Recap: Cleveland 95, Miami 96 (or I saw a game today, oh boy…)
2013-04-15There seemed to be an awful lot of things more important going on in the world yesterday than the season’s final meeting between the Cavaliers and their recently minted arch-rivals, the Miami Heat. In truth, there’s always something more important going on in the world than a basketball game. But we watch because the enormity and weight of all the comedy and tragedy in the world cannot be borne by us mortals twenty four hours a day. Sometimes we need our opiates to get by. Sometimes the the best of human endeavor can be measured in a silly athletic contest with contrived rules between a bunch of players payed to hone size, strength, dexterity, and obscure talents to ridiculous efficiency. Sometimes those silly contests are the height of human expression: movement, grace, form, strength, agility, intellect, bravado, and endearing naivete. And sometimes we signed up to write a recap, and we can’t get out of it.
The Cavs played this one against the Heat, who were without LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem, and Mario Chalmers — who were resting for the playoffs. Norris Cole returned to Cleveland, to star for the Heat, notching 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists for Miami, who had six players in double figures. The Heat were also buoyed by six points delivered by the basketball Gods: first a straight on three by Chris “Birdman” Andersen: off the glass from 27 feet to close the first quarter. And then possibly the worst call against the Cavs of the season happened when Livingston’s block of a Ray Allen three was called for a foul a full second and a half after it happened, giving Allen three freebies with about 9 minutes to go in the 4th.
The first three quarters of this game belonged to Tristan Thompson for the Cavs who was hitting from everywhere — his confidence in that rocker jumper growing with each game. His first basket was a 14 foot jumper that tickled the twine, and I’m not quite sure which hand he shot it with. Tristan finished with 16 points and 13 boards on 7-14 shooting with 2 blocks to help lead the Cavs in scoring, and had a big block down the stretch to keep the Cavs in it.
Dion Waiters returned to action tonight, and scored 16 on 7-14 shooting, with 4 dimes, 2 blocks and a steal in 27 minutes. It was quite a productive outing. In the highlight of the night, Anderson Varejao was broadcasting with Austin Carr and Fred McCleod when Waiters drove from the top of the key, leaving Norris Cole far behind him, and Frion crushed it over the Birdman. A.C. and Fred got Andy got to narrate the replay in Portuguese. Similarly, Dion had a layup off spin move that took him from past the left block to the right block without traveling (I checked). He left the Birdman in the dust on that one too. Saint Weirdo only had a couple heat chucks as the game started to unravel in the late third and early fourth, but his shot selection was mostly sound.
As for the non-core, Kevin Jones looked ambulatory and like a productive offensive rebounder, but he very much plays below the rim and relies on quick shooting around the basket to score, instead of exploding. Furthermore, he only had one defensive rebound in 14 minutes against Miami’s third stringers. Kevin Jones’ ceiling is as a 13th man in the NBA. Wayne Ellington’s crash back to earth continued as he was 2-6 and was complicit in the general breakdown on the defense that led to Norris Cole’s all star performance. Casspi posted 1 rebound and 2 fouls in 11 minutes, and nothing else. Speights was happy to go 2-7 with 2 rebounds in 17 minutes. Livingston played a large section of the first and second halves playing small forward with decent effectiveness alongside Waiters and Irving, and finished with 7 dimes and 4 points.
Irving struggled shooting, finishing 7-19 and 1-5 from three for 16 points and 8 dimes. Also, Norris Cole was glad whenever Kyrie guarded him.
The game was slipping away in the fourth, after the aforementioned three freethrow gift, that was awarded to Ray Allen, put the Heat up 12. The Cavs clawed back to trail 91-93 with 2:56 left in the game, and then Alonzo Gee committed two really stupid fouls in three defensive possessions on Rashard Lewis while the Cavs were in the penalty, which gave the Heat three free points. Despite Kyrie’s efforts to win as he made driving layup after driving layup, the Cavs couldn’t get past those fouls.
The Cavs cut it to a one point deficit, 95-96, with 19 seconds left, when they fouled Norris Cole, and he missed both freethrows. I bet you can’t guess which call Byron Scott ran out of the timeout with 13 seconds left… Yep, spread floor, isolation, Kyrie Irving from the top of the key, or as I like to call it, the old LeMike Brown play. Norris Cole absorbed the ball from Kyrie on a play that the box score called a block, but looked more like grand basketball larceny. Like he was Charles Xavier, Cole knew that Kyrie going left, and took the ball from him with a deft mixture of reflexes, guile, and telekinesis. And that was that.
So there is one game left on the schedule for the Cavs, a moribund affair in Charlotte on Wednesday night. If you’re going to be in the area, tickets are only $2 on Stubhub. There’s not a lot on the line that night. Even if the Cavs win, the fact that Phoenix beat Houston tonight means that at worst (or best?) the Cavs will tie with Phoenix for the third worst record in the league. In other news, Utah beat Minnesota tonight, leaving one night of action for drafty, the Cavs’ second first round pick. If the Lakers beat Houston in LA, and/or if Utah loses to the Grizzlies in Memphis, then the Lakers make the playoffs and the Cavaliers get their draft pick. Otherwise, they get Miami’s. Should make for interesting action Wednesday night as permutations of trying, tanking, and resting for the playoffs all collide.
On a final note, we may have just watched Daniel Gibson’s final game at the Q: a game in which he did not get to play. We may have also watched Byron Scott coach his last Cavs game at the Q. Both men are decent fellows who deserved better than to have to end a seven year career on the bench or have to fall on his sword for a team designed to lose. But life is inherently unfair. Both men will be fine in the long run. Gibson will find a spot on the end of the bench hitting open threes for a contender, and Byron Scott will most probably make millions to do nothing next year. But for both of them, it seems time to move on. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not even unfair, really. It’s just a day in the life.
Like Ben F’s tips. On Dion: Carr had said he spoke to Dion and he said he was going to be working out hard in the off season and lifting weights so much you wouldn’t recognize anymore because he’s going to be an action figure start of the season. Lol Like the attitude and swagger. On Zeller: get some flash cards and write the following 1( I am a mean S.O.B.) Meaner than a junkyard dog and then show your teeth and growl 2 I am the the ball and I WILL DUNK THE DAM BALL and use these 2… Read more »
Nate – while they have some young talent…none of them can bring what Josh Smith brings to the table. (Then again, the same could be said of Dwight vs Asik). Dwight’s potential health problems are more problematic though. Besides, signing Josh Smith makes some of those other guys trade chips (or they are traded before signing Smith…either way.) It’s also entirely plausible that they are pushig for 2014 even more so than other teams. I mean, they are already a playoff team, why not go for gold and try for Lebron or Chris Bosh? Can even potentially see them trying… Read more »
Ben, as far as PF, the Rockets have Thomas Robinson, Greg Smith, Terrence Jones and the erstwhile Royce White. I’m quite sure they can assemble a solid PF by committee out of the first three, at least. Morey has realized that power forward is the least hard to fill position in the NBA.
Gordon – yeah, I keep forgetting about Houston. One thing to consider, though, is the Josh Smith factor. Houston aleady has Omer Asik…who is playing well, adding in a Josh Smith with him helps them out tremendously. Adding Dwight still leaves them with a hole at PF. I also did forget (for this post) about Dwight’s back. I have actually used said argument on other sites when discussing the viability of pursuing Dwight. Better him than Bynum…but better does not make it wise. Good catch on your part. Too bad Josh Smith can’t shoot better….he’d make a great SF if… Read more »
Memphis will be playing hard for home court advantage. cross your fingers
Cody – yep, Dwight would go to Houston to pair with Harden over Cleveland. But like you said, it’s fun to think about.
@Tom — Was what I was hoping to see! Should be fun to predict next season.
Unfortunately, the Houston Rockets do have something to play for tomorrow night. If they lose, they could slip to 8th. So they won’t be resting players. Bummer. Still could get lucky, if Memphis is going for the win. Which they might, if they have a chance to take HCA from the Clippers. It would help if the Clips lose tonight. Not very likely though.
Byron Scott will be back next year
@ Gordon Dwight has definitely not looked the same since his back surgery. At any rate, if he leaves LA (50 – 50, IMO), it’s probably for Houston. Still, it’s fun to think about. If the Cavs end up drafting Porter, I’d like to see them snag either Steven Adams or G. Dieng. These guys may be raw on offense, but the Cavs really won’t need them to be first options on offense. If they can provide D and shot-blocking, you have to consider it a success. If they do get the Lakers pick, they could draft one of these… Read more »
Ben F – I’m not sure going after a big man with back problems is a smart move. I think it would be really cool to bring in an elite talent like Dwight to go along with Kyrie, Dion, TT, AV, Zeller, and both #1’s this year, but if he ends up hurting his back again it could really prevent this team from being elite. If healthy, it would be a great signing. It would solidify our defense and help us to make the “jump” next season. Drafting Porter and trading up to snag Michael Carter-Williams (6’5 PG who I… Read more »
Offseason regiment: Kyrie – Drink Milk and work on defensive intensity/awareness Dion – Film room for better shot selection and defensive awareness and work on your swagger. You don’t have enough. (That last part was a joke.) Gee – 3 point shooting (be that 3 and D guy that would really help us out) Tristan – Continue your offensive improvement and work on better defensive rebounding Varejao – Go to Germany – hire that doctor that Kobe uses to fix…everything Zeller – weight room, weight room, weight room. CJ Miles – come up with a better 3-point stroke…be a more… Read more »
One thing I don’t like is the Kyrie Iso at every end of game possession. Dion was playing better tonight and automatically gave it up to Kyrie to run an iso play. I would have rather seen Dion come off a TT screen, catch the ball, and drive to the basket for the game winner.
One of my 2 predicted last week wins and they had a shot. Can’t imagine a loss to a Bobcat team clinging to a worst record tie.
I think most of us predicted 30+ wins so kudos to those who nailed ~25.
DaveR – here are some of the notable comments from Kevin’s pre-season prediction post. Nathan: “Some bonus fearless predictions about Dion: He will have a game where he goes scoreless on six or more attempts. He will have a game where he scores 25 or more points on 15 or fewer attempts.” [Neither happened – but both almost happened] KJ: “I agree Tsunami. I would be thrilled if we won 7 moe games than last year, which might be possible because our overall talent level is undeniably higher. Yet, it’s far younger.” [So far the Cavs have won 3 more… Read more »
They aren’t tanking. Future is bright. I’m glad season 2 of rebuilding is over and we’ve found out that we have a good group of starters ready for next year.
zeek – the only evidence for tanking this last month has been losing.
I highly doubt the organization would try to lose against the heat on fan appreciation night.
And there’s no way the players would ever be in on tanking anyway – much less against the Norris Cole gang.
Someone needs to explain to me whether this was a part of the tank strategy or whether we tried to actually win this game. Either way, Kyrie has a ton of growing up to do based on the past couple of months. That’s fine, he’s young; he’s just having his first taste of elite success (All-Star game/tons of national media hype) at the same time that he’s struggling with injuries. It’s a rough go of it for a player that’s used to team success being on a lottery team. But still, by any measure, if the Cavs were actually trying… Read more »
Kyrie Irving needs to get better if this team is ever going to contend, and that’s pretty much that. No amount of extra talent, super coaching, or anything else is going to change the fact that any team this organization puts together is going to have him as the best player. If that’s the case, and it will be, he’s got about 15 things he needs to improve on, most of all his intensity and passion for the game.