Podcap: Cleveland 116, Minnesota 108 (or, Lost Love, Wills, and Puppies)

The Cavs held off the hungry Wolf pups Tuesday night in a high scoring battle that saw Minny shoot 49%, and Cleveland edge them out by shooting 51%. For the T-Wolves, Andrew Wiggins put on a show, scoring 41 on 29 shots, and adding a three boards, two assists, and a steal in 41 minutes with zero turnovers. Karl-Anthony Towns added 26, Gorgui Dieng 12 and 10, and Ricky Rubio had 16 dimes, 8 boards, and only two points as he dished out the treats to the puppies.

For Cleveland, the absence of Kevin Love was overcome by the excellence of Channing Frye who started in Love’s absence. Channing scored 21, grabbed 10 rebounds, blocked two shots, and was a game high +17 in 32 minutes. Channing was 4-11 from three and 3-4 from from two. The Cavs as a team attempted a whopping 39 triples and made only 13. Kyrie Irving was bricking them as he went just 2-10 but 8-17 everywhere else to score 25 and drop seven dimes with no turnovers. Canadian Double Double Dynamite dropped 14 and 11 and outshot the King from the charity stripe.

Speaking of LeBron he was brilliant offensively, as he attacked relentlessly and ran the offense brilliantly to finish with 25 on 14 shots, eight boards, and an eye popping 14 dimes. The only blemishes on his night were his chill mode defense on Wiggins, and six turnovers. Much of this could’ve been fatigue as Bron had 33 minutes logged going into the fourth and finished with 39. He had several rim rattling dunks and an enormous three late to put the Cavs up for good.

Bench heroics were provided by the newly acquired Derrick Williams who had a steal and runout layup to put the Cavs up by eight in the final minute, which effectively neutered the pups’ chances of winning. Williams ran the floor relentlessly all night and was the beneficiary of brilliant passes from LBJ including one that went between Wiggins’ legs to find DWill open on the baseline. Williams finished with 13 and six rebounds in 22 minutes and was +!5 from the floor. He’s not fitting out. He’s fitting in.

On the pod, Nate Smith, Evil Genius, and newest CtPer, Mitch Suchan talk about about Williams, what Love’s absence means, whether he’ll be able fit back in, Shumpert’s return, why Wiggins always gets up for the Cavs, the baffling absense of DeAndre Liggins’, have we seen the last of Felder?, will the Cavs make another move, do they have the greenlight for greenbacks from @CavsDan?, LBJ minutes policing, Channing Frye, the Ibaka trade, and so much more.

You can find us above, on the Allmighty Ballers Podcast Network, on iTunes, or on Google Play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo7cA9I58bQ