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!
Thanks for reading JoshV! Don’t be a stranger around here.
Josh good comment and rebuttal. I still think its been beyond attrocius though. On another note though. Irving leads the league in scoring when his team wins. He averages 30 per contest in wins, on 52% on 21 attempts shooting, an insane 53 from three on 5 attempts, and 89 from the line on 6 attempts. Of the other 10 leading scorers only Hardens and Wades points go substantially up. Hardens rises 3 and wades 2. Both of those differences though can be accounted for by just shooting better percentages and betting more calls (free throws). Irvings attempts and percentages increase drastically. he takes a full 2 more shots, and 1 more free throw on top of shooting 5% better from the field and 11% better from three. This while his assist numbers being assist and turnover numbers getting better. My point to all of this is despite being 20 years old and the fact that he already has a high usage rate the more we give him the ball the better he plays and the more we win.
Kyrie’s Defense is still pretty terrible. But Rodney Mac, there are a couple plays this year where he gets through a screen or effectively switches. He still gets caught in no man’s land more often than he should, but there is improvement. I would definitely have to disagree with him being a plus defender, but he’s definitely not as atrocious as he was last year. As for people harping on it, I say we keep harping. The guy does it for a living, there’s no reason he ever should be trailing both the picker and the roller by 7-8 feet, which still seems to happen at least twice a game. I’m never gonna be spoiled by anyone’s play who is doing everything they should be doing for a win.
Kyrie’s a great young player who makes our team a lot better, no doubt. This does not make him immune to criticism. In fact, all of his unreached potential means he should be getting constructive criticism damn near every day. Do work kyire and become that MVP you have the skillset to be!
About the game though, I was watching Dion dribble and wondering why they never have him drive by kyrie’s man, suck him in, and kick it out to Kyrie for a rare catch and shoot 3. And boom, as it was playing it in my mind it unfolded on the court and Kyrie drained it! That is how the two of them should play together like I said in that last comment thread. Now I’ll call out waiters going baseline while Kyrie is driving for the And-1 on Wednesday. C’mon guys, chemistry is built one game at a time, keep it coming.
I get that he looks lazy when he’s trailing the pick and roll by 10 feet, but think about it. If he’s already beaten and has virtually no chance of catching up to the play and affecting it, why should he waste his energy sprinting to catch up anyway? If anything, I like that he stays where he is in these cases, as it puts the Cavs in position to run off a missed shot. Of course I agree that him initially letting his man get by him is a problem, and he probably lets that happen more often than he should, but after he’s already beat I won’t quibble with his decision not to waste energy pursuing the play in vain.
I think people bring it up a lot because with Irving it “looks” like an effort thing. Honestly, most people don’t understand the complexity of NBA defenses. What they do understand is: arms up, fighting through screens, contesting hard, putting a body into someone, etc etc. Yeah often when Kyrie gets screened he just accepts that he’s been screened. And he doesn’t often anticpate it or fight over, under, or through it. It’s just sort of what’s happening. Kinda like if you are getting boxed out, there’s not much you can do except maybe go over the back and risk fouling. Often you see big men sort of concede that they do not have the position to attempt this rebound. But I think on the ball, around the perimeter, you watch some guys furiously go under and recover, or go over and chase down, or fight through as hard as possible. Or maybe a coach schemes something. The Mike Brown Cavs religiously “showed” on the PnR. So if Z’s man was trying to pick Mo Williams, Z would hard show in the direction that the ball handler was looking to turn the corner, to momentarily cut off that angle, and try to retreat as quickly as possible in order to prevent the screener from being open on the roll. It was a pretty good system since you didn’t want big Z switching and covering the ball-handler or Mo Williams covering the big man rolling. The Magic were able to kill the Cavs in 09 because all their wings were so long they could just switch everything. The 06 Celtics did this to the Cavs as well. I’m not sure what the scheme is for Byron Scott’s Cavs. There is switching sometimes, but often the guy (Irving) getting screened just gets screened and pushed out of the play, and it becomes 4 on 5 rather quickly.
I agree with Scott Raab in the podcast with Mallory. At this juncture we need to focus on the positives even if we’re concerned with the negatives. In other words, it’s OK to bring up Kyrie’s defensive shortcomings/Waiters Shot selection, Zeller’s “Stay Puft” softness, but it’s too early to put these young guys in a prison defined by what they can’t do. LeBron dealt with that for years (not from us of course) but it was always about what he COULDN’T do (post game, consistent shooting, hitting long 2 game winners [huge eye roll]) and not an excitement and appreciation for the talents and hard work.
It’s hard with a losing team to focus on the positives. Basically, if someone plays like crap but the Cavs win it’s colored positive: see all the outcry over Mallory’s perceived Tristan negativity following OKC win. If someone plays great but there’s a loss, like the Detroit game it’s colored in negativity: see Rich’s tweets about C.J. Miles.
So while we all make it a business here to observe, analyze, prescribe, react, discuss, project, whatever…it’s too early to have super high expectations for players and then hold them to those expectations.
A lot of the complaints seem to be about Kyrie fighting through screens. Didn’t Byron complain about the current bigs/praise Speights about communication? If Zeller/TT aren’t communicating the screens well enough to Kyrie, what chance does he have to get through them?
Tom, no one on the planet defined lebron by what he couldn’t do until he lost to Boston in 08. up until then his career was on trajectory and everyone, even away from here, were saying all he needs is experience and he’ll have a shot at being the next Jordan. Then the boston loss, and the national media wondering why he didn’t have a post game yet, and the cleveland defense of him at all times. Then he finally did fix his post game and focus on it and won a championship.
I agree there was some unfair criticism of lebron from 08-10, but the criticism of his lack of desire to play in the post was completely warranted and should have been harped on more in Cleveland.
And Nathan, he shouldn’t waste energy chasing a play he’s already out of, but he should never be out of those plays to begin with! If he can’t get through the screen, guess what? He’s already on the screener and should act accordingly. No worries, the kid has improved and will likely continue to do so, but I’m probably gonna keep bringing it up until it starts happening less than twice a game.
I do understand that sometimes on a really good pick it’s hard to get over/under it. Sometimes you get knocked out of plays. I do think that happens to Kyrie too often, but in games where he’s interested, meaning games against opponents over .500, it happens to him less. I do think it’s definitely an effort issue.
Part of me wonders if Scott’s plan this year is to do individual player development in games against poor teams, and team development against tougher opponents. We do seem to play much harder as a team in games we’re supposed to lose, unless it’s against the Bulls or the Lakers.
JoshV – think about that for a second. You are actually speculating whether or not Scott’s game plan is to only take good teams seriously. This from the 4th worst team in the league. I get that here on this blog we can throw theories like that out there. It’s similar to the people saying (back in early December) – Chris Grant purposely made acquisitions (Miles, Pargo,etc) to tank. I mean, nothing would surprise me in the NBA, but that almost would.
Yeah I get that teams tank. I get that guys with a splinter in their finger might rest 3 days instead of 2 when you are going for ping pong balls. There is no way the mandate from the top is “PURPOSELY LOSE GAMES”. “be patient” != “PURPOSELY PLAN to lose”. That is ridiculous (to me). And yet, people actually think that with this team.
Let’s suppose that you find out tomorrow, with no uncertainty, that Byron Scott’s plan is NOT as you described it. That he doesn’t actually game plan to try to win against tough opponents while just messing around and trying out different things against the bad teams. If you knew that, with certainty – how does that change your opinion of him? Of Kyrie? Of Grant?
You can always make excuses for everyone. If the team’s GOAL is not to win on a given night – then sure – who cares about effort, or offensive execution, or defensive identity. It doesn’t matter that they lost by 20 to division rival Detroit or that they aren’t even winning 1 out of every 10 games against the “stacked” Central division. But I really don’t think that is the GOAL. Also, if this is just about individual player development – then Scott’s lineups truly do not make sense. Leuer couldn’t get out of the D league (I know I know that worked out great somehow) and Casspi is 24 and never plays. Why would you go with an 8 man rotation if your goal is player development? Why is Josh Selby in the D league if this is about player development? Why pick up Shaun Livingston? He’s not a spry 22 year old with some unknown ceiling. He was a player that made the Cavs better without sacrificing future flexibility.
I think the goal is to win as many games as possible while maintaining all the roster flexibility going forward. I really do not think the goal of this team is to tank but have some fun against the teams with a target on their backs (LAL, OKC, etc). Especially not AT HOME. They’ve laid some eggs at home against poor teams. That is not by design, I assure you.
-This is not a draft to tank for.
-Agree with the sentiment that Kyries main deficiency is how effective picks are against him. On ball, hes not bad.
-Little dude in a yellow uni eviscerating his opponents with a scowl = Wolvie. F Michigan.
One other thing, great point TP about conceding box out position. Andy hooks the arm and at leat makes his guy stay grounded or rebound with one arm. He always tries to knock it away before a guy can secure it, and contests the outlet pass. He scraps, regardless of position, and occasionally it works. You can always do that.
Kyrie simply doesn’t scrap on defense when screened. Doesn’t folow his man, doesn’t get a body on the screener.
T – yeah no one gets screened as easily as he does. I used to think it might be a team communication thing but watch the difference when Waiters (fights through), Livingston (chases down), or Boobie (anticipates) gets screened. Sometimes I wish Kyrie would just start going under the screen and daring guys to shoot 3s over him. For most guards I think it would be more effective than the help defenders scrambling to stop the penetration. Cavs get beat on PitP and swing outs to open 3 point shooters more than guys just launching over the top. I’m going to keep an eye on the team defense as a unit in the coming weeks. They have some personnel now – time for B Scott to go to work.