Recap: Cavaliers 113, Wizards 87 (Or, “Get Your Hands Up and Out)
2014-11-27
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! The Cavaliers gave the hometown faithful plenty to cheer about during a thorough dismantling of the Washington Wizards. The Wine and Gold were eager to build on their big victory over Orlando. More importantly, the Cavs wished to avenge the bad loss they suffered in DC. Cavalier energy was turned to eleven in some defensive sequences leading to 13 steals. The Clevelanders killed it in transition outscoring the Wiz 17-2. LeBron led the way with 29, 10 boards, and eight assists as the point man. Let’s break it down for those who were busy catching up with old friends at the local bar.
1st Quarter: Paul Pierce drove through the entire Cavalier starting five for the first bucket of the evening. Fortunately, it was one of the few total defensive breakdowns of the evening. LeBron was ultra-aggressive to begin the game. He clearly made a point of getting to the line after being relatively passive during the losing streak. LeBron converted the Cavaliers’ first two possessions by knocking down all four shots. They were the first of 17 attempts on the night. The offense was certainly not humming, but LeBron’s aggression did bend the defense for subsequent success. Varejao was left wide open on the right elbow as the D chased LeBron. Andy drilled his money shot. On the season, Wild Thing is shooting 50% from midrange. At the 9:22 mark, Andy upfaked on the right wing, took two dribbles and threw down a vicious dunk. Varejao later hit a baseline J flaring off a PnR.
Still, ball movement continued to be poor until a nice sequence at the 4:16 mark. The ball flew up and around the floor without excessive dribbling before finding Kyrie for a left corner three. Yes, LeBron played the point most of the game, but in the first part of the quarter his usage was hovering somewhere between 90% and infinity. After that three ball, bodies began to move.
Defensively, the Cavs were flying around. Kyrie and LeBron made the Wizards afraid to turn their backs. The Cavalier perimeter players timed their double team steal attempts with great success. Shawn Marion hounded Bradley Beal from sideline to sideline. When Dion Waiters checked in at the 5:20 mark for Matrix, he immediately made Washington feel him by poking the ball away and finishing in transition.
The Cavs led 30-12 after a stepback three from LeBron in the left corner. From there, some of the sloppy play to end quarters showed its head. LeBron has done a poor job of recognizing two for one situations this season. Fortunately, Lou Amundson impressively stayed in front of John Wall. Wall’s miss ended the quarter with the Cavs up, 31-18
2nd Quarter: Kyrie, Dion, Matrix, TT, and Lou broke the huddle for the second. The Man/Zone hybrid that was so successful against the Magic didn’t see much action in this game. This unit played a slightly less aggressive version of it, but the defense was sound. Rasual Butler won the award for “random bench dude that destroys the Cavs” this evening. He and Porter tried to post Kyrie at every opportunity. It was a good plan as Irving couldn’t match their size. Kyrie didn’t give up. After surrendering a bucket, Kyrie flew up the court for his one man fast break through five guys. Every time he does that, I and every other Cavs fan mutter to ourselves “why don’t you do that all the time!?” Cleary David Blatt is asking him the same thing. At one point, Kyrie took one walk step, seemed to hear our collective voice in his head, and instead pushed the ball ahead with pace. it’s a process and he is learning.
Professor Andre Miller PhD, as Zach Lowe rightfully calls him, controlled his second unit with class. I really enjoy how the Wizards can vary their style. 
Miller continues to be a very good offensive player. He is trouble anytime he brings the ball up the left side. From there he will often look to score off give and go action, fake post-up spin move (my favorite) or straight drive. He got the Cavs on a straight drive. Thankfully, he didn’t give a full lecture.
LeBron checked back in at the 7:57 mark for Dion with the Cavs up 36-27. The teams traded buckets for a couple minutes while the Matrix had some tough shots spill out. The Cavaliers began to create some real separation after Bron hit Love on a nasty pocket pass at 5:14. Tough defense and sound decision-making from Dion and Love helped to push the lead before LeBron lifted the crowd to its feet with a middle drive dunk(2:18 of video). LeBron shoved Paul Pierce out of the way as he split the double team to put Cleveland up 58-39. Of course, the Cavs played sloppy ball to end the quarter. A turnover, heat check three, missed wide open corner three, and a Rasual Butler later, and the Cavs’ lead was cut to 58-46.
3rd Quarter: Kyrie Irving is beginning to figure some things out on the defensive end. He remains an unfinished product, but his effort will bring him closer to being a sound defender. In PnR ball, he has begun to understand when to follow the roller and when to reclaim his man. He made a great steal on a pocket pass from Wall to Gortat by anticipating the roll and getting low. My favorite Kyrie moment of the night came when he crashed down into the paint for a steal, effectively “helping the helper who helped the helper.” This is what it means to play defense on a string. This is how teammates build trust in one another. It is a joy to see.
Offensively, the first three minutes of the third were rough. The Cavs had four turnovers in that stretch after only committing three in the first half. Paul Pierce began to get it going from the charity stripe cutting the lead to 10 as the crowd instinctively recoiled (Pierce still haunts many dreams). Just as quickly, back to back threes from Kyrie and Kevin on the left wing pushed the lead to sixteen. The Cavaliers dared Kris Humphries to shoot jumpers and it worked. He finished 1-7 from the field missing wide open attempts.
A mild skirmish broke out between John Wall and Tristan Thompson when the former thought TT shoved him. Nothing came of it, but it may have been the first time I have seen TT look intimidating. The Cavs need some of that. Speaking of Tristan, Blatt is having him play Chandler style defense and it working very well. Basically, Tristan is being asked to sag on PnR and contain in a zone fashion. Occasionally, he will still go up to meet the pick, but the icing/sag combination is keeping Tristan closer to the rim for great results. Thompson didn’t record a rebound in this contest and it was still a good day at the office. The baseline jumper was “icing” on the cake (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).
The game came to a grinding halt over the last three minutes of the quarter as the referees got whistle happy. After one call, David Blatt yelled to Dion, “Get your hands up and out!” Dion played very hard on defense. He really seems like he responds well to strong coaching. LeBron also spent an inordinate amount of time rubbing Dion’s head in encouragement. If that is what it takes for Waiters to help this team, I am all for it. The Cavs went cold from the line but took an 81-67 lead to the fourth.
4th Quarter: LeBron stayed in the game accompanied by Dion, Cherry, TT, and Love. When LeBron sunk a deep fadeaway jumper for an 87-69, it was over. Marion came in for Bron at the 7:50 mark with The King only two assists shy of a triple double. The Cavs continued to swarm on defense. Dion challenged every shot he could. Tristan continued to show his progress as a weakside “straight-up” defender. It was a fun garbage time in that both teams played with energy even though the game was decided.
Thoughts: I really love stuffing. I can’t get enough of it. And yes, you must cook it inside the bird for it to be considered stuffing.
Right, back to the game. David Blatt’s calling card throughout his entire career has been his ability to adjust his gameplan to suit the talents of his players. He has been an absolute master over 25 years. It is easy for those unfamiliar with basketball outside of the the States to call Blatt a “rookie” coach. Announcers have chuckled at his expense when Blatt has corrected them. He is not wrong. He has and will continue to be an incredibly talented coach. Finding and creating a new style is more difficult to implement than force feeding a fixed system. However, it is ultimately far more successful. Bill Belichick and Greg Popovich are notorious for changing schemes and systems. They also happen to be the best coaches in their sports. Blatt will learn his players and through time, will know how to best unleash their gifts. We have seen that with Tristan and Kyrie already. Dion is coming around. Give the coach some respect.
The Cavs have been most successful when LeBron is aggressive. I’m still not sold that he should be the primary ball-handler as he has been for most of the season, but it has worked over the last couple games. Defensively, he was an off ball wrecking crew. That is leading the team through play and not talk. I am thankful.
Kevin Love had a relatively quiet 21. Nothing wrong with that. He seems a bit reluctant to shoot the three unless he is on his hot spot left wing. I am okay with that. Defensively, he was a half-step quicker with his rotations. But, please Kevin, put your hands up. Please.
Dion had six assists to go along with three steals from great defensive energy. Dion was the first man off the bench and played 30 minutes.
If the backcourt plays with that kind of defensive ferocity, the Cavs will be just fine.
The Cavaliers are back to .500 at home and overall. I hope the players and fans enjoy the best holiday ever created. Happy Turkey Day, from Germany!
Impressive W over the Wiz. I think that the energy and defensive schemes on D are going a long way to prove to these players how important and valuable it is to play D at a high level. The last two games were impressive. Looking at our schedule over the next week and a half, we have quite a few days off in between games. This should enable maximized defensive effort and focus in the upcoming games. I live in Rochester, NY and have quite a few NBA fans, who don’t really have an allegiance to a particular team. They… Read more »
I was at the game, and intended to study the offensive and defensive rotations to give a thorough albeit amateur analysis for all CtB faithful. I had to amend that plan a bit, as I went to the game with some old friends I hadn’t seen in five years and was thoroughly shitfaced before halftime. The one thing I can remember that really struck me as a tremendous step in the right direction was that the Cavs really seemed to focus in interfering with the “roll” part of the PnR. When they ran the hard show, they maintained awareness if… Read more »
Sounds like you had a good time! Defending the pick and roll is critical to this team’s defense without a natural shot-blocking roamer. Jason Lloyd alluded to it in his Final Thoughts. 7. I’m tired of the “head of the snake” analogies in regards to Irving, but it fits here. It’s easy to see why a point guard who can defend is so valuable. When Irving was giving up on plays defensively, teams were getting dribble penetration against the Cavs far too easily. And when that happens, it causes all kinds of problems. 8. The defense often collapses on the… Read more »
My favorite part of the box score is how poorly we shot the 3 ball…and we STILL destroyed a very good Wizards team (who was without a good post player in Nene). My favorite part of the actual game was somewhere in the 3rd qutr when we had a ridiculous defensive lapse that gave up a wide open layup or dunk (can’t remember which)…and I realized that was only the 2nd wide open layup/dunk of the game. We probably gave up a couple more in garbage time, but I had become so used to seeing our defense give up wide-open… Read more »
One last comment: It was great watching the Cavs knock the ball loose and steal it so many times. A fast break off a steal is one of the most fun things to watch in basketball. And if you are the team that has been getting pick-pocketed, it rattles your cage and takes wind out of your sails. I hope it wasn’t a fluke. I hope we get to watch that all season!!! (Kyrie – while not a great man on man defender – is particularly adept at it.) Finally, Ben. I want more of your thoughts about Wall finishing… Read more »
Yeah, I probably should have mentioned the low scoring output from the Wiz backcourt. The Cavs did a terrific job getting back on defense. John Wall kills you in transition and Beal works in tandem. The Cavs were balancing the floor, often sending two and sometimes three guys back on the shot.
In the halfcourt, the Cavs packed against dribble drive action by blatantly leaving Humphries the whole night. This is where the lack of Nene hurt the Wiz.
Without the easy looks, the contest work by the Cavs defenders had more of an impact.
I think that, early on, they thought they had so much talent and walk onto the court and win games. I think they learned that the team that works the hardest and wants it most can beat uninspired talent in the NBA. They played hard all game in the last few wins . . . and like Ben said, when the Wizards made a run, instead of bickering they re-grouped and counter attacked last night. My only thought is, how is it possible to play with total intensity every night? I don’t know how it can be maintained. In the… Read more »
Keeping everyone under thirty minutes is smart for the Spurs. But the cavs have younger guys so they can play more. No reason to keep those gi s under thirty. That would be a waste of talent.
Underdog — The reason everyone in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s had an easier time staying on the court and didn’t complain about minutes or how long the season is, is because players back then did not have NEARLY the mileage players nowadays do. An article was written by a blogger who studied how much mileage the average NBA player in their 3rd year has on them, compared to Michael Jordan of the 90’s, Kareem of the 70’s/80’s, and Russell of the 60’s. By the time the average NBA player is in his 3rd year — he has averaged… Read more »
It is an interesting theory, but I don’t really buy it. The players nowadays are held out of other sports. They are playing more organised tourneys, etc with AAU, but is that at the expense regular pick up? Probably. The players of the old days played everyday, all day without anyone controlling their minutes or officiating. It was just outside of a beautiful gym. It was in footwear that was borderline abusive. AAU ball is awful for a lot of reasons. It limits creativity, limiting basketball X and O and player individuality. But it doesn’t seem likely that the excess… Read more »
Which is true. I feel the disparity between the generations of then and now is the amount of time being put on these kids at a very young age. You have hundreds of 6th graders already fielding offers from College’s. For example: Michael Jordan by his 3rd year in the NBA, with college involved, played the equivalent to just under 7 seasons in the NBA. To put that into perspective — LeBron by his 3rd year, without college — has amassed nearly 9 years of NBA minutes. Case in point; the whole “has LeBron lost a step?” quotes have their… Read more »
Back to my original question – can we as fans expect NBA players to play with 100% intensity every night? Is it physically possible?
If it looks like the starters just don’t have it one night do you give the back ups extra minutes and tell them that they need to win the game? Are 20 point blowouts ok? It seems I’ve seen more in the last few years than ever before.
Happy Thanksgiving, friends!
+1 Underdog!
One good thing to see is the major improvement in the younger players from say one month ago. This never happened with Scott or Brown. Hopefully we can regard the couple really bad stretches as reality therapy sessions for some guys who have having trouble “getting it”
And we know that CtB is the one blog that is read by everyone in the Cavs organization, so –
Happy Thanksgiving –
Dan Gilbert
Dan Griffin
David Blatt, Ty Lue, John Drew, (and all the coaches)
and all the Cavs players
all the Cavs announcers
and the “are you ready?” guy
Keep up the good work!!!
Happy Thanksgiving, CtBers!
Keep up the good analysis (we use your insight from time to time) and stay positive! We will get there!
Terrific write-up, Ben. “LeBron played the point most of the game, but in the first part of the quarter his usage was hovering somewhere between 90% and infinity.” This cracked me up. It also named what I had been feeling. The dominance we’ve seen these past two games, with LeBron running EVERYTHING, is SuperCavs 1.0. It will win a lot of games–especially with feisty D from the guards and efficient O from Andy and Kevin. But what I’m really pumped for is SuperCavs 2.0. This is the one where you don’t know who’s running the show: Kyrie dictating with whirligigs,… Read more »
Besides the defense, my favorite thing about that game was how they responded to a lackluster opening if the third quarter. In past games, when this team catches unlucky breaks on sequential possessions, it takes the wind right out of their sails and they pout their way to a defeat. Instead, they regrouped and righted the ship. This is the kind of emotional maturity I’ve been looking for. Kyrie looks like a man and is ready to play. This is going to be a fun season.
MY favorite part too. End of 2nd Q to beginning of 3rd Q I was worried we would collapse. But we tightened things up and laid the smack down. Great mental victory.
I really enjoy Blatt’s postgame interviews—–his understanding / knowledge and the ability to breakdown a game opponent and then to be able to articulate it is SO REFRESHING from mike brown’s clueless answers other than we lacked energy and intensity ( don’t get me wrong they are both important ) were the standard answers from brown——believe we have just seen a small fraction of blatt’s basketball knowledge / genious
+1 Nomad. We’ve just seen a small fraction. Ben’s commentary about Blatt in the write up is spot on.
One thing I’ve noted is that Blatt likes to sub to keep his main guys from picking up cheap fouls at the ends of quarters. That’s great, but this definitely leads to some defensive lapses and miscommunication on both sides of the ball. Much of this has to be a preparation issue. Blatt needs to drill some situational lineups so that these guys know they will be in at the ends of quarters, and what is expected of them on offense and defense. Also, they need to do some situational clock quizzes. Dion still drove me nuts in the fourth.… Read more »
After the game, Blatt said that Dion was his shooter, his streak scorer and he has to maintain that mentality so he has a green light. The Cavs were up by double digits with time running out, so you could think of it as “practice” for that role. Loved the “random bench dude that destroys the Cavs this evening” award. (Butler last night) Overall, I thought this was the best game the Cavs played this year. Their defense was very good. They seem to be forming some chemistry. And we haven’t talked much about this, but – Kyrie Irving with… Read more »
Ok. So I made up the Dion comment. This is what Blatt really said –
Blatt on Waiters: “Dion is a shooter and a scorer and he needs to take shots. What I liked was Dion’s involvement and his intensity on each and every play. He defended extremely well. He took the shots, for the most part, he needed to take. He’s our scorer off the bench and that’s what he needs to do.” from Sam Amico twitter
Blatt totally had Dion’s back and qualified it further by saying he wanted to see that kind of intensity both ends. Blatt is keenly aware of the microscopic criticism Dion gets in the media. More than once he has spoken up for him in the media. Dion looked like Dion more in this Wizards game than the last 3 or 4 games. That is a good thing. A second guessing passive Dion hurts this team more.
Thanks for the recap_ Ben. I didn’t get to catch the game. Good to see the cavs playing with some fire.
Anyone got any clues why the last minute or two of quarters have been so bad? I know they haven’t effectively used the clock to get two for ones, but why is the defense so poor to?