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.
Similar to Godwin’s Law, Cols’ Law states that every comment ssection will eventually devolve into Cols making a snarky comment and then everyone arguing about it.
Jon – Nope! We’d all moved on from the paradigm of Cols’ law. This was about Hot Sauce trying to resuscitate Cols’ law and me trying my darnest to squash it. [Fail?]
At least the arguments are about underestimating a players’ ability/ceiling rather than overestimating. The back and forth over who was right about TT will always take a back seat to the fact that TT’s overnight transformation is a huge boon to this team. At least we’re not stuck talking about Derrick Williams and Brandon Knight. For the record, nobody could have been more negative on TT (or should be in a position to eat more crow) than Mike DeCourcy at SN: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/feed/2011-03/2011-nba-draft/story/2011-nba-draft-pick-by-pick-analysis-kyrie-irving-derrick-williams-jimmer-fredet
Josh, I appreciate it – You’re a good dude too. I’m the voice of the concerned fan – you definitely don’t have to agree with me, but that’s what makes this fun.
@Genius – And the thing about feeling good or bad moments after draft night (for some people) had a lot to do with rebuilding philosophies. BPA versus fit etc etc. A lot of those things work themselves out over time. I had my heart set on JV before draft night but I knew about Tristan’s draft rater score and had read his review. I warmed up to him quickly, it was the “fit” thing that bothered me until about mid-Dec when I felt like Tristan was by far the BPA at that spot in hindsight so fit became secondary and obviously fit works itself out as rosters are molded around a core (which is what we’re seeing now)
Jay Bilas described Thompson as someone “who needs to learn how to play and how to score.” That’s an incredibly negative assessment of a #4 pick. Considering Bilas was the draft expert on TV panning the pick, he probably had as much influence on the negativity surrounding it as anyone.
COLS HE SAID HE WAS QUOTE “DEAD WRONG” ABOUT TRISTAN! do you want him to drive to your house and kiss your feet or what man?
Seriously, can we ban this guy or at least implement a filter I can customize to not see his posts? Its insufferable and a complete downer to the mood of the team right now. We are on the upswing, guys are jelling and getting better, its actually fun to watch, and cols wants us all to suck his **edited** about it.
Nate – In Bilas’ defense, Tristan really did need to learn those things. He just suddenly did learn them. Go figure.
SwIrving – ignore it. Who’s your favorite bench guy (beyond Deon) and why?
Mal: Oh, I agree, but when the guy on TV that everyone is watching is negative, it radiates.
@Tom – I agree about the “fit” argument. Early on, it was hard to see why TT was an upgrade at all from JJ aside from age. Now, with his dramatic improvement, it’s hard to make an argument for anyone else in that class (even Kahwi Leonard). The question I’m not sure if there’s an easy answer to, is whether or not this transformation was coming with or without AV going down for the season.
Evil Genius -
I love TT’s game now, I do, but there is an argument to be made for both Klay Thompson and Kahwi Leonard – namely that had we drafted one of those guys (who both would’ve complimented Kyrie perfectly – seriously, amazing spot up shooters who play D?????) we would’ve been more likely to go after someone like Thomas Robinson (who is buried on a crappy Kings team – I wouldn’t overlook him yet) or Andre Drummond.
The thing is, SF is probably the most important position in the NBA because of the discrepancy in talent between a guy like Lebron and a guy like Gee – if you find your good, young SF then you’re golden. PF is a much more replaceable position.
I’m not saying I’d prefer that scenario, only that it’s viable. Now, instead of needing a PF, we need a SF. Just the way things have panned out.
Mallory-
I don’t think I would agree that there is an argument from Klay or Kawhi over TT. At least not for the “new” TT. I don’t care how replacable one position is compared to the other, I would never take a role player a ‘potential’ star level player.
I guess a lot of it depends on how you feel about Waiters vs. Thomas Robinson. I personally never wanted anything to do with Robinson and I haven’t seen anything from him to think differently. But I’ll take Waiters and TT over Robinson and Leonard/Thompson 1,000 times out of 1,000.
I think there are at least a few SF’s in this draft who have the potential to be significantly better players than either Klay or Kahwi. And if we go center instead I think there will always be SF’s on their level available in free agency.
Every awesome Cavs game’s recap devolves into this stuff.
Ok, now this is an honest request…not an attempt to created 20 more comments worth of fighting.
The one time I really dove into these discussions, my general theme was that the “Earlier this season, C:tB had a doom and gloom narrative” has become it’s own narrative, with a breadth and depth disproportionate to the actual events. Can someone who has that opinion scroll through the November and December posts and create a referenced list of times when C:tB issued a doom & gloom statement?
I’m not talking about pointing out facts, like Tristan was getting a lot of shots blocked, or half of Byron Scott’s teams have posted lowly offensive ratings. I mean something like, “On December 3rd in an article, Dani said that Tristan would be better shooting with his feet and the Cavs should trade him for a case of golf balls.” You would be like our ombudsman. Put together a list and email it to me in the body of the email (not in an attachment; I’m not opening attachments from you goofballs.)
If I read the list and my reaction is, “Oh shit, he’s right, C:tB carried a repeated and overarching pattern of projecting a failed re-build”…eh, I’ll award a small prize. If the list is all about the “tone” or includes on-court facts or details four definitive items in two months…then maybe we can all agree to let this go?
@Genius – agreed. That was exactly my problem until mid December. Was TT going forward better than Hickson going forward? The answer went from “not sure” to “emphatic yes” over the last 2 months. To Quote Brian Windhorst, TT has “been a revelation”. So yeah, now the question is whether this is about flying without Andy as a wingman. I think it’s hard to answer as there wasn’t a significant amount of minutes with the two of them playing together to compare against. We’ll find out next year I suppose.
The best thing about TT to me, is not just how much talent he’s oozing right now – I just love the way he plays the game. He’s really smart for someone so young.
From our Nov 14th podcast:
Mallory Factor II says:
November 19, 2012 at 10:23 am
NDK -
I haven’t given up on TT yet – like Nate has said, these guys are still essentially rookies. That being said, his improvement, thus far, from year 1 to year 2 is minimal, and he actually seems to have lost a step (like Tom said)
In general, I have some major frustrations about this team. There’s an overwhelming sense of forgiveness on this blog, which I get – we love these guys and want to view them through the prettiest lenses possible. But I for one feel like it’s our duty to dissect every aspect of our team and weigh it on the scale of this season – for the sake of thorough discussion and for the sake of an interesting conversation.
But don’t get me wrong, I still think Tristan can be good. In fact, he can still be great. So can Dion, and Kyrie’s flaws are normal for young guys. But the only way for them to get better is to acknowledge those flaws, and it doesn’t benefit anyone for us to overlook them, even if they can be attributed to youth and inexperience.
Given that, at the time, TT stunk (can we remember the block rates?) on offense, I think that’s a fair assessment. Lets give it a rest, guys – we were a bad team with no bench, a struggling TT, and a shot-happy Waiters. It seems like, to a certain extent, nearly all of those issues have been fixed. No way anyone saw that coming (particularly TT, who went from a ~13 [or was it 12?] PER to 16.2 now. That’s nuts.)
“star” potential may be a little premature, Josh. He’s greatly improved and extremely efficient, yes, but I don’t know that he’ll ever be a star. Particularly when he’s playing next to a talented center, like Andy- that will likely eat up some of his rebounds and shots.
Actually, do you guys think Andy and TT can co-exist? I used to, but TT plays a much slower, more methodical game than Andy, who is more frenetic and whose game is more dependent on catching the other team off guard. I don’t have a definitive opinion either way – I’m honestly curious.
I think they can play together, yes. Usually “playing together” refers to offense – spacing, usage, etc. I honestly don’t think any Cavalier big needs to be much of a shot creator with Irving and Waiters in tow. The main thing is, can they defend together – and I’d say yes. Also, the other team can just forget about ever getting a rebound.
Put it this way, Mallory. Tyler Zeller isn’t exactly spacing the floor right now. The guy is pretty shaky outside 15 feet and defenses know that. I’d actually argue Varejao is a better jump shooter right now (based on this season). Imagine this Cavs team right now with Varejao instead of Zeller on defense?
I think that Andy and TT are not going to have to co-exist. I think they are probably going to trade Andy in the off-season or at next season’s deadline.
As for Zeller, I imagine he’ll get better at shooting and defense.
Mallory, I don’t think star potential is premature. Calling him a star would certainly be premature, but I do think he shows the potential to get there. If he turns into a 17 and 11 PF who is one of the best defensive big men in the NBA is that a star? I would say yes and I think that is well within his range.
I do share your concern about him and Andy together though. It can’t be a complete coincidence that TT’s emergence came IMMEDIATELY after Andy went down. If we keep Andy next year, I would like to see him come off the bench. IF we don’t draft Noel or Len, how about TT and Speights starting with Varejao and Zeller off the bench? If Zeller develops a jumper this offseason it seems like it could be a pretty awesome big man rotation.
Hey, the first “he’s right handed!” was actually Campy, which was a little wierd. Ive never heard the post game color guy randomly blurt out something in the live broadcast like that.
Campy has a theory that Tristan is actually naturally right-handed. Seems that way given how smooth he looks going with that hand, even when he attacks from the righ side he’ll still take a right handed shot at times…
One thing I dont think commenters really get: writers on blogs, 98% of the time, DO IT FOR FUN. If you think the opinions are wrong, or the writing is bad, you can raise objections, or stop going to the site. Basically, at this point, get over it! The team looks good. just enjoy it
Tom and Kevin-
1. I only comment when I see something I strongly disagree with. When I agree with what you’re writing or I am just enjoying a nice article, which is most of the time, I don’t comment. I guess that’s not really fair. Let me say that you two are the reason I read this blog. I enjoy your writing, and I’ve learned a lot about basketball and my favorite team from reading you guys over the past few years. Thank you for writing and for giving me some pleasure when I am bored, stressed, unhappy, procrastinating, or when I’m happy with a coffee or beer in my hand and just want me some cavs. I appreciate it.
2. Why does it bug you so much when people talk about the blog as a whole? Yes, there are several voices, several moving parts, but there is 1 blog. Tom – yes there has been many individual cases of people explicitly or implicitly criticizing coach scott. I think it’s fair to wonder whether this might be overblown on the whole much like on the whole people were not patient enough with Tristan. I think it is fair to point out that as a whole, the blog was not patient enough with Tristan and to wonder if you all have learned from that and might be a bit more patient with Deon or with whoever we draft this summer.
3. Kevin- I’m not the man for your challenge. I will quibble with the rules though. The facts that writers’ choose to include (and more importantly the facts that are omitted) are what make up an argument. You don’t have to directly state something to make a point, it’s the facts that you present and fail to present that are what make up an argument or a point. When the argument is never stated directly that is when people talk about mood or tone.