Recap: Cleveland 114, Chicago 109 (or, the Winning Wounded)

The NBA is a mess right now. Teams are falling apart with injuries. A third of the league is in a not-so-subtle battle to see who can be the crappiest. And players and coaches are in an almost daily revolt against officiating. Yet, 33 year old LeBron James grinds on. The aged bullfighter put up a 33-13-12 triple double in just under 40 minutes to lead Cleveland to a victory in the Windy City, Saturday, in a game where the Cavs only dressed nine players (two of them G-Leaguers).

Cleveland started Ante Zizic at the center spot with Jeff Green and LeBron manning forward positions. George Hill and Jose Calderon rounded out the makeshift starting lineup. The Cavs played some pretty porous defense in the first, third, and fourth quarters, but found enough offense to win despite a scorching hot night from Denzel Valentine who dropped 23 in the second half on his way to a career high, 34. As our Perthian commenter Simmo asked, “how many players have had their career best playing the Cavs this year?”

Jeff Green had one of the better nights of recent memory for Cleveland as he played a game high 42 minutes and dropped 21. He still took too many threes (2-6 on the night), but at least the Cavs have done a better job of moving him to his best spot (the right corner). When not shooting threes, Green did a nice job of working switches by the Bulls to get himself into the post against smaller guys and scoring. He also had a couple very nice drive for dunks, as he worked his faceup game against slower players. Jeff also had a big block (really an uncalled foul) late on Bobby Portis which led to a crucial LeBron James bucket.

Ante Zizic had another really solid outing with 14 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes. Z2 went 7-9 from the floor and added a block. The dude doesn’t do anything fancy, but he also doesn’t do anything he isn’t comfortable with, plays at his pace, shows nice timing on rolls and when slipping behind the defense, and makes efficient finishes. Ante’s also a competent defender who doesn’t leave his feet haphazardly, and has enough mobility to switch on wings on occasion. He also has good hands and catches most passes that come his way. Right now Zizic is an order of magnitude better than Tristan Thompson. Not to get carried away. Ante did spend most of the night on Rubenesque Christiano Felicio who was a game low -13, and he didn’t play late because the Cavs went small, but I’ll take all the solid 20-minute outings from ZZ as I can get.

George Hill somehow ended up with a Cavs starters high of +14 in 33 minutes. The dude’s passivity on offense is still maddening. I’ve never seen a guy – a point guard no less – who wants the ball out of his hands faster than George Hill, but his defense was a part of the win as he held down the fort against Justin Holiday, Cameron Payne, Jerian Grant, and David Nwaba (or they’re just mediocre players). George finished with an odd starting point guard line of eight points, six rebounds, two assists, and one turnover in 33 minutes. But he had three clutch free throws late, and after making the worst turnover of the game, an horrific jump pass intercepted by Antonio Blakeny who promptly dunked in George’s grill, Mr. Hill came back and buried an angry three pointer. I’m pretty sure LeBron told him to just shoot the damned ball. George should play pissed all the time.

Thank goodness that Jose Calderon started and actually ran the point guard spot for the Cavs. Jose had a fantastic all-around game posting a base6 triple double. In base10 he dropped nine points, seven boards, six dimes to go along with a block and zero turnovers and matched his age with 36 minutes. Jose did so many little things well, it’s hard to list them all, but timely passes, a Spanish general’s control of the offense, and keeping Jordan Clarkson from dominating the ball, were all key. Calderon jumped around a pair pin-down screens late to keep the scorching Denzel Valentine from getting a three in a key defensive stop, and those plays were as big as any. Add 2-3 from behind the arc, and a block late, and the Cavs don’t win this game without the Cajoled Senior. My two favorite highlights: are below.  In the first, Jose comes out of a triple weave to throw a sweet lob to Zizic, and on the second (couldn’t embed the video), he stuffs a crunch time drive from Cameron Payne. The boogie man will be speaking Spanish in Cameron’s nightmares.

J.R. Smith played another hapless game, going 1-7 from the field. His dribbling forays have gotten increasingly nonsensical as the season wears on, and he often crossovers his way into no-man’s-land and throws up a garbage floater or throws the ball away. This behind-the back momentum killing turd of a pass in the fourth will melt your brain. Smith did grab five boards, and fortunately, the Cavs had John Holland to pick up some slack, especially defensively. Holland also canned an enormous three to get the Cavs’ offense going in the fourth on his way to five points and a whopping +15 in 11 minutes. J.R. is currently riding with London Perrantes (who looked every bit the G-Leaguer) and Tristan Thompson on the bottom three of this roster.

https://youtu.be/6xvjQLKqLrs

For the Bulls, Denzel Valentine‘s 8-11 from three and 34 points put him 14 points ahead of his previous career best. He also added seven rebounds, six assists, zero turnovers, and +14. Denzel was throwing it in the ocean and the Cavs were content to not even bother guarding him till late. Cleveland was extremely fortunate he missed an open look from the right corner in crunch time, and then The Cavs (Jose) did a good job of taking away the left wing pin-down. Bobby Portis notched 15&15. Cameron Payne added 13 and ten dimes, and walked into haymaker 28-footer over George Hill to tie the game at 105 with 1:51 to go. Normally, you’d say give Payne that shot, but Cameron is shooting 39% from three this year and is +77 in 240 minutes in easily the best season of his career. Read your scouting report, George.

The best two guard on this roster right now is named Jordan Clarkson. Getting Clarkson off the ball has taken away all the bad stuff he does (tunnel vision/not letting anyone else touch the rock) and turned him into a pure scorer. And holy crap is Clarkson a good catch-and-shoot player. His release is lightning, his form is perfect when at a standstill (he still leans too much when catching in transition), and Jordan’s got the game to blow by his man and score if the closeout is sloppy. JC can also hit some tough shots at the end of a shot clock. He gave LeBron a fantastic passing outlet and was a part of the Cavs three-guard lineup that closed the game (with James, Green, Calderon, and Hill). Clarkson bagged 19 on 13 shots in 32 minutes including 4-9 from three. No basket was bigger than this four point play with 87 second remaining to put the wine and gold up for good.

After a pair of Zizic layups to put the Cavs up 97-88 with 7:12 to go, LeBron James checked back in, Jeff Green committed a dumb foul of a Jerian Grant three point shot, and the Bulls got hot from three. Cleveland aided the Bulls by missing four straight triples and going scoreless for almost three straight minutes to assist an 11-2 Chicago run that tied it at 99. George Hill checked in for Ante, and LeBron James said, “Three Guard offense, ENGAGE.” James scored or assisted on the next twelve straight points for the Cavs, including going 4-5 from the field, and adding a steal and a block that stole Cameron Payne’s soul. LBJ also canned two Js from the “Michael Jordan spot,” right where that Bulls logo is to the left of the key over poor Paul Zipser. Here’s the like-Mike jumper and the block.

Yeah, James played a masterful crunch time, and a masterful game in general. 33 points on 26 shots plus six turnovers that were the cost of doing business, and James made enough defensive plays to get the win. His minutes count also stayed under 40. So what if the Bulls suck? The Cavs needed this win to at least keep their heads above water in the Eastern playoff race, and end a brutal six games in 12 days road trip. WHEW.

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I’m not convinced two straight months of every other night basketball is better than having some back to backs and two or three days off at times. What I do know is that three straight finals appearances by the Cavs and Warriors are taking their toll. Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert, Tristan Thompson, Kevin Love, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson are all hurting right now. Andre Iguodala, J.R. Smith, and Richard Jefferson, and Shawn Livingston are all showing their age. Andrew Bogut isn’t even in the dang league anymore. Also scary? Tyron Lue seems to suffering from some undisclosed illness, and we know about Steve Kerr’s upper back problems. Ty was unable to come out to coach in the second half and Larry Drew took the reigns for the Cavs. No one is really saying what the illness is, but it seems cronic, as I believe this is the third game this season that Lue has missed at least portions of.

We fans are sometimes too demanding of our sports figures. We demand they be in excellent shape mentally and to perform for our entertainment. We are at times wont to cast off guys who’ve left their blood and sweat on the floor for years and now can’t perform at the level they used to be. Tristan Thompson, Tyron Lue, J.R. Smith, heck even Iman Shumpert, probably deserved more grace than we’ve given them. The NBA schedule is grueling between the travel, schedule, the workouts, the pace of the game, and the practices. With their finals runs, the Cavs and Warriors have played the better part of a whole extra season in the last three years, and it’s showing.

I appreciate when the Cavs play well and compete, especially on nights like last night where the games are fun and we get to watch guys grow. I’m keeping Tyron Lue in my prayers and wishing him health and well-being. I was shocked to remember he’s just 41. He looks like he’s aged 10 years in the last three. The game of basketball is just that, a game. Sometimes we forget it in our fanaticism. It’s impossible to know what a guy is going through, and maybe we all expect everyone, even coaches to be as mentally and physically indestructible as LeBron James appears to be. (Knock on wood.) Get well soon, Ty. You deserve your health. It’s far more important than a random March win.