Recap: Cleveland 117, San Antonio 103 (or, Thrill KyLL)
2016-01-31Welcome to the Smith living room! We’re drinking a selection of Michigan’s finest beers left over from my yearly Michigan vacation, including Shorts Brewing, who just announced they’re going to distribute outside of the mitten, making us all the luckier. And, the CAVS are on. I’ll admit, I skipped all the pregame hype to enjoy KFC Nashville hot chicken. Beer, Chicken, Cavs, a running diary? What could be better?
First Quarter
Heather Cox informs us that the NBA is debuting “virtual 3” technology… something to do with the player or the three point line lighting up when someone attempts a shot. God, I hope this isn’t like Fox’s glowing puck.
12:00 Cavs win a tip-off! (seems like that’s a rarity). Cavs miss their first two shots… and the Colonel forgot the pickles. I’m holding Norm MacDonald responsible. Also, yes, the KFC is kind of gross, and not nearly as good as actual Nashville hot chicken.
11:23 David West gives Love a forearm shiver to the chin after a made West basket. David gets a tech for his troubles. Kyrie drains it to get Cleveland on the scoreboard.
11:00 Back door cut and dunk by Leonard defended very poorly by LeBron. Nice pass from West too. Kawhi says, “dunk you very much.”
10:30 Active hands gets Kyrie a steal and a sweet turbo button finish between Kawhi and Green.
10:00 JR 3! – And… KFC is like Arby’s. Every bit of food has enough salt for a week. I’m going to have to delay the beer for two gallons of water now.
9:38 19-footer by Kevin and nine straight Cavs points make it 10-4, and Pop calls a rage TO. “Be aggressive. Be be. Aggressive.”
9:00 K-Love for three! From the right corner… Tom was right. He’s shooting with the confidence of knowing he’ll actually get the ball back.
8:14 Smith gets stuck to a screen like it’s a glue trap, and it leads to a wide a open Leonard triple from the left corner. Next possession, Parker beats Irving like a drum with a drive to the left side of the basket to cut the Cavs’ lead to two.
6:18 A Love pump fake into a dribble drive leads to a nice banker off the square. More of that please, Kev! It’s followed by a sick runner on the left side in transition by LeBron, then a TT dunk off a King steal! Nice pace Cavs, looks like you’re getting in shape.
5:40 Heat check by Love over Leonard. Kevin’s got 11! He’s hotter than this chicken! (which isn’t nearly spicy enough, actually).
3:50 Another three by Love! LeBron’s looking for him on the pick and pop. That was a purpose play.
3:10 TT on the o-boards! He sits Aldridge down with a third foul. I see you working, TT. Cleveland’s getting calls that normally go against them.
2:55 ARGH. Manu gets a three as everyone looks at each other instead of closing out. Splash. Cavs throw it away on the next possession.
2:00 Shump subs in for Love, and Jefferson comes in for James. RJ’s guarding Kawhi. I like this match-up about as much as I like brussel sprouts.
1:30 Great hands by TT as he catches a Delly feed while on a full sprint between three defenders. Canadian Dynamite gets himself to the line and drains both freebies. Tough pass and catch there.
1:00 Spurs clawing back with Diaw and West playing bully ball. The “post up whoever is on Jefferson” offense is unsurprisingly effective. Get Andy out there.
0:00 JR hits a fadeaway two from the right corner to beat the buzzer, cause that’s what JR does. Monster 37-30 quarter, Cavs.
Second Quarter
11:15 Moz must’ve applied stickum pregame. He catches a Love lob and reverses a layup up and in.
11:00 Irving with a sick crossover hits RJ in the corner… For three! Cavs are shooting the lights out.
10:47 Boban Marjanovic is in. He’s the most “non-classically attractive” player in the NBA. I call him Der Kinderlumper. Also, I’m a terrible person.
10:13 Kyrie is in the middle of a “confidence rising” montage. He gets Boris Diaw guarding him on a switch, isolates, and takes him down the lane for a right lane for a layup. League beware. The montage continues a few seconds later with an Irving iso-J on the baseline left. Swish.
9:00 LeBron clanks two freebies, but swishes a pair a minute later. He’s been keeping a steady, controlled form for the last week. It’s the longest I’ve seen him go without switching styles, maybe ever.
7:22 Cavs dodge a bullet after 13 Spurs touch the ball on a possession and Leonard misses a wide open left corner three.
7:42 Oh God, there was so much salt in that chicken. I haven’t been this dehydrated since I drank a half bottle of soy sauce on a dare in college.
6:52 LeBron swats a weak Tony Parker floater into the fourth row. I hope no children or beverages were injured.
https://vine.co/v/i5jd0ppZTrU
6:40 Jonathan Simmons puts it on the floor after a pump fake and gets a layup. Read the scouting report, LeBron. The dude can’t shoot. Simmons does it again on the next play leading leading to a pair of Der Kinderlumper free throws. Two straight dopey closeouts. Lame.
6:04 The camera men refuse to do a close-up on Marjanovic on the free throw line.
5:48 OMG. Love with two straight NASTY Js in the mid range. The bank shot was especially beautiful. This is the part of the montage where balls keep falling through the basket. Cue “swish” noises.
4:20 Two straight Moz baskets. The second was on a Kyrie shot fake lob to Moz as he cut hard from off camera to dunk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9iG1y-X-d8
3:00 UGH. They brought the “left Twix” commercial back. I only watched it 500 times in last year’s playoffs. Just shoot me.
2:30 Love on the rebound: just took Manu’s lunch and passed it to TT under the basket. Then blocked Manu on the other end. And no, Kevin didn’t just shave his head and put on a Wolves uniform.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5lkSnXWEzI
1:45 After draining a jumper, Smith gets a second call against him this game for being J.R. Smith. I hope he doesn’t keep a list of refs who’ve wronged him.
1:28 Spurs go zone and James finds Shump cutting to the free throw line. That 10-footer is now Shump’s bread-and-butter.
1:00 Also, Tim Duncan’s absence is being felt. He’s the anchor of San Antonio’s defense. The Golden State game meant nothing.
00:34 Spurs’ zone junking up the Cavs a bit. They’ve missed two straight jumpers – which is a rarity this game.
00:05 James banks in a gliding scoop shot with five seconds left, and the Cavs deflect Parker’s dribble to close the quarter. Numbers: Cavs 57% from the floor with two turnovers and 17 assists, 66-49 Cavs. Blatt who?
ESPN spends five minutes halftime wishing Jalen Rose a happy birthday. That was cloying, and perhaps history’s longest in-game birthday celebration for a minor TV personality’s 43rd birthday, ever. Maybe they’re worried he’ll go join Bill Simmons.
Third Quarter
I spend the entire halftime “shedding electrolytes.”
So according to Heather Cox, the Spurs are going to run more zone after made baskets. Bring it on, I say. And oh, I just remembered “Virtual 3 technology” from the folks that brought you the first down line in football. I didn’t even notice it. Maybe it wasn’t working.
11:35 Nice D by TT, better shot from Aldridge: a rainbow make from the left elbow. I can live with it, but I don’t want to see Aldridge heat up.
10:26 Cavs sluggish to start the third. Spurs rattle off six straight as Kyrie settles for a couple long twos. Quick timeout by Blatt er, Lue. Actually, Blatt never called a timeout to right the ship that quickly. Good call, Ty.
9:32 After a Danny Green layup, the Spurs set up more zone. It’s frustrating the Cavs, but it’s also kind of an excuse. The Cavs just didn’t come out with the same energy. 8-0 run Spurs.
8:41 LeBron breaks the zone by pushing hard in transition. He catches all the Spurs napping.
8:22 KLove shuts down Kawhi to cause a double dribble. I think it was Kevin Pelton who put out an article last week about how the good things Love does on defense aren’t highlight reel worthy. That was an example.
8:06 TT hatcheted by West and no call. I forgot how much I hate David West.
7:40 Irving to the line to the lane, finishes with the left hand!
7:10 After shutting down LaMarcus, Bron outruns the entire Spurs team to get to the free-throw line in transition. Lead back to 15.
7:00 Tony Parker with a tricky finish underneath Kevin’s arms to break a three minute scoring drought for San Antonio. I like that it wasn’t easy.
6:50 Cleveland just getting into transition and attacking the basket like they’re possessed. They’re getting buckets or the line. Kyrie cans two more.
6:40 Parker again. He’s heating up. Oh no. What if the the “Virtual 3” makes the ball go on fire like on NBA Jam? Wait, Kevin Love would’ve had that happen earlier. The mystery of Virtual 3 technology remains unsolved.
6:12 Spurs foul LeBron at half-court to prevent a drive. The bonus is coming early this quarter.
6:00 Cavs finally get the ball to James at the free-throw line against the zone. He easily backs down Manu and banks in an up-and-under layup. Lead back and 15 and the Spurs are searching for answers.
5:00 HAHAHAHA: Boris Diaw running. It’s like the truffle shuffle. I could watch it all day. For his efforts, he gets an and-1 post up basket.
4:15 Love skies for a big O-Board and then hits a cutting LeBron. James’ left hand layup is automatic. Kevin rips a triple in transition after LeBron gets a hockey assist, and Kyrie gets the primary assist… WAIT! I just saw the “virtual 3!” Rewinding… The three point line glows red when he shoots, and… Wow. That was it? ESPN had to debut this with a team that has a red three point line? It’s like it grew a couple pixels. Man, that was as exciting as the light going on when you open the fridge. I guess we know where that Bill Simmons money went. Playing the Truffle Shuffle after Diaw scores a basket is like a 500x better idea.
3:05 EVERYONE touches the ball when LeBron moves into the high post against the zone. Poor Patty Mills looks like a little kid trying to play defense on him there. To say James “surveys the defense” there would be an understatement… DELLY TREY!
2:42 After a pair of Leonard freebies, Delly returns the favor and finds a cutting LBJ. Automatic lefty.
2:30 Manu tries a turnaround against TT. Tristan blocks it to himself. Ginobili immediately files for retirement. A Minute later, LBJ chases down Manu for ANOTHER block. Someone check Manu’s wallet for an AAARP card (Argentinian AARP).
https://vine.co/v/i5IAAjdP9Qb
1:30 A sideline look in on Lue during a timeout: maybe I’m projecting, but it just seems like LeBron respects him ten times more than Blatt.
1:00 Ginobili cans an “old man three” by camping out at the top of the key for 25 seconds while Kyle Anderson misses a runner, rebounds and then hits the old man. That was a vintage Nate Smith pickup ball triple.
0:45 LeBron smartly backs in Mills against the zone and gets an easy layup as everyone spreads out. James does it again 30 seconds later, and gets two more free throws. Popovich and Mills have a sideline conversation where a slightly grinning Pop acknowledges that yes, this is a fool’s errand. He offers Patty his sympathies.
00:27 Kawhi posts up Shump, and drains a nifty turnaround on the left block. Leonard’s got the quietest 21 points you could imagine.
00:15 Jeff Van Gundy is droning on about OKC learning how to play defense and making a championship run. I think he’s auditioning for Billy Donovan’s job.
0:00 Anderson finds the rock after a loose ball scramble and clanks a runner. 94-76 Cleveland. That was a fun 12 minutes.
Fourth Quarter
11:40 NO-NO-NO-YES jumper by Irving over Green. This team can’t miss.
11:15 Kyle Anderson ISO J over Love. Spurs should try that more. On the other end, Anderson pulls the chair when Love tries to post him, leading to a turnover. Anderson dunks against zero Cavs defense on the other end. Is Cleveland playing the group that stunk up the beginning of the fourth in Detroit? I’m only a little nervous.
10:00 Oh, no. Jefferson at the power forward and Love at the center. I HATE this lineup more than I hate Damon Lindelof for ruining Lost and Prometheus. A Green drive and a second straight David West finish cuts the lead to 12 with nine minutes left.
8:45 Terrible possession by Kyrie… He tries to dribble through the whole Spurs team, but somehow ends up with a baby hook in the lane for two. That play would’ve turned into a Curry three against the Dubs.
8:00 A more deliberate possession with his buddy Wes (Kevin Love) setting a screen for him on the right wing gives Uncle Drew a little more space. Drew hesitation dribble wiggles his way to a lefty bucket (2:00 mark, on the clip below). As Mark Jackson would later say, “A little ‘excuse me’ crossover. I know it was a carry, but disregard that.”
7:38 Irving drives, gets the ball knocked back into his hands, finds Matt in the left corner… Delly Trey! Followed by a Delly flob! For two more!
6:30 Irving dribbles into the right corner, sizes up Jonathan Simmons in isolation, steps out of bounds (uncalled), and then takes Simmons to the rack and finishes with a lefty hook. God that was so ugly and so beautiful (highlights below).
5:45 Jeff Van Gundy notes that Irving is “playing horse with his left hand. That’s his fourth left hand shot tonight,” as Irving drives and finishes at an impossible angle with the left on the right side of the bucket with no glass while faking a reverse over Aldridge. Cripes.
MFQ Highlight reel
5:30 Delly Trey!
5:00 After spending the last six possessions (with five Spurs field goals) just trading baskets. Lue Calls a timeout. “Someone make Jonathan Simmons shoot a jump shot instead of a layup, he implores.” Oh wait, that was me.
4:55 Cavs up by 17, and LeBron is on the floor. Uh, why? James dribbles off his foot. I don’t think he was ready to return.
4:42 LeBron steal, Patty Mills tries to take a foul and bounces off James like bullets bounce off Superman. LBJ, and-1 layup. Commence looping.
https://vine.co/v/i5IdbAUUPDW
4:15 Aldridge gets his 15th point on yet another isolation. He and Kawhi are the only Spurs who came to play.
3:30 Two offensive rebounds lead to a 45 second possession that ends with a Delly flob from the free-throw line. That was a Dagger! Matthew Dellavedova, you glorious bastard. Uh oh. I might’ve had too much Michigan beer.
2:23 James buzzer-beater from 20 feet. Up 19, LeBron finally heads to the bench. Guess Lue didn’t want to take any chances.
1:30 A Cunningham clanker is followed by Boban Der Kinderlumper getting to the line. This game will not end… Mozgov has 3 fouls in less than two minutes.
0:56 Shumpert’s making $10 million a year to ball hard in garbage time. Still playing defense though.
0:00 Jefferson gives some hugs to his old San Antonio teammates. I forgot he was a Spur like forever ago. Cavs 117-103!
Now that was some electric basketball! Here’s your numbers: 117 points, nine turnovers, 27 assists. Cleveland with 64% true shooting to San Antonio’s 53%. Yeah, they let San Antonio shoot 49% from the field, but they blew the doors off them on offense. Kyrie, LeBron, and Love all over 20 points with three more Cavs in double figures. Also, beer after super salty chicken might have been a bad idea. My lips are like a snail on a salt lick.
Notes
My only complaint was Jefferson at the four. That was dumb. And yeah, the Cavs could’ve played better D, but the Spurs hit a lot of long twos. You live with that.
The “faster pace” was a Trojan horse. The real point was to get the Cavs in shape to move more on offense and defense. The fact that all the players can hit their scoring nut now doesn’t hurt either. Kudos, Tyronn.
Cleveland went 18-21 from the free throw line, including 9-11 for LeBron. I don’t know if I counted one bad shot from the field from him.
Kyrie: 21 points, six assists, one turnover, two steals. Yeah, he dribbled to the corner too much, but everything else was pretty good, and the tricky finishes were ridiculous.
James looked pretty danged transcendent tonight. He’s put Kawhi in his rear view for now. James attacked relentlessly in transition. 10-17, seven dimes, only two turnovers. This is MVL, Most Valuable LeBron.
This was a nice win, but the Spurs were shell-shocked. Part of me wonders if Duncan is a lot worse than we realize, because San Antonio was petty listless all game. Pop also elected to severely limit the starters’ minutes. Kawhi played 35 – but L.A, 26; Danny Green, 23; Tony Parker, 24… That tells me not to put too much stock into this game. Cleveland wanted and needed the win a lot more. The fact that Bron was in with five minutes up 19 tells you everything. Also, the Spurs ran a ridiculous amount of isolation and post play as opposed to pick and roll: Cleveland’s biggest defensive weakness. Plus, all that time practicing zone? It almost seemed like an experimentation game for Pop.
Kyle Anderson had 10 points in 18 minutes, and notched a solid plus four. He’s quietly becoming a decent rotation player.
Delly had his best shooting game in a couple weeks: 6-10 with five rebounds and three dimes. The flob was locked in.
Updating this… Dellavedova is 48-for-99 (48.5%) on catch-and-shoot 3s after last night. https://t.co/6So0uvNzMK
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) January 31, 2016
You practically have to commit two guys to keep Canadian Dynamite off the boards. That ability sent LaMarcus Aldridge to the bench for much first half. When TT is finishing well (4-4 from the line!) and running the floor he makes the Cavs sooo difficult to defend.
Moz, Iman, J.R… The supporting cast brought it. Iman had two points in in 27 points and never stopped defending. Moz kept playing big instead of small and caught some difficult passes, and J.R. adds the perfect floor balance when the big three are hot.
I don’t know if this was Kevin’s best game, but it’s definitely been his best two game stretch. He was assertive on both ends of the floor. And he was NBA Jam fire in the first half. The Cavs actually didn’t get him the ball enough in the second. 21, 11, and three dimes. He could’ve had 40, but that’s team basketball.
https://youtu.be/qRclW8ulbec
It’s time to come up with a name for Cleveland’s trio. “Big three” sucks. The Cavs’ bench are the Space Stars. But the big three? The North Coast Avengers? D.C. just rebooted a bunch of Old Hannah Barbera. How about Future Quest?
Space Ghost comes out from behind the talk show desk to team up with Jonny Quest to fight dinosaurs, aliens, and of course, Brak. Jeff Parker (The Big Book Of… series, Fall Of The Hulks) and Evan “Doc” Shaner (The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Flash Gordon) have stuck to the classic look of both characters, and seem intent on recapturing the spirit of the ’60s-era adventure stories.
Eh, how about not. I spent some time researching famous movie trios, but these guys don’t exactly seem like Walter, Donnie, and the Dude. Maybe music. The Beastly Boys? (I’ll avoid Salt-n-Peppa), Def Squad? How about the Three Muskaliers? I got nothing. Maybe Thrill KyLL Trio (Kyrie, LeBron, Love)… That’s pretty good… too violent? Lemme know.
Nate–
‘To the line to the lane’–was that a Joe Tate shout out?
I’ve got it: the LeBros
Or LeBrotherhood…
Maybe this all a stupid psychological thing. Remember when we fired out GM and everyone pretended that all of a sudden Irving and Waiters had chemistry for two months. That was good time
Maybe the pace thing is that the team is now attacking ASAP (with little or no wasted dribbling and walking up), but is also doing more passing, so they are actually taking fewer, but better, shots. Is that wishful thinking?
So Lue’s added pace thing is maybe a misnomer. I think someone mentioned it above, but adding pace doesn’t mean taking quick shots. It means not allowing 10 seconds to burn off the clock before you enter your set plays. Cavs aren’t actually clocking that many transition buckets. It’s the scrambling a defense has to do to get back that leaves them winded and out of position for most of a possession that generates opportunities in our half court offense. Pace is btw the circles, not always rim to rim. That is something Lue has gotten into the Cavs heads… Read more »
It’s creating 3 on 2 opportunities with mismatches. It gives your skilled payers more space to play with. It makes you the aggressor – everybody on the floor has the mindset of an attacker. And if the defense gets back – fine – you just run what you would have run. However, it is most important that your players have that attacking mindset and you don’t leave a dozen or so of these easier opportunities / easier mismatches on the table. We talked so much about the players not being hungry enough. Well, maybe they are . . . and… Read more »
U-Dog: I think the dynamic you are explaining would lead to more possession. If we are truly creating more 3 on 2 opportunities, then we should be taking quicker shots on average over the course of the game, which would lead to more possessions. But we have less possession with Lue.
I don’t know. My eyes tell me the stat is wrong. Maybe we’re making the other team tired and they’re slowing things down. I’m thinking that, over 4 games, a couple of the teams we played may have been slower paced teams. Sometimes in football a team can brag about having a top rated pass defense, only to find out they’re giving up 250 rushing yards a game and nobody needs to throw on them. I think that, in some way, that’s what we’re seeing here.
Two of those games were vs Phoenix and Chicago who are 4th and 11th in pace. In the 5 Lue coach games, the only team in the bottom 10 in terms of pace was the Spurs and they were only 23rd.
Pace by quarter would be a good stat. I’ll bet it’s gone up in the first half.
Watching Bulls/Clips game. Clips killing them by 20 pts. What is the deal with Cavs on Bulls? It makes no sense we beat teams Bulls lose to but we haven’t beat them. Doc Rivers is preaching picking up the pace is key.
Cavs lost to them on opening night and then again after the coach was fired. Pretty sure the Cavs will be fine.
They have good guards. We suck against good guards.
On the experimental three point line light up graphic… I think it was hard to see because the Cavs’ line went from wine to a slightly brighter/thicker shade of wine… probably would be more effective if it was a different color (a la the first down line the NFL uses which is bright yellow). That said, I think it’s kind of a stupid gimmick anyway… I’d rather see the whole paint light up when guys camp out for longer than three seconds to show illegal D… I will also second Nate’s idea of making the ball glow like it’s on… Read more »
The paint idea is good. The line thing doesn’t really show anything. I mean, 95% of the time it’s obvious whether the player shot a 2 or a 3 and I doubt in the other cases whether the graphic would be fully accurate anyway.
If we could convince the league to basically add all our favorite NBA jam graphics (fireball, make the ball blink on blocks), even just for an all star game, that’d be such a nerdgasm.
Id like to purchase the product you’re selling
That’s the greatest idea ever.
The first and ten line from that company rates a 10, 3 point line is a 1 1/2 maybe. Useless, but harmless as well.
Entertaining write up, Nate. Thanks. I particularly liked this, “James attacked relentlessly in transition. 10-17, seven dimes, only two turnovers. This is MVL, Most Valuable Lebron.” (ie: the Most Valuable Lebron reference). No Cavs fan denies Lebron’s basketball talent, but we all experience varying levels of frustration on which Lebron shows up every night. I hope we see more of the MVL. I honestly think Cavs fans were expecting to see the 20-10 KLove when we acquired him. Even though most recognize all the good he brings to the team, we won’t be totally satisfied until we see more frequent… Read more »
It is hard to see why RJ plays instead of Andy. One guess is that Andy is so injury prone that they are saving him.
I think that once the “core 8” get in Lue shape, we will see the other guys get in a lot more time.
Tres Portrillos isnt bad.
Lebron isnt going to want to play this much up-tempo game-to-game. It goes against the core philosophy of saving himself for the post-season. It wont last.
They are playing slower with Lue so far, so LBJ should be fine.
Thanks Nate! Great recap. Loved the whole thing. I’m gonna pass on the Nashville Hot chicken… Most likely… Maybe….
As for “The Big 3” (yuck), these guys were put together for one reason: the One Ring. They are “The Fellowship of the Ring!” (cue Howard Shore)
LeBron is Aragorn, leader. Kyrie is Gandalf, a wizard with the ball. Love is Legolas… Cause… I mean. Come on!
Sam Cassell is Gollum
You mean Reggie Miller, right?
Is Delly Frodo?
My fun stat of the week. Pace in Lue’s 5 games is 93.2. With Blatt its 95.05.
I am happy with Lue, and not a Blatt defender. I just love how quickly people make up narratives (Lue’s Pace is the key reason we are winning!) even if they are inconsistent with reality.
What is different is our efficiency. Our O-Rating with Lue is 115. it was 106 with Blatt. But this is not driven by Pace.
I don’t think people exactly want to defend Blatt as much as hate trashing him There is a difference.
Great comment TV63. Most that are sympathetic to Blatt are that way because they feel he was “set up” (as Charles Barkley says). They are disappointed that the players, led by Lebron, didn’t accept his coaching or play with the same effort under Blatt as they have under Lue. Most that are sympathetic to Blatt are also resigned to the fact that the change had to be made because of the aforementioned fact. They also are hoping and expecting that Lue is as good as advertised and rooting for him all the way.
Do you have a source or reference on these figures, Hot Sauce?
NBA.com looks like. I would say pace isn’t so much a factor as the players just getting their butts up the floor so that they have more than 16 seconds to set up and run a play. That is huge. So many times earlier this season, James or Kyrie would just walk the ball past the half court line burning precious seconds off the shot clock. Pace only takes into account shots, it does not take into account how much time on the clock their is when a team actually begins getting into their set. You could take the same… Read more »
Pace isn’t necessarily about getting quick shots. It’s about getting into position so that earlier shots are a possibility if they are good looks and mainly, about moving well in the half court.
Sorry pace defined by possessions not shots, but yeah the second part is exactly what I said. Getting into halfcourt sooner is what matters for this team, which could effect pace if that means taking shots sooner. However it also leaves more time to try to find better shots in halfcourt. Of course transition shots are quicker shots which increase number of possessions subsequently increasing pace. So if a team runs more and takes transition shots, they will likely end up having more possessions and subsequently faster pace.
EG: The data is from NBA.com sortable team stats (link below). If you go to Advanced stats, you will Pace, O-Efficiency, etc. You can also filter by dates.
John/James: your theory that getting up the court more quickly can lead to more QUALITY shots even if doesn’t lead to more possessions is interesting. I like it. It would be cool if there was a stat that measured time getting up the Court. I am curious if we are in fact getting up more quickly.
http://stats.nba.com/league/team/
Those numbers are accurate. I found it at nba.com, but had to do a before and after search of the stats. I posted this earlier in the thread, but here are all the numbers again- Since the change, the Cav’s pace is 93.19, their ORtg is 115.4, and their DRtg is 109.4. Under Blatt, pace was 95.05 ORtg 105.6 and DRtg 99.7. We are getting almost 2 possessions LESS under Lue, though doing a helluva lot more with the chances we do get, albeit giving up on D the same amount we gain on O. So basically a complete wash.… Read more »
Yes. Those are the numbers. Inetresting stuff. Some of it fits the narrative some of it doesn’t. O is definitely more efficient. But Pace is slower and D is 10 pts worse. Very small sample. Curious to check again in like a month.
They slowed it down in the fourth against Detroit. Also playing slow teams like Detroit and San Antonio will effectively limit the other team’s possessions, no? They look like they’re playing at a faster pace to me.
Teams they’ve played since the firing and their pace: Chicago 11th, Minnesota 19th, Phoenix 4th, Detroit 15th and SA 23rd which averages to 14.4 out of 30 teams. So yea SA is a kinda slow team, but Phoenix is a fast team; It all equals out.
It sure looks like they are playing faster to me. Am I dreaming that? Or is there some reason why I think that?
It sure seems like they get the ball up quicker, but they’re not looking for the first open-ish shot, they work it until they get the shot they want.
I think LeBron woke up after getting burned by Kawai on that backdoor cut. I was hoping TT would yell at him on the court as payback for yesterday =)
Either TT or Lue (yell at him).
That wasn’t that bad really, it was a good cut and good pass, and Lebron was at least trying to guard him, unlike countless other lazy plays he makes on D.
By the way, something that didn’t get talked about on that TT play but has bugged me for years; After the score, Lebron got the ball with 2 seconds left in the half and just held it till the buzzer, and then started yelling at TT. He NEVER takes those shots because he doesn’t want his shooting percentage going down on such obvious low percentage shots. There are others in the league who do the same but Lebron is a habitual offender of this move.
Believe it or not, I don’t think you get charged with a shot taken in those desperation scenarios.
I dont believe that. Citation?
In the NBA it does count, in the NCAA’s it falls under ‘scorekeepers discretion’ as to whether or not to charge an attempt, and from what I read, they do not give attempts to shots that are taken from half-court or longer.
What time is the podcast? You guys forgot to tell me, also do I need a special microphone or anything?
I can see it now, Cols standing outside of Nate’s window with a boom box jamming “In Your Eyes.”
He’s kind of tied up. He does that 4 days a week at Lebron’s house and 2 days a week at Lue’s. Guess he could do it on his day off…..
We’re mixing it up this week. Next week might be better to have you on.
That Love steal the rebound from Manu + assist to TT is ridiculous. He looks aggressive and that’s awesome. It also highlights a thing he’s been doing for a while that he hasn’t gotten nearly enough credit for- he is the best, if not the only person in the league at crashing the boards from the 3 pt line. He’s ready to spot up and space and then cuts as soon as he sees the ball go up, much of the time it doesn’t result in a board, but he just keeps doing it cause sometimes it does…really impressive. One… Read more »
That really was an impressive sequence by KLove… man’s game!
All the whiners and complainers after the Blatt-miss have to say they were wrong now. If I can admit Delly is actually a good player this year then I think you people can all say you were completely wrong about the coaching change.
It took you a lot longer than 5 games to admit you were wrong about Delly…
I don’t think you understood why people were concerned. And if that is the narrative you’re trying to go with, a 5-game sample size doesn’t prove anything. Especially during the regular season.
It’s possible for Lue to be a good coach and that firing Blatt was a stupid, bush league move that reflected poorly on the team and the city. They’re not mutually exclusive.
Great point, Nate…
Bush league? Bush league was Blatt trying to call a TO without any. Telling the players he wasn’t a rookie coach when they tried to give him the ball from his first win. Acting like an insecure arrogant guy like the players were just supppsed to accept his Eurogenius without any NBA experience.
Lue has the players respect and seems to have som wore try great ideas on how Love can fit in instead of out.
Yeah because there’s no short of arrogance in NBA locker rooms.
Hey, you might not like it, but a large part of coaching is getting the players respect.
Keep regurgitating points that match your narrative but are pure speculation. As for the time out, the “arrogant” coach empowered his top assistant to prevent him from doing that which I covered last year.
If the players respect Lue and not their last coach, it’s on them. Lue is a good coach because of Blatt and not despite him. I will forever have problems with the way the Cavs handled the situation, but I’ll never know all the particulars either. I’m not gonna rip Blatt cause I like Lue, or vice versa.
They got rid of a guy who the players did not respect and who did not know how to incorporate Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving and LeBron James together. Everyone complained about the offense for the entirety of Blatt’s reign. Everybody said they had no identity. So the coach had no respect. He didn’t seem to know what to do with the team’s best players, and he had a lot of trouble with establishing rotations and knowing how to use time outs. He basically brought nothing to the table. I will forever applaud Griffin for having the stones to make… Read more »
Blatt brought plenty to the table.
And in the words of Winston Wolf… Let’s not start sucking each other’s popsicles just yet. The Cavs have won some games but we won’t know if ships is “righted” for months
Those are Bill Simmons modifications of Winston’s words, but I get your point, and it’s a good one. Let’s give it more than a week shall we.
Worded so perfectly,Nate . Thank You. I cringe at the ripping of Blatt. It makes absolutely no sense given his record and Lue has not coached a win against Golden State. He hasn’t ! Until that happens, you really can’t. I see nothing wrong with complimenting Lue in the meantime but why is there a peculiar mindset from some that it unequivocally cannot be done without hurling insults at Blatt for what…… exactly…..?
Neither has he coached a loss. Blatt has 7 losses vs GS.
No matter how much disdain, spin and disrespect you have for Blatt doesn’t take away from the fact he took this team to the NBA Finals without Love, Kyrie and with an injured Mozzy and Shump and did get 2 wins against Golden State at the biggest stage there is in his 1st year. He then had to figure out how to get wins beginning of this season without Kyrie, Shump and a rehabbing Love and still manage to get the #1 seed in an improved Eastern Conference. Don’t think for 1 minute Lue didn’t learn 1 damn thing from… Read more »
I should add let’s see Lue get that and more.
I have no disdain for Blatt. He did a great job. I happen to think Lue will do better. So why does this make me anti Blatt? It is hard to deny that there were growing problems this year under Blatt. Blatt may well wind up being an excellent NBA coach, especially if he takes this as a learning experience. The confirmed story about not taking the game ball on his first NBA win because he “had 700 already” shows that he has a ways to go on learning to communicate with NBA players. I can’t imagine my Junior HS… Read more »
You still haven’t admitted you were wrong about Waiters.
Was always my concern more than the guy himself. Also we have a long long ways to go to reach the warriors this season. We have to have an offense that doesn’t just rely on guys making contested shots. We have to have an offense that consistently gets wide wide open looks and layups. By the way currently watching the replay of that game on league pass (didn’t see it last night) and noting types of shots cavs had, eg isos, passes leading to wide open looks, passes leading to made contested catch and shoots, passes leading to wide open… Read more »
Love the faster offense. They just get into their sets so much faster now with much more time on the shot clock.
Other Big Three name ideas:
Snap, Crackle & Pop
The King’s Town Trio
RUN-LKK
Cerberus (y’know, cause of the three heads…)
Earth, Wind & Fire
Shake, Rattle & Roll
De La Soul (alternately Three Feet High And Rising)
Nirvana
Hook, Line & Sinker
Game, Set, Match
Three Dog Night
I really like the Kings town trio.
Me too. I also like Cerberus.
In that general vicinity… I came up with another one: The ‘Land Lords
Oh I LOVE The ‘Land Lords.
The ‘Land Lords! That’s so good.
Ditto on Land Lords!!!!
Pretty good EG. I don’t know who’s who, but my favorite LL’s- Fred Mertz, Mr Roper/Mr Furley, the landlady in Kingpin and of course….
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/74/the-landlord-from-will-ferrell-and-adam-ghost-panther-mckay?_cc=__d___&_ccid=7a7bac053e84a55d
The Love Triangle
Vol-Bron
Rock, Paper, Scissors
LeTrio
Three’s a Crowd
Also, I learned that the google search “famous threesomes” generates a series of results that are not family friendly.
Of those, I like Earth, Wind, and Fire. Love it. I’d prefer the Fellowship of the Ring.
The King’s Town Trio is hilarious! They strike me as a good old fashioned Power Trio, like Cream or Rush or the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Letriumverate. Or the TriLoverate maybe LeKyLoverate lol. No but the Triumverate is simple. It’s just a word for a powerful threesome or a big 3. But it disguishes them from other big 3’s.
Of course… if you put James, Irving and Love into the anagram maker… you get “Evil Majors Given”
Put in Lebron Kyrie and Kevin and you get ‘Kinkier Boner Levy’…….
Di I spot some Len Deighton references in there?
I’m expecting a very positive podcast tonight. I’ll be waiting by the phone to call in.
LOL. Podcasts are only for bad events. PanicCasts.
Strike that – PaniCasts.
Podcasts are for Sunday Nights.
Cols do you have Skype?
please yes we need a Cols call in…a “Cols-in” if you will
Nice recap. James has simply owned Leonard his whole career. Blatt seems to have been a pretty awful coach since we now see what a real coach can do with this team.
The Big Three were fantastic. JR. SHUMP. AND Delly were also good.
Yeah Blatt was pretty awful for getting this team up 2-1 in the finals.
Looks like Awful Blatt#1 Seed, 2015 Eastern Conference Champs has replaced Col’s Fat Delly sucks mantra.
Didn’t own Kawhi earlier this month. Kawhi owned him.
Nope. LeBron still had 20+ points in over 50% shooting. Sorry. But his narrative that Leonard can defend PeBron is not based in reality. It’s based on what people want to be true. But it’s just not born out by the facts.
Oh huh, cause I seem to recall that bron’s two blown box outs on Kawhi were the difference in the game. But keep reading your box scores.
Agree with James dominating Kawhi. Kawhi is better than most, but still can’t stop James.
Aldridge also didn’t play much because he had three fouls in the first quarter.
Agree playing Love at center and Jefferson at 4 did not work very well.
I don’t think Lue is capable of being pretentious. He speaks the same language as his players. Communication is everything.
The Cavs have slipped defensively the past 5 games. I’m told they are giving up 1 extra point per game. I don’t think it’s a huge deal, but something to monitor as they approach the playoffs.
Giving up one more while scoring 15 more? I can live with that.
If only that were accurate.
I’ll have to research the pace adjusted stats.
Points per possession is the stat to watch as opposed to points per game. If that 1 point is over a whole game then it could be attributed to our faster pace.
That’s where you and most others are mistaken. We are playing at a slower pace since Lue took over. Since the change, the Cav’s pace is 93.19, their ORtg is 115.4, and their DRtg is 109.4. Under Blatt, pace was 95.05 ORtg 105.6 and DRtg 99.7.
We are getting almost 2 possessions LESS under Lue, though doing a helluva lot more with the chances we do get, albeit giving up on D the same amount we gain on O. So basically a complete wash. And a very small sample size as well.
I don’t understand why the Cavs are playing so well right now (or, rather, why they didn’t play like this long ago), but I like it!
Playing like this takes much more effort than isoball and not getting back on D. The other team is also full of super athletes. You have to out run, out hustle, out fight them. This is not easy, and actually painful.
It is a rare coach who can get total buy-in from the team. When you see Lue talking, you can see why he can do it; he is a “tell it like it is” guy. I think we have struck gold here.
Thanks Nate for the blow by blow recap. Great win and I agree we continue to show the most upside. Not sure teams really know what to expect from us yet. Too many possibilities.
Separate note did anyone notice how many time Lebron mentioned coach Lue in his post game interview. That support is something we always wanted to see for Blatt but happy to see it now. Go Cavs.
Yeah It was a bit overboard. He obviously didn’t want to get in trouble for wearing the wrong shorts. Prob have to do 20 suicides for that alone.
It’s great to see how much they all like playing for Lue rather than Blatt, and how Lue allows them to play up to their potential better than Blatt. Excellent coaching change that was long overdue.
Enjoyed the return of the in game diary recap, Nate! My stomach and palate feel bad for you and your KFC Nashville chicken experience though… Do you make this face before or after you eat it?
Also, I still think Furkan Aldemir gives Boban a run for his ugly money…
I like listening to Popovich and the fact he only mentioned 1 name that was not of the Big 3 was impressive. That was Tristan Thompson. Enough cannot be said on his effectiveness against LaMarcus. He did it so quickly.
Great recap and definitely the best win of the season for me. Agree 100% that the faster pace stuff was overblown. I think it was simply a polite way of getting his players back in top game shape and letting them know that they have to actually move on offense. We have so many weapons and none of our players can be ignored defensively. The better game shape has really helped Love in my opinion. His jumper seems so much more reliable and LeBron is letting Love go wherever he wants to go cause, lets face it, LeBron can pretty… Read more »
Perfect game. Cleveland exposed SAS in transition pushing the ball past the defense. I hope the panic has officially subsided. I think Griffin needs to stop returning calls on anyone in the top 9 of the rotation. BTW I don’t think the whole Duncan thing is fair. First of all Duncan is 39 and playing his worst ball. He can’t score, rebound, block or even get to the line like he used to. I’m not worried about a guy who will have to go through a grinder in GSW and be able to go another 7 with Cleveland. Plus SAS… Read more »
Sorry, you’re completely and totally wrong here. No Duncan can’t score rebound, block, or get to the line like he used to. So he’s regressed from from one of the best of all time to better than most guys in the NBA. He’s still flashing a 17 PER, and oh, leads the NBA in defensive RPM. http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/DRPM http://espn.go.com/blog/san-antonio-spurs/post/_/id/406/spurs-need-tim-duncan-back-in-lineup-as-soon-as-possible . Here’s Pop on Missing Duncan. Well, he’s our base from which everything else emanates, Everybody else knows how to operate based on where he is and what he does. That’s my biggest concern with the game really is him not being… Read more »
I’m gonna agree with DaveR here… I really don’t believe that Timmy would have had much of an impact on this game, other than Moz might have played more, and Moz was playing pretty good last night… This was a game the Cavs were determined to win, and win it they did… Still too early to tell if Lue is getting better usage out of guys than Blatt did, or if it’s just part of guys waking up and buying into the scheme… probably a little of both. However, just like I think it’s a mistake to blow one loss… Read more »
I agree with Nate, actually. Duncan’s rim protection is a key to their D. It allows Kawhi and other perimeter guys to be over aggressive on the ball.
Good win, but like the GSW lost I don’t put too much weight on either. This was important because its a nice signal that Lue is getting through.
Do you think that if a healthy Duncan had played, the outcome would have been different? I don’t…
Hard to know. I was struck by how easily we finished at the rim. That was a huge part of the game. Lots of fans seem to be crediting it to the magic of T-Lue and the “faster pace” (even though the pace with Lue is slightly lower than with Blatt). But I think its possible a big part of it was no Duncan in the paint. Plus LMA missed whole 2nd Q.
A lot of the finishing at the rim was in transition though… hard to believe that Timmy would have been able to get back to stop much of that…
Duncan is their best screener and their best interior defender by far. Yes it would have been a different outcome as far as the score goes, but the Cav’s very well could have still won. Look at the GS/SA game; GS is the better team, but not 30 some points better…… unless maybe Timmy’s out?
Good stuff Nate! A few thoughts from the World of Hot Sauce: Cavs’ upside remains the highest of any team in the league. They just need to reach it. Kawhi seems less great on D without Duncan behind him. I have always felt he is a bit overrated. Very good player, but is in perfect situation, which helps him tremendously. Yesterday and the game against Ws support this. I could not believe how much ISO the Spurs ran. It was all ISO post-ups to Kahwi, LMA, even Anderson. If Cavs did that, people would freak out. But I assume no… Read more »