Overview: The Cavaliers tied the single-season record for consecutive losses after losing to the Memphis Grizzlies by a final score of 105-112. J.J. Hickson led all scorers with 31 points and 15 rebounds, and four of Memphis’ starters scored at least 19 points. The Cavaliers have not won a game in regulation since they beat the Grizzlies on November 27th, 2010.
Why yes, this team did just tie a futility record bullets:
Quick announcement before I get to the details: I have joined the staff of the New York Times’ Off The Dribble blog, and wrote my first piece for them today. Go and check it out if you’re in the mood. And no, my new gig shouldn’t have too much of an effect on this blog.
On to the game. I’ve been saying this all year, and I’m going to keep beating the drum: this team does occasionally look like a competent offensive squad. They almost never play competent defense, and that’s why they just tied the NBA record for consecutive losses in a season.
Often times, it seems like mediocre or poor offensive teams have more offensive success against the Cavs than good ones do. Teams with tons of offensive weapons will often settle for the looks they get against actual NBA defenses, but teams like the Grizzlies seem to be more patient, move the ball, and look to attack. When they do that, they inevitably get a great shot, because the Cavaliers cannot play defense.
The Grizzlies moved the ball from side-to-side, kept the defense off-balance with penetration, and got whatever shots they wanted at the rim, on pull-ups, and spot-up mid-range jumpers. After the Cavs made their run, the Grizzlies went into “holy crap, we’re losing to the Cavs” mode and made some panic turnovers in the first half. After a halftime chat that probably went along the lines of “Guys, this is the easiest chance you will ever get to be part of NBA history,” the Grizzlies realized that the Cavs had no chance of stopping them if they fed Zach Randolph down low.
The final numbers: 29 points for Randolph on 12-19 shooting, 54 points in the paint and 27 made free throws for Memphis, 23 losses in a row.
Offensively, the Cavs had some nice moments. Hickson was feeling it from mid-range, and was active inside and on the boards. The team pushed the ball well off of turnovers. Sessions was able to play his game, get to the rim, and set up his teammates, and he even made his mid-range jumpers. Parker was the one who gave the Cavs the lead in the first quarter, and finished with an incredible 18 points on 7 shots from the field — I hope the Cavs trade him, because he deserves better than this. He deserves to be on a team that can use his shooting, length, and decision-making.
The problem was that the Cavs don’t have any go-to sets in the half-court, and that killed them late. Jamison spent most of the game launching quick shots and watching Zach Randolph destroy him, which wasn’t terribly effective. Manny Harris was a total non-factor. The team had its moments offensively, but had no chance of outscoring a team that got whatever shot it wanted all game long.
Last note: if you remember (probably not), the Cavs’ decision to draft Eyenga over Sam Young caused me to nearly swallow my own tongue during a live draft blog. (The pick gets made at 9:23.)
On Friday, Young had a great game. He’s a reliable mid-range shooter, he’s tough, he’s smart, and he can finish inside. That said, it’s becoming more apparent why Cleveland decided to take a massive chance on Eyenga — he will make one or two plays a game where he just glides through the air and dares you to imagine what he might someday become. Manny Harris is a good athlete, but Eyenga is on a whole other level athletically. It’s truly breathtaking. Anyways, just thought I’d mention that. One more chance to avoid the all-time consecutive loss record.
So this is what watching the 1899 Cleveland Spiders lose 24 in a row and 40 of their last 41 was like for their fans. Some are blowouts, some are close, some are *oh come on we were THISCLOSE to a win and we blew it*… but the result is the same even if the route to get there is different. Oh, well. At least this game was competitive. Maybe the Cavs can beat Washington at home… since the Wiz haven’t won a road game yet that would seem to be the best remaining opportunity. If not, at least 8-74 is so historically bad this team will be remembered forever, and with luck they’ll get a really good piece with whichever top 4 draft pick they land in the lottery.
The losses that hurt are the ones in which you were so close to winning… The blowouts are embarrasing, but they don’t hurt as much…
It’s so interesting to look back at last years’ results for this time of year to see what a stark contrast it has been. On February 4th the Cavs had just won their 10th straight (over Miami of all teams) and were in the middle of an eventual 13 game winning streak that would have been 16 if it weren’t for one Sundiata Gaines in mid-January.
The “have forgotten how to win” claim has never been more evident with a team than it is now with these guys. I feel so bad for them. Hopefully John Wall is mildly injured for the Wizards game against the Cavs to further increase Cleveland chance of victory on 2/13. Fingers crossed.
You know what absolutely sucks? Knowing that JJ will fall in love with his jumper and go 3-17 on the next game…
I was angry that the Cavs didn’t take Blair because it was clear he was going to help a team off the bench right away.
John, awesome work on getting the New York Times gig. Truly amazing for a young writer.
Truly amazing for a writer of any age. Congrats John.
At least this game had a slightly different twist. We probably had the lead for more minutes of game time in this game than the previous 10 games combined. Er… progress??? Hickson, even at his current best, still has just atrociously bad hands, gets blocked as much as anyone in the league, and doesn’t rotate. That being said, I appreciated his effort against quite a good Memphis frontline.
Eyenga is at least giving us a more or less sane reason to watch the games. He is definitely getting better, especially on the defensive end. Much of what he does wrong comes from being over aggressive which, to me, is a hell of a lot better than the alternative.
Yes, Congrats, John, on the new gig! That must feel great to be able to say you write for ESPN and the New York Times! In regard to the actual article, I too agree that Nene is very underrated. I wonder how much of his off the ball skill-set similarity to Andy is a result of coaching in Brazil versus coincidence. Nene could be in trouble if he goes to a team that lacks skilled passers as Andy has this year. Whatever offensive similarities they have are certainly overshadowed by their contrasting defensive games. They are almost polar opposites as Nene almost exclusively relies on his athleticism to make off the ball plays, and his post defense isn’t nearly as good as one would expect it to be with that body. In any case, I am so tired of all the players babbling about how their only real desire is to find a team with the best chance to win. If Melo really had that thought, he would either try to stay with the Nuggets, where a significant PF upgrade could make them real contenders, or the Clippers, who are screaming for a SF with even a Bplus game. (sorry, I tried to stop myself from Melo talk but couldn’t.)
J.J. Hickson following the loss: “They say you can’t win ‘em all, but in the same light, you can’t lose ‘em all either. So, if we stay [focused], I think we can get a couple of wins before the season’s over.”
Yes, that will be the goal: to win a couple (2?) games before the season ends…and I believe J.J. has set an attainable, reasonable goal for the team…
@Chris K,
Seriously… B. Scott is the same. We keep hearing him say how proud he is of his guys for playing hard. I know it frequently isn’t a good idea to ride a bunch of guys when they are already down, but I think that Scott’s repeated emphasis on “hard play” is a way to keep him off the hot seat. Like we are supposed to be so impressed that his guys haven’t given up, that we will conveniently look past the fact that we have basically no strategy on either end of the floor and we haven’t improved in any area over the course of the season.
@Ben
Shouldn’t we be wanting to keep B. Scott though? I think he’s a great coach to rebuild with…
Sam Young can be a solid NBA role player. Eyenga’s ceiling is much higher. I am all for taking the risk; especially when the team at the time was in win now mode when they drafted Eyenga.
The New York Times? That is AWESOME! So happy for you Krolik!
@J,
At this point, we are forced to stick with Scott He provides a name for the franchise and we can blindly believe in his 2 year turnaround until it does or doesn’t happen. Despite how awful we have been, I still think that this team, when healthy and with at least one added Bplus wing player, can make an low playoff seed next year. (well, assuming that Jamison doesn’t play big minutes).
But if we are talking purely in the basketball sense, I don’t think Scott is a particularly great basketball mind, and apparently his chosen assistants aren’t either. We don’t have much talent, it’s true, but we don’t have any consistent defensive philosophy, (unless you count giving the opposing team the widest open threes possible as a coaching philosophy.)
We miss Z, Bron, and West on the defensive end terribly, but I am positive that we would still be a decent defensive team if Brown were still around.