Recap: Cavs 110, Hawks 108 (or, a Tale of Two Teams)
2016-04-02The “Two Teams” are both the Cavs. They shared the spotlight tonight almost equally. From the moment Mozgov was replaced by TT at the 5:37 mark of the 1st quarter until LeBron’s overwhelmingly violent dunk at the 2 minute mark of the 2nd quarter, the Cavs played as well as I have ever seen them in the LeBron 2.0 era. From that point on the Cavs self-destructed at both ends until the Hawks erased the entire 20 point deficit by the 5 minute mark of the 3rd. From that point on it was a like an even playoff game between two gritty but flawed teams. With under 40 seconds both teams got easy layups: LeBron for the Cavs and Teague for the Hawks. Then LeBron forced an awful off-balance 18-foot jumper going right (he’s not comfortable going right) that he missed. With plenty of time left, Teague couldn’t even get a shot off, with Shumpert striking again. In OT, the Cavs’ best strengths (rebounding, LeBron, TT versus undersized bigs) were enough to escape.
The Start:
Mozgov just kills the Cavs. I hate typing that, but there’s no way around it. Tonight I saw the same thing unfold over and over. Horford would flare to the top of the key. He would receive a pass. Mozgov was late closing out. Horford would pump fake. Mozgov would THEN close the gap, giving Horford and easy blow by. Mozgov would slam on the breaks like a cartoon character drifting 100 feet horizontally off a cliff before gravity inevitably kicked in. The Cavs would scramble and Mozgov would try to pick somebody up. But the Hawks were all in motion, so Mozgov lunged this way and that way and it was completely ineffective. The Cavs fought through it and the demeanor in both teams was aggressive and determined to get the W. When Kent Bazemore tried to dunk over LeBron and landed squarely on his back it added even more of a sense of urgency for the already focused Cavs. 19-14 Hawks.
https://vine.co/v/ijvz7Ierwm3
The Team That Could Win it All:
From the moment TT checked in the Cavs become an offensive juggernaut. They swung the ball faster than the Hawks could recover and hit three straight 3s: two deep ones by J.R. and one by Kyrie. Then Delly checked in for Kyrie and the Cavs completely shut down the Hawks. Atlanta started settling for out of rhythm jumpers because they honestly couldn’t muster anything better. The Cavs switched the pick and roll perfectly, contested every shot, and gobbled up every rebound. And then they’d run out and pick the Hawks apart at the other end. If they missed a shot TT would just grab the offensive rebound. Delly played with an uncommon aggression that worked well at first (near the end of the first quarter) but bit the Cavs in the middle of the second (back to back turnovers). J.R. checked back in for Delly and connected on more deep triples. LeBron finished YET ANOTHER insane alley-oop from J.R. where the pass was terrible but LeBron still found a way to convert. Finally, LeBron ran right down the middle in transition, received a bounce pass from Kyrie, and forced parents everywhere to shield their children from the gratuitous violence. The Cavs were aggressive, athletic, crisp, unselfish, trusting, and purposeful. They made the Hawks, a good team, look terrible.
https://vine.co/v/ijnLmawzEmr
The Team That Could Get Bounced in the 1st Round:
The Cavs lost the last 2 minutes of the quarter 7-0. They succumbed to turnovers, got a little too aggressive (missing layups that were doomed due to positioning) and committed some bad fouls. Then the third quarter started. The roles reversed almost perfectly. The Hawks married aggression and crisp passing on offense and swarmed the Cavs on defense. The Cavs resorted to jacking up out-of-rhythm 3s, LeBron included (temporarily abandoning the last couple of weeks of punishing teams inside). Kyrie missed all five of his shots. Kyle Korver shook free for a few triples and the Hawks recovered any shots they missed. The Cavs were completely shell shocked. To blow a 20 point lead in less than 12 minutes of game time in a game when everyone is healthy and the team is locked in trying to make a statement is an indictment of the Cavs poor habits and lack of trust in the offensive execution that gave them the 20 point lead in the first place.
The Team that Won The Game:
If the kind of play that generated a 20 point lead was characteristic of the best the Cavs can be, and the kind of play that bled out characteristic of the worst, the back and forth that ensued from late in the 3rd quarter through overtime is really who they have been this season. A talented, sometimes feisty, mess of a team that has serious chemistry issues on and off the court. A team that is good enough to go far in the playoffs, but will not defeat the Warriors or Spurs. And they’ll have their hands full even representing the Eastern Conference in the finals.
The Cavs collected themselves after the Hawks took the lead in the 3rd. LeBron went back into freight train mode and TT came along for the ride. Then the Cavs defense locked in. They stymied the Hawks and built up an 11 point lead early in the 4th. But the Hawks wouldn’t go quietly. LeBron took a 2-and-a-half minute pit stop before being summoned to try to keep the Cavs in control. On the Cavs first offensive possession, Iman Shumpert took an ill-advised running layup that he completely blew. Jeff Teague drove and scored. On the next possession, Kyrie dribbled around like a fool and jacked up a deep jumper that he badly missed. Worse, he jogged back haphazardly and pointed ahead for someone else to pick up his man. But he didn’t really pick up anyone. The Cavs, in a bit of confusion, allowed Korver to fill in some open space in transition (not far from Kyrie). He drained it. At this point, LeBron looked like a rabid dog about to chew off its own leg. He demanded the ball and ran up and fired a terrible 3 from the top of the key. For once I didn’t blame him. He was consumed by his emotions at that point and wanted to make it up all at once. His missed badly, and the Hawks ran down and Jeff Teague shot (almost like a flick) a flat-footed 3 that went in. A.C. and Fred couldn’t believe it. LeBron looked quietly enraged, and his body language indicated he was stewing: “we are NOT losing this game. Not this game! Not when I have completely dominated and we had a 20-point lead. This garbage ends now.”
This time up the court he was a bit calmer, and the Cavs executed some offense, with LeBron finding Kevin Love and Love, surprisingly, displaying the confidence to finally pull the trigger on a contested 3. He buried it to bring the Cavs back within one. This time Teague got a bit out of control and went for the dagger. He clanked off the glass (no rim drawn) and it was a grind to the finish line. There would be no daggers tonight. Both teams had their head scratching moments. After passing up a couple open 3-point looks, Kevin Love finally decided to fire away with a deliberate release from the right corner. He was blocked (out of bounds, not tipped) by Kent Bazemore. The Hawks had a possession that ended with Thabo Sefolosha firing a transition 3 when the Hawks had a 2-point lead with under a minute, taking only a couple seconds off the game clock. To make matters worse, they let TT leak out behind them and LeBron found him for an alley-oop! Two high risk, high reward attempts, with the LeBron to TT connection being a much smarter decision given the personnel and the fact that the Cavs were behind and didn’t want to burn clock.
The Cavs got a stop as Horford missed a contested shot at point blank range. LeBron drove and scored after Bazemore flopped. Kyrie wound up on an island against Teague at the other end and was blown by. (It was bad.) LeBron dribbled around and looked to drive right despite the fact that the Cavs had two players running into each other in the right corner trying to figure out where to move. Eventually the space cleared and LeBron took a one-legged, driving-right 18-footer that never even got above the cylinder. With about 5 seconds left, Iman Shumpert stole the ball from Jeff Teague as he tried to blow by. I was completely flabbergasted that Kyrie Irving, out of a timeout, was still on the court for DEFENSE in those final possessions, given everything else that had happened up to that point. I wasn’t alone.
If Dellavedova is in this game, instead of Kryie it's already a Cavs win. The lack of even caring on D is killing them.
— Russillo (@ryenarussillo) April 2, 2016
https://vine.co/v/ijvIugh9Xuz
In Overtime, J.R. Smith banked in a 3, and to give you a sense of how badly the Cavs wanted to win this game, he didn’t even smirk or shrug on his way back up the court (just stone cold focus). After a gritty offensive board from TT, Kyrie stroked a right corner 3 off the broken play. Kyrie wasn’t done missing shots or getting his shots blocked, but LeBron and TT refused to let the Cavs lose. They connected on this sweet dish (below) from LeBron to break a 102-tie. Nice job by J.R. Smith to screen TWO Hawks players to start this play.
https://vine.co/v/ijvFgtFg59g
Maybe Lue learned a lesson. He substituted Delly for defense and brought Kyrie back in for offense. Uncle Drew protected the ball and hit the free throws down the stretch to keep the Cavs ahead. The Hawks still had a chance to tie in OT but Al Horford was the choice to fire a 3 from the top of the key. He missed, and LeBron chucked the ball down court like he’d just won a playoff game.
The Optimist in Me:
LeBron’s athleticism is transcendent again. He looks as springy as I’ve seen him in the last 4 years. He was unstoppable going to the hoop tonight. He remains the greatest passing SF of all time. Tonight, he passed the Big O on the all-time scoring list. He finished a ridiculous alley-oop from J.R. that was so far gone I almost lost my mind. He had this play where he accelerated through the Hawks while dribbling, reminiscent of 2009 (minus some kind of posterization). He hasn’t been the best player in the NBA this season. But, he might be the best player in the playoffs. He just looks primed for a devastating run. (He’s hitting his free throw lately too!)
https://vine.co/v/ijn237ZhmHL
Tristan Thompson owns the Hawks, and any other team that trots out small-ish big men. He was awesome tonight. His block on Millsap at the rim was huge. His offensive rebounds late saved the Cavs. He had the alley-oop late in regulation and the heady weak-side cut dunk from LeBron in OT. His rebounding and switching on defense are valuable playoff skills. TT and LeBron combined for 30 of the Cavs 57 rebounds tonight.
J.R. Smith is finding ways to be valuable off the ball (that screen for LeBron in the vine) and when he’s sticking those spot-up 3s from downtown the Cavs rise to a different level.
Channing Frye appears to be a great pickup. The Cavs are so deep and they have so many shooters to surround LeBron come playoff time.
https://vine.co/v/ijvi5XezhEw
The Pessimist in Me:
Kyrie Irving was awful tonight. I don’t care. His chemistry with LeBron was abysmal, and I do care about that. Why isn’t this getting better? Why did they run into each other while LeBron was trying to set a pick for Kyrie late in regulation? Why did Kyrie jog back after missing a ridiculous long jumper after dribbling all over? Why in God’s name was Tyronn Lue so determined to keep Kyrie on the court late in the 4th quarter when he was having a terrible game? Delly had a few bad turnovers in the game when he was being overaggressive. But on the whole he played pretty well, especially defensively. He led the Cavs in +/- with +13 while Kyrie was -13. I felt like Lue could have done more to keep all these double digit leads from slipping away.
Kevin Love fades in games. He was scared to shoot late (although he did hit a huge 3 to bring the Cavs back to within 1) and is a liability on defense and on the glass (somehow). The chemistry between he and LeBron or he and Kyrie is limited to flaring out for spot-up 3s which he’s not converting at a high enough rate, or the times when the offense works through him near the elbow to set off a positive passing sequence.
Unfortunately, almost every good offensive trait of the Cavs vanishes when they tighten up. I’m not saying LeBron or Kyrie Isos (or, Dear God, Shumpert isos) are always a bad decision. But the Cavs have not shown the offensive transcendence that was expected with a LeBron-Love-Irving trio that could offset the defensive weaknesses associated with Love and Irving.
The Pessimist in me now believes that the Cavs best chance to be the last team standing rests on them morphing into a defensive juggernaut like they did last season. That WILL NOT happen with the current coaching, minute distributions, or overall approach. People keep talking about how the Cavs will flip switches. I don’t disagree that they will have an unbreakable focus and intensity (because I can talk myself into anything) and that LeBron may be enough to lead them to the Finals because he’s LeBron. But what switch is going to keep LeBron and Kyrie from running into each other when LBJ is trying to set a screen for Kyrie? What switch is going to make Mozgov playable? What switch is going to give Shumpert handles? What switch makes Kevin Love get stronger as the game goes on? What switch gets LeBron or Kyrie to trust the offense when things start to go south?
when someone on twitter yells at you for not watching a show they love pic.twitter.com/kapERM43PY
— alex (@steven_lebron) April 2, 2016
Bottom Line:
The Cavs showed me everything tonight. They showed me what it is that makes them a great team. And they beat a good team while on the second night of a back to back on the road. That’s good! They also showed me that even when they are completely engaged and wanting desperately to make a statement (44 min for LeBron), they have habits that can undermine them. They really are their own worst enemy. At this point we all need to hope and pray that Love and Irving start getting hot from outside. The Cavs show no signs of throwing up fewer 3s and I’m not sure what other switches can be flipped.
Haiku Recaps from You:
Our own coach is lost
He can’t even call timeouts
And lets Kyrie play
I screamed like crazy
First half made me so happy
old habits die hard
Growth game say some
What do they see
Cavisiest Cavs to me
Perfect symmetry
Irving was minus 13,
Delly plus 13
Seeing no progress
Looking forward to late May
Ill have more free time
Kyrie’s defense sucks
Its ruining Cavs’ chances
No defense, no rings
Gather all rebounds
You Ambidextrous ball fiend
Haunt the Hawks’ nightmares
Tale of two halves here
Reflects the entire season
No defense, no rings won
Ball movement builds lead
Iso ball spells the Cavs doom
Ugly OT win
There is no way Timo can play come playoff time. His +/- in any lineup is terrible. Playing him is just giving points away. In fact I’d go so far as to say that if Lue does start him he cannot be the coach next year.
Looking like the Cavs will be back up by 3.
Kyrie had a great first half. I might have missed it, but did anyone comment on the fact that he had SEVEN assists last night? He was running pick and rolls with Love or Lebron and those were killing the Hawks. That is why the Cavs offense worked so well in the first half, in my opinion. There was a lid on the hoop in the second half for Kyrie and other players. Shots just didn’t fall.
I saw some reason to be optimistic from last night’s game.
He also only had 2 turnovers. I’ll take a 7:2 A/TO ratio from Kyrie any day. His shooting was terrible, though. And his isolation basketball came at the worst times.
I don’t understand the reasoning that so many people think we should bench a guy tat we really need for the Finals.
Keep him in and let him work through it. Lue was pretty fantastic last night.
Lue was not fantastic and he hasn’t been all year. He has a Mike Brownesque inability to make in-game decisions. Timo should not be playing. Yet he continues to start him at the beginning of each half becAuse that’s what the game plan says to do.
Jim – just like his decision to keep Kyrie in, his decision to start and play Mozgov so much I think is to try to build his confidence heading into the playoffs. Believe it or not, we’ve been at our absolute best over the past 2 seasons when Mozgov is playing good basketball. I could see his minutes drastically reduced in the playoffs, but if he can build confidence and help us in the playoffs, that would be huge. I’d have to guess that’s why Lue is playing him so often.
In the fourth quarter I found myself screaming at the TV, “GET KYRIE OUT OF THE GAME!” Never had that reaction with him before. He was that bad. Went three straight possessions dribbling around by himself jacking up shots, then getting toasted on the other end by Teague. Lue has got to step up and get him out when he sees play like that. Kyrie is still young; he needs to be taught.
No way. Gotta keep him playing.
Yet you never say that about Delly…
Alot of us were saying the same thing. Hopefully, he snaps out of his funk both mentally & physically. I had absolutely no problem with Lebron getting in his face about defense. We all know he can do it. He’s got to WANT it BAD.
Absolutely have to keep him in there. Big game atmosphere, gearing up for the playoffs. Kyrie needed to be in there whether he failed or not. That’s huge for his growth and our growth as a team. You aren’t going to take Kyrie out in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, so why do it here? We’re gearing up.
If Kyrie was playing like he was last night you wouldn’t take him out of Game 7 of the NBA Finals? So you’d risk losing the most important game in the franchise’s history because Kyrie is young and needs to learn whether he fails or not?
No, because despite what you did the last 25 shots or 100 possessions, you keep your best players in the game in the big moments. If Kobe was 5-23 heading into the final minute of Game 7 of the NBA Finals, would you bench him too? What about Steph Curry last year? Send him to the bench because he’s playing poorly, even though he’s the best shooter on your team? I just disagree that last night was some hugely important game where the W outweighs the learning moments of playing through it, good or bad. Kyrie needed to get yelled… Read more »
I also understand that it wasn’t Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I’m also not trying to say Kyrie = Kobe. It’s just for illustration.
I just disagree completely. It’s not that Kyrie needed to work through an off night (or off half). He has to learn that he can’t play with the approach he took in the second half and OT. Where’s the incentive for him to change if there’s no consequence when he’s dribbling to nowhere, creating nothing for his teammates and playing lazy D? Expect to see the same approach from Irving in Game 7 if Lue keeps tolerating it during the regular season. Oh, and if Delly had been in the game, the offense would have been running better (and he… Read more »
Meh. That’s fine. I just completely disagree. Competitiveness is something you need to win championships. Competitiveness and confidence. You don’t win championships by sitting one of your best players to make a point in the 4th quarter of the 76th game of the regular season. You hope Kyrie builds confidence by helping his team despite his poor play so that confidence carries over into the postseason. You also have to expect his teammates will grill him for playing that type of basketball in a playoff atmosphere game. You act as though he won’t learn unless he’s benched.
I don’t think we have to worry about the confidence of a guy who never stopped shooting despite going 0 for the second half. The fundamental problem with Kyrie is when he forgets about his teammates for long stretches and goes into overdribbling, shot-forcing, one-on-five mode (and also doesn’t bother to play D). He’s in his fifth year in the league and still does it. Would Pop, Phil Jackson or Larry Brown tolerate it? Lue should have pulled Irving halfway through the third quarter and told him: “Hey Kyrie, you know the guy who looked for his teammates and had… Read more »
His problem last night wasn’t just a shooter’s slump. It was his approach to initiating the offense in the second half (all Kyrie, all the time) and his poor defense. Take him out last night, and maybe it helps him to learn to have a better approach. Precisely so he performs better in Game 7.
That’s basically what Pop did with Parker when he was young, as Tom and Ben discussed in a recent podcast (and Nate mentioned downthread).
Last night’s game isn’t even comparable to a Game 7 of NBA Finals. Kyrie just had too much going on with him physically (sick, tweaked ankle) and major personal issue that just went down less than 24 hours before. There was no advantage to force him like they did. Lebron shouldn’t have HAD to get in his face like that. Lue could have avoided some of that. It’s still a regular season game.
You do have some points, Gordon if he didn’t have all the above going on.
Interesting take, Tom. Not sure why you started so down on Mozgov. This is his first bad game in a while. He’s trending upward, and while he doesn’t help us against Atlanta due to matchups, he will against Toronto and will against Detroit and will against Miami. We could conceivably have to go through those three to reach the Finals.
You might be right. I haven’t seen many Cavs games over the last 2 weeks. Ben was saying the same thing on the podcast.
This was a great recap, Tom. Thanks for sharing some of my horrible haikus. How the Cavs played in the first half was incredible. Mental obstacles are so frustrating and that’s what seems is preventing this team from sustaining that elevated level of play. I have no idea how to get over this, but I actually feel like Lue isn’t a great in-game communicator, let alone decision maker. I’m not on the Brad Stevens love cruise that has set sail the last couple years, but his in-game communication seemed so intelligent and level headed to his players. He instills this… Read more »
Masterful recap, Tom. This team is crazy. While I don’t think we’re evolved enough to win it all his year, Lebron is going to have a legendary playoffs. I also have a theory about Kyrie: he’s actually dialing it back so that he’s healthy going into the playoffs. His play in game 1 against the Dubs last year showed me that he can turn it up on D (remember his block on Curry?) and the fact that he was battling through injury the entire playoffs shows me he’s gritty. Those qualities don’t go away when you’re 24 and think of… Read more »
I would love to believe this but what competitor doesn’t give a crap about playing defense in a de facto playoff game? What team wants an offensive weapon that’s afraid to pull the trigger in crunch time? Aggressive Love is one of my favorite players to watch. I don’t buy that he gets tired late. I think he doesn’t want the ball late. He fixes that (even iuf he’s missing a few), the cavs get better. More inside the arc pick and pop for Love does wonders for his confidence. Kyrie just needs to want to be a defensive force.… Read more »
I’m glad to see the authors of CtB come around on Frue. It was obvious he would be a great fit but procure be awesome he started out slow Nate wrote him off. It’s good to see him come around on it.
He’s superior in every way to Andy. Frye will
Actually play in the playoffs. Andy will only get garbage time.
Yes, playing second and third quarters for possibly the greatest team in history is clearly garbage time.
1990s Bulls would destroy them.
If they played by 90s rules. If they played by today’s rules? Probably GS.
I love how they kept fighting all game.
Tom — Great recap and read on why this bipolar team is so exasperating. The dependence on 3’s that you noted at the end is a big cause for concern. When they aren’t falling, especially in the second half, there’s no Plan B. Post play? Motion? What’s that? As for Irving last night: Egads. In the second half and overtime, he was 1-13 and had only one assist despite being the primary initiator. His only make was the big 3 in OT. It also might have been his only clean catch-and-shoot look — because he kept trying to force his… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more on the analysis. I LOVE what I am seeing in Lebron and unfortunately it seems those lapses of Kyrie and Love sometimes really overshadow the greatness he brings to the game. Mosgov, Kyrie and Love are not mentally tough enough going into these playoffs. I hate to rag on Love because he has really put in the effort this year to get better. You see that when Kyrie is not on the floor. But he still can’t close in tight games. I think Mosgov is rather predicatable on which games you see him make an impact even… Read more »
Part of me thinks that the reason Lue is keeping Kyrie in for crunch time defense is to try and teach him how to play better defense in pressure situations. But he nearly shot us out of the game last night and played awful defense to boot. If Lue’s goal is to teach Kyrie in these situations, then Lue should give Kyrie a hard lesson today.
I can almost see that point IF he wasn’t sick, tweaked his ankle and obviously still reeling from some major personal issues. It’s still a regular season game. No need to force this & make it worse for him as well as his team mates.
Gotta love the mental fortitude to keep banging away even as they were blowing that lead.
It would be good if they showed the necessary intelligence to maintain the lead rather than need the mental fortitude to bang away. Much simpler and less stressful.
That hexagon pattern in those uniforms are hideous. Red,black…and neon green? wtf were they thinkin?
I’m curious on how Atlanta will be after this season. I think it’s time to blow up. That team is not goin anywhere higher than a 2nd round exit imo. Each player on that team could be a critical piece to some playoff teams. They lack that elite guy who could put them over the top. I know they are doing the San Antonio approach in their style, but they need that one more piece to make it championship caliber. Hypothetically like KD.
That said I’d welcome Kyle Korver here. Or Millsap/Horford.. but the cap won’t permit.
Agree. The Cavs can beat both ATL and TOR on their own home floors without really even playing well. Both teams try really really hard, and maxmimize their talent better than the Cavs do, they just don’t have the talent.
It’s like watching the kid in High School who works really hard and is super passionate, but always gets beat by the stronger, more talented athlete.
Uh, the Raptors won the last game, less than a.month ago and are 2-1 against the Cavs this year…
Yeah. They won at home at the last second when we played terribly. That is exactly my point. They need to play their best at home just to beat us when we are playing mediocre. It’s like ATL last year. We then swept them in the playoffs. Same situation. We have a whole different gear that those teams can’t touch.
Kyrie isn’t faultless. But the guy is still just 24. Elite shooting, scoring and handles that will surely make him a very productive player for so long barring injuries. One of the best things about him, ice water in his veins during crunch time. How can you guys forgot that this is a guy who’s had so many game winner/crunch time baskets in his first two years in the league? He just needs to have to expand his mentality with regards to making efficient plays, setting up the guys and being focused on defense. Maybe re-wire some of his brain… Read more »
That’s what they said about Steve Francis, too. Cavs have to stop coddling KI and bench him when he plays selfishly and stupidly. See Tom’s and Ben’s comments about how Pop handled Tony Parker early in his career from their last pod.
Yep.
Also Kyrie played a lovely first half, so many drive and kicks. He showed he can do it. Really his fundamental problem is low basketball IQ. Good news is that’s something experience can start to fill in for over time.
LeBron and JR have the best chemistry of anyone on the team. TT and Delly play well. LeBron and Love through stretches. And then … who else? Kyrie seems like the odd man out. Which is fine when he is in MFQ mode. I think he’ll figure it out. No sense getting upset until they get eliminated, anyways.
Great win overall especially on a potential 2nd round opponent. – I don’t know the real reason he had in mind but I kinda liked that Lue sticked with Kyrie. If that’s because he’s thinking that this is for the betterment of Kyrie in the long run then props to him. – That being said Lue could’ve made adjustments to continue fueling the team when the lead is getting chipped down. So far he’s very poor on that regard as shown by previous games of the same situation. – He (Lue),should also improve in specialty lineups. Defensive lineup, fast lineup,… Read more »
I don’t always agree with Lue’s lineups, but I thought sticking with KI was a clear statement to KI that, “Dude, you need to play better or we will lose. So I am going to force you to work th is out in a hostile environment of a B2B.” I liked that element, and glad we didn’t go to Delly. KI needs to be a grown man, or we have no chance.
Oh absolutely. They know what to expect with Delly in this environment always good to have him in these moments but they already know the ceiling of that. Kyrie on the other hand is a whole new monster if ever he get to play better on this situations.
I agree with all your points. Good stuff.
Good recap, Tom. The idea of Cavs being “two teams” in one is pretty a good way to explain their recent play. What’s interesting is that he up and down play seems to have more to do with whether they make open shots than any change in style of play. In the 3rd quarter, Kyrie was just shooting bricks on shots that he has made throughout his career. As was JR and Frye. Even LBJ missed a few layups that just rolled out of the rim. I really feel like they have to just play through these shooting slumps and… Read more »
Yep. I agree. Which is why Lue kept him in to shoot his way out. Smart coaching.
1-12 is “shooting your way out? ” Kyrie would never survive the Zombie Apocalypse.
Haha. Well, I agree he hasn’t shot his way out yet. But we need him to. And if he doesn’t, we are walking dead.
Just want to say good work by Gordon j the game thread for keeping it real.
Thanks
Good win to take a back-to-back against a good team on the road. LBJ and TT are playing great.
I think Kyrie wasn’t the same after the play near the end of the second half were he drove, got blocked by Horford and ended up falling hard. Before that he was playing pretty well (2 blocks on Teague).