Recap: Sioux Falls 112, Canton 104 (or, Greetings from Canton)

With the Cavs’ regular season basically over and the Canton Charge in the D-League Eastern Conference championships, I thought I’d follow Cavaliers Sasha Kaun and Jordan McRae down to Little Chicago to watch the lone home playoff game of the series for the Charge. The Charge feature D-League ROY Quinn Cook and Sixth Man of the year Nick Minnerath. It was my first Charge game and, though I’ve been to the Canton Civic Center a few times, it was still like stepping onto the set of “Semi-Pro.” The Civic Center was built in ’51, and I don’t know if it’s been remodeled since the early 80s, so it was definitely a trip back in time. But a sparsely crowded 5000 seat stadium does have a few advantages over The Q.

First off, we had great seats. Fourth row in the corner cost 23 bucks (including Ticketmaster’s ridiculous fees – is there a bigger racket in America?). Second, Canton Civic serves Papa Bear’s Pizza Oven pizza, which I’d put up against any pie in NE Ohio. Unfortunately, we didn’t figure this out until we’d already eaten dinner at a lovely Canton dive that was in no hurry to get us our food. Wishing we weren’t too full to consume a slice, and running six minutes late, we rousted some interlopers out of our chairs and took our fairly awesome seats.

The Charge were trailing slightly, and the lead see-sawed back and forth through much of the period. Despite missing the first six minutes, the quarter still took half an hour to play, because, apparently, the D-League is a teaching league, and they give these coaches two decks worth of timeouts. The sets are standard NBA stuff, and a lot of the game comes off like pickup ball. With the roster turnover and shuffling guys in and out of the NBA, I’m sure that it’s hard to run a cohesive offense. Defensively, there’s lots of contests and good fundamentals, but they definitely don’t have the NBA’s scouting. Also, the other team throws you the ball a lot when you’re a D-League defender.

The Cavs’ “big three” this game were Sasha Kaun, Jordan McRae, and Quinn Cook. I’m sure you remember Cook, but other preseason fixtures featured prominently as well: Sir’Dominic Pointer, Nick Minnerath, and Chris Crawford. Kaun truly looked like a man among boys, and he spent much of the night guarding Jarnell Stokes who was aggressive to say the least. The Tennessee product, who was a call-up for the Pelicans last year, was aggressive driving, facing up, or getting into the post every time he touched the ball. He somehow finished with eight assists, but I don’t ever remember him passing. Stokes finished with 18 points and eight assists in just 25 minutes (four fouls). He’s got a nice J, and he’s confident – at least at this level.

Kaun just goes to show that the end-of-the-bench guy in the NBA would be an all-star in the D-League, and that the worst guy in the D-League might have been a mid major all-conference player. Sasha was beastly in his 30 minutes on defense: nine boards, three blocks, three steals, but offensively he was a revelation. He scored fairly effortlessly with great footwork for 15 points on 6-7 from the floor and 3-4 at the line. He got around guys whenever he wanted, and showed a really nice short dribble-drive game. Kaun seems wasted. The dude is a Bronze medal Olympian who could be playing for Euroleague champs, but he’s grinding down in Canton. Respect the hell out of him. He was fiery and engaged, and I’m sure he enjoyed the playing time.

Jordan McRae played almost 46 minutes, and I’m sure he’ll be going Wednesday for the Cavs too. Get your run in while you can, Jordan. He had a rough shooting night, finishing 5-17 and 0-6 from three, but he redeemed himself by going 11-12 at the line to finish with 21 points, and five dimes (plus four costly turnovers). His height is good, and the dude can get up. Look at the elevation he gets on this jumper. If he can knock that three down, he can stick in the NBA. That’s his biggest bugaboo.

Cook looked good – real good. The Skyforce could not contain him on drives and he was getting to the rack at will, especially in the second half, showing an ability to finish on either side of the basket (though not necessarily a great left hand). Cook also had some real nifty dimes, including a sweet Rondo-esque behind the back pass on a break. Shooting-wise, he certainly wasn’t afraid to be aggressive, finishing 2-8 from three, but he was 9-11 everywhere else, finishing with 25 points and 10 dimes in 42 minutes, plus three steals.

The Cavs finished the first half up 51-49, and as the Charge were warming up for the second, I was snapping some pics of warmups, and I thought, “man, that guy behind Kaun looks a lot like LeBron.” But Sasha said, “Nyet, Nate.”

Then I realized that was LeBron, and wouldn’t you know it, Tyronn Lue, and half the coaching staff, too. I immediately started geeking out and snapping pictures. They certainly looked like they were having a good time. I realized that Larry Drew is the most relaxed man in the universe. I think he would have sat in a recliner if he could have. The dude was chill the entire game. He was there to see his son (Larry Drew II- left, with the amazing hair), who played for the Skyforce (0-7 on the night. Maybe, Dad should skip the next one).

Man, did they look like they were having a good time. Laughing, joking, smiling at regional halftime entertainment. It was then I felt like a creepy Paparazzi and realized, “Holy S***. LeBron might just be a normal dude.” And even if he isn’t, the whole moment struck me with the realization that he can’t go anywhere without making a spectacle. He didn’t draw any attention to himself. There were no announcements on the loudspeaker. If he had an entourage, they were certainly low key and blended in, and there was still a buzz in the building, and people kept coming right next to me to snap a picture because I had one of the better vantages in the house.

The experience made me feel very guilty for the way we fetishize athletes and coaches and actors and musicians. I mean, they’re certainly profiting from the deal, and on a certain level they court that, but also, they’re just people. LeBron was in town to support his teammates, and it was a very cool gesture done for no publicity, but the way that we objectify these guys as basketball machines sometimes, and forget to think about them as living, breathing, human beings is more than a little warped at times. The draft, trades, and free agency talk can be especially dehumanizing, as can talk of cutting a scrub. We’ve always tried to remain cognizant of that fact here at CtB, but sometimes I wonder if we do a good enough job. From afar, LeBron just seemed like a good dude, and not the megalomaniacal control freak that I’d built up in my head at times. Sometimes I wonder if I had to talk to him about things I’ve written in the past, if I’d be proud, or I’d have to admit to being massively unfair, and of having sacrificed my ethics to the God of hot takes.

Of course, that didn’t stop the geek side of me from snapping a few more pictures, including the one below one which made me think, “It’s all gonna be OK.” And yeah, I’m glad he gets along with his coaches. Also, Larry Drew seems awesome, and his smile is a mile wide.

So I reluctantly stopped shooting pics of LeBron and Co. (though I did glance over with the zoom lens every now and again), and went back to the game. The third quarter saw the Charge score 34 points behind Sasha, Sir’Dominic, and the Chronicles of Juvante Reddic, but they gave up 30. Canton was up 12 with two minutes to play until Quinn Cook drew an unsportsmanlike conduct tech, and if Lue and the gang were there to scout him, that can’t have impressed. The DeAndre Liggins freebie was part of a 6-0 run to close the quarter for Sioux Falls, as Greg Whittington (who are these guys?) tripled and Rodney McGruder dunked to cut the lead to 85-79, Charge.

I’d been so busy being a fanboy, that I’d missed large swaths of the third, staring through my viewfiender, but it seemed like the Charge were doing all the right things. Kaun picked up his fourth foul 45 seconds into the fourth and went to the bench, and McRae threw down a nice transition dunk to put the Charge up eight, but three bad horrific passes by McRae, Crawford, and Cook and a Nick Minnerath offensive foul in succession led to 16-2 Skyforce run. And that’s why these guys (and this coach) are in the D-League.

Cook kept driving and scored 10 in the quarter to keep the Charge close, and a Nick Minnerath layup off a Cook dime cut the Skyforce lead to four with six minutes left (and yes, I keep having to look up Sioux Falls’ team name). Then came the goofy part. Apparently, in the D-League, you can challenge foul calls. The refs go to the monitors, and review the foul and if it’s overturned, it’s a jump ball. Skyforce (I’m removing the definite article) did this once, and so did Canton. Both fouls were overturned. (I hope you’re reading this and quaking at the fear of change, Tony Brothers).

McGruder! (to the tune of the MacGruber theme) scored his 27th point as the Charge perimeter D got real sloppy (perhaps McRae isn’t used to playing 46 minutes), but a pair of Kaun freebies and a sweet Cook reverse cut it to four again. After Jarnell Stokes started dunking and dishing dimes (I guess I do remember assists), I knew it was over. Sasha was having to hedge way out to stop penetration, and this face probably described his feelings on the game. It stunk. (Also Sasha should’ve been in much much sooner in the fourth).

After a McGruder! triple to give him 30, and a pair of freebies, Skyforce was (were?) up 10 with a minute to go, and LeBron left the building to applause. He waived as he snuck out the back.

Quinn Cook scored a couple garbage time buckets to get to 25 and the game ended with Skyforce up 112-104. With McGruder! getting 30, and Jarnell 18 and nine. Whittington added 18 and nine boards and was a game high +19. Maybe we’ll see one of them in the NBA some day. But, they’ll always have this recap. I’d say this is the last time we’d mention McRae and Kaun for a while, but Jordan and Sasha will probably have to play big minutes Wednesday in Cleveland.

If you’re scoring at home, you know the Cavs have a 12 man playoff roster, and these guys aren’t on it unless Mo’s knee is too gimpy. Then, positionally, McRae’s the guy. Still, I saw enough from Sasha that I want to see more. Never thought he got a great shake this year. Maybe he makes the roster if the Cavs are really done with Timo.

It was a fun night in Canton, and despite the Charge having to win the next two in Sioux Falls against Skyforce, I hope they make the DL finals. I’d definitely go see them again. These guys bust their butts to live their dream of playing basketball. They deserve our respect. It was a fun night, and a nice distraction from the coming playoffs. I’m sure LeBron thought so too.

All pictures by Nate Smith, Copyright 2016