The Chapter in Which Kyrie Irving wasn’t a demigod, and Marreese Speights Was Awful: DEN 111, CLE 103
2013-02-10
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.
TV63 is right on – TT had a horrific night on D, Zeller was…Zeller-esq, and Speights was awful. Bad games happen against good teams. This is one where Andy would’ve been a difference maker.
Oy. Kyrie played like a jerk. The fact that they never set up any more plays for Gee was pretty unforgivably stupid. On one break I saw Kyrie come down and Miles sitting all alone holding his hands on the right wing while Kyrie went 1 on 3. Kyrie missed, and Miles was visibly frustrated. Hero ball is not a long term recipe for success. The most ridiculous reason the Cavs lost this game? The worst end of quarter play I’ve seen in an NBA game possibly ever. The Cavs were outscored 17-2 in the final minute during of quarters… Read more »
Amazing, 1 bad game with Speights and the people here are ready to throw him in the garbage easily forgetting he is a big reason we were winning games recently. This is a really bad ass team and the real deal. 3rd in the West. Reality check . They are freakin huge and EXPERIENCED compared to the Cavs. Alll our bigs struggled , a quote from Bryon Scott. THat doesn’t been they weren’t playing competitve because he believed they did. I completely agree with the growing frustration and disappointment with Zellar. He just isn’t ready to be a starter. The… Read more »
@Rodney, I’ve only seen Len play once (Against UK at the start of this year), was an impressive game but he also looked light compared to NBA centers, but he could put on the weight a lot easier then the other’s I listed, Noel(while I love him being a Kentucky student) is rail thin
Side point Len is really redundant with Zeller, really similar games
Thanks Tom. If they trade Speight’s or he exercizes his option to leave they would be “The Speights’ Cowboys No Mo'”
Amazed we were in this game as long as we were. Ellington was about the only guy I thought played WELL. Gee was good for a half but I agree that they went away from him for no apparent reason. Kyrie went hero mode and missed countless easy passes that would’ve lead to buckets or FT’s or both. Dion struggled in the second night of a back-to-back yet again. Chalking that up to being a rookie. Though Dion would’ve had 6 assists last night at least if people could catch the ball and/or finish at the bucket. He still doesn’t… Read more »
lAlex Len is a legit Center. Don’t know how good he’ll be but I think that there a few other legit 7 footers this year too. I think a big part of Zeller awfulness was the guards inability to stop penetration him helping then no one rotating to pick up his man. Also he hit his only jumper last night with a man in his face.
I’ll echo the comment that Zeller was awful. It was really disheartening. And it wasn’t just getting out muscled or missing shots. There were a few sequences where Zeller just stood in the lane and just WATCHED. He watched a dribbler go by him, a pass go across him, or a rebound go over his head. Just no movement or urgency from him at all. I hope he was just tired….and it’s not that he just had it easy at Carolina because he was 3 inches taller than everyone else. He’s got to WORK for it, man.
@JAG – that’s clever. I like. The SPEIGHT’S Cowboys.
Nate wanted to nickname the bench bunch. In reference to an idea I saw elsewhere from a better thinker than myself, I’ll nominate “The Speights’ Cowboys”. Last night proves that as good as they are as a group, Speights is the driving force behind their success as a group.
Maybe this will put a damper on the “must sign Speights!” crowd.
Bad game, oh well it happens.
Teams with Legit centers are just 2 big for the Cavs to deal with at this point, remember the Jazz game a couple weeks ago. Tristen and Mo are 4’s and Tyler (and Andy) really are also. Sad that didn’t come up in the recap. Driving the lane against McGee was a lost cause unless your last name is Irving. This is why im excited about the Idea of signing Oden, and if he doesn’t hold up get some other real center. There isn’t really a legit center in the draft… Tyler outweighs Noel, his brother Cody, Alex Len, and… Read more »