Recap: Cleveland 117, Orlando 103 (or, flipping Love’s switch)
2015-11-23
Gus Chan / The Plain Dealer
Early on, it looked Cleveland would have no problem with the Magic, as the good guys started out red hot, hitting their first three triples, and then bombing their way to a 22-10 lead. But Evan Fournier and Tobias Harris combined to score 13 in the last seven minutes of the first to cut the Cavs lead to two by quarter’s end. The Cavs’ depleted bench couldn’t hold the lead, and they made Andrew Nicholson look like Chris Bosh as the Magic compiled a 48-38 lead midway through the second. And then Kevin Love went into what can only be described as “the zone.”
In truth, Kevin had been heating up the whole first 18 minutes. After two “automatic” shots from the left block a couple minutes before the halfway mark (a hook and a Larry-Bird-esque turnaround J), Kevin rattled off three straight triples in 71 seconds. The first two were off sweet Delly dimes, and the third came off a LeBron transition drive where LBJ drew three defenders to the middle and spotted KLove’s flaming hands in the right corner. Then, with the deficit still not erased, Kevin got Tobias Harris to fall for the ole “Banana in the Tailpipe.” Yep, Tobias BIT on the pump-fake and Love got to the line for three. After two freebies, a 10-footer (for 17 straight points), and a J.R. deuce, the Cavs were up 53-52 and never looked back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdpSCxb6q3Y
Kevin canned one more triple finish the first half with 27 points and put the Cavs up 59-55. The Cavs kept trying to run away with the lead in the second half, but a gimpy Delly and some pretty anemic defense forced LeBron to stay in the game till late, despite a 22 point Cavs lead with 6:48 remaining. Orlando kept cutting into the lead just enough to keep the King on the floor at point guard, because Blatt clearly didn’t trust Jared Cunningham to handle with a lead (and Delly didn’t return in the fourth).
The Cavs allowed the Magic to shoot 49% from the floor and gave up an extraordinary number of dunks, layups, and offensive rebounds, while Orlando also shot 46% from three, but the Wine and Gold were able to keep the Magic at bay by shooting threes like tossing rocks into Lake Erie. Cleveland shot a ridiculous 18-35 from behind the arc and made a season high 18 threes. As Fred McCloud noted, there was “food for everyone.”
Delly finished with 15 points on 4-6 from three, to go along with 9 dimes – pretty sharp for 24 minutes of work. He is getting his jumper “up” again: firing with more arc on his shot and releasing with more quickness and fluidity. It’s a more “explosive” shot when he’s dialed in. J.R. had a hot shooting night as well, going 10-16 from the floor and 6-10 from three. He and Delly were the Cavs’ most active defenders: helping on D, getting deflections and doing what they could to stop dribble penetration. Along with Cunningham, they held Payton, Oladipo, and Shabazz Napier to 8-29 shooting. Delly and JR were the recipient of very good passes and both even had some nifty finishes to their credit: JR a filthy reverse, and Delly a rainbow knuckeball floater.
LeBron was content to pick his spots on the way to an efficient 15 points, 13 assists, and six boards with only two turnovers. It was a relief to see him play well after a very hard foul in the first quarter from Oladipo which forced the King to land on his hip, unable to catch himself. But I knew James was ok when got the vintage pick-and-roll game going with Andy for a couple buckets. If there was a complaint, it was James’ shooting: 1-5 from the line and 0-2 from three. LeBron’s J is fickle. He and the Cavs’ other front court defenders also played some porous defense throughout the game.
Orlando’s frontcourt went 31-47 tonight. When the Cavs weren’t giving up dunks like this one…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpKOR9SvzQc
they were failing to chase the Magic out past the three point line. (Orlando’s front court was 10-14 there). James Jones and Andy were as culpable as anyone in the second quarter, but Kevin Love and LeBron also got caught watching the paint dry. Fortunately, the good guys rebounded, beating the Magic on the boards 41-39, with Love, TT, and Andy combining for 30 of those.
If the Magic had a chance, it was to use their superior depth to overwhelm the Cavs. As overmatched as the Cavs’ bench was at times (James Jones and Jared “1-8” Cunningham looked pretty rough), the starters shot the ball and executed so well that most of those missed defensive assignments mattered little. (And truth be told, Orlando’s defense was worse than Cleveland’s). The Wine and Golders seem capable of “flipping the switch” and playing great whenever they want. They have that extra “gear” that special teams seem to have. The tendency “turn it off and on” may haunt them some in the regular season (sometimes the switch shorts out), but I can’t wait to see them flip it to “on” once they’re at full strength. It should be something to watch. In the mean time, let’s hope they get healthy.
Also Conrad made tweet
This just in ” Matthew Dellavedova and Kevin Love rated as NBA’s most efficient duo” ” Love has one man in particular to thank for his improved numbers: resident Australian, Matthew Dellavedova. The pair has been ranked as the most efficient one-two punch in the league, with an offensive rating of 117.7 and defensive rating of 86.7, giving them a net rating of 30.9.”
http://www.foxsports.com.au/basketball/nba/matthew-dellavedova-and-kevin-love-rated-as-nbas-most-efficient-duo/story-fnp51js4-1227622945209
Delly is the real deal. He’s not a fluke. He’s getting alot of positive attention throughout the league. Numbers are in his favor.
This directly relates to my above post. Delly is the best post entry passer we have
Yes It’s cool that the national sports media is actually writing about it.
So Zach Lowe wrote this article about small ball. He focused on teams like GSW, the hawks, and the bucks. But reading it I couldn’t help think that the Cavs renewed focus on Love is in part because of the things he brings up in this article http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14209124/is-small-ball-dominance-golden-state-blip-trend (and Cols brings up as to why he’s not scared of the GSW’s small ball unit.) The reason is because Love is a dominant post presence who kills smaller defenders. But he also kills double teams with his passing and his baseline turnaround. Another part is that the Cavs provide great spacing… Read more »
Also reading this article makes me even more desperate for TT to someday become an average passer
I read that article as well. It’s pretty obvious to me, and I’m sure many others, that the best way to combat “small ball” is post-up offense. Post-up offense slows the game down, and puts more of a premium on physicality. We’re just in a cycle right now in the NBA where there is a serious lack of post-up big man talent… thus small ball is ruling the day. But as soon as more dominant post-up talent comes into the league, they will have the advantage. This is why I’m such a fan of Jahlil Okafor… he’s a “throwback” to… Read more »
I agree. The only counter small ballers have is to make the entry pass hard to execute. And elite shooting at the the positions helps makes that easier. Which is why even if Irving isn’t the one delivering the pass his presence will only help. I think he still needs to work on the fundamentals of entering the ball since in his entire career the only time he tried to do so was a month of Andrew Bynum. This is why Okafor and towns will struggle with turnovers for a while. Neither of them have the spacing neccesary to execute… Read more »
Totally agree RM. What’s crazy to me is that a simple ball fake is all that’s needed to create a clean angle for the post entry pass. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard Bob Knight say “use a ball fake for shot or a pass” when he was calling college games. No one wants to use a simple ball fake to get an easy bounce pass in the post, they all want to use a soft lob pass! It’s infuriating HAHA! Amen to the Okafor/Towns comment. Okafor, and to a lesser extent Towns (I guess with Rubio),… Read more »
@AmicoHoops: Warriors set record at 16-0. But still early for 72-10 talk. Opponents so far 70-101. Yet to play Spurs, Mavs, OKC or any East team on road.
Am I the only one that thinks the Warriors are going to lose in the next week or 2? I mean its still basketball. Granted there schedule aint that tough. Not rooting for them to lose, I’m all about letting the hype train get out of control and letting Lebron get angry
I’d be pretty surprised if they don’t drop one in the next couple of weeks. Still an amazing start.
They have won literally 4 games against teams with winning records. Four games. The clips and Detroit are 500 I guess…but they haven’t exactly been playing a tough crowd. Not that the cavs have been playing tons of above 500 teams…but the league is really top heavy right now. Kudos to them for playing to win every night. Hope they lose their next 66 lol.
Kobe is just Done. As in DOOOOOOOOOONE.
No question… he should maybe retire at Christmas…
Or Thanksgiving…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team give less effort and still have a 20 point lead then GS right now. The lakers are playing like a lousy MAC school playing DUke or Kansas. They are playing like they know they have 0 chance
Yep, playing like it’s a training drill. They are jogging through their set plays.
It’s really just Globetrotters vs Generals.
Tight finish to Portland v Chicago, better than the Curry love-in commentary
@KyrieIrving: Azurie Elizabeth Irving 11/23/15
35 hours of labor from her great mother and she came into the world… https://t.co/z1cBekk690
Wonder which will be higher at the end of this game – Warriors dunks, or Laker airballs. (sorry, having too much fun mocking the Lakers, I’ll slow down)
Why are the Lakers allowed so many national games? I know the answer, I’m asking the paint that is drying on the wall.
Because they are so fun to watch!
God, the Lakers suck. I’d rate their chances of keeping their pick quite high. That will be a huge disappointments to all the Hinkyites.
This is a bye week for the Warriors. Or in Johnny Football terms —> Champagne/Bieber time.
What a doofus. Finally gets the starting gig, IS WARNED about not acting a fool and………..
Yep, they need to either cut him or play him. Looks like they’re cutting him. Love all the first round busts. Can’t wait to see Ray the Farmer at work next April. BTW sorry if I was a jerk before. I feel bad about it.
I haven’t seen them play too much so far this season, but they look pretty much equally as incompetent as the Sixers to me. And at least the Sixers have Okafor who can bully people in the post. The Lakers just have nothing right now.
At least they’re not the Nets.
They are in better shape than the Nets, it’s true.
2014 Delly shape?
Delly is never less than 100% ripped.
@mcten: Kyrie Irving announces on IG that he’s a dad. Congratulations to Ky and the family. https://t.co/xd8Ftm8Cdf
The Warriors look full of themselves. They aren’t repeating. I doubt they even make it through the west.
LOL. They are cocky for sure, but it’s because they are freaking good, and they know it.
Hey Luke, what do you think of this awesome Laker roster that you may be coaching next year? Bet you can’t wait to get at it!
They are the best team in the league right now and deservably so. They would beat the Cavs in a series right now. When we are fully healthy, I’d still put them ahead BUT I think it’s close and we have a good shot.
Nope. Their only hope is that the Cavs are down two of the big three. Otherwise Cavs will kill them. Love makes their small lineup unplayable. Could be a sweep. Talent always trumps in the NBA. Cavs simply have more.
Keep dreaming, Cols!
(The Cavs will have a good chance of beating them if healthy, but this sweep crap is just delusional. And the Cavs should be able to put a good smallball lineup on the court to match, but the numbers for the Warriors using that lineup so far are ridiculous – I realize you don’t want to process this)
Cav’s lineups with Delly, TT, Lebron and Love are even more rediculous
Do you have the numbers handy? Last I saw, the Warriors lineup is considerably better. This stuff is always handwaving, as it’s never apples to apples.
How does Love make the small ball line up unplayable?
Green and Barnes having to guard and rebound against TT and Love could work in our favor especially if slow it down. They trap the post alot in the small ball unit and against Love surrounded by shooters and TT it could be tough
To beat the Dubs I think you need to control the offensive rebounds (TT, Love), slow the pace ——-> they’re like last in the league in pace, smother Curry at half court (Delly), and make Curry play defense (Kyrie). It’s a start.
I’m not even sure the Lakers could beat the Generals this season.
Boston sucks. They need a talent infusion.
If it’s Ben Simmons courtesy of the Nets, I may off myself.
That guy looks like the real deal.
You can’t possible believe this… He’s Australian.
This sucks. There should be less off days during the season. And no halftime either.
So Delly can injure his ankle more, no thanks. I’ll be in the crypto-theater if you want to chat.
@Complex_Sports: Browns fan cries on the radio over Johnny Manziel, calls him a “drunken bum”: https://t.co/TqB2e8ZKRc https://t.co/GYVrxLhNyp
I should’ve listen to this before posting it. Poor guy.
How do respond to that if you are Adam or Fox? Ouch. Luckily for me I have never seen a decent Browns team. I think in my entire life by favorite Browns player is Josh Cribbs. I mean how pathetic is that. That’d be like Ira Newble being my favorite Cav of all-time. So I don’t care about the Browns. I watch them because I love football, but I prefer when they have bye weeks so I can watch other teams. I’m 26 and the only teams that were decent were the 02 Browns (I missed the playoff game though… Read more »
The funniest thing I’ve heard is that it’s more difficult to be this bad with a league that encourages parody. Yeah, I’ve never been a big football fan, and the Browns continue to make me care even less.
They are right. Jacksonville was decent at the end of the 90’s with Brunell and Coughlin. The raiders went to a suberbowl in the early 2000’s with Gannon. Washington has been bad but we’ve been worse, they just have a higher profile.
Hard to even acknowledge this current iteration (since 1999) as the Browns… I was just a 10 year old kid when I nearly froze to death watching the real Browns lose to the Raiders in the Red Right 88 game at the old Municipal Stadium… They still lost more than they won, but at least they had some modicum of competence…
I can remember exactly where I was and who I was with at RRR88.
There are so many fun names that can be attached to Love. For example, Kevin (unconditional) Love.
Maybe Chris Berman might be interested.
FYP
Maybe Chris Berman should be interred.
Ha….one of my favorite “Bermanisms” was “Carlos one if by land, two if by sea and three if Baerga”
Don’t get me wrong, I thought he was cool as hell when he started at ESPN around 1980, but maybe it’s because I was 11 at the time, lol. Now he’s like a caricature of himself. But back then just the concept of a cable station like ESPN was awesome, SportsCenter was like a fix for an addict, and Chris Berman with his nicknames put it all over the top. Some of the early ones that I have stuck in my head: Eddie ‘eat drink and be’ Murray Von ‘purlple’ Hayes Jose ‘can you see’ Cruz and of course…. Bert… Read more »
Yes…he had some great ones back then, and you’re right, the early ESPN days were great. Not to change the topic, but MTV was the same. It started out like a wonderful novelty for music lovers and then morphed into a tasteless corporate machine.
Exactly! I think I can still name all the original VJ’s- Martha Quin, JJ, Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood. Prolly missing someone. They changed the music industry for sure though.
I think Nina Blackwood was originally from Cleveland.
As much as I can’t stand the Lakers… it would be fun to see them somehow end the Golden State streak… although part of me wants them to go undefeated until Christmas Day when the Cavs come to town…
Yep…would be a HUGE..and wonderful…upset if the Lakers win. The fact we are rooting for the Lakers says a lot about how much we dislike GSW.
Anyone in the NBA can beat anyone on a given night, but, frankly, I’d give the Sixers a better chance than the Lakers.
So would I. The Lakers are terrible. Maybe if Kobe doesn’t play they have a chance.
The game is on national tv tonight, I think, which means Kobe will really be up for it, and jack up twenty 3s, and make four of them. If the Warriors come to play, it’s hard to imagine them not scoring at least 135.
I like watching GS play. Wonderful basketball, and Curry is a genius with the ball. Add in the best crowd in the NBA and as the Gilberts say, what’s not to like?
I do not like watching them play. I don’t see anything interesting on their team besides how great Curry is. It’s not that fun to watch a team make a million passes and set 17 illegal screens before someone does something with the ball.
The Cavs are much more interesting, IMO.
They’re fun to watch if you don’t despise them like it do, and probably Clipper fans. And yes, they love illegal screens, Iggy arm grabs, flailing, flopping, and jersey grabs.
Great recap Nate, as always. However, flipping the Love switch meant something different to me. Ba-dum-dum. Thanks. I’ll be here all week.
ALSO A BIG CONGRATS TO LEBRON FOR YET ACHIEVING ANOTHER MILESTONE ( ALMOST A NIGHTLY HAPPENING ) THAT ONLY THE GREAT “BIG O ” HAD ACCOMPLISHED—–POST GAME INTERVIEW SHOWS A VERY MATURE/ HUMBLE LEBRON WITH SOME VERY INTELLIGENT / INSIGHTFUL ANSWERS/ COMMENTS —WE ARE HAVING THE PLEASURE OF ” WITNESSING GREATNES “
I agree with Cols. LBJ makes everyone else look better than they are, particularly role players. It reminds me of when they broke up the Bulls after 98 and teams were signing their roles players (Luc Longley, Jud Buechler, etc), thinking that they were a lot better than they truly were, because Jordan and Pippen made them look better. The same is happening with Delly now. Yes, he has gotten much better offensively and he always gives all out effort, but he still has limitations because of his lack of quickness (can’t break down a defense and can’t stay in… Read more »
That’s one way to look at it. But there are guys out there that CAN’T do that. Chalmers didn’t get appreciably better with Bosh AND Lebron there.
Also Delly had pretty solid Plus minus his first year dispite being a rookie and far less skilled himself and playing with rookie Dion waiters
Disagree on the “staying in front of quick guards.” no one can stay in front of these guys. It’s all about the scouting report and the team defensive concept. Delly executes these as well as anyone. But yeah, there are players that play better with LeBron. He plays great with guys who can roll, catch, and finish, and guys who can hit spot ups. He is better now with post players but remember how bad the Shaq experiment was? Same thing with ball dominator who can’t shoot threes. Took him a year and a half to figure how to play… Read more »
I just saw Real Plus Minus stats at ESPN and they are not kind to Delly. They have him at Shooting Guard for some reason, ranked 26th with a negative ORPM and a negative DRPM for a total RPM of -0.81, and 218th overall.
Mo is 17th at PG and 89th overall – +0.84
LBJ is 1st at SF and 4th overall – +6.43
Love is 2nd at PF and 11th overall – +4.03
TT is 20th at C and 57th overall – +1.52
Forgot to link to above……
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/RPM
Don’t worry, the fanboys here won’t care. They think he’s better than half the starting PGs in the NBA. He is what he is, backup to the backup PG/SG. And he’s good in that role.
If he keeps playing the way he has with other lineups that number will change drastically. His 2 year vanilla rapm has him as 82nd best in the NBA.
Rpm induces biases and right now it hasn’t seen enough of Delly without LeBron or Love to credit him with anything.
Yeah and Delly is ranked 26 of 90 ahead of a lot of players, like JR Smith and Victor Oladipo. Only 15 players are in the positive with this stat which really speaks to the sample size. Good troll job tho. Are you a Golden Stat fan, I’m pretty sure they have their own blog.
LOL, yea I’m busted.
By saying ‘this stat isn’t kind to Delly’ I become a troll?? Interesting.
Something else that’s interesting is anagrams. I ran Arch Stanton-
Not from Canton by any chance are you?
Canton Trash
or the even better anagram
Chat Rants On
I love how Anagrams is the the new inspector gadget. I have no idea what you’re talking about w/r to Canton. I assume you’ve never seen a Spaghetti Western. But you know what, I apologize for overreacting. I was wrong if I pinned you in that manner. This isn’t sarcastic either.
It’s all good. In general I like debating things, as well as adding my 2 cents to what others say, which may rub some the wrong way.
Sounds good bud!
Well, OK, but he rates higher than John Wall on this scale, so I guess Delly’s an all star.
I’d still hate Draymond… I don’t care who he plays for…
What if he played for the Cavs?
The I would root for the guy despite him being almost a dirty player. See also, Delly.
Nope… wouldn’t root for him. Would still root for Cavs, but root for Draymond to get injured…
What if Draymond makes the game winning shot to seal a championship for the Cavs, but in order for this to happen EG needs to yell his support of Draymond?
This would never happen… ;)
But if somehow it did… I’d just have to be okay with no championship…
I would sooner give up watching basketball forever than root for Draymond Green…
Come on EG! I hate the dude too, but after a championship we could trade him to the Sixers and he could be stuck in a Hinkie-Nado for eternity.
Nope… I will not budge on this! I reserve the right of Colsian stubbornness when it comes to my Draymond hatred… ;)
I respect your Draymond Green hatred. And I can’t even continue to debate hypotheticals for a guy I also despise. But I’d take a championship if it meant Draymond drilling a shot for the Cavs.
JIMMY BUTLER TRYING TO DO HIS “BEST LEBRON IMITATION ” COMPLAINING/ CHALLENGING THE BULLS ABOUT THEIR LACK OF INTENSITY ——NO WORD FROM DEREK ROSE —-SO WE ALL KNOW WHO THE REAL LEADER OF THAT TEAM IS
I don’t apologize. I like Jimmy Butler. He is more valuable to the Bulls than part-time Rose. I do think they have lost some of their defensive edge.
As much as I enjoyed getting that call for the Cavs, I agree I would like to see the League eliminate that bogus play/call!
Excellent recap, Nate! This was the first game I got to attend this year and it didn’t disappoint. My takeaways: The Magic looked every bit as athletic as the Cavs and played tough to hang around as long as they did. But in the 3rd quarter it felt like the Cavs started to actually try and you could see how they overwhelmed the young squad with superior skill, ball movement and IQ. Every single Cav looked pretty awesome out there, which was a great sight. On the KLove foul on the triple attempt: if that’s the one I’m remembering correctly,… Read more »
Yes. I hate that garbage as well. Hopefully the NBA does something about it.
Yeah. I’m sure many players would agree, but I’m glad that they’re taking advantage of it while it’s here. Aside from it being purely a cost to not do that, it also will hasten rule changes if people are using them and fans are complaining.
Agreed. The “fake and flail” needs to go.
Wasn’t there some related phrase, like “Jab, Fake and Flail”…..whatever it was it sounded like a law firm!
I agree…it’s not needed.
The other rule I hate is the sliding over and taking a charge crap. If you aren’t the primary defender you shouldn’t be allowed to slide underneath a guy at the last second and get a charge call. Contest the shot or get out of the way. Standing there just to get a charge sucks and is stupid.
Actually, the charge circle has cleaned that up a lot. Block/charge is pretty good these days. Guys like Harden would be impossible to stop with your rule change. The whole night would be a free throw contest.
I think it would mean more contested shots instead of just sliding in at the last second and hoping the ref calls a charge. It’s lazy and really takes away from the game.
There’s no practical way to police this. Refs have enough to do. Harden will just launch himself even more crazily into help defenders.
Players would figure it out. Right now all they are doing is gaming the system by sliding in at the last second and not moving in hopes a ref feels pity. It’s really lazy. And boring.
You were a big fan of “slam ball,” weren’t you?
What the heck is slam ball? I’m a big fan of players making plays on defense or on offense. I’m not a big fan of 6’1″ guy sliding in at the last second and not making a play but hoping that the ref will call a charge. That’s not a basketball play at all.
Charges are a lazy way to play defense.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slamball
Ha. Goodness, I’ve never heard of that.
Anyways, I hate slide by charges and think it’s lazy and boring.
I’d like to know what Delly did in the offseason to improve his game. Was it simply losing weight like Cols suggests? Seems like he spent a lot of effort on improving his dribbling and passing. Whatever he did, it’s working.
He played for the Aussies over the summer to tone his body. IMO he is highly intelligent too. He knows his weaknesses and he worked on those parts of the game. Also I think Year 2 with the same basic guys helped him learn floor spacing for himself and his teammates. You can see his assists rocket up, his Delly lobs are on point, and his floater/jumper have improved.
This. http://www.fiba.com/oceania/2015/Matthew-DELLAVEDOVA/#iset=ad479171-64a2-4279-b3c0-701575a7f09a&iid=277e2ce9-1ddd-4aa6-859e-f5616d54b855
He got in shape. It’s the biggest difference between him being not good last year and actually worth playing this year. He’s probably the best backup to the backup PG/SG in the NBA
He spent a lot of time reworking his shot. He is getting it “up” a lot more quickly and with more strength. The result is a quicker release, higher trajectory, and more accurate shot. He’s also greatly improved his handle and ability to turn the corner on the screen. Finally he’s found the angles and confidence to finish when teams play him for the pass. He also looks stronger and more cut.
He is more comfortable handling the ball under pressure – even physical contact. I wonder if he’s learned a thing or two about body control from Uncle Drew. Kyrie is one of the best in the league at absorbing all kinds of contact with his body and maintaining the space to operate his dribble. Last season Delly had to pick up his dribble or back the ball out more. This year he is able to probe and even drive into the teeth. I think his vision has always been good but it was harder to pass over a bunch of… Read more »
Prolly that nifty plastic bag over the basketball that Ky always used.
Every single offseason Delly improves his game by working his ass off. He practices and practices and practices. His floater, his ball handlling, his 3pt release, his defense, his conditioning – whatever the coaches tell him to work on, he works on. He is in the film room, he studies himself and his problems, then practices. He plays every chance he gets, for the Aussies, wherever. He gets better every season, and will continue to do so until his body starts to break down (and probably even then) because he will be outworked by exactly NO ONE.
Very nice summary of why he is special. It is amazing that he has come so far so fast. What a gem!
I think his addition of the skip feed has really helped his offensive facilitating capabilities. Nice advantage of learning from lbj!
JUST REVISTED THE 2014 DRAFT TO SEE WHO WAS TAKEN AFTER SMOKIN JOE ( NOT A LIST OF PLAYRS WHO MAY HAVE HELPED ) EXCEPT THE ONE THAT WE HAD AND TRADED AWAY DWIGHT POWELL –WHO IS TURNING OUT TO BE A GEM FOR THE MAVS
The Cavs have flat out stunk drafting talent late. Even Griff who is doing an admirable job shuffling the roster with significant FAs hasn’t shown the ability yet. They do a better job with undrafted camp guys (Delly and MDN). I’m pretty sure Grant did not have a competent scouting crew (or he didn’t use them…and I’d believe this after his comments about the Dion draft). Hopefully Griff is putting the right people in place.
Just wait until Cedi the Jedi hits the states…
I’m not sure “Cedi the Jedi” will work. I’m pretty sure it’s pronounced Shjed-ee not Shjed-aye.
Well he might turn out to be shid-ey but lets wait and see first ok?
That’s his nickname on his team though… I didn’t invent that one…
Didn’t we draft cunningham?
excellent writeup nate. considering how quickly it posted after the game, i am impressed with how you can accomplish so much on a weekday night. i know it is an on-going league theme, but the league has so many story line. multiple teams on a tear. star injuries. milestones set. careers ending as new ones blossom. anyway, i am a bit sad that my work schedule and growing kids have prevented me from being a regular commentator. your recaps seem to put my scattered thoughts into more coherent patterns. of note, the cunningham contract and a possible trade of harris… Read more »
Thanks, man.
LIKE HOW BLATT EVEN WITH A SOLID GAME LAST NIGHT IS NOT LETTING THESE GUYS GET COMPLACENT/KIND OF DISCUSSED HOW THEY NEED TO STILL CLEAN UP ALOT OF THINGS / THIS IS A SIGN OF A CHAMPIONSHIP COACH / TEAM——ALSO AS MUCH AS I LIKE MDN –HIS FLAWS ( ON WHY HE HASN’T STUCK WITH AN NBA TEAM ) ARE STARTING TO SURFACE—-INCONSISTENT JUMPER / WEAK LEFT HAND / INABALITY TO FINISH IN TRAFFIC —–WOULD STILL KEEP HIM BECAUSE HIS ATHLETICISM/ DEFENSE IS A HUGE PLUS( AND SMOKIN JOE LOOKS LIKE A CAREER CANTON / YMCA PLAYER —–MDN REALLY NEEDS… Read more »
Okay this is just silly. I dont know what to eve say so I’ll just put it here. This is before yesterdays game has been added.
But the cavs top 7, 3 man units with at least 50 minutes played feature
RJ-1x
LBJ-2x
Andy-2x
TT-3x
Love 3x
Mo 3x
Delly 7xs
Delly is in every single top 3 man combination for the cavs?
The tiny URL for your query is:
http://bkref.com/tiny/FKJVP
Then check this out. Delly, TT, Love and Lebron every bit as good as Golden State
The tiny URL for your query is:
http://bkref.com/tiny/DMn3w
Thanks Rodney Mac. Interesting that that lineup is both killing other teams in terms of 3p% differential but also Free Throw disparity. Extremely efficient offense despite a slow pace.
I can’t believe a line up with Felton and D. Williams is ranked third.
Interesting to me stat(s) of the day: Kevin Love ranks 13th in number of post ups in the NBA with 55. (Okafor is 1st w/122) Love shoots 72.2% on post up shots. Love scores 1.29 PPP (Points per Possession) on post up possessions. Out of the 101 players with the most post ups in the league (everyone with 9 or more) – Love ranks 2nd in fg%, barely behind Plumlee at 72.7% w/only 16 PU’s Love ranks 1st in PPP. (2nd is Milsap at 1.21 PPP) Don’t know how long these kind of numbers can last, but he’s straight abusing… Read more »
The Cavs dominated offensively, but once again, gave little effort on defense. They did show it’s possible to give effort though because in the 3rd quarter they were all flying around, trapping, closing out, helping out etc. I think Coach Blatt chewed em out at the half, and it worked as they played their best quarter offensively and defensively outscoring Orlando 33-21. It’s probably a combination of players being out, not needing to give all out effort against inferior teams, or just generally trying for the most part to coast through games that don’t mean much at this time of… Read more »
Cavs moved the ball well and Kevin Love was ridiculous. I actually thought Delly was laboring a bit on D. He has become a steady offensive player though. Gutted one out tonight. I thought Varejao looked sort again even though he was flailing a bit from time to time. Jared Cunningham looked overwhelmed for most of the game. The Cavs kept on encouraging him and he drained a frustration 3 in the 4th which was nice to see. Nice shooting by JR and great patience by LBJ. Really did a nice job getting the ball from side to side. Kevin… Read more »
Really all around great game for the Cavs..
KLove played awesome. Elite all game. Continue this Kev!
Lebron with another milestone. I think I read Mcmenamin about the possibility Lebron reaching top 10 in scoring by the end of the year. Man what an awesome feat. In just 13 playing seasons. (!!!) Imagine that. Hopefully he caps it off this year with championship thropy in his hand.
Great win. Go Cavs.
If he averages 25 ppg he should be 10th by the end of the season if he plays all 68 games. Hakeem has 26,946. But Duncan has 26,115. So by the time LBJ get there it might only be 11th, doubt though. LBJ has 25,259. http://espn.go.com/nba/history/leaders
He’s already 6th alltime in playoff scoring
Also… love the BIT reference!
Way to knock out the recap, Nate!
I wonder if any other team (including the Warriors) could play this well missing three fifths of their starting line-up, their primary back up PG and with a third limited to 24 minutes with a gimpy lower leg…
Imagine if GS had to play without Steph, Iggy, Ezeli and Livingston… do they even have a third PG?
When you get a moment. We know you are on vacation. Can you create a cool Kevin Love pic or gif with like exploding fire around him.?
Ha! Will see what I can do…
I think they would struggle big time if Curry went down to some injury (struggle relatively, I mean)….he is so important to what they do, and makes then so hard to defend. Of course, you could say exactly the same for the Cavs and Lebron. I do think the Cavs have more depth on paper, which is why they have such a huge payroll. They are fortunate to have Mo on a small contract, and Delly on a steal of a contract.
I disagree. Cavs are still a top team in the east without LBJ if they are healthy otherwise. The Warriors are more like the 09 Cavs where if Lebron went down we would have gone into a melt down. We might even make the Finals without LBJ this year, we would be pretty thin at SF though. But Irving is more important to the Cavs than Green, and Moz is equivalent of Bogut, and Shump is close it Andre Iguadala, and Mo is close to Livingston. So to me the equivalent is what would the GSW’s look like without Green,… Read more »
As much as I dislike him, Green is playing out of his mind this year, and has easily been the Warriors’ second best player so far. He’s easily as important to them as Irving is to the Cavs. Moz and Bogut I agree with.
The Cavs ain’t getting higher than the 5th seed without Lebron. I would say the same for GS and Steph. I think the Warriors take a big hit offensively without Curry, but defensively I don’t think they lose anything without him since he’s prolly their poorest defender.
Nope. We lose LeBron and we barely make the playoffs.
This is an absurd take
I mean it’s really not. Look what happened to the Heat when leBron left. Look at the Cavs when LeBron left. The dude is awesome and makes everyone on the team look better than they are.
Those aren’t fair comparisons because the ’09 Cavs and ’13 Heat are not the ’15 Cavs.
Kyrie, Love, TT, Mozzy, Delly, Shumpert, JR, Mo, Varejao, RJ.
^^Name 7 teams in the East that are better than that. We still have two (likely) future HOFers in their prime. The Heat and Bulls are the only ones who compare, and even then I’d take our guys. We’d definitely need to sign a SF but this roster is STACKED.
Um OK. But with Irving we won like 30 games the whole year. Add Love and maybe we get to 40? I don’t know. LBJ covers up a lot of mistakes.
Again, these Cavs now and the team Kyrie was on a few years ago are night and day different. Kyrie and Love have much more rounded out games. The coaching is better. The GM and talent is better. The “culture” is better. Everything about this franchise is top notch.
LBJ is great but so is this team. This is literally one of the most stacked rosters of all time.
Yea, 2015 Irving better than 2013 Irving. 2015 Mo and Delly better than 2013 Delly and D Leaguer. Shump and JR better than 2013 version of Dion. RJ slightly worse than 2013 Deng, but worlds better than Alsonso Gee. 2015 Love and TT Worlds better than 2013 TT and Earl Clark. 2015 Moz + Andy worlds better than 2013 Tyler Zeller and Month of Andy. This team probably wins 50 sans Lebron with decent health
It is pretty amazing that we can have only three losses by a total of 10 points with such a depleted squad. I don’t think any other team could match that kind of production. That’s why I’ve been saying since the summer: I want to see a run at 70 wins. This team is more than capable.
Btw The highlights are great. I didn’t realize how quick his footwork is.
Yep – this is something that has struck me the last couple of games. Particularly his movement when posting up, receiving & subsequent shot. Thought he looked a bit sluggish a few weeks back, maybe smelling salts are in his locker?
We might need to get Kevin’s Love parents a house here. He has been playing at another elite level with them in town.
If Love is hot like that, they will blitz teams. When he’s really struggling from outside, it just seems like an uphill slog.
Not really an uphill slog. More like a fair fight
Awesome game from Love and Smith and LeBron. Also that was probably Dellys best game as a pro. That’s more of a line you expect from a starting pG
I seem to remember a couple games last June where he limited the leagues MVP and delivered 20 points and an dagger in Game 3.
you’ve said this a couple of times already cols. Just admit he’s a good player.
Quick Delly fact, his 9 assists and 0 Turnovers makes him the league leader in Assist to turnover ratio at 4.2. 2nd place after tonight will be Mike Conley at 3.8
Everybody is playing well, or at least having their good stretches. At the moment, tho, I would say that LBJ, Love, and Delly are the “big three.”
Looking forward to checking out Cols’ logic on why this is meaningless.
Huh? He was really good last night.