Recap: Cleveland 95, Miami 98 (Or an oral history of the 24th straight win for the Miami Heat).
2013-03-21
This was a bizarre game — the most bizarre regular season NBA game I’ve watched in a long long time. So the recap will be equally so: a running diary interspersed with a psuedo-oral history of the game.
1st Quarter: After introductions, there is a 35 minute delay because of moisture dripping from the scoreboard. But the boss took care of it. The game finally starts and the Cavs are scrapping early on defense and offense too. Tyler has been doing a great job of running the floor and Cleveland is getting into their offense quickly. Meanwhile, Miami is passive on their offensive boards. TT has abused Bosh for four buckets on four possessions. The delay seems like it took Miami out of their flow, offensively. Livingston is playing like the player that the Clippers drafted: posting up, throwing sick dimes, using his size and floor vision to play defense.
Every time LeBron touches the ball he hears boos. Every time he scores he hears an odd mix of cheers with those boos.
LeBron James, at the shootaround earlier in the day: It can’t get no worse than Year 1.Bill Livingston, Plain Dealer: The fans booed James every time he touched the ball all right, but it was more a Pavlovian reflex than the raw hatred that spewed two years ago.
Speights nails an 18 footer the moment he steps onto the floor: a long elbow jumper over Chalmers. Suddenly, the Cavs have scored on 9 straight possessions. Walton comes in and the offense runs through him. He finds Boobie on a give and go for a nifty little left block layup. Mo Speights! 12 foot left baseline jumper to close the first… 32-24, Cleveland.
2nd Quarter: C.J. Miles bricks a patented, “I’m shooting off the screen, and I don’t care if I’m open or not,” jumper to start the second, and… wait a minute, who is that? Yes! It’s Omri Casspi! Welcome back. Let’s play some basketball. On his first touch he turns it over…
Wade starts running the offense with LBJ on the bench. Dwyane sets up 4 straight scores for the Heat, with the Cavs obliging with a string of bad shots and turnovers. 7-0 run to start the quarter for the Heat.
After a timeout, Livingston replaces Gibson. If the Cavs are going to win this one, Shaun is going to have to do some yeoman’s work. Oy. Casspi tries to go coast to coast and turns it over, and then Walton picks up his third foul.
C.J. Miles! With a sweet lob from the left wing to the right block for two, where Livingston was being fronted by Cole. 3J follows it up with a right corner three!
Zeller is really fighting for rebounds. It certainly helps that Bosh is playing center, but it’s good to see the effort from Tyler.
Miles drains a left wing three with Battier flying at him! 11 point lead. Tyler blocks Bosh… on replay, it was an obvious foul. Nice to see the good guys get some love from the refs, though. Ellington with the hustle putback! Miami keeps turning it over. Livingston in the post, turns middle… scores with a silky jumper over Wade! 14-3 run! 15 point lead!
Bill Livingston, Plain Dealer: The Q was a fascinating sonic battleground of conflicting emotions for much of the game, with insistent “Let’s go Heat!” chants being met with louder roars of “Let’s Go Cavs!”
Cavs and Miami trade touch fouls, and every play seems magnified. This is the most electric second quarter the Q has seen all season. Every possession is deafening. Zeller executes a good defensive slide on James to force a travel on a post-up. Cavs fly after the loose balls for a hustle offensive rebound. Ellington catches the ball on the right wing. James and Chalmers run past him. Pullup J… left elbow. THE BOTTOM! Nasty foul by Chalmers from behind on Miles after the whistle. It’s deafening in the Q. Chalmers claims he didn’t hear the whistle, but gets called for a technical, anyway. It’s getting downright chippy up in here.
Austin Carr: Wait till the second half. They will come after the Cavaliers with a vengeance. The Cavaliers have to be ready.
Ellington cans the tech. Twenty point lead, Cavs. Alonzo Gee stutter steps James and leaves him in cement boots for a left baseline baseline layup. 21-2 run! LeStruggling misses a layup on a drive. The Cavs are up 21 with 12 seconds left and the Q is standing and cheering. The fans let the Cavs hear it. No field goals in the last 6 minutes for Miami. There is only joy in Cleveland tonight. 55-34, Cavs.
Nate Smith: I thought, “This is it. This is what the 2013-2014 Cavs are going to look like: constant hustle. We will look back on this game and say that this was where the Cavs turned the corner. This will be remembered as the moment the Cavaliers came into their own.”
3rd Quarter: The Heat come out trapping the guards hard on the pick and roll, Cleveland swings it promptly, and TT scores a quickdraw lefty J with that funky face-up jumper he’s developed. Next play down, TT turns it over in the corner. The ball must move.
Bosh scores on a quick left block postup. Ellington for three after some very patient ball movement. Thompson takes Udonis Haslem to work in the left post and lays crossovers, backdowns and then finally drives hard to the lane and finishes with the right hook off the jump stop. TT’s post game is becoming something very special. Canadian Dynamite! jumps the passing lane on Haslem and steals the ball. Clear path foul! No! Lonny McCutcheon overrules it. I grumble at the television.
Colin McGowan: Preemptive note that may jinx this game to whoever’s doing this recap… Don’t make it a Miami bashfest. I’m not asking you to be antiseptic, just not gleefully bitter.Tristan Thompson draws three Heat players on a post-up and turns it over. ZPA! Putback plus the foul. This could be his best game of the year. LeBron only has 6 points on 2-6 shooting as he heads to the line. The 26 point lead doesn’t seem big enough.
The Cavs fans came to boo tonight. The refs are hearing about every borderline call. Gee flushes a baseline rim racker over Battier and Bosh! LeBron tips in his own miss for his first field goal since the first quarter. Livingston gets two at the line and Battier answers with a straight on three. 20 point game. I exhale. The clock cannot move fast enough. Livingston goes to the bench.
Byron Scott: There was a point in third quarter where I was asking Max [Benton] how many timeouts I had because I didn’t want to burn them all in the third quarter… It was more of just weather the storm as much as possible… I knew they were gonna make a run. I think everybody in that locker room knew they were gonna make a run… They’re gonna tighten it up on the defensive end, and they’re gonna get it going a little bit on the offensive end. Just keep your composure. I think for the most part we did that. We just had some lulls in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter where the ball was sticking instead of moving and it took us a little too long to figure that out.Ellington drives… Misses a bunny. Luke Walton with a tip in! Chalmers scores a too easy layup. Walton turnover. Argh. Out of the timeout another Battier straight on three. Miami’s D is relentlessly pushing the Cavs back to the half court line. TT Misses a prayer at the buzzer with a righty J. 15 point lead. Battier AGAIN for three off a Bosh rebound. 12 point lead. Boobie bricks a prayer from the right wing. Gee finally gets to the line to break the drought and splits the pair. James scores. Cleveland Turnover. Allen three on the break… UGH six point lead. Daniel Boobie Gibson!!! lulls Allen to sleep with a behind the back dribble and cans a right wing three as the third quarter expires. 68-77, Cleveland.
Tom Pestak: You know I think Nate [on DVR delay] is ignoring all these emails. I started to type into the chat window and he immediately told me to stop. he’s probably about to get to the 3rd quarter. Should we just tell him to stop?
Bob S., Commentariat: I was on the fence before but count me in the dump Byron camp after his mind boggling decision to sit Livingston for Boobie and then leave him as the entire lead vanished. It was blatantly obvious it disrupted not only the defense but Luke and the ball movement on offense. I honestly feel like that substitution is the main reason we fell apart.
Rich, Commentariat: But he [Scott] wasn’t going to play Livingston 45 minutes nor should he have. It isn’t fair to a guy with no knees. Gibson HAD to play, and he played him as little as possible, but that fourteen minutes was still too damning.4th Quarter: Livingston is back, thank God. LeBron sets up the Birdman for a couple freethrows, which he splits. Then James steals a bad Walton pass… attacks, scores. Ugh. “LeChuck Special”
(dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble, pullup) for 3. LeThug shoves Livingston to the ground and gets a putback. LeBron, pullup 3. Tie game. He starts fronting to the crowd with that dopey Ross Gellar turn the volume down move. A chorus of boos rains down.
Dwyane Wade: When he made that one and turned to the crowd, you knew it was coming.Nate Smith: It’s the preening that drives me crazy, but Miami is getting to be like vintage era Tiger Woods. Fear and the seeming inevitability of loss make whoever’s beating them fall apart.
Livingston scores out of the timeout on a foul line jumper to re-take the lead. LeBron… again from three. Gibson goes to the bench, finally. Ugh. Livingston lollipops a pass for an Allen steal. LeChuck special… air ball. Bullet dodged. That might have been a back breaker.
Allen with another straight on three. This is the mirror of same play that Battier was hitting threes on earlier: right wing pick and roll; (instead of the left) James went baseline and hit Allen for the three at the top of the key. Four point deficit. And the game stops when some dope from the stands runs onto the floor wearing a T-shirt that reads, “We Miss You 2014 Come Back.” He is promptly escorted out of the building. It’s a zoo here tonight.
LeBron James: He said he missed me and come back, please, It happened once before in (Madison Square) Garden, so I wasn’t worried. There are metal detectors here, so we were OK. I embraced it.
Speights and (thankfully) Walton are off the floor, so the starters are back in, minus Gee. C.J. bricks… Chalmers travels. Must get points… There are no passing lanes. 24 second violation. LBJ misses a gimme, and the the Cavs just give him the ball right back on a failed outlet pass. I throw my remote across the room. Pass to Chalmers for an easy layup. Ellington counters! Ray Allen hits a three where he has time to dribble three times before shooting. Timeout. Cavs down 7. 6:24 left. I go put the batteries back in the remote. It still works!
Colin McGowan: Yeah, so obviously that was gonna happen. It felt inevitable. I just figured I’d throw another pebble at a slumbering god’s window.Crunch Time: Ellington three!… out of a very patient post-up by Tristan. 88-84, Miami.
Chalmers for three from the corner. Ellington turnover. LeIso on Miles. Miss. Livingston DUNK! Miami TO. Wade swishes an 18 footer, TT… blocked. Cleveland can’t keep LeMonster off the O boards, and he goes to the line for two. UGH. Technical on Livingston. 95-86, Miami, 3:01 left.
Angry at the world, Livingston drives… another dunk! Cuts the deficit to seven… Bosh fouled… Splits. Ellington! Deadeye Three. Five point game!
Turnover, Miami. Ellington misses a pull-up. Tough man rebound for the Cavs. Pitch ahead to Gee. Throws the hammer down!!!! I look at my wife. “Guess what, honey?” “Huh?” “He threw the hammer down.” “Did he throw the hammer down?” “He did throw the hammer down.” We have this exchange about one hundred times a season.
96-93, Miami… Right wing… LeChuck Special! MISS!! Ellington iso on LeBron… finds TT on the right baseline. TT fouled hard. Knocks them down. Time out. Wade misses a step back from the right elbow. 25 seconds left! Ellington-iso pull-up for the miss against Allen. I want to cry.
Dani Socher: Wayne Ellington’s crossover-stepback on Ray Allen was a thing of beauty, and I’m telling you that ball was meant to land. The stars were aligned for a misalignment of the star-studded HEAT, and the lowly Cavs were really going to do it.Out of bounds. Miami ball, but they’re going to the video. Calls don’t get closer than this. It looks like LBJ didn’t nibble down his finger nail enough tonight because the ball appears to be just barely out off of him.
5.2 seconds left. Miami’s ball?! Fred McCloud and Austin Carr are dumbfounded by the replay call. The Cavs are forced to foul James. LeIce coolly knocks them down. 4.3 seconds left. 98-95, Miami. Out of the time out. Miles catches, has only Battier on him. Miami opts not to foul. With a decent look, but some questionable footwork, C.J. clanks a three over Battier. Miami Wins, 98-95.
…
Jeff Phelps, Fox Sports Ohio: With 7:40 to play in the third quarter, the Cavaliers had a 27 point lead on the Miami Heat. It was 67 to 40. They were on their way to derailing history. And then over the final 19 minutes and 3 seconds, Miami outscoring the Cavaliers 58 to 28… I am such an emotional mess after watching this one. The Cavaliers played so well, early on in this game, and then so poorly late in the game, yet still had a chance to win it in the end.
Dani Socher: I can’t express myself lucidly, in my head, on a keyboard or otherwise. That was heartbreaking. It would have been one of the best sports stories of the year. Instead? The Cavaliers are just another stepping stone on the HEAT’s road to immortality.
Tom Pestak: My dad and my best friend both texted me at some point. My buddy flipping out and incredulous I wasn’t watching. Then my dad saying “can you believe they are up 23.” I swear I told them both it was just gonna make it that much more disheartening.
Tristan Thompson: We knew it was coming… They were the NBA champions last season. They’re not going to lay down. Champions don’t lay down even when they’re down by 27. We knew they were going to make a push. Guys went out and made plays, so you have to give them credit.
LeBron James: This was one of the most bizarre, unique days of my life with everything that happened. It also was one of the best comebacks I’ve ever been a part of.
Cavs the Blog Staff: Utah’s gonna lose. Lakers’ pick is looking better and better every day! Maybe Nate should write a recap of the Utah game…we can pretend that nothing else happened tonight… Nate is going to either: stay up all night and write the worst greatest recap ever, or just going to light up a cigarette and watch some My Little Pony on Netflix.
Byron Scott: I thought we played hard. That’s all I asked them to do, was go out and compete, and I thought we did that. You know, we just didn’t get the job done like I wanted us to. And I’m sure everyone in that locker room wanted to get itdone. But again, you’ve got to give them credit. That’s why they’re NBA defending champions.
Peter, commentariat: Swapping Livingston for Boobie and not losing your stuff as a 27 point lead over your main rival vanishes at home definitely has to go in the cons column for Byron.
Rodney Mac, commentariat: Why did Zeller not get put in at the 10 minute mark? He was the 2nd best player for the Cavs after Livingston tonight. Zeller +28, Walton, -34.
Chris McLafferty, commentariat: What?!?!?! I got drunk for this game!! Who am I even supposed to me mad at? Did I really expect that line up to win a game, let alone the team on the 2 most winning streak ever!! WHat? DO I hate Byron Scott for being part of a 27 point failure?!
Dani Socher: 27 points? [Unprintable] The HEAT won because they suddenly started hitting every three pointer. That’s bullll[Unprintable].
Tom Pestak: At what point in the game did you let your guard down and let things like probability and math cloud your faith in Cleveland?
Cory Hughey, comentariat: It was a horrible loss, but Scott is getting too much blame on this one. The fact they were up and in it for the entire game without their three best players against probably the best team in a decade was remarkable.
Mallory Factor: All I have to say is I feel no shame. The Cavs second unit took the best team in the NBA to the brink of losing. I honestly believed they had NO shot. They had a shot.
Bill Livingston, Plain Dealer: James was what Mike must have been like in the 72-win season by the Bulls, winning when the opponent had delivered its best shot, winning simply because he did not like to lose.
Tom Pestak: It infuriates me that the for the 2 to 3 years when the Cavs were arguably the best regular season team in the NBA, the East was stacked at the top. And just like that – the Magic fall apart, the Celtics get old, Dwight Howard moves out West, Andrew Bynum doesn’t play. And the only real threats to the Heat in the East are: Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Danny Granger, A Health Knicks Team… Has there ever been a weaker conference than the East this season?
Dani Socher: The Basketball Gods ordered that shot [Livingston’s] as a game-winner. Somewhere down the line the Basketball Angels (Andrew Toney, Chris Mullin) got mixed up and gave the win to the HEAT.
Nate Smith: For moments in that game, everything seemed possible: victory, redemption, championships… And for other moments, everything seemed impossible: baskets, accomplishment, respect… So much hope and despair rests on the fortunes of a spinning ball each time it sails through the air towards an 18 inch singularity. Basketball is an amusement almost too great to bear.
$ Playing PG isn’t about dribbling it is about initaiting the offense. A PG that aimlessly dribbles around and ultimately ends up looking for his own shot is not a true PG. As Nate says, Livingston initiates the motion of the team’s offense, which is part of the triangle offense or really any motion oriented scheme. I guess overdribbling while the rest of the team stands around has become so commonplace with the cavs that people are starting to think that is what a PG is supposed to do. The PG makes the initial decision as to the most effective… Read more »
The thought that Livingston isn’t a point guard is silly. The problem is that he isn’t a pick and roll point guard. He’s a triangle point guard. That means he posts up, brings the ball up, initiates the offense then cuts or moves to the post. This is the offense that the second unit runs. Which is fine. Actually, why am I commenting on this? Look for an article on this topic next week.
With one of our second round picks we should grab a guy that can simply dribble and run the offense when Irving/Waiters are out.
Up 27 in the 3rd, if we have anyone that can just dribble up the court and setup a play, we win. I saw Ellington and Walton doing this more than Livingston. With Irving being injury prone we need a true ball handler.
Lorenzo Brown from NC State or Shane Larkin from Miami are in the 30-40 range. Perhaps grab one of those guys
Rich… True, Livingston doesn’t turn the ball over much because he takes 2 dribbles and hands it to a teammate. He’s scared to dribble. He shoots a high percentage because all he can’t shoot 3’s and doesn’t try. The stats look nice, but on the court he is not a a PG and that showed in the 4th quarter. When he runs point, the defense can collapse into the interior because he has no range. There’s a reason that he hasn’t been offered a contract and the Wizards cut him. Mallory… His defense is good. He is long. If we… Read more »
Livingston plays alright when he’s on the floor with Waiters because Waiters does the ball handling. In that 4th quarter, we couldn’t even setup a play because we did not have a ball handler. Livingston was running around like a small forward and dumping the ball off to Walton or Ellington as soon as he got it. That’s not his job. Livingston can’t shoot so you can’t have him out there spreading the floor like a SG/SF. He’s called a PG for lack of a real position. We need someone to handle the ball if Waiters/Irving are not on the… Read more »
@Ben I think the traditional positional name tags are becoming irrelevant. I see Kyrie, Waiters and Livingston as guards. Livingston’s length makes it possible for him to play all three backcourt position. What I like most about him is his versatility. I like Livingston but he does have an injury history. No team has committed to him for a long period of time since the injury and he’s been on 8 different teams for a reason. I’d love to have him back. I really would. My only worry with him is that you can’t expect him to play heavy minutes… Read more »
“I tweeted this out last night and was mocked by a number of my followers” Mallory should be used to this by now..
Livingston isn’t a real PG? He’s injury prone? He had one massive injury…what else besides that?
He’s a good defender and a savvy passer. He’s not a #1 PG on a championship team, but he can be a #1 backup PG on a championship team. If we had all of our starters, our lineup would be:
Kyrie – Dion – Gee – TT – Varejao
Livingston – Miles – Ellington – Speights – Zeller
That isn’t so terrible. Add in a draft pick or two…and you are looking at a really good team moving forward.
I’d still try Zeller at center. They have an over abundance of power forwards in Thompson, hypothetically healthy Andy and Speights. They definitely do need a legit center, but considering that half of the league has finesse centers, I think Zeller could be fine in time. The draft is deep with center prospects, but most are more finesse than powerful. The power center is a dying breed. The only downside to addressing center through the draft is they tend to develop slowly. I believe the lottery is May 21st. That’s one of my few issues with the NBA calendar. Have… Read more »
Just to pile on $, I dont know anybody who agree’s with you about Livingston, I really wish he would develop a little more range, but from a backup you are going to have specific warts… His defense is Impressive
How about Zeller being more of a PF not a center? He seems to do well enough against most teams that don’t have a Physical Beast on the interior.
DeAndre Jordan, and JaVale McGee abused him, but guys like Bosh and Garnett he seems to hold his own
There is no reason they won’t be able to keep Livingston. No team is going to break the bank for the guy. If you can keep him for less than you are paying Boobie now, do it. Teams have finally started learning their lessons with injury riddled players. Short deals. My only hang up with Livingston is that you can’t expect to play him 40+ minutes if you need him to. With Kyrie’s developing history you might need a backup who is capable of that. Dion being out also certainly contributed to the issue last night. I understand that he… Read more »
Casspi is definately gone, and so is Gibson. So that does free up more cap space to keep some of these others guys. I get that they aren’t gonna blow their cap space, so if any team makes big offers for any of them, the Cavs aren’t gonna match. But, lets say Livingston gets offered 3 years at roughly 3 million a year….yea, I’d be upset if the Cavs didn’t match. Speights, I get if they don’t match. He’s probably gonna get the most out of the group and the Cavs, when healthy, do have 3 solid to rotational bigs,… Read more »
Mallory is right about Livingston. Anyone who doesn’t realize he is the real deal as a PG has no understanding of the game. He is an absolute must bring back player who is the perfect complement to Kyrie and Waiters in almost every way. Ellington makes the perfect fourth guard in that mix. That group of four has almost every facet a team could want out of their guards covered.
On the bright side, Zeller was a real player out there tonight. Oh, and I’ve player ESPN’s mock draft lottery game 10 time and every time so far the cavs have taken Noel or Porter, so thats cool.
So what can we take away from this. The team, as a whole, played well and held it together longer than i thought they could against Miami. They almost pulled off a day dream and show cause that if our bench can play Miami that close what are we going to look like in a year or so when they are healthy and get better. TT- Is doing well and gets better every few games. Zeller- Shows he can play and has moves, needs to work hard at getting to his spot, and for god sakes eat something and gain… Read more »
It depends on how much LIvingston wants. I mean, I think he’s the real deal, but do you sign him some 4 year deal, when he’ soo injury prone? Eh…risky. I do think we should match any offer that is 2 years and under though (provided it isn’t some insane thing at like 5 million or more)
$
“Livingston can go. He’s not a real PG.”
Mario Chalmers doesn’t play like a PG. But he fits what Miami needs. Livingston works for the Cavs.
@ Mallory
“The Cavs would’ve certainly lost a few more games without Livingston on the team.”
Agreed²
Rich/Dave –
Not to mention Livingston is a leader on defense. I tweeted this out last night and was mocked by a number of my followers, but I stand by it – the Cavs absolutely have to lock Livingston up to a long-term deal. His leadership alone is invaluable to a team of young guys.
The Cavs would’ve certainly lost a few more games without Livingston on the team.
“Livingston can go. He’s not a real PG. We need a legit backup PG who can dribble, not some 6’7″ tweener. Livingston showed at the end of the game, as he has before, he’s not comfortable handling the ball. Ellington was the primary ball handler in the late game. Livingston is like a tall version of Gibson who dunks instead of shooting 3′s but neither can handle the ball” I mean….I’ll just say that neither I, nor most likely the majority of the visitors to this forum, share this thought. Livingston has been fantastic. He needs to stay. I honestly… Read more »
I’m not upset about this one.
Sure, we could have won it, it would have been fantastic if we had, but the Cavs have just demonstrated that they can compete with absolutely anybody. That should be a big confidence boost.
And Tyler Zeller banging around in there with Bosh suggests that he’s getting it. I don’t think he’ll ever be Andy, but he’ll be a serviceable player, which is about the best we could hope for with those late picks.
It was interesting to see how guys played under pressure. The only bench guy that I thought “we should keep him” is Ellington. He didn’t make the big shot at the end but at least he wanted to take it. He didn’t get scared- he stayed aggressive and made it his team at the end. Livingston can go. He’s not a real PG. We need a legit backup PG who can dribble, not some 6’7″ tweener. Livingston showed at the end of the game, as he has before, he’s not comfortable handling the ball. Ellington was the primary ball handler… Read more »
Gut-wrenching loss, not because it was a game they should have won, but because they could have. I so desperately wanted the top story on SportsCenter to be “Scrappy Second String Cavs dethrone the King’s Streak” and not “Unstoppable Heat make biggest comeback of the year” That’s the problem with perception. Guaranteed NOBODY on the network or elsewhere will be talking about how the Cavs, missing three of their best players, took the world champs and their epic win streak to the brink. It has and will all be focused on LBJ and his miracle comeback, with any reporting/commentary left… Read more »
I wanted that Ellington step back J. I wanted it so badly.. the Q may have exploded. A rushing of the court might have actually happened if Wayne hit that step back.
Cody:
RE livingston: completely agree, and with Kyrie being “delicate” it is essential to have a guy who can come in and steer the ship
RE the heat winning it all, I think they run through the playoffs like the Shaq/Kobe Lakers in 2001. They can get stops when it matters and easy baskets when it matters. Will be interesting to see if they keep this streak alive or start to rest players for the Playoffs
This has to be right up their with the most infuriating losses I’ve ever witnessed (haha) as a Cavs fan. Sure we had no business being in this game. But we were and then it appeared that Byron Scott was either uninterested or incapable of making decisions that could bring it home. When it became clear that we had a chance to win, it became the type of game where minutes don’t matter for the guys who are playing well. Who cares if they are gassed for the rest of the week? This was the game you play to win… Read more »
Nate, good job on the write up. This was a clever idea. I agree with Cory, Scott will get too much blame for this loss. Had either Kyrie or Dion been available, it’s a different outcome. No one else on the roster is a good enough ball-handler to really deal with defense like that. It’s a shame that they couldn’t finish to give the fans a great win, but there are positives to take away. The Miami Heat have beaten the Cavs 3 times this season by a combined total of 9 points. I find that interesting, and encouraging. Zeller… Read more »
Here’s my recap of the game:
Cavs lose, Hornets win, Cavs move into 3rd draft slot.
Who did the Cavs play again?
When the season ends, and Daniel Gibson’s contract finally runs out, it might be the greatest day in Cavaliers history.
As much as I hate the “stay cap flexible for 2014, hoping for LBJ to return approach” every GM has to at least try right? Even if the odd are like 5% of him coming to Cleveland, Lebron and 9 D-leaguers will at least be in the hunt. The guy is that good.
That wasn’t a clear path foul…Take off the wine and gold glasses Ben… But I do agree it killed the Cav’s momentum…
The refs were downright terrible the entire game. The clear path foul, and the final possession call were just awful. Every time Lebron drove on the basket he would call out like he was being murdered and they would blow the whistle. This game was a microcosm of all the things that make the NBA terrible; fans cheering for a single player rather than a team, front running fans showing up at the arena; awful gimme calls for stars if they are breathed on wrong; long unnecessary delays for replay reviews. I am proud of the Cavs. Without their two… Read more »
The overruled clear path foul was, without a doubt, the turning point of the game. Before that, we had all the momentum and we on our way to pushing the lead to 30. After an incredibly long break to look at that thing, they still ended up getting it wrong and the Heat regrouped. Awful.
Nice write up. It was brutal. I knew I couldn’t watch it in public and hadn’t planned on watching it at all. I tried to preoccupy myself by cleaning up my gross apartment. At the point I assumed it was the third quarter I looked at the score on my phone. When I realized the Cavs were up in the first (delay) I watched a quasi-legal probably illegal Russian feed of the game (in HD!). The Q was rocking from the second quarter until near the end of the third quarter and then they seemed deflated and sickened as if… Read more »
Agreed, Nice Recap, Nate, Somehow I feel slightly better. Couldn’t comment last night because it would have been incomprehensible. Was so mad at Walton for Turnovers/Leaving Battier Open for three straight threes/Not getting rebounds that I blamed on him, I wanted to cut him on the spot. He just cannot play well against the Heat, he they have too many good wing defenders/shooters he cant dribble or floats too much on D, was insainly frustrating to see him play so much while speights was on the bench LeBron’s preening/pumping down the crowd was obnoxious and unnecessary but we didnt do… Read more »
Le(enter lame ass name here), real original! And you did it how many times!?
Nice work Nate. Very nice.