Recap: Cavs 92, Grizzlies 86 (Or, all and none of those things should ever happen again)
2010-11-27Overview: In a deeply strange game, the Cavs were able to come from behind and beat the Memphis Grizzlies thanks to a 30-16 third quarter. The Cavaliers were able to win despite giving up 32 first-quarter points and going the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter without a field goal. Mo Williams led the way for the Cavs with 25 points and 12 assists.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
I definitely thought this game was going to get ugly. The Cavs looked atrocious on offense early, and weren’t playing much defense either. The Grizzlies were working harder for their looks than the Pacers, Spurs, or Magic had to, but still managed to score 32 first-quarter points while shooting 64% from the field.
Then the Cavs started to tighten things up on the defensive end, and were able to cut the lead to single digits going into halftime.
In the third quarter, something magical happened. The Cavs actually started to play the kind of defense they need to play in order to be a successful running team and win basketball games. The team got stops, forced turnovers, ran hard when they got rebounds, and completely turned the game around with some tough defense and aggressive offense.
In the fourth, the team went into “okay, Mo, figure this out” mode on offense, which led to zero field goals for the first nine minutes of the quarter, but they played enough defense to keep the game close. Down the stretch, J.J. and Mo came up with some crucial baskets, and that was all she wrote. Great win for the Cavs.
– Not many individual notes for the Cavs tonight, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Mo’s great night. He was asked to do it all, and he responded by hitting every shot he got a decent look at and making some beautiful passes en route to a 25/12 line.
– I thought Hickson was all but done after he missed those first four shots, but he stepped up when Jamison struggled and made some great plays around the basket to get the Cavs a win. Hopefully he can carry that confidence over. I also liked that his big shots came from the paint — the pull-ups and fadeaways are nice, but J.J. was made 6’10 for a reason.
– Varejao’s offense has been MIA for a little while, but he’s still a dynamo defensively. Two steals, two blocks, and he held Marc Gasol to 2-8 from the field.
That’s all for me tonight. Great win. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Thursday can’t come soon enough. I really want to see how the live audience responds.
Chris I do. Reason why is simple – the cavs are gonna lose and we all know it. We can’t lie to ourselves and expect the cavs to win 50+, he’ll not even 40+… but on the other hand, the heat were supposed to be one of the top 3-4 teams in the league, per the “experts”. And after all the hoopla and the whole celebration in Miami we are all witnesses to how bad the heat are at this moment. Will the heat get better? Probably. They have enough talent to be better than 9-8, but it’s gonna take… Read more »
oops. i meant cavs wins
it’s a strange feeling, but does anyone else get more excited by heat losses than by cavs losses this year?
Did not get to see the game but I’m glad the Cavs got a win. Good news!
Better news — did anybody see the hard shoulde-bump lbj gave Spoelstra during the loss to the Mavs? And then there was “players only” meeting… Can’t wait to see the whole thing blow up.
Every time I can’t watch a game and check a box score Ryan Hollins is like 4/5 with 5 boards in 12 minutes. Does the guy just play no D?
Oh, by the way…
http://www.82games.com/1011/1011CLE.HTM
^ hahaha nice! keep it up, ben.
Varejao’s offense has been MIA
Watch those abbreviations, Krolik. We don’t want to give AV any ideas …
Credit the coaching staff in the locker room. They changed our customary weak double team in the post strategy which often leads to bad rotation for us, and decided they were going to double down hard on practically everyone. The Cavs swarmed, and while that can sometimes be picked apart by a team that doesn’t so much, against Memphis, and their dominant post play, it really helped us through them out of rhythm. It also really picked up our energy level which obviously helped the break. We ran off of almost all steals, but did not always run off of… Read more »
that was the most ridiculous video ever hahaha as for the game it was an exciting finish…JJ actually did something useful for once! yay! MO had another solid game and i think he knows he has to lead this team and make some shit happen…thought the defense was solid down the stretch and hitting some big shots always helps… we meet celtics in boston than its ‘The Game’ two days later…so excited for that…also it feels like Christmas when the Cavs win and Heat lose…hell even when the Heat lose its awesome… Heat are only 1.5 games better than Cavs…Lebrons… Read more »
Varejao has been fantastic in his defense of big time centers so far this year.
However, Marc Gasol is failing to impress. Zach Harper couldn’t be me wrong in saying Gasol is the 2nd/3rd (with Bogut) best center in the league. Noah is superior in almost every way. Yes, Gasol might have more moves in his offensive game, but what do I care when Noah is the one scoring 16 points a game and Gasol is scoring 12?
Best game the Cavs have played since Boston. Mo was fantastic and Hickson was actually useful. Good night.