Recap: Grizz 91, Cavs 81 (or, Few Guns… but Much Danger Ninja)

Last week, the Cavs discovered they didn’t necessarily need a full complement of players to take on, say a team like the Sixers. However, tangling with a fully healthy Grizzlies squad was a very different story. The Cavs found this out the hard way, as they were outnumbered and outgunned from the jump in their third pre-season warmup against Memphis at the Value City Arena in Columbus. They fell behind early, as they just couldn’t find enough firepower from the perimeter, with many of their regular long-range gunners sitting this one out.

Yet, they did keep things from getting out of hand with LeBron and Richard Jefferson early, along with some help from their slashing young two-guard, Jared Cunningham, later on. It wasn’t all that pretty to watch, but there were a few highlights, including the inaugural use of our prospective basketball assassin’s anagrammed nickname…

Throwing Stars

With the majority of their outside shooters in street clothes or not in the building, the only two Cavs that seemed able to hit outside shots with any sort of consistency were LeBron and Richard Jefferson. LBJ knocked down a triple to start, and went 6-15 (2-5 from deep) for a team-high 14 points. In his 25 minutes on the court, he winged three assists and snagged three steals, although he was uncharacteristically shut out on the boards. He did wow the more than 18,000 in attendance with one highlight breakaway dunk after an RJ steal, and he had some terrific moves in the post against the physical front line of the Grizz.

RJ was also able to hit some shots to help the Cavs keep up with the suffocating grindhouse style of defense that Memphis employs. He knocked down 50% of his shots (4-8 overall, and 3-6 from downtown), en route to 11 points, and managed to chip in six boards, an assist and a steal. Jefferson, starting in place of a resting J.R. Smith (sore left hamstring), looked smooth and played with an energy that belied his 36 years. However, he did seem to have some trouble staying with Courtney Lee, who stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points (on 4-5 shooting), six boards, two assist and two steals. Fortunately, RJ eventually got someone his own speed when he matched up against Vince Carter, and the game slipped into a wormhole back to 2003 for a few minutes.

In the second half, there were also a trio of threes tossed in by James F. Jones, Austin Daye and Quinn Cook to keep things close, but the Cavs’ reserves couldn’t quite hit the target when they were poised to take the lead. Overall, the Cavs were only able to muster a paltry 38% from the field, and 33% from beyond the arc. Minus LBJ and RJ, it was only a rim-bending 25%.

Nunchucks

To combat the big front line of Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, the Cavs went big themselves, starting Anderson Varejao at PF next to Timofey Mozgov (instead of the smaller James Jones). While Andy’s activity helped keep Gasol from going off inside early, he and Moz had difficulty switching out to cover Z-Bo, who feasted on a steady diet of deep twos. Gasol must have envied his paint partner’s vantage point, because he started knocking down 18-20 footers with regularity in the third quarter as well. When the smoke cleared, the Grizz big men duo converted 50% of their shots for a combined 24 points, doing most of their damage outside the key.

None of the Cavs’ big men had a particularly stand out game, with Moz, AV and Sasha Kaun going a combined 4-12 from the floor. Andy did bang around to wind up with a game high seven boards, and added three assists, two steals and a block. Moz pulled down five rebounds of his own, but didn’t seem as sharp as he did in the game against the Sixers. Kaun held his own for the most part on defense, but committed a few costly turnovers.

Poison Darts

No Mo (and no Kyrie) meant that much of the PG duties would fall to Matthew Dellavedova, with some increased minutes for Quinn Cook. Delly did a solid job on former Buckeye, Mike Conley, from a scoring perspective (0-3 from the field), although the speedy guard was still able to get good penetration and dish out nine darts to teammates for assists. He also got to the line four times, hitting on all of them. With Beno Udrih turning an ankle early on, Conley eventually gave way to Lazeric Jones, who did pretty much what he wanted against Cook (4-5 for nine points). On the flip side, the not-as-mighty Quinn hit a couple of nice shots, but ultimately looked a bit over-matched and slow in his time on the floor. Neither he, nor Delly were able to generate much offensively, although Matty D did have a few good dimes.

Smokin Joe Harris had yet another fairly miserable night of shooting, striking only one of his six targets, all but one of them fired from deep. While the Cavs could surely have used a key bucket or two from Joe (especially with Mo and J.R. sitting) to help get them back in the game, they could have also gone a long way in bolstering the second-year guard’s confidence. James Jones fared a little better than Smokin Joe. Though cold early, JFJ came around to hit a three late, and also get to the free throw line five times (hitting all five).

Much Danger Ninja

What began with Cory’s subtitle call to action (as a reaction to Jared Cunningham’s offensive outburst against Philly), and was answered by commenter Okpork’s response (his promising anagrams included: Charmed Ninja Gun; Charming Jade Nun; Arch Unmanned Jig; and his favorite, Much Danger Ninja), was put into practice on the Live Thread. Only time will tell if the player, or the nickname, will stick, but things still seem to be looking up for the budding basketball assassin.

The ninja stealthily got himself into good positions on defense, and once again sliced his way through traffic on offense to get to the line ten more times. In three pre-season games, Cunningham has taken 31 trips to the charity stripe, and it could have been even more if not for his wayward elbow (he’s been called three times for offensive fouls). MDN’s shot still leaves something to be desired (he went just 3-8, missing all three of his triple tries), but his energy is infectious, and he’s showing a strong will to make this team out of camp. The Cavs seemingly will give him every opportunity to impress, as he played nearly 30 minutes against the Grizz. He also had the fastest/sickest ninja throwdown highlight of the night on a fastbreak run-out…

Lost In The Smoke

Aside from Cunningham and Cook, the only other 15th Man combatant who managed to materialize in this game was Austin Daye. In limited minutes (eight), Daye knocked down 2-3, with a three and two trips to the stripe for a total of seven points. He continues to show his range and spot-up ability, although the Grizz did a pretty good job reading the scouting report, and ran him off the line more than once.

Meanwhile, DJ Stephens, Nick Minnerath, Chris Johnson and Dionte Christmas were all victims of the undesirable DNP-CD. At this point, all four would seem to be longshots to make many more appearances.

The Evil:

It’s hard to be too critical given the personnel circumstances the Cavs found themselves in for this game, with so many guys either injured or sitting out. Add to that a fully healthy Memphis team with a plodding, grinding style of play that caused even Golden State some issues in the playoffs, and it’s kind of amazing the game was even close.

Even with the stifling Memphis defense, the Cavs did turn the ball over pretty excessively. They also got soundly out-rebounded by the Grizz, although much of the disparity came from their back court.

It would have been encouraging to see something more from the back court (e.g. some more penetration from Delly and Cook; better outside shooting from Joe and the Ninja; etc.), especially given the opportunity with the Cavs top four guards out of action.

The Genius:

Nobody got hurt.

Jared Cunningham might just have a nickname.

The pre-season is almost half over.

J.R. Smith made the most of his night off by indulging his sweet tooth…

Yes, JR Smith bought and ate cotton candy on the Cavs bench. Yes, I took the photo. Yes, it is funny: http://t.co/5CX0EJVISE

— Jared Mueller (@JaredKMueller) October 13, 2015