicago for wins right now.  I turned the Bulls – Wizards game on just in time to see one of my favorites, Jimmy Butler, drill a corner three.  Without knowing exactly how all the tie-breakers work, the best case scenario tonight is Jazz lose, Bulls win, Hawks win, Lakers lose.  Bulls lead 77 to 70 with ten minutes to go.

9:58 – Grizzlies lead by 20 with nine minutes to go.  It’s practically impossible to lose a 20 point lead with nine minutes to go, so it’s time to check out the Bulls game.

10:01 – Four Waiters points in thirty seconds makes it 84 – 85 in Charlotte, but a Kemba Walker three extends the Bobcat lead to four again.

10:05 - Atlanta is losing to New York, which is unfortunate as it may impact the Lakers pick slightly.  I am glad that the Bulls will not be playing the Pacers  in the first round of the playoffs though.

10:08 – Remember who I really didn’t like in 2011? Jan Vesely just picked up a foul, turns 23 next week, and his 7.5 PER is ummm…unstellar.

10:10 – My low-price guy A.J. Price drills a three for the Wizards.  Tie-game.  But then my 2011 sleeper-guy Jimmy Butler answers with a dunk.  Bulls take a two-point lead to the three-minute mark.

10:12 – Kyrie gets to 20 & 10, but the Cavs trail by five with two minutes to go.  Lottery odds, lottery odds,  lottery odds.

10:14 – Luol Deng hits a three in Chicago…simultaneously, the Cavs fall back by seven with a minute to go.  If you are tracking tonight’s impact on Cleveland’s draft position, it has been a good minute.

10:21 – Kyrie layup, Gee layup, Dion layup; Cleveland trails by three with 15 seconds to go.

10:24 – Cavs lose 98 to 105.  Kyrie finishes with 24 & 10, pacing four players in double-digits.  Charlotte is lead by Kemba Walker with 24 points and 7 assists.  Josh McRoberts finishes with 20 points and 8 rebounds.

10:25 – Bulls win.  Grizzlies lead by 18.  Orlando lost, while Charlotte won, so Cleveland gets the first and third picks in the second round.  Now, the Lakers just need to lose.  At least the night was a huge success for draft positioning.

Well, obviously I don’t know what to say about tonight’s Cavs game.   The Cavs will have the third-best lottery odds, plus the 17th-ish pick, as well as 31 and 33.  Lots of options there.   Tristan finished with 8 & 10, albeit shooting inefficiently.  Dion appeared to salvage a rough start, finishing with 16 points on 54% true shooting.  Ellington and Gee netted thirteen points each.  Ultimately, they lost to the NBA’s (now second-) worst team.  One thing that all Cavs fans agree on is that it is time for this season to end, so that visions of the draft and 2013 – 2014 can take hold.  Sweet dreams.

P.S.  In vaguely related news, Memphis ended 28 – 12 since the Leuer trade…perhaps they didn’t “lose” the trade (not that Cleveland did either).  Cleveland won the Sessions trade though, right?  I can’t wait to read all of the articles tomorrow when people acknowledge that they were wrong about that one.

There seemed to be an awful lot of things more important going on in the world yesterday than the season’s final meeting between the Cavaliers and their recently minted arch-rivals, the Miami Heat.  In truth, there’s always something more important going on in the world than a basketball game.  But we watch because the enormity and weight of all the comedy and tragedy in the world cannot be borne by us mortals twenty four hours a day.  Sometimes we need our opiates to get by.  Sometimes the the best of human endeavor can be measured in a silly athletic contest with contrived rules between a bunch of players payed to hone size, strength, dexterity, and obscure talents to ridiculous efficiency.  Sometimes those silly contests are the height of human expression: movement, grace, form, strength, agility, intellect, bravado, and endearing naivete.  And sometimes we signed up to write a recap, and we can’t get out of it.

The Cavs played this one against the Heat, who were without LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem, and Mario Chalmers — who were resting for the playoffs.  Norris Cole returned to Cleveland, to star for the Heat, notching 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists for Miami, who had six players in double figures.  The Heat were also buoyed by six points delivered by the basketball Gods: first a straight on three by Chris “Birdman” Andersen: off the glass from 27 feet to close the first quarter.  And then possibly the worst call against the Cavs of the season happened when Livingston’s block of a Ray Allen three was called for a foul a full second and a half after it happened, giving Allen three freebies with about 9 minutes to go in the 4th.

The first three quarters of this game belonged to Tristan Thompson for the Cavs who was hitting from everywhere — his confidence in that rocker jumper growing with each game.  His first basket was a 14 foot jumper that tickled the twine, and I’m not quite sure which hand he shot it with.  Tristan finished with 16 points and 13 boards on 7-14 shooting with 2 blocks to help lead the Cavs in scoring, and had a big block down the stretch to keep the Cavs in it.

Dion Waiters returned to action tonight, and scored 16 on 7-14 shooting, with 4 dimes, 2 blocks and a steal in 27 minutes.  It was quite a productive outing.  In the highlight of the night, Anderson Varejao was broadcasting with Austin Carr and Fred McCleod when Waiters drove from the top of the key, leaving Norris Cole far behind him, and Frion crushed it over the Birdman.  A.C. and Fred got Andy got to narrate the replay in Portuguese.  Similarly, Dion had a layup off spin move that took him from past the left block to the right block without traveling (I checked).  He left the Birdman in the dust on that one too.  Saint Weirdo only had a couple heat chucks as the game started to unravel in the late third and early fourth, but his shot selection was mostly sound.

As for the non-core, Kevin Jones looked ambulatory and like a productive offensive rebounder, but he very much plays below the rim and relies on quick shooting around the basket to score, instead of exploding.  Furthermore, he only had one defensive rebound in 14 minutes against Miami’s third stringers.  Kevin Jones’ ceiling is as a 13th man in the NBA.  Wayne Ellington’s crash back to earth continued as he was 2-6 and was complicit in the general breakdown on the defense that led to Norris Cole’s all star performance.  Casspi posted 1 rebound and 2 fouls in 11 minutes, and nothing else.  Speights was happy to go 2-7 with 2 rebounds in 17 minutes.  Livingston played a large section of the first and second halves playing small forward with decent effectiveness alongside Waiters and Irving, and finished with 7 dimes and 4 points.

Irving struggled shooting, finishing 7-19 and 1-5 from three for 16 points and 8 dimes.  Also, Norris Cole was glad whenever Kyrie guarded him.

The game was slipping away in the fourth, after the aforementioned three freethrow gift, that was awarded to Ray Allen, put the Heat up 12.  The Cavs clawed back to trail 91-93 with 2:56 left in the game, and then Alonzo Gee committed two really stupid fouls in three defensive possessions on Rashard Lewis while the Cavs were in the penalty, which gave the Heat three free points.  Despite Kyrie’s efforts to win as he made driving layup after driving layup, the Cavs couldn’t get past those fouls.

The Cavs cut it to a one point deficit, 95-96, with 19 seconds left, when they fouled Norris Cole, and he missed both freethrows.  I bet you can’t guess which call Byron Scott ran out of the timeout with 13 seconds left… Yep, spread floor, isolation, Kyrie Irving from the top of the key, or as I like to call it, the old LeMike Brown play.  Norris Cole absorbed the ball from Kyrie on a play that the box score called a block, but looked more like grand basketball larceny.  Like he was Charles Xavier, Cole knew that Kyrie going left, and took the ball from him with a deft mixture of reflexes, guile, and telekinesis. And that was that.

So there is one game left on the schedule for the Cavs, a moribund affair in Charlotte on Wednesday night.  If you’re going to be in the area, tickets are only $2 on Stubhub.  There’s not a lot on the line that night.  Even if the Cavs win, the fact that Phoenix beat Houston tonight means that at worst (or best?) the Cavs will tie with Phoenix for the third worst record in the league.  In other news, Utah beat Minnesota tonight, leaving one night of action for drafty, the Cavs’ second first round pick.  If the Lakers beat Houston in LA, and/or if Utah loses to the Grizzlies in Memphis, then the Lakers make the playoffs and the Cavaliers get their draft pick.  Otherwise, they get Miami’s.  Should make for interesting action Wednesday night as permutations of trying, tanking, and resting for the playoffs all collide.

On a final note, we may have just watched Daniel Gibson’s final game at the Q: a game in which he did not get to play.  We may have also watched Byron Scott coach his last Cavs game at the Q.  Both men are decent fellows who deserved better than to have to end a seven year career on the bench or have to fall on his sword for a team designed to lose.  But life is inherently unfair.  Both men will be fine in the long run.  Gibson will find a spot on the end of the bench hitting open threes for a contender, and Byron Scott will most probably make millions to do nothing next year.  But for both of them, it seems time to move on.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s not even unfair, really.  It’s just a day in the life.

It doesn’t look like anyone is recapping last night’s game.  Apparently, we at Cavs:the Blog are the ones tanking.  Kyrie scored 31 points with 6 assists, but did take 27 field goal attempts.  Tristan finished with 15 & 11 on 6 of 7 from the field, but had ten combined missed free throws and turnovers.  Other than flashes from those two, it was a relatively uninspiring performance.  Dion Waiters didn’t play again.  Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points alongside 14 rebounds and JR Smith was unconscious, scoring 31 points in 29 minutes on 13 of 16.

JR Smith could not miss last night.

Leave any of your thoughts in the comments.

This one was painful to watch.  The Cavs and Pistons battled within a few points of each other for much of the game, and then with 5 minutes left, a free-throw contest broke out.  Let’s get to it.

1st Quarter: The Cavs came out looking to get Tristan Thompson involved early in the post, which wasn’t a bad plan.  TT scored and got to the line.  He also finished some nice dimes from Livingston and Irving to finish the quarter with 11 points.  Though it was effective, TT is sometimes ponderously slow at coming to a decision when he is surveying the offense in the post, and often, the offense stops.  Making decisions more quickly should be a priority in the off season.

Ellington got going early, with 7 points in 8 minutes, by running for layups in transition and Kyrie got to the line.

Defensively, the Pistons put the Cavs in a lot of pick and roll and got a lot of point blank shots for Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond.  This was repeated throughout the game.  Dribble penetration both in isolation and in the P/R led to bigs over-helping and easy layups after one or two passes for the Piston bigs.  Drummond and Monroe have developed some really nice chemistry.  They’re going to be a force for a long time, and Stuckey, Singler, and lousy Cavs defense did a nice job of setting ‘Dre and Greg up. I don’t know if Byron Scott is going to coach the Cavs next year, but he or whoever is coaching them has got to come up with a scheme to stop the pick and roll from eviscerating Cleveland.  24-28, Detroit.

2nd Quarter: Free Casspi! Omri executed a nice up and under from the mid post to score the first points of the quarter at 10:22.  Will Bynum made a layup, and then the Dion Waiters show started.  Playing his first game in three weeks, Dion came in to start the second, and swished a 19 footer out of a left elbow post-up.  He followed that up with a face-up drive from the top of the key, which he used to feed Livingston under the basket.  Then Waiters drove from the right wing to the left block for a sweet little reverse.  After a Piston timeout, Dion drove from the left post for a 3 point play after Drummond made a very dumb goal tend.  It was nice to have Frion back.

Cleveland pushed it out to a 9 point lead as Herculoids 2.0 (Dion, Shaun, Omri, KJ, and Marreese) dominated.  Casspi was rebounding and running the floor well.  Waiters was attacking and getting Kobe assists.  Kevin Jones was all over the boards, and Speights Eurostepped into a layup, making Charlie Villueva look as mobile as Gheorghe Muresan.

Stuckey drained a 3, and after a timeout, Kyrie got back in and the Pistons promptly resumed scoring.  First they lost Stuckey in transition for 3, then Bynum waltzed by Dion and set up Drummond for a dunk to cap an  8-0 run.

Cavs fans collectively let out an “ugh,” as Zeller pump faked and then traveled on the drive for the 3000th time this year for the year.  Drummond punished him after the whistle with a swipe at the basketball, which hit ZPA in the jimmies, felling him.

After an anticlimactic end of the quarter, which characteristically had the Cavs outscored in the final thirty seconds, TT had 13 points and 8 boards and the Pistons were shooting 55%.  49-53, Detroit

3rd Quarter: Zeller gave up a Drummond putback dunk, Tyler Zeller canned a 20 footer, Monroe scored easily on TT, Zeller canned another 20 footer, and then allowed Drummond to flush another putback dunk.  That was like watching tennis.

Kyrie bailed on a Brandon Knight a back door cut like he was playing a pickup game at the Y, which led to another putback.  There is no one on the Cavs who could keep Drummond off the offensive boards.  Adding someone with real size and weight in the offseason is going to be a priority for nights like this.  I hear Marcin Gortat might be available.

Ellington was playing better defense earlier this season.  He’s been routinely abused off the dribble over the last two games.  This quarter it was by Stuckey.  To make him feel not so bad, Kyrie decided to play equally bad defense on Brandon Knight.

Late in the quarter, Irving started to get aggressive: getting to the line, converting +1s . Then he posted up Knight and pork chopped him right in the collar bone, drawing an offensive foul.  That wasn’t smart.

With 24 seconds left, Gee retook the lead.  He pump faked at the wing drove and pulled up at the elbow for a bucket.  This is the play that will keep Gee in the league.  If he can pass up the wing 3, which he’s pretty bad at, and start hitting the 20 footer consistently, he will be better served.  75-74, Cleveland.

4th Quarter: Herculoids 2.0 started the quarter, and the Pistons countered with Monroe, Bynum, Singler, Jerebko, and Middleton.  I don’t think there was a minute of this game that the Pistons didn’t have Monroe or Drummond in the game.

Cavs had a hard time getting into their offense, and didn’t score for the first two minutes.  They finally forced the ball into Livingston against Bynum in the post and got to the line.  After trading buckets, Casspi cast off the chains that had been holding him to the bench and rose up for 3! Waiters attacked, and finger rolled for 2!  I love the new Herculoids.  Then, St. Weirdo killed the buzz with a 26 foot heat chuck with 13 seconds left on the clock.

Dick Bavetta really put the kibosh on the festivities when one of his liver spots covered his eyes and he called Waiters for a travel when his right foot was nailed to the floor.  Waiters was lucky he didn’t get a tech from Great Grandpa B.

Livingston continued the game trend of terrible perimeter defense as he allowed Bynum who is 7 inches shorter and 3 years younger than him to shoot over him for an easy two.  Then he let Bynum do it to him from 26 feet.  To make him feel better, Kyrie subbed in and allowed Bynum to do it to him, too with some putrid pick and roll defense (see pic to the right).  Timeout. Cavs, down 4.

The most boring Crunch Time ever: Waiters: nastily attacked the rack with a left handed finish off the square.  I missed you, Dion.  And then Hack-a-Dre started.  Drummond split the first pair and Ohmygod, Kyrie followed it up with a ridiculous weaving dribble drive through four Pistons to score with a spinning finish.

After another Drummond split, TT scored with a right hand hook on the left block to tie the game!

And that was as exciting as it got for the next 2 minutes as the Cavs kept fouling Drummond and the Pistons couldn’t keep from fouling Kyrie.  And Kyrie couldn’t stop turning it over.  Aside from a nifty Canadian Dynamite layup, it was an aesthetic nightmare.  The funniest part of the stretch was when Bynum drained a three before the Cavs could foul Drummond, in yet another brain fart by the Cavs perimeter defense.

With 28 seconds, the game was tied, and then Monroe scored on a lefty hook that touched every part of the rim before it fell in.  Kyrie missed an iso-three, coming about 2 inches short, and it still had a chance to rattle in. Then Tristan Thompson fouled Drummond without the ball.  So the Pistons got two technical free throws and the ball.  Well, that wasn’t smart.  After four freethrows, the Pistons were up 4 with 17 left.  And the Pistons fouled Kyrie!?  Ugh.  The game would not end.  Kyrie split.  The Cavs down 3.  Another foul.  Cavs down five.  Kyrie turned it over to seal the game.  Oy.

Conclusions: Tristan Thompson’s dribble -> jump stop -> pivot footwork has gotten really good.   He creates space with it incredibly well: jump stopping into or by his defender, then clearing space with his lower body and/or shoulders, then reverse pivoting into a hook shot.  He and the Cavs development staff really ought to be commended.  His 19 and 8 were efficient and much needed.  Conversely his defense was stymied by the Cavs difficulties guarding the pick and roll.  The bigs seem to have no idea what the guards are doing and the whole thing breaks down consistently.

Herculoids 2.0 were great.  They went teen deep, and until the Will Bynum fourth quarter explosion, they killed the Pistons bench.  They gathered 37 points and 26 boards. Jones, Speights, Casspi, Livingston, and Waiters were a pleasure to watch.

Irving was good on offense, though sloppy with the ball.  The 5 turnovers hurt, especially the late ones.  But 27, 9 dimes, and 12-13 at the line is a line maybe 5 people in the league can post.  Unfortunately the -14 and -16 he and Ellington posted in +/- was a fully accurate representation of how badly they defended.

The decision to go hack-a-Dre smacked of desperation, and ultimately backfired when TT got so in the habit of doing it, he fouled off the ball in the final two minutes: a big no-no.  Tough to know whether to blame Byron or Thompson there.

Andre Drummond is a beast.  At 6’10″, 270 pounds, and an enormous 7’6″ wing span, suffice it to say, at least 5 teams whiffed by not drafting him.  He dunked everything tonight, and the rotations and over-helping by the Cavs big men helped he and Monroe immensely.  What is really impressive about Drummond is how well he moves without the ball, and how good his hands are.  He cuts, seals, and runs the floor incredibly well for his size and wingspan.  And he catches everything that comes at him.  There was a time about three years ago when he and Shabazz Muhammed were in high school and considered the most cant miss prospects of the 2013 draft.  In the summer of 2011, the CtB comment board was abuzz with visions of Drummond playing along side Andy and Tristan.  Drummond changed his eligibility to enter college a year earlier, and his struggles at UConn were well documented, and because of that and his awful free throw shooting (which has improved immensely), his stock fell significantly.  I wasn’t a believer till tonight, but I’ve not seen a young big man with a chance to be this dominant since Andrew Bynum started putting it together.  In light of that, I’m reconsidering my stance on Shabazz Muhammad.  He might just be as good as everyone thought he was in high school, and like Drummond was trapped in a crappy college situation.  Will teams pass on him the way they did on Drummond, and regret it later?   I like Dion Waiters an awful lot, but it’s tough not to feel some buyer’s remorse after this one.  I hope the Cavs got it right, and get it right this summer.

As the season winds down, there are two Cavaliers that I am particularly interested in: Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller.  Tonight, that duo faced-off with the Orlando Magic’s 22 / 23-year old, second year / rookie starting-lineup front-court.  In the previous two games versus Nicola Vucevic and Andrew Nicholson, the young Cavaliers emerged victorious, however on February 8th, the Magic-pair combined for 46 points and 21 rebounds, routinely abusing their counterparts.  Over the next ten years, Tristan and Tyler will need to leave Nicola and Andrew in the dust; let’s see how that progressed tonight.

Tristan made plays when it counted and Cleveland notched win #24.

The affair started poorly; after the game’s first possession when Tyler helped Tristan to block a Nicholson shot, the first quarter performance declined.  As the Magic sprinted to an early lead, Tristan missed three shots and was called for a traveling violation.  While Tyler nailed a jumper and a running bank-shot, he also allowed Vucevic to push-him-around and grab an offensive board, and Nicholson canned two hook shots over him.  Worse than that though, following a pinpoint laser from Kyrie that provided an uncontested dunk for Tyler, he instead floated up a lefty layup, missing, and ending the possession.  TZ headed to the bench with the Cavs trailing 10 to 16.  Orlando had three offensive rebounds, as Vucevic and Nicholson combined for ten of their early points.  Over the rest of the quarter, Cleveland’s defense tightened, they held Orlando to one opportunity per possession, CJ Miles stroked some threes, and the deficit dissipated to 22 to 24 at the quarter.

When the Cavs’ young front-court checked-in for the second, the team trailed by one.  The duo looked revived, with Zeller forcing a Vucevic air-ball.  Tristan finished a fast-break on a sweet between-the-legs pass from Kyrie, then on the ensuing possession, Tyler obstructed an Orlando shot at the rim, proceeding Tristan swishing a right-handed hook; Cavs lead 43 to 41.  Unfortunately, the closing minutes unravelled for Zeller: a dunk attempt was blocked; he missed a ready-made tip-in; and a third foul was assessed as he mismanaged some pick & roll defense.  He routinely provided minimal resistance to the ball-handler in the pick and roll, precipitating a Beno Udrih and-one that took Orlando into the half, leading 48 to 44.  Austin Carr ranted for at least a minute about throwing people in the basket, dunking with authority, and how players will take advantage of you if you’re not physical in this league…exhibiting poor body-language through this stretch, Tyler also seemed upset with his play.

In the third, Tristan’s shooting continued to struggle, but his impact came in other ways.  Contesting shots at the rim, he forced a couple of Magic misses, and also blocked an Andrew Nicholson shot, leading to a travel.  And he just kept rebounding, snagging four on the quarter, to improve to twelve for the night.  Tyler unfortunately continued providing ineffective pick & roll hedges, and was routinely abused by Vucevic on the offensive glass; the second-year Orlando big was en-route to piling up 21 points and 21 rebounds (8 offensive).  Cleveland trailed 62 to 66, as the game entered the finale.

And Tristan Thompson had enough of losing.  Constantly active, in addition to three offensive boards, Cleveland re-gained possession three other times due to TT batting the ball & keeping it alive.  Thompson scored off a tough pick & roll with Kyrie, a sweeping right-handed drive into his hook-shot, made two free throws, and tossed a nice high-low pass to Zeller, netting Tyler a trip to the line.  Over the last 5:13 after a Cavalier time-out, largely defended by TT, Vucevic was limited to 2 points and 2 rebounds, and Cleveland cruised to the 91 to 85 victory.  Tristan finished with 15 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 blocks.  He struggled with his shot (43% TS), but made several plays down-the-stretch, including putting-a-lid on Orlando’s primary big man; Vucevic and Nicholson combined for 29 points on 44% true shooting.

I really wanted this to be an all-around feel-good story: Tristan dominates like on Friday, Tyler scores efficiently…but instead Zeller struggled towards 5 points and 6 rebounds in 26 minutes, looking over-matched by the sizable and physical Vucevic.  Keep your head up, Tyler, and come back strong next year.  The Cavaliers got the win though, beating another of the Eastern Conference’s youngest teams.

I will be at Tuesday’s game against Indiana.  Looking forward to that, so go Cavs!!

I’ve developed a strong aversion to how losing teams finish out seasons in the NBA.  Sometimes, it stinks like my socks after a pickup game.  This week, the stink in Cleveland got so high that it reached a tipping point.  Sports radio, fans around the water cooler, the blogosphere, and the media finally got fed up.  People felt embarrassed after the lack of effort in the Brooklyn game, and the Boston game was probably a referendum on Byron Scott and the team’s future.  That referendum wasn’t fair.  The mob hadn’t been paying attention for the previous nine games.  Their problem with the Brooklyn loss?  It wasn’t entertaining enough.  It was embarrassing.  But how can fans and the media expect effort when it seems to some that this team is being sabotaged to prevent winning? And for what? …draft positioning in a mediocre draft.  So with that in mind the Cavaliers had a lot to play for tonight (for once).

1st Quarter: The Cavs went to Tristan early and often, both in the post and in pick and roll, to good effect.  The team seemed focus early.  Unfortunately, Zeller got foul trouble again early.  He doesn’t seem to know how to stop a penetrating player other than to foul.  He’s going to have to work on that.  Tristan had a couple shots blocked early by Chris Wilcox, mainly because he wasn’t warding off Wilcox with the off-ball shoulder, and because he doesn’t dunk one handed.  He’s going to have to work on that.  But TT  mixed in some nice one handed push shots in traffic and two handed slams off feeds from Kyrie and Luke Walton to finish with a 9 point quarter.  The Cavs were up 24-16 with about 3:30 left, but with characteristic bad shots, bad fouls, sluggish offense, missed rebounds, and plentiful turnovers they gave up a 14-0 run until Mo Speights got to the line to break the lid on the basket.   The quarter ended with Boston up 28-26, with Boston shooting 62%.

2nd Quarter: Shavlik Randolph who was recently out of the league for almost 2 years, and has only played in 53 games since 2006, outrebounded three Cavs and then scored on them to open the quarter.  He drew the third foul on Zeller on the next play, leading to Randolph’s 10^th point in 6 minutes.  Luke Walton turned his ankle, and since Boobie was out, we saw a lot of Kevin Jones after that, not that I noticed him much.  Randolph continued to score at will, getting to his career high in points, 13, with 9:30 to go in the second quarter.  Thompson continued to be a go-to scoring option in the pick and roll, transition, the post, and off the offensive boards.  He had a beast of a first half with 21 points (a career high for a half), and 10 rebounds on 9-12 shooting.  But he was routinely abused by Brandon Bass and his 16 foot jumpers (and ahem, Shavlik Randolph).  Gee followed up two horrible shots with three straight buckets to finish the first half with 10 points and 6 boards.   Kyrie was passive, but his 5 assists and 2 steals and general orchestrating of the offense was adequate, and enough to match the Celtics as the half ended with the score 52-52.

3rd Quarter: Jeff Green scored the first five for the C’s who dominated at the outset.  The only points the Cavs scored in a 10-3 Boston start were from a 25 foot Ellington parabola as the shot clock expired.  But after a coach Scott timeout, the Cavs notched 11 straight – 6 off of Kyrie threes — to counter as the quarter started to get ragged.  Go-to Celtic Jeff Green was relegated the bench after picking up his fourth foul, and the Cavs played scrappier during this stretch as Kyrie asserted himself.  But in words that have never been uttered in the NBA before, Fred McCleod quipped that the Cavs needed “to score before Shavlik Randolph comes back in the game.”  Randolph, fortunately reverted back to his old ways: fouling and flailing.  Gee, on the other hand, really looked sharp this quarter: playing from the corners with shots and dribble drives, and of course high percentage finishes in transition.  TT kept getting to the line and kept converting.  Furthermore, with Green on the bench, the Cavs defense was solid: holding Boston to 6 points over the final 7:50.  Cavaliers finish the quarter up 74-68.

4th Quarter: Livingston played ok without his Herculoid running mate, Luke “Tundro” Walton who never came back after his injury.  Shaun fed Zeller with a funky bullet pass at his face, and ZPA’s quick hands saved himself from another broken schnozz as he converted around the basket.  Jason Terry made an inexplicably stupid play taking out Darius CJ Miles with a midcourt forearm shiver — an obvious flagrant foul.  Miles made the freethrows to put the Cavs up 10.  After a Zeller 22 footer, and a Miles runout, the Cavs were up 14.  Of course Terry canned a three and Boston sicked Avery Bradley and his full court pressure on Livingston who coughed it up for 5 quick Boston points.  After a Bradley three, Livingston scored a layup, which was countered with a Shavlik layup… UGH.  Miles really attacked the basket and thankfully (WTF?) fouled Randolph out.

TT and Kyrie came back in with 6:40, and after a Boston miss, TT leveled Avery Bradley under his own basket with a unexpected but legal crack back screen that will make Bradley reconsider full court defense for the rest of the season.  But Terry answered on the next possession with a corner three to cut the lead to 4 because of an inexcusably lazy closeout by Kyrie Irving.  This led to a much needed Byron Scott timeout, 87-83, Cavs.

Crunch Time: Out of the timeout, TT thumped a putback after throwing his body around for two offensive rebounds.  Canadian Dyamite! was absolutely Varejaoian: extending possessions, tipping balls off other players, fighting for each possession…  Then, off a TT extended possession, Gee drove — out of control — and jumped with no where to go and as he hovered a foot above out of bounds and at the last second spotted a cutting Ellington who swished a mid post pull-up.

Avery Bradley is one of the premiere perimeter defenders in the NBA, and he caused havoc in this quarter, constantly hounding the ball.  But what he gives Boston on defense, he takes away on defense.  He had a crucial turnover by stepping out of bounds, and a couple big missed shots, and Doc Rivers was eventually forced to substitute Terrence Williams in to try to pick up the offense.

Free of Bradley, Kyrie kept shooting in isolation and kept missing.  This was ill conceived considering how well all the other Cavs were playing on offense.  But with two minutes left and a six point buffer, the lead held and so did the defense.  The Cavs beat the constant press and Kyrie hit a pull-up from the free throw line to stretch the lead to 8.  Out of a Boston timeout, Jeff Green flushed one to finish a drive from the right wing.  Alonzo Gee yelled Olé! after the score.   A subsequent Cleveland shot clock violation, a Boston miss and loose ball foul on Tristan closed this one out as TT swished his ninth consecutive freethrow to stretch the lead to 8 with 40 seconds left.  Final score, 97-91 Cleveland.

Conclusions: It’s tough to know what to make of this one.  After the first quarter, the Cavs held Boston to 34% shooting, but this was a Boston team missing its three best players from the beginning of the season.  The Cavs won despite a fairly terrible Kyrie Irving shooting game of 4-20.  Kyrie did have a few defensive highlights with a couple blocks and a couple steals, but he had some big lapses with rotations and that noticeably lazy closeout on Terry.  He finished with 11 points, 8 assists, and 4 turnovers.  Zeller was OK.  He had a couple very timely buckets on his way to 9 points and 6 boards of 4 of 9 shooting.  Ellington’s 12 points, 6 boards, 5-8 shooting from the floor, and decent defense were key contributions. CJ Miles’ 5-6 from the freethrow line were also key.  Though his jumper wasn’t falling, he attacked the basket and got to the line, finishing  with 9 points in 15 minutes.  His defense wasn’t great, giving up 3 fouls in that time, and I counted more than a couple blown assignments.

Alonzo Gee played one of his best offenseive games of the season, shooting 8-15 on non threes (0-2 on those).  He converted a lot of tough drives, finished well in transition, grabbed offensive rebounds, and converted some critical buckets to keep the pressure on the Celtics. He finished with16 points and 7 offensive boards and a game high +13.  But on defense, he gave up 23 points and 4 dimes to Jeff Green on 8-13 shooting.  He had more than a couple poor closeouts and gave up layups and dunks that he really shouldn’t have.  The only thing that stopped Green tonight was his teammates’ turnovers and his own foul trouble.Kevin Jones got Mo Speights’ and Luke Walton’s minutes tonight on his way to 1-6 shooting and 8 boards in 22 minutes, but +10 for the game.  I didn’t notice him much.  The other guy getting Speights’ minutes: Tristan “Canadian Dynamite” Thompson.  In his best game of his career, Tristan showed how good he can be.  Finishing with 29 points and 17 rebounds, TT scored every way post player should score: post-ups, roll finishes, put backs, and plays in transition.  His push shot was pure, and his footwork was the best I’ve seen all season:  he used his strength to clear space, his quickness and footwork to claim that space, and his athleticism to finish.  He was also a rebounding demon: going after every ball when he was on the floor.  He should have had more plays run for him with as well as he was playing.  He could have easily finished with 35.  It was a glimpse of his potential when he plays with focus and will.   He won this one for his coach: telling the press earlier Friday that the speculation on Scott was “bogus.”  TT backed that speech up with his play.

This game was a Rorschach test for Cavs fans.  Fans who think the Cleveland has been mostly tanking during this 10 game streak can say, “yep, when they needed to win to quell fan unrest, and they did.”  Fans who think that Byron Scott is a bad coach and that this Cavs team isn’t very good can look at this game and say, “Woo hoo.  The Cavs beat a team that is firmly implanted in the 7th seed in the East, and is sitting their two best players.”  They have a point.  The Celtics shot awfully.  Some of that was by design, as the Cavs packed it in the paint and dared the Celtics to beat them from outside.  The Celtics didn’t do it, but the Cavs gave up a lot of wide open corner threes, and the Celtics couldn’t convert, going 6-22 from the 3 point line.  The Cavs also gave up 16 points and 7 rebounds in 13 minutes to Shavlik freaking Randolph. The Cavs interior defense mostly stunk.  If the Celtics had anyone who could score in there, they probably would have won.

I don’t know what to think.  For what it’s worth, Tristan Thompson won the completely unfair referendum tonight for coach Scott and the team’s future — next referendum Sunday.

You got the green light tonight, Mo. Awwwww yeeeeah.

No C.J. Miles and no Kyrie tonight, apparently.  The Cavs gameplan is to sit him on the second night of back to backs.  That seems like a good idea to me.  And of course Dion Waiters is still out.  We’ll see how the Cavs generate offense in this game.

1^st Quarter

Sloppy start for both teams.  Lots of running up and down and wild shots.  Tristan showed off some foot speed blowing by Horford for a foul but he missed both free throws.  He also committed 3 turnovers and was blocked for a non-box-score turnover and was forced to switch onto Devin Harris who promptly plowed right into him to draw a foul.  (Rough start for Tristan)  Luke Walton had a sweet give and go to Shaun Livingston for the lefty flush.  Kyle Korver got 5 wide open 3 point attempts.  Fortunately, he only canned 2 of them.  Devin Harris attacked the Cavs defense at every opportunity and went to the line over and over.  In a rather embarrassing defensive breakdown, both Tyler Zeller and Wayne Ellington decided to close out hard on Harris spotted up in the corner for 3.  Harris pump faked and drew the foul because Ellington couldn’t get out of the way with Zeller right next to him.

At this juncture I checked the Cavs’ shot chart and they had taken 6 of their 13 shots in the “long-2” region.  Thankfully, the Hawks obliged by repeatedly missing wide open corner 3s.  It is nice to see Horizon League legend Shelvin Mack making it in the league.  He canned a J.   The Cavs seemed to be playing a zone.  I hesitate to call it a “lazy zone” but that’s what it looked like.  It worked – as the Hawks just refused to make wide open outside shots.  Watching Syracuse grind out a victory this weekend was like getting a root canal – didn’t know I was getting back in the chair tonight.  Luke Walton found Tyler Zeller sneaking behind the Hawks transition defenders for an alley-oop and the Cavs weathered the storm of their own making (lazy defense and horrible shot selection).   25-19 Hawks after 1.

2nd Quarter

Omri Casspi started the second quarter.  (FREE CASSPI!) Luke Walton finished the 1st quarter with an airballed floater, and he started off the second with an airballed long-2.  Then something weird happened.  Boobie Gibson missed a 3 wide right and collapsed like he was fouled.  After a play stoppage, the camera focused in on Boobie – who had a look on his face like: “I’m not totally sure, but I think in most leagues that might have qualified as a shooting foul.  Huh.”  He was about as calm as you could possibly imagine an NBA player being after thinking he was screwed out of free throws.  And the next thing I know – he got ejected.  Wait, what?  He didn’t even bark at the ref as he walked off the court – just sort of walked away with a look on his face like: “Really, I just got ejected?  Huh.”   Byron Scott had a look on his face like: “Why are you walking this way?”  It was all very surreal without sound so I assumed I missed something.  Then the replay showed Boobie kinda looking in the direction of NBA Champion DeShawn Stevenson.  Apparently, Boobie got T-ed up for arguing the call with the nearest ref, and that caused the original stoppage in play. Then, he and Stevenson had words – in the way that Victorian heiresses have words over tea – but it was enough to warrant a double technical and it sent Boobie to the locker room for the night.  Apparently, the refs saw all the uncontested corner 3s from the Hawks and all the uncontested airballed long-2s from the Cavs and decided the game was spiraling out of control.  They wanted to assert some order before the game really got violent.

I dare say, Catherine, whether or not you are betrothed to Sir Marmaduke, you simply must get that career PER above 10 lest you beget shame on your good father's name.

Alonzo Gee came to play in the second quarter.  He was pretty active on D and made a bunch of his patented 15-foot turnarounds.  On the one he missed, Dwayne Jones was there with good position for the put back.  Then, Wayne Ellington and Jeff Teague traded 3 pointers. (offensive explosion!)  After a Shaun Livingston baseline J off a Luke Walton feed (where neither player was even considered by the Hawks D), Jeff Teague ran really fast up the court, and then pulled a Pete Mitchell special.  Only instead of flying right by, Walton rammed right into him, which may have been the point of the maneuver actually…

Teague made 1 of 2  – and after an empty Cavs possession he followed it up by taking an out-of-rhythm contested 3 from 4 feet behind the line which, of course, he drained.  In one of the least entertaining halves of basketball I’ve watched this season, the Cavs trailed 52-44 at the half.  Zeller, Speights, and Livingston kept the Cavs afloat in the 1st half, and Luke Walton filled the stat sheet the way only Luke Walton knows how.

3rd Quarter

The Cavs came out with more composure to start the third.  Shaun Livingston patiently backed down a smaller defender and drained a 12 foot turnaround.  Tyler Zeller got called for a weak call away from the ball (his 4^th foul) and then Alonzo Gee drained a mid-range J and then a triple jab step corner 3 – which has to be his lowest percentage shot-type, bringing the Cavs within 2.  Atlanta called timeout.  And then they proceeded to go on a 14-4 run in 3 minutes, forcing the Cavs to call their own timeout.  After trading baskets and playing like the game was already in garbage time, the Cavs were saved by…OMRI CASSPI?  Three straight transition opportunities – two buckets, and a shooting foul.  Casspi air-balled the first free throw (entertainment!) and professionally missed the second one.  And then Luke Walton drew a technical foul.  I was waiting for these refs to whistle Austin Carr for a technical foul for being too jovial.  The Hawks led 79-68 at the end of the third.

4th Quarter

Apparently Tristan Thompson got poked in the face and required stitches around his eye – thus the limited minutes tonight.  The Hawks started the 4th by scoring the first 4 points and Byron Scott called a quick timeout to galvanize the troops.  He must have Care Bear-stared Omri Casspi because he turned into a positively breathtaking spectacle of feel-good basketball.  (He cared a lot.) He got out in transition again for a bucket, then found Luke Walton for a driving layup before canning a triple and bringing the deficit back down to 8.  It forced the Hawks to call timeout.  Out of the timeout Casspi drove and collapsed the D and found an open Mo Speights for an 18 foot baseline J.

Josh Smith stopped the bleeding the only way Josh Smith knows how – with an out-of-rhythm 21 footer.  Luke Walton jumped a passing lane and comically lost the handle on a high dribble in transition.  But he recovered and passed behind him to Casspi who crashed full speed into Devin Harris.  Even though Harris was still moving and Casspi came at it with a bit of an angle, it was a collision that’s judged ‘a charge’ 99% of the time, but not tonight.  (The Power of Caring) Without Zaza Pachulia or angry Boobie Gibson, the two teams leveraged their referee exasperation to the tune of more long-2s – one from Josh Smith (the “prize” of the offseason) and one from Mo Speights.  After two more quick buckets from the Hawks, Byron took another timeout with the Cavs trailing 10 and running out of time.  Out of the timeout the Hawks got a wide open 3 for Jeff Teague, and then after a Cavalier turnover, Teague found Devin Harris hiding out under the hoop after he set a screen for a baseline cutter and both Cavaliers followed the cutter.  Speights answered with an 18 footer that didn’t really touch the rim or the net – the quietest 18 footer you’ll ever see.  After a Hawks miss, Speights had the decency to russle the net on his next made 18 footer.  Al Horford answered with an 18 footer of his own, and Speights showed everyone in Atlanta that no one can out-long-2 him, swishing yet another 18 footer.   After some stout defense by the Cavs, the Hawks finally decided to get physical with Speights.  I won’t say he didn’t earn the heat check, but it wasn’t a great shot and he missed.

Tristan bullied his way into the paint and banged one in off the glass to bring the Cavs within 8, and they got a crucial stop, but with under a minute to play.  Wayne Ellington popped in his own miss to bring the Cavs within two possessions, and the Hawks called a 20 second timeout.  The Cavs sent Josh Smith to the line – not a bad move as he’d only made 2 of 6 from the line up to that point.  But he channeled his inner Shaq and “made them when they counted” only he actually did make both.  After a Livingston miss, ‘Crazy’ Ivan Johnson made 1 of 2 freebies before Ellington airballed a desperation 3.  The Cavs stole the ball back, but Casspi missed a contested corner 3.  Speights got the rebound and was fouled – making only 1 of 2.  Down 8 with under 15 seconds, the Cavs put pressure in the backcourt but did not foul, and the game ended 102-94.

Notable Performances:

-Shaun Livingston had a decent game – taking advantage of the smaller Hawks guards.  He finished with 14 points on 10 shots, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal, and only 2 turnovers.

-Tyler Zeller had a nice first half but foul trouble kept him on the bench most of the night.

-Marresse Speights finished 11 of 15 from the field and 10 of those shots were deep 2s.  That is crazy impressive.  He also had 8 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, and a block for good measure.  Twenty-three points in 24 minutes for Speights in a losing effort.

-Omri Casspi finished 4-6 for 9 points and added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal, and an admirable effort.  He missed 2 free throws and 2 field goals.  Of those 4 misses, 3 were airballs.

-If Luke Walton could just play the game with his mind, he would be an MVP-level player and his nickname would assuredly be Jedi Knight Luke.  Unfortunately, until he becomes a successful coach, he must use his body to play the game.  It’s sometimes surreal to watch Walton play.  How can a guy anticipate passing lanes so well that he can rack up 4 steals in 25 minutes, but he’s so unathletic that he looks like me running a fast break? (I’ve lost the ball over my head before on the break – it’s embarrassing.)  How can a guy pump fake a defender out of his Jordans, drive into the lane, and then airball an uncontested 8 foot floater?  A guy with enough touch to dish out 6 assists…  Anyway, it has been a pleasure watching Luke Walton this year.  A friend of mine was talking about how his buddy won a Luke Walton autograph in a charity event where the Cavs donated memorabilia.  His reaction was: “When did Luke Walton go to the Cavs?”  Then my friend commented that it was pretty cheap of the Cavs to give out such a crappy autograph.  Let me just say I would TREASURE a Luke Walton autograph, especially if it was personalized on the picture below.  In all seriousness I think Luke Walton has been a huge positive for this young Cavs team.

Think any player has ever signed a meme poster?

-Wayne Ellington had a rough shooting night.  He finished 1-5 from three.

-Alonzo Gee had his moments, but finished 5-14 from the field.  Most of the shots were bad shots (for him), but there were some pretty desolate offensive possessions at times and someone has to shoot.

-It’s a one game sample, but the Hawks sure seem to have lost their edge, even with DeShawn Stevenson.  I think losing Zaza Pachulia for the season is going to thwart whatever playoff hopes they may have had.

-Tristan Thompson was ineffective.  The cut above his eye limited his minutes, but he didn’t do much in the time he did have on the court.  I, along with many others, have called for Tristan to get more plays called for him, try to score more, etc.  He still struggles sometimes when he does get/take these opportunities.  Tonight was a good example.  I imagine he is exhausted at this point in the season.  An offseason of rest and work on his touch will do him some good.

-I’m wondering if the way I view Josh Smith is the way other people view Andre Iguodala.  I say this because I thought Josh Smith almost sabotaged his team’s victory tonight and his final stat line is really good.  Eighteen points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists, a steal, a block (seemed like 3 or 4) and a +9.  I think he plays into my biases against him (settling for all the flat-footed long-2s) and I end up exaggerating their consequences when I watch.

Final Thoughts:

That was one of the softest games I’ve seen in a long time.  The Hawks jacked up 30 threes against the Cavs sagging zone defense.  Honestly, almost all of them were open, and the Hawks just kept missing.  They finished 9-30 from beyond the arc.  They also shot the heck out of long twos.  Everyone other than Jeff Teague scored easily in the paint, but the Hawks just weren’t interested in pounding the Cavs inside.  So credit Byron Scott for going to the zone.  It worked if the goal was to bait the Hawks (led by Captain Gets-Baited, himself – Josh Smith) into long jumpers.  It didn’t work in the sense that the defense was still a step slow, and Devin Harris just ran into out-of-position Cavaliers all night to draw free throws.  The final stats were very similar if you remove Harris’ 8-8 from the stripe.

The Cavs fought pretty hard considering how decimated they were with injuries and that TT (cut above eye) and TZ (foul trouble) weren’t available for much of the night.  There were a couple times when the ship seemed ready to capsize, and the Cavs would scrap back into single digits.  It would have been a heroic victory, but it’s just as well – more ping pong balls.

Sometime in mid-December I almost wrote a very strongly opinionated piece on player development.  At the time, the Cavs were struggling, and I couldn’t see the wisdom in trotting aging veterans (Walton) and fringe NBA players (Sloan, Pargo) over someone like Omri Casspi, a 24 year old pup.  At some point, the Cavs FO decided that Tristan Thompson and Omri Casspi were more valuable going forward than J.J Hickson and the #4 draft pick that they netted with a historically bad season.  It seemed that this season was a good one to discern whether Casspi had any future with the Cavaliers.  I never finished that piece, and by the time I thought about re-writing it, the Cavs were showing significant improvements. The Herculoids were in full force, and C.J. Miles and Luke Walton were playing so effectively it seemed silly in hindsight to be so concerned with the lack of player development with Casspi. “Can’t get ‘em all right,” I thought.  Tonight was a reminder of those cold December feelings.

I don’t know what goes on in practice, but I’ve watched enough of Casspi to know he’s a better version of Sasha Pavlovic – a guy that can look lost at times but can also make an impact when his confidence is waxing.  He’s big, he’s long, he’s mobile, he can shoot the three, and he seems to work hard if slightly out of control.  He’s only played about 200 minutes of non-garbage time basketball this season.  (No chance for him to play with confidence) He’s been terrible, posting a career low 38% true shooting percentage and an offensive rating of 95 to go along with a defensive rating of 106.

Just kidding.  That was Luke Walton until mid-January.  But truthfully, he’s been terrible, posting a career low 43% true-shooting percentage with an abysmal offensive rating of 88 and a poor defensive rating of 104.

Kidding again, shame on you.  That was C.J. Miles’ first 240 minutes this season.  [Ok, April Fools is over now.] On the season Omri Casspi’s posted a career low 45% True-shooting percentage and an offensive rating of 93 and a defensive rating of 108.  Unlike Walton (gone next season), and Miles (a veteran with a fairly static value), Casspi is only 24.  And unlike Walton and Miles, who both played under Hall of Fame coaches in distinguished organizations, Casspi has played in Sacramento and post-Decision Cleveland.  Finally, Luke Walton and C.J. Miles got the opportunity to play themselves out of some historically awful basketball but not Casspi. It’s a lost season for him (maybe a lost career), and I’ll never understand why the Cavs went out of their way to sit him during a season when there was really never any doubt about the Cavs’ post-season chances.  They traded for a young guy and then never played him.  He’ll be gone next season, and maybe his value is so diminished that he won’t even play in the NBA any longer.  Maybe he was never any good in the first place, and the 1st round pick was a mistake and his promising rookie season was a mirage.  I really hope that is the case, and I’m not watching Omri Casspi play meaningful minutes for a good team next season. When your team is going to be built around youth, player development is essential. Maybe like Danny Green and J.J. Hickson before him, Omri just needs a change of scenery…