Cavs: the Blog - Cleveland Cavaliers TrueHoop Blog

Javale Mcgee put the team on his back.

The Cavs have been on a great streak lately, and before this game had won six of eight and three in a row. The Nuggets were on an even better tear: eight in a row, with this win making it nine. What happens when a stoppable force meets a slightly less stoppable force? The second force wins by eight points. The Cavs played reasonably well tonight, but Denver is a premier NBA team, and the Cavs allowed the Nuggets to do Nugget-y things all night: run the floor, block shots, hit open threes, dunk, etc. On to the highlights:

1st Quarter:

The dominant narrative of the first quarter was that Alonzo Gee turned into Kevin Durant for a few minutes. He was draining threes, knocking down step-back J’s, and getting to the line. It was simply amazing to watch. He had 13 in three minutes, and 15 for the quarter. The defense was awful, though, and Tyler Zeller especially got manhandled in the paint. But it wasn’t just Tyler- the George Karl drive ‘n dish offense simply dismantled the Cavs. The quarter wasn’t awful, though. Kyrie Irving displayed his usual offensive wizardry, and the Cavs were up two at the end of one. CLE 32, DEN 30.

2nd Quarter:

The second was really, really ugly until the 4:39 mark, when both teams threw their hands up and said the hell with defense. Before that point, there were a lot of Denver bricks and Dion Waiters turnovers and blocked shots. Kyrie and Tristan had a few buckets, and then Denver heated up and scored the last eight to take a six point lead into halftime. DEN 58, CLE 52.

3rd Quarter:

Alonzo scored the first bucket of the third, and all of Cavaliers Nation waited breathlessly for another offensive explosion. Denver hit three shots in a row, and Kenneth Faried continued to jump all over the place, and Cavaliers Nation sighed. Then Alonzo scored again, and we sang hosannas and danced for our small forward. Alas, that was the end of it. Denver was nursing a ten point lead with six minutes left when Kyrie picked up his fourth foul of the game. His fouls were mostly a product of his general defensive malaise, and not fantastic effort on the fast break.  The quarter finished, and Denver had an eleven-point lead. DEN 84, CLE 73.

4th Quarter:

Andre Miller started off the final frame with an and-one. Man, is that guy crafty. Just like that, the Cavs were down  14. A few Kyrie free throws, and some Ellington-Speights spice later, the lead was trimmed to 10. Then the Cavs basically traded buckets with the Nuggets for the rest of the quarter. That’s not a good way to win games when facing a deficit,  it turned out.  The Cavs could just not protect the paint tonight, or play anything resembling transition defense. The Nuggets had 62 in the paint, 20 on the break, and an eight point lead when the final buzzer sounded. DEN 111, CLE 103.

Bullets:

-Alonzo Gee’s one-man explosion in the first was a joy to watch. I’m not sure why the Cavs didn’t really look his way again for the rest of the game. He finished  8-8 from the field, and 3-3 from three. Think we could have used a few more bombs from Alonzo?

-Kyrie had 26, 7 and 6 tonight. 10-24 shooting. Not the type of game to complain about, but it wasn’t enough tonight. Perhaps this represents how badly the Cavs need help. Kyrie couldn’t pull it together for another maestro performance, and that meant a Cavs loss (not that there weren’t other factors).

-Dion was ineffective tonight. He had a few nice passes, and wasn’t a total matador on defense (that’s YOU, Kyrie), but  he looked disoriented and was easily harassed into bad decisions.

-Tyler Zeller was awful. Really, really bad. He needs a lot of extra weight, but I’m not sure how much that bulk will even help unless he starts knocking down that mid-range jumper he likes so much.

-Tristan was a mixed bag. A few nice moves on offense, but Kenneth Faried absolutely abused him in the post. Manimal beat Tristan to the ball (and the hoop) all night.

-MARRREEEESSSSEEE Speights was really bad, shooting only 1-10 from the field. The caps lock, if you were wondering, indicates the scream intoned from my couch each time Speights takes an off-balance, early-in-the-shot-clock jumper. We get it, you’re a jump-shooting big man, Marreese. But you’re still a big man. Maybe it’s time to try a layup or two?

-Livingston and Ellington both had solid games.

-Eight of nine Nuggets had double digits, and the other guy to play (of nine) had seven. Man, these guys can ball. Also, I’m convinced that Javale Mcgee would be an All-Star with 35 MPG.

A twenty-seven point home victory, when Kyrie, Tristan, and Dion combine for 58 points on 78% True Shooting?  Thirty-three assists, leading to 57% field goal shooting, with only six turnovers?  Holding the opponent to single-digit offensive boards and scoring twenty-three points off their turnovers?  Regardless of the foe being the Bobcats, those outcomes impress.

Soon Kyrie AND Dion will need to thrive off the ball - next year, I expect to see Tristan running the point.

The team started fast, with Kyrie and Dion combining for thirteen points in the first five minutes.  Waiters tossed a sweet transition oop to Gee, Tristan threaded an interior dime to Zeller; the starters forged an early 19 to 13 lead.  Inspired by the return of The Luke Walton, who pitched in four points, the bench extended the margin to thirteen as the first frame ended.

Early in the second, the subs flexed the ball-movement-heavy offense they now exhibit regularly; for the game, Walton, Livingston, and Ellington combined 14 assists without a turnover.    Cleveland lead 43 – 29 when Charlotte called timeout with eight minutes remaining in the half.  Tristan Thompson flashed his entire arsenal, scoring thirteen points on a variety of strong post-moves and nifty finishes, as he, Dion and Kyrie combined for 22 points in the final eight minutes of the quarter; Charlotte scored twenty during the full twelve.  Cleveland cruised to a 65 to 41 halftime lead.

The dominance continued in quarter three; Tristan hit a hook, Dion scored six in ninety seconds, and Kyrie needled a three-quarter frozen-rope to Zeller for a dunk.  Eventually Kyrie nailed three triples in quick succession, the starters began ambling to the bench with over three minutes left, and they never returned.  Cleveland led 100 to 67 heading to the fourth.

And then it was garbage time.  Everyone got to play and score…except Casspi, who missed both shots; oh Omri.  There was a Boobie Gibson sighting; what does his future hold?  Byron Mullens padded his stats with ten garbage time points.  Anyways, not much to say about the fourth quarter.

Cleveland won walking away, looking like the fearsome juggernaut they have become.

Onto some bullets:

• Cleveland scored their first four points via Kyrie and Dion post-ups.  Recently while watching Rodney Stuckey destroy Waiters this route, and also Russ Westbrook create back-to-the-basket, I hope the Cavs do spend some time focusing on this aspect of the game for their young guards.  Particularly for Waiters, as strong as he is, this could constitute a minor, yet effective scoring means.
• This was a strong game from Dion.  He made his first six shots, including the aforementioned back-down, but also a nice tear-drop floater, and one emphatically dunking drive.  He finished with 19 points and 5 assists.
• Kyrie made all five of his three-pointers.  Relatively speaking, it was a quiet, highly efficient, team-leading 22 points.
• Marreese Speights finished with 11 & 10, while Ellington added 16 & 5 on 67% true shooting.  Jon Leuer posted perfect 100% True Shooting for Memphis tonight though; who wins the trade now?
• Tristan kept making his righty-hook…it’s unstoppable.   Later, after a ten-foot push shot, Austin Carr screamed “He’s right-handed!  He’s right-handed!”  Thompson must have heard him though, because next he hit the left-handed hook.  Colin tabulated some back-of-the-napkin math, and extrapolated that TT will average 45 points per game on the 2015 – 2016 champions.  I think he forgot to carry a number; it’s got to be 55.  Thompson posted 17 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks, while missing only one field goal for the evening.

The Cavs emerged victorious in six of their last nine, and recently surpassed Orlando in the standings.  Watch out Toronto; with five straight upcoming home games, we’re gainin’ on ya.

WHAT.  A.  GAME.  Seriously, this one had just about everything.  Big blocks?  Check.  Slam dunks? Check.  HUGE shots from both teams?  Check.  Drama?  Check.  Big runs?  MMMMMHM.

After a slow first half, the Cavs found their rhythm in the third and fourth quarters.  After letting an 8 point lead slip, the Cavs game back with a bunch of HUGE Kyrie shots to close this one out.  On to the good, the bad, and the rest…

The Good

Marreese Speights – WOW was he on, nabbing an excitement-filled double double.  While the Cavs had some issues scoring insdie, Mareesse was hitting pretty much everything from outside the paint.  Speights was constantly left open by the Thunder’s bigs who, despite their prowess defending the paint, had some issues with the big guy shooting Js.   Marreese also had the highlight of the game, throwing down one of the hardest dunks I have ever seen.  (Seriously, if you missed the game, go look it up.).  I’ve gotta say I love what MS (can I call him that?  What’s his nickname?) brings to this team – he has the power to score inside, but the ability to face up.  Here’s to hoping he sticks around for a while.

Kyrie Irving in the 3rd and 4th Qs – Especially the fourth.  Kyrie was his usual  amazingly clutch self, scoring 13 points in the final 3 minutes of the game (!), including another HUGE step back 3.  Kyrie also played surprisingly well off the ball, hitting one notable three off a Waiters pass.  His shiftiness was pretty much the only cure for the issues the Cavs had inside and got him to the line quite a bit in the remaining ticks of the game.

Dion Waiters As Primary Distributor – Waiters had another mediocre game as a scorer, but tonight proved his value as the primary distributor.  On more than a few occasions Dion would drive to the rim, only to dish out to an open man.  Netting 6 assists, Waiters also did a great job in pass-to-assists, especially coming off of TT.  These are the kinds of games I’d like to see on Neon Dion’s off nights – he still did his silly contested-step back thing, but continued to prove valuable because of his court vision.  As long as Kyrie keeps moving when the ball is in Waiters’ hands, I’d like to see the team play more with Waiters are the main PG.

The Cavs Bench – I’m going to go ahead and throw CJ into the bench mix because, for the most part, he spends his time there.  3J, Livingston (who I still love) and Speights did a fantastic job of maintaining a close game while the big names were on the bench.  Miles, going 5-7, hit a few HUGE threes to stop Thunder runs, and Livingston continued to show his value as a leader and bench PG.  I really can’t say enough about how valuable Livingston has been to this bench – the guy basically directs the D when he’s out there.  If he can be had for a cheap number, the Cavs better do their darnedest to re-sign him.

The Bad

TT – Tristan had a decent game on the boards and hit a few big shots at the end of the game, but that was basically it.  Tristan had an incredibly difficult time with the Thunder front court, who did an amazing job preventing TT from getting into position to score.  This was a game where his lack of ability to hit any sort of jumper really hurt him – instead of being able to make the defenders pay for waiting down low, he was forced to enter the post, where he couldn’t manuver inside.  One play that sticks out was actually when he tried to post up Durant midway through the first.  While trying to back him down, Tristan couldn’t get Durant to bite on his moves.  In addition, Thompson had a tough time containing Ibaka.  You can’t really blame him for finding it tough to defend a guy like Serge, but he’ll have to start learning how to stop long PFs from facing up and hitting a J.

Dion Waiters as a scorer – I touched on it in the good, but Waiters had a bad night shooting.  Going up against one of the best interior Ds, Waiters all but abandoned attack mode in favor of the step back J.  And it generally didn’t end well.

Kyrie’s D – I wont go nuts on this topic, since it’s been covered pretty damn thoroughly, but Kyrie’s D has GOT to get better.  I understand Westbrook is one of the best around, but Irving let Westbrook blow past him with complete ease.  At least make it look like you’re trying, Kyrie!

The Rest

Zeller – I actually loved what I saw from Zeller tonight.  Despite having some issues scoring inside (duh, I’ve beaten that horse to death) he actually played with a lot of tenacity, snagging 5 O boards.  For a guy who has struggled mightily recently, it’s nice to see he wont get pushed around too badly by bullies like Perkins.  Now if we could only fix that 15 footer…

Gee – had a quietly decent game; he really bothered Durant a lot tonight and even forced some nice turnovers.  I’m OK with him only scoring 6 as long as he focuses on D.

Byron Scott’s Rotation – Looks like he’s finally found it.  Keep your eye on this topic to see how it develops for the rest of the season.

Really enjoyed this game.  Big shot Kyrie is a blast.  Cavs have a four day break, taking on the Bobcats at home on Wednesday.

As always…GO CAVS!

That 3 game win streak wasn’t as long ago as it seems.  After losing by double digits to a well-coached Golden State team that played some guy named Kent Bazemore 30 minutes, the Cavaliers laid another egg against central division rival Detroit.  With the recent departure of veteran Tayshaun Prince, the last member of the ’04 championship team, the Pistons showed that the young pups are ready to lead.  It wasn’t too unsettling to describe the loss to the Jazz as “methodical”.  Tonight, it is.  And it was methodical.  Eight different Pistons scored 9 or more points, and Detroit thoroughly outhustled/outexecuted the Cavs all night long.  If rebounds, steals, and blocks can roughly be quantified as “hustle stats” then watch this picture come into focus: Rebounds: Pistons +7, Steals: Pistons +3, Blocks: +5.  If assists can be roughly quantified as offensive execution: Pistons +8.  This beatdown was methodical.  It could have been worse, too.  Detroit left 20 points at the free throw line.  Now for the details.

Tristan Thompson was awesome, the Cavs bench was good, everybody else sucked.  Let’s start with Tristan.  HOE LEE CANADIAN DYNAMITE.  This kid is WORKING.  It’s really hard to capture how good Tristan was tonight.  When chaos is erupting all around you and your teammates are completely sabotaging you at the defensive end – it’s hard to shine.  But Tristan did shine.  He finished 9 of 11 from the field, with 9 rebounds in under 30 minutes.

Crazy part: one of his misses was a 60 foot heave at the end of the 3rd quarter that caught the front of the back iron.  If that would have gone in I would have broken my self-imposed ‘no swearing on twitter’ rule.  With total seriousness, our young power forward was engulfed in NBA Jam flames all night.  As everybody knows, even when on “fire” the 3/4 court heaves sometimes miss in the video game.  (at least the SNES version)  So Tristan was about a half inch away from being better than an on-fire video game version of himself.  And he was not just throwing down NBA Hang-time alley-oops.  No sir/ma’am.  He was driving right at Andre Drummond and Jason Maxielle and finishing with layups, hooks, floaters, and a move that I am going to call the NateSmith Special.  After Drummond threw down his first PnR alleyoop smash of the night, Byron quickly subbed Tristan back in (early 2nd).  I watched as Tristan got his body into Drummond on every possession.  Never allowing the big man to get near the hoop.  He decided it was time for Andre Drummond to be ineffective – with excellent results.  Of course, the Cavs perimeter players couldn’t stay in front of Eric Snow had he suited up tonight, so TT was forced to try to contest wide open layups and flip shots from all the non-Drummond Pistons.  He couldn’t guard everyone.  His -19 reflects that fact.

But no, I’m exempting Tristan from +/- tonight.  He shut down Drummond at one end, and just voraciously attacked him at the other end – again, with excellent results.  After driving from the top of the key, blowing by Drummond, and finishing against one of the NBA’s elite shotblockers, he did it AGAIN, only this time, he saw Drummond sagging and the help arriving, so he popped in a Tony Parker-esque 12-foot floater.  [Now imagine I wrote all that in caps because if I was describing it to you in person you'd hear screaming]  OK, those plays were incredible, and I could never have imagined even a whiff of them from Tristan in mid-December, but the best is what I’m calling the NateSmith Special.  He’s been leading the charge for Tristan to develop a counter move in the paint since TT was drafted.  So check this play out:  Canadian D gets the ball in the post, tries to back down Maxielle but Jason pokes the ball away and TT has to recover from about the 3-point line.  He goes THROUGH THE LEGS, and drives right, but Maxielle stays right on his hip and starts to push him away from the basket.  TT fakes like he’s going to try to pop one in from 10 feet.  Maxielle again gets his body into him and TT does a pivot and drop step and finishes a left-handed layup past the outstretched and probably shocked Maxielle.  If what I just described sounds like something LeBron or Kevin Durant might do – that’s about right.  I’ve never seen TT do this before so he’s got another addition to the repertoire.  (what’s new)  Tristan appeared to get banged up during one of his many basket-attacking forays against the Pistons front line and he seemed to be in pain when the 3rd quarter ended.

The Cavs bench isn’t a liability anymore, that’s for sure.  Tonight they all played with a purpose and I found myself much less frustrated with the offensive cohesion from Livingston, Miles, Ellington, and Speights than the non-TT starters.

This might seem like a “if pigs could fly they wouldn’t be pigs” comment but if Shaun Livingston could shoot he’d be a total stud.  He has a very nice handle, sees the floor extremely well, and can get into the teeth of the defense.  He’s also got a ridiculous wingspan and competes on defense.  Tonight was a pretty “about right” game for him.  He seemed to lose his head a little after the refs missed a foul that should have sent him to the line, and he ended up fouling out but not before dishing out 6 dimes in under 30 minutes.  His +/- was even for the game, which is about all you should ask out of your bench.  He added 3 blocks for good measure.

Speights started off poorly but found a rhythm in the 2nd half.  He finished with 17 points and ended the half with a buzzer-beating 3 out of a Kyrie double-team.  He is a good shooter but the rumors were true, he can fall in love with the outside jumper.  I’d prefer he bang in the paint, where he had a nice dunk off a nifty interior dribble move.  Speights and Livingston were the two guys that seemed pretty hacked-off that the Cavs were getting lit up by a mediocre team.

Wayne Ellington has a super quick trigger.  His release reminded me a little bit of Eddie House tonight – just no hesitation.  He canned 3 triples and seemed to compete on defense – fighting through screens and trying to close out.

C.J. Miles had a nice night in a very non-typical C.J. Miles way.  He didn’t get blistering hot from beyond the arc.  No, he actually did a lot of little things tonight.  He moved pretty well without the ball, hit some shots off curls, attacked the basket on the fast break, dished out 3 assists, and prevented a few fast-break buckets with quick hands.  He can be a frustrating player to watch because he just oozes talent and athleticism but he’s not a very aggressive defender despite the quickness and wingspan, and he does settle for a lot of jumpers.  Actually that description fits a lot of Cavaliers.  He was solid tonight.

Kevin Jones is fun to watch.  He works really hard especially on the glass.  He played pretty heavy minutes tonight (effectively) and grabbed 9 boards.

Feel free to stop reading now – the rest isn’t going to be pretty.  But for my own sake I’ll make it short.

Kyrie Irving was -20.  Brandon Knight was +20.  The eye test was about that bad too.  Kyrie did have some nice bounce passes out of double teams in the 3rd but he was pretty ineffective on offense and poor on defense.  Brandon Knight could end up being Kyrie’s “Mitch Richmond”.  Michael Jordan would destroy just about everyone but for some reason borderline all-star Mitch Richmond always gave him trouble.  The obvious narrative would be that Knight just likes to go at Kyrie because of their draft selection and all that.  Maybe.  Whatever the case, Kyrie is the superior player, but not 2Knight. [See what I did there]

I know it’s blasphemous to say anything negative about Dion Waiters so fortunately there is nothing bad to report.  On a completely unrelated note, Rodney Stuckey abused someone wearing a Dion Waiter’s jersey on about 4 straight possessions in the 3rd quarter before Byron Scott benched the real Dion Waiters who of course was playing super awesomely.  If the real Dion Waiters had been getting torched I’d probably have people pointing out that he’s young and is asked to do too much and that Rodney Stuckey is an MVP candidate.  Thankfully we can all just not talk about it.  Moving on…

Tyler Zeller: 2 points 2 rebounds minus 14, 16 minutes, 4 fouls.  Abused in the paint.  I’d be nice if he was a good shooter.  The low point for Tyler was a blown uncontested alley-oop.  Bounce pass next time, Kyrie.

Alonzo Gee had a really bad night.  1 of 7 from the field and he was blocked 3 times.  -16 in 20 minutes.  Non-Canadian starters in general?  SIX of TWENTY-NINE.

With the Cavs down almost 20 Byron Scott inserted Omri Casspi for the final minute of the game.  This was just long enough for Omri to miss a 3 so he can sit in his hotel tonight, bury his face in his hands, and scream “WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME, SHOT, WHY?!  AM I NOT B.E.E.F.ING ENOUGH?  IS IT THE BALANCE OR THE ELBOW?”

Byron Scott is amazing and should be congratulated for releasing Tristan Thompson’s inner Super-Saiyan. (as we all know).  Tonight I found his decision to not play Casspi puzzling (as usual) but I appreciated that he left the second unit in the entire 4th quarter.  I don’t know if he was sending a message to the starters that they were not worthy (other than gimpy Tristan) to represent Cleveland in the 4th quarter, or if he did it because the benchers were playing pretty well until about 3 minutes left in the game.  At any rate, he’s got to get a better effort out of his team.  There were times when I noticed entire possessions where nary a hand was raised on defense.  There were times when the shot clock was running down and the Cavs were content to give the Pistons space on set shots instead of closing hard.  There were segments of some of the ugliest basketball I’ve seen in weeks and no timeouts were called, to say, calm down Dion Waiters some Cav after he blew an open dunk and then dribbled it off his foot in back to back frenetic possessions.  The Cavs lost very methodically to a young division rival.  And it was surgical as the Cavs made no adjustments.  You didn’t have to tip your cap to Klay Thompson tonight, check out the box score.

Before appending my in-game notes, I’d like to leave three thoughts.

1.) Tristan Thompson’s improvement is marvelous and maybe it IS big Z that’s working with him on footwork.  Campy Russell noted the fluidity of TT’s game and it’s been apparent.  The 600-thread count pillow soft touch around the hoop is one thing, but he’s going between the legs, driving to the hoop from beyond the arc, and now he’s even got the NateSmith Special.

2.) The block/charge stuff really needs to change in the NBA. The entire second half felt like a contest of which humongous pro athlete could collapse in a heap more effectively.  Everyone is tired of watching what should be the most athletic plays ending in either a block or a charge.  Come on NBA.  Allow the defenders to contest the shot in the air without it automatically being a foul.  And don’t call charges when a guy is TRYING to avoid the contact but happens to graze the tip of someone’s hip as he passes it to an open 3-point shooter.  It’s just unbearable.  The officiating was bad tonight.  So many late whistles.

3.) The Cavs look lost when Kyrie Irving is double teamed and the league is taking notice. More and more I watch defenses either outright trap him shortly after he crosses the timeline, or shield a zone defender towards him.  When teams used to do this to LeBron it was ‘pick your poison’ because no one could pass out of a double team quite like LeBron James.  He’d rise up a foot over any outstretch hands and fire a bullet across the court right into the gut of any teammate spotted up for a corner 3.  As the Cavs progressed from Lucious Harris/Ira Newble to Donyell Marshall/Damon Jones to Boobie Gibson/Mo Williams it became less and less effective to double LeBron.  Right now Kyrie is pretty effective at splitting double teams with a bounce pass, but when he tries to pass over the top he sort of lobs a softball up there and it’s not only a risky pass but it gives the defenses all kinds of time to recover.  They are not being punished for committing a double team.  I’ve been secretly hoping all year that Dion Waiters could be that slasher that punishes defenses for doubling Kyrie but their chemistry is poor and Dion someone dressing up as Dion isn’t very effective without the ball.  Byron Scott is going to have to work out a better offensive framework when teams start trapping Kyrie.  The Warriors and Pistons did it and they didn’t wait until the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter.

In Game Notes:

1st Quarter

-Cavs playing well when they get out on the break, not so much in the half court.

-Brandon Knight looking to attack Kyrie Irving.

-Tristan being active early.  Saves a fast break by following the miss.

-Refs calling it tight early.

-Cavs with a 45 second stint of seriously ugly basketball.  Dion blows a dunk, then turns ball over on next possession.  Cavs down 22 – 11.

-Irving with a steal and layup.  Then a nice 2 man game with Speights to bury a 3.

-Pistons go to man and 1 man zone on Kyrie to end the 1st with great success.  Cavs practically abandoned the court.

2nd Quarter

-Livingston/Miles back to back assist/buckets to start 2nd.

-B Scott checks TT back in after Drummond gets oop.  TT does great job pushing AD away from hoop.  Cavs leave him out to dry by letting Charlie V penetrate.  TT penetrates from top of key and scores on AD.  Cavs perimeter D breaking down.

-Tristan goes back to the well and scores on Drummond from the perimeter.  Will Bynum does his best Tristan Thompson impression.  Cavs can’t get stops.

-Wayne Ellington with a quick trigger.  Cavs can’t stay in front of Will Bynum.

-Tyler Zeller blows uncontested alleyoop.  Ouch.

-Cavs looking a step slow but Detroit missing wide open shots everywhere.

-AC made mention of TT possibly banging his knee on the 2nd drive against Drummond.  Does look a step slow suddenly.  Hopefully just a stinger.

-Tristan drives from the top of the key – hits 10 foot floater are you KIDDING me??!?! (new addition)

-Cavs just not playing any defense at all.  At all.  Down 11.

-Tristan from top of key, goes through legs, drives right – gets pushed that way by Maxielle, pump fakes, does a pivot and lays up with the left hand.  (someone help me find my jaw)

-Kyrie doesn’t pass out of double teams well

-Mo Speights hits his 6th NBA 3-pointer in his 5 year career with form that suggests he could be making 5 a week if he wanted.

Halftime  Tristan Thompson 6/7 rest of Cavs starters 4/20.

3rd Quarter

-Cavs starters continued lack of effective offense – taking lots of jumpers.  Detroit now making shots.  Up 17.

-Dion attacking a bit now, could use more of that.

-Rodney Stuckey just going right at Dion repeatedly.  Still repeatedly.

-Tristan Thompson looking a little gimpy – still engulfed in flames.

-Thompson misses 75 foot heave by inches.  Looks completely gassed maybe sore.

4th Quarter

-Livingston running the offense well.  Blocks/charges out of control.

-Speights throws down a pretty fierce dunk off nice interior dribble move.  Then buries jumper.  Instant timeout from Detroit.  Does Byron ever call instant timeouts to cool another team down?

-Sad the Tayshaun Prince era over in Detroit.  Always liked Tay.

-Cavs bench in for entire 4th.  They played well all night.  Trimmed lead down to 9 but couldn’t break through as Pistons got into bonus early and shot a ton of FT.

-Wayne Ellington and Shaun Livingston nice pickups.

-Cavs couldn’t ever get stops tonight.  Pretty bad showing.  Would be nice if the Cavs showed some more aggression/mean streak in these division games.

-Omri casspi checks in with 1:15 left.  Ok.  I’m sure he’ll fire up 2 misses to lower his FG% and people can continue justifying him sitting.

This was Cleveland’s fourteenth back-to-back for the season.   Heading into the evening, they won one on the back-end.   Of course, they were playing their lottery-mate kryptonite, the Toronto Raptors.  After sweeping last season’s series, the Raptors destroyed the Cavs in Cleveland earlier this season, by double-digits, despite missing two starters.   So this should be fun, right?

I could get used to seeing pictures like this in May

The first quarter started well, with the starters forging an 11 to 10 lead.  Highlights included awesome Kyrie to Gee and Kyrie to Tristan pick & rolls, a delightful Gee drive & dunk, a Dion drive for a lay-in, and a Dion assist for a Kyrie three in transition.  The Kyrie to Alonzo play resulted in a massive slam; why does it feel like one of very few examples of this combo running this play?  Unlike last night, some unraveling began with the subs, obviously due to Luke Walton sitting with an injured foot.  Toronto mounted a 13 to 2 run, highlighted by a slew of DeMar Derozan jumpers, and repeated bloopers from Zeller: missed bunnies, a travel, a fumbled pass, a weak foul that allowed an and-one…Derozan’s twelve points guided the 19 to 25 margin in favor of the Raptors.

The second quarter started miserably, with Toronto stretching their lead to eleven.  The Cavs whittled away, fronted by Marreese Speights’ 11 first-half points, but seemingly everytime the tally drew near, the team failed to get a critical stop; the Raptors would grab an offensive rebound or hustle down a fifty-fifty ball.  Toronto took advantage of Cleveland misses, sprinting out against poorly defensed fast breaks; the Cavs allowed 61% from the field through the first twenty minutes.  The defense tightened up over the final few minutes, and Kyrie played his unique brand of hero-ball, bringing the game to the half with Cleveland trailing 46 to 50.  Kyrie shot fourteen times to tally thirteen points, taking impossibly difficult shots, but of course also making some (including a one-on-three fast break).  Zeller finished with nine boards, but shot 0 for 4 and botched two turnovers.  Cleveland registered seven assists for the half.

The third stanza featured various mini-runs, with Toronto never pulling away, and Cleveland not attaining a lead.  The entirety of the second and third quarters bounced around between a margin of two and eleven points.  Thompson scored six, while Alan Anderson scored an equal amount in the final two minutes of the quarter.  Anderson piled up seventeen for the game, and isn’t having a bad season as a bench-sparkplug.  The Raptors carried a 66 to 75 lead into the fourth.

After Toronto scored the first bucket of the fourth, the new bench-guys spurred a twelve-to-nothing Cavalier run.  Speights hit two buckets and Ellington drained a pair of long threes to snatch an 80 to 79 lead.  The two teams kept trading buckets; a Kyrie and-one, a Speights post-move, an Ellington three…but Toronto matched each time.  At 88 to 87, a four-point Kyrie mini-run provided separation, before the team started exhibiting reminiscent closing woes.  Against a set defense, Kyrie iso-ed off his foot for a turnover, then missed a tough layup; Dion jacked a 22-footer; Kyrie threw away a pass; a series of defensive break-downs allowed Toronto to re-attain a 94 to 96 lead.  Alas, we have seen this story before.

Except tonight featured a surprise ending.  First, after a Thompson block, Kyrie received the ball in transition…well, it wasn’t really a fast break; more like another 1 on 3.  Of course, he needled through every defender and converted the circus lay-in…tie ballgame.

But, OH @$#!  Stupid Defense!!  Jose Calderon drives and scores to give Toronto the advantage with ten seconds remaining.

I’m thinking “Allright…we have Kyrie Irving…this is OK.”  He’s dribbling…probably another tough iso drive against a set defense; I hope it works out…except he rises, he shoots, HE DRILLS THE THREE FROM THE TOP OF THE KEY!!  UNDER A SECOND TO GO!!!  CAVS LEAD!!!

Toronto couldn’t score in the final half-ticks, and Cleveland strikes their first three game win streak of the season; a stretch that gives them 8 wins and 9 losses in the last five weeks.  This was a very nice win, on the road, on the second night of a back-to-back, against a team the Cavs struggle with.  Ideally, they develop more creative offense (12 assists on 37 baskets?) and airtight defense, and make these finalies a little less heart-attack inducing in the future…but a win’s a win, right?

Onto a few bullets (all “in January” numbers are prior to tonight’s game):

• As a young core, Toronto carries several nice pieces.  Kyle Lowry is a fantastic point guard.  I think that Amir Johnson, Ed Davis and Jonas Valanciunas provide a strong big man rotation for several years.  Now they need to determine which of their under-25 wing contingent of Landry Fields Terrence Ross, and Demar Derozan stay healthy, and produce effectively and consistently.
• The trade makes Cleveland’s depth look brighter.  Marreese Speights drained some jumpers, scored some bruising back-to-the-basket buckets, and even finished a swooping reverse layup.  Ellington stroked a trio of silky threes.  Without their 29 points on 69% true shooting, the game probably slips away early in the fourth.
• Through December, Luke Walton’s per-36 minutes averages were 5.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists on 34% true shooting.  It was absolutely as ugly as everyone remembers.  In January, those increased to 11, 7.3, 4.6 and 48%.  Combining excellent ball movement with passable shooting and rebounding turns him into a reasonably playable back-up.  Come back soon, Luke?
• I don’t know which statistical leap is more impressive though.  Tristan’s November featured per-36 of 10.3 & 9.8 on 47% TS.  In January, those rise to 15.2 & 12 on 53.5%.  He finished tonight with 14 points, 8 boards, and 3 blocks, but also lost 4 turnovers.  The refs were critical of his footwork in the post and on screens.
• How about Dion’s improvement in shot distribution?  In December, he took 30 of his 114 field goals from inside of three feet, approximately 26% of his attempts, and only lined up for one freebie of every seven shots from the field.  In January, those numbers increase to 54 of 156 shots attempted at the rim (35% of tries), and a free throw per three field goal attempts.  This helped turn around his appalling 39% true shooting in December, into 52% in January, a completely respectable mark for a high-usage guard that turned 21 last month.  Tonight was not a good night for Dion though; he is alternating good & bad games.  He picked-up four fouls in his first eight minutes of play, turned the ball over three times in the third quarter, missed a completely-all-alone layup, and shot 3 of 10 with a couple of ill-advised jumpers.  Maybe he stayed out too late last night.  Reasonably aggressive though, he did take six of his shots inside 8 feet, but never received the benefit of a foul call.  In a plus/minus anomaly, he finished a team best +15.
• Even Kyrie raised his game to another level in January.  26.3 points per game on 49 / 42 / 93 shooting, including more steals in the last eleven games (30), than in the prior twenty-two (28 thefts).  49 / 42/ 93!!!  Of course, this night adds to a growing legacy: 32 points, 5 assists, and another buzzer-beating gamewinner.
• Might as well give Tyler some mention.  Through January 22, according to hoopdata.com, T-Zell lead the league in charges.  For total defensive plays (steals + blocks + charges), his total of 81 ranks 51st of all players.  He certainly has work to do, but he makes some things happen.  Tonight was not pretty, his vaunted offensive touch still lacks most games, but he snagged twelve boards…at least there’s that

The Cavs won 8 of their last 17.  Player development is equalling wins, and nightly viewing provides much more excitement lately.  With eight of the next nine at home, and the one road game in Detroit, everyone gets to sleep at home until late February.  Enjoy the respite, guys.

I get that reading this blog is sometimes like being bored into by the hum of fluorescent lights. It’s not intentional—it’s not our mission to drag this team through the dust; rather, it’s dragging us through the dust, and we’re trying to narrate as our mouths fill up with gravel—but the bleakness and mock-giddy fatalism that has permeated C:TB over the past few years is a product of accumulation and circumstance. We’re not particularly invested in using the word “terrible, “and, in fact, would prefer to use it sparingly, but it’s something that comes up a lot. This ball movement is terrible. C.J. Miles’s shot selection is terrible. Luke Walton—friend of famed 16th Century painter Peter Bruegel—is terrible. We’re all poking a dead body with sticks and trying to come up with novel things to say about the experience. I’m an advocate for using the mundane and the numbing as a window into talking about a multitude of interesting things—tedium is a garden for creativity and all that—but when you get down to it: we’re corpse-pokers. Sometimes we’re tried, and we don’t use the mundane and the numbing as a window into interesting things. We poke the corpse and go “See, it’s a corpse.” We breathe the sort of dream-breath that doesn’t feel like anything.

We also try to build with our imaginations a day when we won’t be corpse-pokers. An imagined future is the preferred domain of the bereft fan, and so, sure, we entertain and linger in a world where Dion Waiters makes good on his Dwyane Wadeish flashes; Tyler Zeller puts on 20 pounds; Kyrie Irving competes for MVPs. And then we stand over a corpse and try to figure out how we get from here to the place in our heads. We assemble various talents into a team that makes sense like molecules do.

Last night offered a glimpse of a path forward. The team was unified and fun to watch and almost came apart but didn’t. The various talents cleaved to one another through one of the very best Cavaliers’ performances of the year. Let us recap:

–In the first half, the Cavs were excellent. On defense, they were characteristically opportunistic, swarming passing lanes and trying to knock the ball free—the Cavs nabbed three steals in the opening period, which led to six easy points on the other end—but they also put in the extra effort to scramble back into position off double-teams and steal attempts. The rotations were quick and decisive, and it seemed like every time the Blazers made a smart pass to relieve pressure, a man caught the ball and was covered within a half-second. We’re used to seeing Cavaliers opponents shooting open jumpers as a defender half-heartedly runs at the them, but the Blazers really had to work hard to get a decent look at the basket. And, of course, good defense yields good offense: the Cavs were able to get a few buckets and trips to the free throw line in semi-transition off of missed shots and defensive rebounds.

–Offensively, the Cavs executed about as well as a basketball team can. Their off-the-ball movement was remarkable. One of the things I noticed was that, when a guard penetrated into the lane, the man who usually sits in the corner cut down toward the basket parallel to the baseline. They got some dunks and fouls off of that movement. The interior passing was also impressive. I joke about Luke Walton being old, but he sees the floor really well—in the second quarter, he gifted Tyler Zeller a couple of easy baskets. I would have to look at some tape of Tristan Thompson last year, earlier this year, and over the last couple of weeks to figure out if this is something he has recently started doing or if I just hadn’t noticed: he seems to have a much better idea of where on the court he and his teammates are when he catches the ball. When he moves across the lane, in particular, he keeps his head up, and once or twice per game, it seems to result in an open jumper for a teammate. TT also just had a tremendous night in general aside from some missed free throws down the stretch. In the first quarter, he was flying all over the place and accumulating a bunch of garbage buckets. And that little floater/hook in the lane is getting softer and softer every day.

–Things fell apart after the first 24 minutes. The Cavs had their usual third quarter swoon. The ball stopped moving as well as it had in the first half (11 first half assists vs. 5 second half assists). Portland started hitting some shots and the lead dwindled. Then Kyrie Irving did that thing where he transforms into a basketball-playing pterodactyl in the fourth quarter. He was phenomenal in the final period, and about as under control as you can get when you’re a giant flying death lizard playing a children’s game. The most spectacular play he made was where he bobbled the ball, might have double-dribbled (did Dame Lillard get a finger on the ball?), and hit a turnaround fade from a tough angle. He did this about as leisurely as you or I reach down to pet a dog. He also did about eight other things that were remarkable in their own right. Go find the video. Words won’t really suffice.

–Additional Kyrie note: his play was calm as ever, but between plays he was really demostrative as the Blazers threatened to wrest the lead from the Cavs. He was in Tristan Thompson’s ear; he was talking to himself and/or Blazers players after nailing buckets; and he generally bounced around a lot more than he usually does. I don’t know if he was upset with his poor performance against the Kings the other night or what, but this was a fiery iteration of Kyrie that one rarely sees. I liked it, at any rate.

–I also liked when Luke Walton hit Tyler Zeller with a nice pass, Zeller absorbed some contact and converted, and Walton gave T-Zell a little gleeful shove. I wonder if Tyler’s just a nice dude who takes a little encouragement to get going because it seems like his teammates give him an “atta boy” whack or two every game as a reminder that—despite the fact that he’s overmatched physically—if he really exerts himself, he can get the job done. Which he did, tonight: 11 points, 2 blocks, and 5-for-5 from the free throw line. J.J. Hickson, especially early in the game, got around him a few times for offensive rebounds, but Zeller played well.

–Dion Waiters had a comedown game after having one of his best games of the season against the Kings the other night. He went to the rim a few times in the first half, couldn’t finish, and I think he got frustrated. He ended the night with five points on 1-for-9 shooting. Just graft Sacramento Dion onto tonight’s performance, and you have the Best Case Scenario Cavs teams we’re all dreaming about.

The Cavs head to Utah to take on the Jazz on Saturday. Until tomorrow, friends.

The Cavs lost narrowly in a game that featured no defense whatsoever. Let us recap:

–I’m not going to worry too much about the outcome of this one. Or any other Cavs game this year, for that matter. The Cavs struggled down the stretch after clawing their way back into the game in the third quarter and came up short. It’s nothing to lose sleep over. But one troubling thing: we got a serious dose of Kyrie Irving isolations, and normally, I’m fine with Kyrie Irving isolations late in games because I like seeing him dart down the lane through a double team and around a looming big man, but in this particular game, Dion Waiters was playing terrifically, and I would have liked, if Byron Scott could have possibly been bothered to coach this team a little bit, if Waiters could have slid into the corner-three spot normally occupied by Alonzo Gee so that Irving would have a better option to pass to when he inevitably got double-teamed as he tried to dart into the lane. Instead nothing changed, Irving got stripped a couple of times driving to the bucket, easy lay-ins for the Kings, etc. Maybe Kyrie wouldn’t have passed the ball to Waiters either, but, y’know, maybe at least get the guy who had flames shooting out of his butt into a position where he might possibly touch the ball so that the defense has to think about him.

–By the way, this might have been Dion Waiters’s best game as a Cavalier. (With the time he rained flames from heavens against the Clippers being his other notably great game.) Saint Weirdo was really smart in taking it to the rim and drawing fouls in the first half, and then at some point in the fourth quarter, he did that Dion Waiters thing where he took some unconscionably bad shots and just kept hitting them. He finished the game with 33 points on 12-for-18 shooting. He also got to the line eight times (converting six of his attempts), and pitched in five assists. A really, really impressive performance, even against sub-par defense. It’s these sorts of games that give us hope.

–Tristan Thompson had a nice game as well, putting up 17 points and 15 rebounds. He also was the only guy on the court who seemed to bother DeMarcus Cousins (who played very well: 26 points and 14 boards) when DMC caught the ball near the paint. Another coaching note: if TT was the only player on the Cavs’ roster capable of keeping Cousins somewhat in check, why was Zeller allowed anywhere near him? I can perhaps see the wisdom in not sticking Zeller on Thomas Robinson because T-Rob’s a little too athletic for him, but why wasn’t Jason Thompson (a good player in his own right, but he’s no DMC) Zeller’s assignment whenever he was on the floor? I’m not criticizing Zeller at all for getting beat up by Cousins: he just can’t handle him at this point in his career. He was put in a position to fail, and I don’t really understand why. Besides, it seems like Thompson is beginning to relish his role as a defensive stopper. With Andy out, why not throw him on the other team’s best big the whole game and see what he can do?

–I would analyze other players in this game, but it’s difficult to parse the numbers in a contest that featured almost no defense. 12 players finished with double-digit scoring totals, and the teams combined to shoot 49% from the field. Under normal circumstances, I would be applauding #FREECASSPI for putting up 10 points or C.J. Miles for putting up a (I swear) very quiet 17 points, but, y’know, this one finished 124-to-118, so those numbers are a little inflated. It was a fun game to watch, though, especially if you like freneticism for freneticism’s sake.

The Cavs travel to Portland Wednesday to take on the Trail Blazers. Dame Lillard v. Kyrie Irving should be fantastic. Until tomorrow, friends.

There are a lot of ways to write a recap.   There’s the basic media recap.  Go there if you want to read it.  It’ll tell you Dwight Howard was awesome in his return with 22 and 14 and the Lakers got healthy against the Cavs, and all the boring details: the ins and outs and what have yous of the basketball game.  But, it’s not really true.  I mean Howard’s hard to guard, but the Cavs sucked, and didn’t have anyone who could guard him.  Also, Danny Crawford, J.T. Orr, and Courtney Kirkland were calling fouls on Zeller and Tristan for disrespectful looks towards Howard.

So that’s one way to do it.  Then there’s the running diary recap, where you write it live as you’re watching.  That would have been tough to do this game after a 37 point first quarter.  I would’ve probably given up.  And the little tease at 3:57 left in the 3^rd when the Cavs cut it to 12 off two straight Dion Waiters buckets?  That would have killed me.  I would’ve thrown my laptop through the TV after Dion turned the ball over the next three possessions and Kobe made them pay.  And there would’ve been a lot of Luke Walton jokes.  Like: “They’re going to let retired players play this game!  Oh wait, that’s just Luke Walton.  You can put your suits back on, Kurt Rambis and A.C.”  Or, “Uh, oh, it’s only a 14 point game with 9:23 left in the 3^rd.  There’s a 2% chance the Cavs could win this thing.  Yep.  Not taking any chances here.  Chris Grant just called down to the bullpen.  Time to bring in ‘the cooler.’ Walton checks into the game for Tyler Zeller.  Close one there.  If there’s even a chance we could win this thing we’d better shut it down now.  There’s no one you’d rather have on the floor right now for the Cavs.  Luke Walton is the Mariano Rivera of losing basketball games.”

I might even have had a little fun in garbage time: “Down by 20 with 8:48 left in the third.  Yep, and here comes Kyrie back into the ballgame.  Scott really has to balance the complete lack of accountability of his star players with the need to pad Kyrie’s stats.”  Then a few minutes later, “Kyrie out of the game at 5:22 as the bench clears.  It’s a good thing we got the core group in for that 3 minute stretch.  One of the hardest things the coach of a terrible team has to do is to make it look like he’s not completely tanking in January.  Playing your stars an extra 3 minutes for no reason is why Byron Scott could teach a masters class in losing.”

But yeah, I would’ve burned through a month’s worth of sarcasm with a running diary thread.  Of course then there’s the ok, this is how everyone did recap, where we kind of tally up everyone’s performance with little blurbs.  I’d make some comments like, “Omri Casspi: didn’t shoot well.  He launched a couple ‘eff you’ threes after which he stared at Byron and made a throat slitting gesture.  But he did collect 6 rebounds in 9 minutes, as opposed to, you know, Walton who collected 5 in 24 minutes.  Just sayin’.”

Or, “Kevin Jones: 3-5 in 16 minutes with 2 boards and 2 steals.  Also the only player who played in the part of the game that mattered who had a positive plus/minus.”  I like the way he shows and recovers on defense.  He has nimble feet and long arms.  He might make a decent backup power forward.”

“C.J. Miles: Hey.  Good news.  http://heycjmilespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com/ is available.  Let’s take up a collection an register this.  Oy.  Seriously though, how can the Cavs (Kyrie) not realize that they have to get C.J. some looks in the first 5 minutes or he can’t get in a rhythm.  C. Miles was abysmal this game.”  Get it?  I left the J out.  I kill me.

I’m not really like running through the roster tonight.  We could’ve given you the Tag Team Recap.  The guys were shooting this back and forth a bit on the CtB staff running thread.  Topics included talking about Cleveland’s own Patricia Heaton, who was repping Cleveland at the game, and had this funny tweet, “Cavs are carrying on the great Cleveland sporting tradition of getting their butts whipped.”  One blogger was counting the number of worthless picks: “a ‘pick’ that creates no advantage whatsoever and merely brings more defenders toward the ball.”  Some guys were talking about how many blown layups and easy blocks for Dwight Howard the Cavs threw up.  Another topic was how inaccurately rated Tyler Zeller is in 2K13.  His tendency to take charges is set to 0, and yet he is among the league leaders.  Meanwhile he’s a decent jump shooter, whereas in real life, his effective FG% is 34%.  Yikes.

Unfortunately, missed layups the return of Evil C.J. Miles and his case of Waiteritis, caused the email to devolve into the things I’d rather be doing than watching the Cavs (recap). Those jerks left me to watch High Fidelity, rearrange a record collection, share Lena Dunham Jokes, identify the essential Dylan Albums, and hack a Wii so that you can play old ROMs.  Oh, and of course to drink: A selection of IPAs, Old Rasputin, and Smirnoff Ice.   I’ll let you guess as to who was drinking what.  (Oh, and as for the essential Dylan, it really comes down to four trilogies of Dylan’s best work.  The early folk: Freewheelin’, The Times They Are a-Changin, and Another Side of Bob Dylan.  Dylan goes electric: Bringin’ it all Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde (possibly the greatest three album stretch by an artist in rock history).  Dylan’s 70s comeback: Blood on the Tracks, The Basement Tapes, and Desire.  Dylan’s 1997-2006 trilogy: Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, and Modern Times – oh, and make sure you listen to Things Have Changed, Dylan’s Oscar winner from the soundtrack for the vastly underrated film, Wonder Boys).

But all those guys abandoned me, and I was left alone and bitter, with the lonely task of recapping a 30 point loss that wasn’t even that close.  I could turn to the angry rant recap, which I did a few months ago about officiating.  It’s one you can only pull out once or twice a year, but it’s always a good one.  I’d get all mad at Byron Scott this game, and throw out snippets like, “How does Tristan Thompson only play 19 minutes?  Yes, I know he’s in foul trouble, but what’s the point of having him if you’re not playing him?  We’re obviously not winning this one, teach him how to play with foul trouble!”  I’d be throwing out exclamation points like Tarantino throws around “F” bombs and racial slurs.  “Byron, look at advanced statistics!  Did you read Kevin’s article yesterday? Luke Walton is one of the worst players in the NBA over the last few years!  Did you order the code red on Omri Casspi!?”  That kind of recap would be disingenuous.  Because no one plays Luke Walton 24 minutes if they’re trying to win.

Yeah, I’d rather write the asking a lot of incredulous questions style recap.  Byron Scott is either incompetent or trying to lose.  It has to be the latter, right?  I mean Byron Scott is REALLY good at losing ball games this year.  There are three teams with a worse point differential than the Cavs this year, Charlotte (-8.1), Washington (-7.5), and Sacramento(-6.2).  Only Washington has a worse record than the Cavs.  Is Byron Scott the best coach at losing basketball games in the NBA?  “Mr. Scott, did you know that your team has the second worst shooting percentage in the league?  And did you know that your team allows the best shooting percentage in the league?  How have you let Washington lose more games than you?”  Is there anyone who is better at tanking basketball games than him?  I mean what other coach could play Walton for 24 minutes with a straight face?

Also, did anyone see Kyrie miss some wide open passes this game and just jack up jumpers, or was it just me?  Toward the end Shaun Livingston was alone under the basket with no one within 15 feet of him, and Kyrie shot a pullup 3 instead of passing.  Did KI not see him, or just not pass to him?  Is he completely losing faith in his teammates?  Is he developing horrible shoot first habits that will haunt him for the rest of his career?  Is he being coddled and not held accountable?  Does anyone else think his defense is looking better? Is evolution really determined by natural selection, or is it completely stochastic?

That’s kind of exhausting too.  Who likes reading that many questions?  I’d like to give you the slash fiction recap, a CtB specialty for the dog days of the NBA, but that’s Colin’s bag. If I was a real clever guy I could write about how my inability to decide on a recap style mirrors the Cavs’ inability to find an identity.  That’s a bit too Umberto Eco for me, so for this one, I’m ending with the it’s a Sunday night, the Cavs are on the west coast, and I’m tired and mailing it in recap. The Cavs sucked tonight.  I am thinking they might’ve hit the L.A. clubs Saturday and not quite recovered.  Not much to write about here.  Dwight Howard abused Tyler Zeller and Tristan Thompson.  Kyrie made his nut, and was his normal efficient self.  Kobe Bryant was abusing the Cavs defenders and playing most of the game on cruise. Alonzo Gee had a few nice dunks. C.J. Miles, Shaun Livingston, and ZPA couldn’t shoot.  Luke Walton is still a “shrink 4” style power forward.  Dion Waiters is still Saint Weirdo: 7-18, 15 points, 4 turnovers.  The Cavs really ought to watch how Kobe Works the refs: incredulity, mollification, engagement, smiles.  The man’s a damned personable sociopath.  I bet he signs stuff after the game for their kids and knows all of them by their first and last names.  Anyway, for the sake of getting a high teens draft pick, we had to throw this one away to help the Lakers make the playoffs. Good job, Byron. Lets hope the Lakers keep winning.  Though, please make the next Cavs loss a little more entertaining, coach Scott. To suck worse than the Wizards, you might have to start channeling your inner Randy Marsh.