I don’t know exactly what tact to take on this one. The Cavs lost a tough battle in the closing seconds; a game they lead the whole way; a game that is annually circled on the calendar. It is hard not to be deflated. On the other hand, in night three sans-Kyrie, in a third game in four days, on the second night of a road back-to-back, Cleveland almost knocked-off the defending champs. The rag-tag, starless Cavs, nearly sent Miami off their homecourt with their tails between their legs. It is hard not to be proud of an effort like that.
Onto a recap:
Slargo has been slain; long live Jeremy Pargo!!
The first half was awesome. True-to-form, Cleveland’s starters came-out blazing, with Andy nabbing rebounds at a ridiculous pace, and Alonzo Gee taking pole-position in the battle for the night’s best small-forward. His nine first-quarter points came from a corner-three, a drive & bank-shot over LBJ and Battier, a pull-up fadeaway jumper, and a pump-fake drive for a nasty dunk. Everyone’s favorite annual stocking stuffer, “Sports Illustrated’s Best of Alonzo Gee”, added some potential footage early in this game. Cleveland leads 29 – 26 at the end of the first.
The second quarter saw the margin stretch to a dream-like 59 to 48. Omri Casspi drained three triples in the half, and also hit Tristan for a fast-break dime. The bench has not been disastrous lately and a large reason is Casspi. When he came to Cleveland, his dossier included: being tall, running the court effectively, and hitting threes. Finally, signs of success at the latter two activities. Over the last five games, he is averaging 8 points per night on 75% true shooting. Otherwise in the first half, Pargo continued his amazing run, finishing with 10 points and 5 assists, while Varejao tallied ten rebounds. The Cavs’s ten first-half threes, combined with only four turnovers culminated in the double-digit halftime margin.
Things began worse in the third frame; the strong, early ball protection eroded, with six turnovers in the first six minutes of quarter three. Pargo’s chariot briefly transitioned to a pumpkin: throwing away a pass, traveling, and being stripped from behind. A 13-to-1 Heat run drew the game nearly even, but Cleveland escaped fourteen Lebron points to still lead 79 to 77.
Heading into the fourth, I assumed there existed a near-zero chance for a Cleveland win. The Cavs’ closer sat in a suit with a hurt finger; Miami trotted out the reigning-MVP, at home, against a young and tired team. But Cleveland hung tight. CJ Miles played his best quarter in the wine-and-gold; knocking down a three, driving for a tough lay-up, and threading a beauty of a behind-the-back fast-break pass. Perhaps he was drugged during the season’s first ten games, but he seems to have turned a corner in the last week. The quarter wore on; every time the Heat drew near, one of Cleveland’s Finest came through with a big play…Varejao with a tip-in…Waiters with drive & finish…Gibson with a four-point-play. Boobie’s three with two minutes remaining left Cleveland up 108 to 101. Then, the probably-inevitable happened. Lebron drove for an easy finish; Ray Allen beat Waiters with a shot-fake and gained an and-one…Cleveland’s offense bogged down, with no one prepared to be The Man. Then, hearts sank in the Hetrick household; Ray Allen open from deep…108 to 109 Miami lead, their first since early in the first quarter. Instead of Dion, guarded by LBJ down the stretch, Cleveland auditions Jeremy Pargo for the role of crunch-time hero. Despite a valiant effort, Dwyane Wade blocks the pull-up from seven feet, and Cleveland limps off, a 108 to 110 loser.
Without a doubt, a disappointing outcome, but ultimately something our young squad should be proud of. Facing the defending champs, on the second night of a road back-to-back, they took the fight to twelve rounds. If some combination of Pargo, Miles, Casspi, and Zeller continues contributing after Kyrie’s return; this team can still be as good as any of us expected.
A few extra bullets:
Prior to Wednesday, what I knew about Jeremy Pargo amounted to: he played four non-spectacular years at Gonzaga followed by two seasons in Europe; last year in his first NBA season, while struggling to crack Memphis’s rotation, he finished with a 4.4 PER; Memphis literally gave Cleveland a draft pick to take his $1 million contract off their books; and he turns 27 in March.
So, I painted a picture of fairly low expectations for Monsieur Pargo. After three games as starter, that assumption is changing though. He looks fast, yet under control. He seems to generally understand when to shoot versus the time to pass. He tries on defense. There was even one Kyrie-esque pick-and-roll with Andy. During the Lester Hudson explosion of 2012; I always thought it was mirage. With Pargo, other than the 45% three-point shooting, I think he’s the real deal to play back-up. He finished with 16 points and 7 assists. As a starter in three games, it’s 20 points and 4 assists per night. Also, those three opponents are: 2012’s second-best defense, 2012’s eight-best defense, and the reigning-NBA-champs.
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For me, this may have been Dion’s least impressive game. Not numerically, as those were fine, with 16 points on 51% true shooting and two assists against only one turnover. Also, he offered-up some fine clutch offensive plays down the stretch. But I thought he looked tired; more passive on offense than usual, and out-of-sorts on defense. For one night, this is excusable. I have already touched on the compression & strength of the recent schedule. Add in that Dion lead the team in minutes and shots each of the games without Kyrie, and it makes sense for him to be exhausted. He is a rookie that played twenty-five minutes per slow-paced NCAA game last year.
His defense was pretty bad tonight though. Bad switches, flat-footed on the defensive boards, routinely losing his man away from the ball…not good. Coach Scott benched him one-minute into the third quarter, after Dwyane Wade opened with four points in the first two possessions. Unfortunately, fault for two critical late possessions also rests with Dion. Ray Allen beat him baseline in isolation for an and-one, then somehow found himself completely wide-open with 18 seconds to go for the winning three. Waiters let himself get stranded near the baseline, and Ray Allen, greatest shooter of all-time, does not need the benefit of that sort of defensive lapse at the end of a close game.
In the comments section of yesterday’s game, we briefly discussed the critical eye that Cavs:the Blog can turn towards Dion. At least speaking for myself, that is because hope & expectations for him are very high. I like the skills that Dion shows, on offense and defense, but as is the case with all twenty-year olds, he can improve…alot. While he is young, constructive critique seems warranted (same case for Kyrie’s defense every night).
Cleveland only gets one night off before another back-to-back in two cities, but even when completely spent, I am sure Dion will be learning immensely from these early experiences.
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I will note that over the last three games, the starting PG or SG have started the second and fourth quarter. I just want to point out that there is zero reason this can’t happen once Kyrie returns.
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The Heat broadcast crew noted that Anderson Varejao tallied five of the NBA’s fifteen highest rebounding games of the early season. Tonight did not quite reach those levels, but add another 15 boards, 10 points, 4 assists and 4 steals to his ledger.
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On offense, Tristan Thompson played the perfect game. Not trying to do too much, when ‘garbage’ buckets came his way, he secured the ball and finished. Thirteen points on 6 of 7 shooting for TT. If this type of low usage, gimme-finisher is all he ever becomes on offense, I would be perfectly happy with that. Do this every night Tristan, and otherwise master defense and rebounding.
Just want to say Tristan’s first quarter defense was quite impressive. Got stuck out on Wade and LeBron a couple of times and forced them into tough, missed, shots. His man to man is good.
I was impresssed by these young CAVS. They got so much closer to beat MIami at home than many of their better record opponents. Again, if more free throws were made; A BIG WIN would have happened. That is my only complaint. Other than that; THEY LOOKED DAM GOOD!! I especially liked how they didn’t back down to the big 3. No deer in the headlights here!
Well, I agree almost a hundred percent with you that Dion looked tired. But I will say he played 50% really good defense and half not so good. I mean, that play on Wade in the fast break was FANTASTIC. It was athletic AND smart. He also has flashes of being our best 1-on-1 defender on the perimeter. Unfortunately, he rarely strings those defensive moments together. But he is so inexperienced…
Did anyone else see the the graphic in the pre-game show that compared Dion and Wade after their first 12 games? Uncanny! Same PPG, same FG%! Exactly! Dion was the far superior 3pt shooter but Wade got to the line over twice as much. Pretty interesting…proving even as a rookie Wade was getting calls! Ha!
And Kevin, nothing about Henson’s big night the other night? LOL!
Cavs have a playoff team in the making.
Gibson, Miles and Pargo are good backups with different talents.
Casspi and Gee are a potentially outstanding SF combination.
Zeller is hindered by the mask and the pace, but looks way better than I thought he’d be.
He is a future, much-better-than-average, big man.
Varajao is as AC states, “Priceless.” He is one of the best players in the game.
Tristan tries hard, and has strengths. He needs to improve, but may one day be very good.
Waiters has exciting potential.
Kyrie is outstanding.
We need one more, impact player who can score and a lot of maturation.
Kj,
Yeah, big night from Henson on Wednesday. Last night, he only played 1 minute though. What’s the story there? It’s vaguely reminiscent of how the Bucks used Leuer last year.
Pargo was a bulldog for the bulldogs.
Don’t sleep on pargo. He was one of the best four year players in zags history. And WCC player of the year. He didn’t fit the Morrison, dickau
mold, but may have had as good of a career. Never missed a game, took over games on offense, and a tough defender. His only knock was his lack on consistency from beyond the arc and that aspect of his game has improved greatly. If you had any questions about his ability to get to the rim, search pargo+dunk on YouTube and you won’t be disappointed.
IMHO, he is the best NBA prospect to come out of GU.
Look forward to seeing him contribute on the cavs.
Peace
Zagquette,
Thanks for stopping by. I’ve seen the youtube dunks; never had doubts about Pargo’s athletic ability. I hope that your upbeat (and apparently built from longstanding fandom) expectations are correct.
Fun game to watch, but damn, Dion’s defense down the stretch ended up being the death of us. You are guarding the most prolific 3 point shooter in the history of the game and you have a 2 point lead… what exactly is the thought process in leaving him open like that? I mean, you’ve grown up watching the NBA, you shouldn’t even have to be coached to know not to leave Ray Allen.
Jarrod, Byron Scott talked about it in the post game telecast. He said it was a team breakdown but specifically pointed out Dion. Don’t recall the specifics of the question/answer but he was not happy but also said between Lebron, Wade, Bosh and Allen, the Heat ran a good set and there’s only so much that can be done. I think he said Boobie was their best defender too so had to cover one of the others.
IMO, the failure was more on the offensive end in those last 2 minutes than defensive. Cavs were in the bonus – get to the line AND hit your FT’s.
One other thing that came out in the post game was Dion was benched in the 3rd specifically for his defense and Miles sat most of last game for his defense. If Scott is going to the trouble of pointing these guys out and benching them, he better damn well do it to Kyrie too when he is back. Can’t play favorites now and polarize the team. Besides when Kyrie was playing, I couldn’t help but watch his rotations on defense ever since this blog put up that article on him a few weeks ago. He defiinitely has to get better.
Yeah, it’s like Dion fell asleep on that last play, just lingering along the baseline while Allen slipped to his favorite spot. Maybe he locked eyes with a cute cheerleader or something.
Thatguy,
I agree that Kyrie should not get special treatment. After Lebron left, that is mantra we heard: No more star treatment, everyone on the team is equal, etc. With one exception, each player on the team has plenty of room to get better. Varejao is pretty much the only guy that can rest on his laurels (fortunately for us, he never rests).
I know Byron says Boobie is a good defender but I’m sorry, I saw very little proof of that last night. Yeah, Dion got taken out for going under a screen on Wade but Boobie did absolutely nothing to stop Wade after Dion sat down.
Btw, FT’s killed this team. Again. Kudos to you for mentioning it. Make some of those and we’re basking in a road win over the defending champs right now instead of blaming a kid who’s played 13 NBA games…
Kj,
The Cavs shot 33 fts and made 24…that doesn’t seem like a killer. It seems like you’re deferring fault onto something that isn’t there.
As far as ‘blaming’ Dion; one play doesn’t lose a game. I understand that. I did think it was a relatively uninspired performance by him in general though. That’s fine; he’s been playing a lot and helping carry the offense for several games in a row.
On a slightly related note, I hope Coach Scott limits his minutes to 30 for each game of the next back-to-back.
Well, I ain’t the only one blaming FT’s as Amico did today as well. And yes, while the percentage looked ok for the Cavs, when we missed them was the key.
And I wasn’t saying you blamed Dion. I thought Scott kinda did. And again, what did Boobie do so well defensively?
It’s funny though, for all of Scott’s protestations about Dion’s various foibles, it’s interesting how many minutes he plays him. In other words, he absolutely counts on a guy who has played 13 games in the league. I guess that is why I am so high on the kid…oh that and he has ONE T.O. in 75 minutes of action. Rookies usually turn it over like mad.
I’ve always been baffled by the “When you missed them argument. They count just as much in the 1st quarter as they do in the 4th…” Didn’t get to watch this game till today, and my stupid Tivo cut off the last 5 minutes, but a couple things I noted: The Cavs as a team shot better from 3 than from the rest of the floor, 45% to 44%; the Cavs shot exceptionally well from 3 just to be in this game, and seemed to fall in love with the shot, especially in the early 4th, and then with long jump shots. Andy did not get a lot of touches early. The Cavs guards seem to want to let the ball stick with the handler on the pick and roll instead of running the give and go that works so well… Dion made some dumb plays on defense, but had a nice one in transition on Wade in the third. I question Byron Scott’s wisdom in the late game situation. If you’re coaching to win, and you don’t think Dion can guard the guy, why is he out there? Casspi might’ve been a much better choice. Nice game from TT, but he HAS to get more than 5 rebounds. Pargo is a keeper. Also, the Cavs need a shotblocker.
Nate – totally agree about Casspi being out there. His end of game lineup was pretty weird, to me.
Seriously? Since when did Casspi become a defensive stopper?
Nate Smith, I must agree with you about Casspi. While he maybe a less talented player, and not as fast on his feet as Dion – he most certainly works his tale off on defense. He would have never relaxed the way Waiters did.
Also, did anyone think that Pargo should not have taken the last shot? I mean he had two Heat players collapse on him -JUST KICK IT OUT TO THE TOP OF THE KEY TO WHOEVER IS THERE FOR A 3!!!!! No… He wanted to be a hero.
I hope the guys have learned their lessons in these last three games. But i am happy that they ARE indeed looking like a pretty decent NBA squad.