Recap: Spurs 102, Cavs 97 (Or, Remember the Varejao)
2010-03-26
Overview: The San Antonio Spurs were able to snap the Cavaliers’ 8-game winning streak, beating the Cavs 102-97 behind Manu Ginobili’s 30-point effort. LeBron James had 27 points to lead the Cavaliers, who played without Anderson Varejao in the second half.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
-The Cavs are generally ludicrously good in games like this. The game was up in the air with about seven minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Generally, that’s the part of the program where the defense locks down and LeBron takes over.
-In what 82games.com define as “clutch” situations (less than five minutes to play, neither team leading by five points or more), the Cavs have been a crushing machine. In those situations, the Cavaliers have an offensive efficiency of 119.4 and a defensive efficiency of 81.3. That’s 38 net points per 48 minutes of crunch time.
-Against the Spurs, the Cavs didn’t gain a single point in the final five minutes, and were outscored by six points after LeBron entered the game in the fourth quarter. Most of the fingers will be pointed at the offense, but the fact is the Spurs were unstoppable down the stretch. With Manu Ginobili slicing through the lane and raining threes, the Spurs managed to score 15 point in just over five minutes during the time spanning from when LeBron entered to when Tim Duncan hit a five-footer to make it 92-86 with 1:43 to play.
-The big issue here was Anderson Varejao missing the second half with a tight hamstring. The Cavs normally give up 23 points per game in the fourth quarter; on Friday, the Spurs scored 33. Not having Varejao to show out on Ginobili and defend the paint was huge.
-The Spurs also had some success trapping LeBron in the third. Normally, the Cavs counter on-ball doubles of LeBron by having Andy find room on the weak side or Mo hit an outside shot. With Andy in the locker room and Mo ice-cold, the Spurs were able to frustrate LeBron.
-LeBron’s line looks nice, and he was scoring from everywhere on the floor. However, the Spurs were able to take away some of his greatest strengths. LeBron missed five shots at the rim by my count, and only three of his 10 assists led to shots at the basket. Mike Brown’s a great defensive coach, but remember who taught him what he knows.
-In a five-point loss, Antawn and LeBron missing seven of 14 free throws is VERY frustrating to see. It might be time to get ‘Tawn to a hypnotist.
-Jamison is what he is — he rebounds, gets shots up, and makes about as many as he misses. 24 points on 20 shots for AJ, who also missed four shots in the paint. Tim Duncan is still a really good defender. Don’t forget this.
-Good game for JJ, who got a few dunks off of cuts and did a great job on the offensive boards, snagging five and putting them right back up for a few second-chance points.
-The Cavs did have a lot of success on the break, scoring 32 points in transition. Unfortunately, they found themselves living off those baskets, and that didn’t cut it in crunch-time.
-Powe probably would’ve helped more than Z out there, but let’s give Z a week to get his timing back before we make any snap judgements.
-Man, the rotation is a logjam right now, and Shaq isn’t even back yet. Good problem to have, I suppose.
-Alright, that’s all for tonight. Nine games left. The Cavs need six of them to guarantee home-court throughout. Six are at home, but two of those six are against Atlanta and Orlando. Z returns to the Q on Sunday. Get excited. Until later, campers.
Uh, I’m pretty sure Delonte got burned SEVERAL times by Ginobli as well, and he is our best perimeter defender not named LeBron.
The cavs lost because they were unable stop Ginobili – Williams and Parker who have good offense but have got to play better defense or find someone who can against bigger guards.
Wooo, cavs are back at the top of the playoff odds! We should lose to SA more often : )
You guys are too hard on Z. 4 rebounds isnt bad for how little time he played, and 2-5 from the field isnt bad either. Hell, if he had made one more shot to go 3-5 everyone would be calling it a solid game.
Like tom said, depth won’t be ‘detrimental,’ its just that it becomes less of an advantage. I think it must have been a bit of a throwaway comment from hollinger anyway, because it doesnt always follow. First off, again like tom said, if a teams depth is in the front court, its a much bigger advantage given how much a few early fouls can take out a team like orlando which relies so much on Dwight. Second, take a team like Boston. Surely a great deal of depth could only be an enormous advantage in the playoffs, given that I… Read more »
@Rich – refs tend to swallow their whistles in late game situations. It was probably a reach in at any other point in the game, but there wasn’t a lot of contact so LeBron didn’t get the whistle there. I’m worried about the stuff that Windhorst talked about: “But Brown had odd mixes for the entire second half. Bending on the fly is not his strongsuit. if the team looked scattered there when they lost the lead it was because they were.” In the playoffs, you don’t want to lose a game like this because someone had to leave with… Read more »
It’s so sad that we now measure Z’s contributions in such small areas. Think if we only measured what LeBron did in those areas, or even a bench player like Delonte, we would scream bloody murder. If the best thing we think about Z is his ability to tip the ball in off of a rebound, then he isn’t and hasn’t been producing enough. Also, no1 is thinking of it like this but think if that foul on Ginobli had been called at the end when he tripped up LeBron. If LeBron makes those two FTs its a 4 point… Read more »
Whoa, Boobie is not as good of a defender and AP comes up with some great rebounds because of those long arms. I say keep AP in the rotation.
Hollinger seems to think having depth is a detriment come playoff time. It’s possible we saw what he was talking about in the game last night.
On a side note, I like AP, but he is really not getting it done. Boobie Gibson is a much better shooter and provides roughly the same defense; only difference is their size.
Did anyone else notice that on Tim Duncan’s fast break there was both a carry and a travel within 3 seconds of each other? Awesome.
The other reason we lost the game: TERRIBLE defense on Manu in the 4th. Actually, that was probably a bigger reason than Andy being gone. The scouting report on him, is what AC screamed the whole game last time they played: make him go right. No one did that, and Delonte and Parker got abused. What happened to LeBron guarding the other team’s best guy on key possessions? This does not bode will for playing teams like Orlando Milwaukee, and Atlanta: teams that can throw multiple scoring swingmen at us. As for Z, just like before he got hurt his… Read more »
1-6, Adan. Dont encourage him.
Man, did you guys see LeBron’s 3 late in the fourth? That was a thing of beauty!
JJ took another jumper. It has to stop. Second, like other jason said, he has to get some sort of control. He catches off the screen and just flies at the rim no matter what the situation. He doesn’t survey the court and take notice of wtf is going on..just jumps really high, and hopes for the best. Needs to have some sort of awareness when he recieves the ball. Said it before, say it here too, didn’t like the way Z was playing before he was traded, and don’t like it now. If he isn’t hitting that jumper, he… Read more »
I don’t really feel that bad about this loss. We couldn’t help Andy’s injury, and hopefully Mo’s going to not have nights like these when it matters. The one preventable problem I noticed was JJ’s offensive fouls. For a guy with such athleticism he needs to learn to control himself a little bit more and avoid running over everybody and their brother. I really liked how we kept fighting at the end and we took advantage of a few breaks to keep our hopes alive. It’s good to see them fight hard for a win, even if it didn’t go… Read more »