Recap: Cavs 113, Hornets 89 (or, On Any Given Tuesday…)

Recap: Cavs 113, Hornets 89 (or, On Any Given Tuesday…)

2018-11-14 Off By EvilGenius

Fun fact… the Cleveland Cavaliers are undefeated this season on Tuesdays. They got their first win on Tuesday, October 30th against the Atlanta Hawks… and after last night, they have their second. Maybe we should rename it “Twosday” in their honor. The very good news, is that the Cavs ambushed what had been a relatively hot Charlotte team, and really never let up while stringing together four of their best consecutive quarters of the season. They seemed to capitalize on their growing confidence (and competence) that had been building over the past few games, and found some consistency on both sides of the ball.

The bad news (other than their 19 turnovers), is that the next Tuesday on the schedule doesn’t arrive for another 18 games (against the Indiana Pacers on December 18th). Even worse, there are only seven more Tuesday games remaining this season. But, since the Cavs are proving that anything is possible on any given Tuesday… at worst they should tie the fewest wins mark of 9-73.

In all seriousness though, I was dead wrong about my prediction for this game… and absolutely thrilled that I was. Maybe it’s because I’d missed watching their improvements over the last few contests (I live in Ventura County… I’ve been a little pre-occupied), or maybe the post-coaching change 32-point beatdown the Hornets laid on the Cavs just 10 days ago influenced my prognostication. Or, maybe I just underestimated the power of Tuesdays.

The Cavs jumped the Hornets from the tip. They were aggressive with their three guard starting lineup (Rodney Hood, JR Smith and Collin Sexton) and came out firing, as their big man duo of Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance, Jr. corralled seemingly every miss. Meanwhile, Charlotte was experiencing a deep freeze. Marvin Williams hit the first deep ball of the game to put the Hornets up 7-4… then they missed their next 17 triple tries. Star point guard, Kemba Walker, was particularly frosty, shooting just 2-16 (1-7 from downtown) for a season low seven points. It was just one of those nights for Walker, and really for any Hornet not named Jeremy Lamb. Conversely, it was just one of those nights (in a good way) for JR Smith, who somehow went from being kicked out of the rotation (twice!) to logging a game high 39 minutes in this one. Here, Swish buries the corner three (off of a nifty Sexton transition dime) that gave the Cavs a 9-7 lead…

The wine & gold blue & orange (more on that later) never trailed again. A 38 point quarter, gave them a lead of 15 after one.

Jordan Clarkson (who led the Cavs with 24 points), and David Nwaba (who followed JC with 18 surprising points of his own) kept the energy flowing by putting the twos in Tuesday to start the second. Clarkson had several of his patented mid-rangers and Nwaba pounded his second dunk of the game. Nwaba also dished a terrific dime in transition to a rumbling TT for another easy deuce. Then, the Young Bull took his turn with a driving layup chased by a knock-down triple to expand the lead to 20. After a rare double mis-fire at the line by Walker, Rodney Hood continued his hot shooting to keep the Hornets at bay. Though I complained about the lane-clogging prospect of starting TT and Nance together in the Live Thread… the two big men absolutely dominated the glass, holding Charlotte to single shot possessions for much of the quarter. They also teamed up for this beautiful alley-oop soft slam…

Jeremy Lamb got himself to the line a few times to shave the margin as the first half came to a close, but Clarkson snuck in one last bucket to keep the lead at 16. Cavs up 67-51 at halftime.

Neither team scored for almost the first three minutes of the second half, until Tristan tapped in a Hood floater. The board was Canadian Dynamite’s 17th of the game (he finished with a career tying 21), and the bucket gave TT his fourth straight double-double performance (11 points). The hustle and recover defense the Cavs had employed in the first half to affect the Hornets on their three point shots started to waver briefly, as Nic Batum and Marvin Williams hit back to back triples. However, Sexton pulled this jack knife drive out of his bag to stop the bleeding…

Then, JR hit another pair of threes to pad the lead before Nwaba drained his second triple to close the scoring and give the Cavs a 19 point lead going into the final frame.

As we’ve learned with the Cavs in this young season… no lead they have seems safe. This axiom looked to be in full effect in the first three minutes of the quarter, as Charlotte ripped off the first seven points to cut the lead to 12. Larry Drew wisely took a time out to regroup his troops… and to re-insert Sexton for the largely ineffective Andrew Harrison. With Young Bull back in to help muscle through screens on defense, Jordan Clarkson took over on offense. JC scored the next seven points on a mid-ranger, a driving layup, a floater and a technical free throw. After a Nwaba theft of an errant Walker pass, David scored on the other end and all of a sudden, the lead was back to 21.

From there, the Hornets essentially waved the white flag and emptied their bench. The Cavs did the same, which led to the real highlight of the quarter… two Channing Frye deep threes…

Who needs Tuesday… when you’ve got Frye-day? Channing’s garbage time triples did wind up earning him a well-deserved ovation from the appreciative Quicken Loans Arena faithful… even though he didn’t think it was all that deserved…

Oh yeah… and if you’re wondering why Channing has Stanley Hudson from The Office as his Twitter profile picture… here’s your answer straight from the man himself…

Never change big man…

Cavs blowout the Hornets by 24, making me look foolish in the process. I loved every minute of it.

The Evil

Other than my wildly incorrect prediction… not a ton of evil on this second victory Tuesday of the season.

The 19 turnovers could have really cost the Cavs… that is, if the Hornets could have channeled their inner Tim Misny and made them pay. Fortunately for the Cavs, the bees weren’t buzzing from deep.

It’s a make or miss League, and the Hornets missed a lot of shots. They were an abysmal 1-18 from three in the first half as they dug themselves a sizable hole, and finished 8-41 (19.5%) for the game… with half of those coming in garbage time. That’s not to take away from the impact the Cavs’ defense had on Charlotte’s shooting, but it was pretty obvious the Hornets missed at least a few wide open opportunities.

I’m not sure why Andrew Harrison is on this team. The dude is shooting 35% from the field and just 29% from three for his career. He currently sports a PER of -9.48. He is quickly replacing Sam Dekker as the Cavalier I’d be okay never seeing play another minute.

The only other Cav who struggled (albeit in limited action) tonight was Ante Zizic. The big man had back-to-back rough turnovers in the first half and got a quick hook from Coach Drew. He finished with three miscues on the night in his six minutes, but did manage to pull down three boards.

The only negative to winning this game (other than potentially affecting the March to Zion), is that now I’m probably going to be faced with the prospect of having to watch far too many more games with the Cavs draped in their Tide Pods unis. Are they an improvement over last year’s gray, yellow and black eyesores? Anything would be. While I don’t mind the nostalgic orange and blue colors… the design harkens back to my least favorite of the eras of Cavdom past.

Sigh… I suppose I’ll just have to get used to them for now… or, just do a bunch of these before watching…

The Genius

This was probably the Cavs’ most complete victory of the season. Okay, I know there’s only two to choose from… but, the previous one was against the mostly tanking Hawks. Charlotte actually has a chance to be a playoff team in the East, provided Kemba doesn’t man down this hard in the future. Still, the Cavs actually looked like they had a plan on both offense and defense in this game.

The front court was terrific, even more so because it was essentially just two guys doing the work. Thompson and Nance combined to shoot 8-12 for 18 points, while pulling down 33 boards between them. They helped the Cavs to a 60-37 advantage on the glass.

TT was dynamite, somehow snagging his 21 boards in just 28 minutes. As Nate quipped on the Live Thread, Thompson has gone from untradable to untouchable in the span of a week. He’s providing vocal leadership, and backing it up with superlative play on the court.

Nance was also very solid up front, using his long arms to challenge and affect shots underneath. The big man even channeled his inner Kevin Love, knocking down his first three of the year with some perfect form…

Every guard (outside of Harrison) played really well. To a man, they were aggressive in getting to the rack, but also showed terrific awareness in swinging the ball for three point shots. Even without Kyle Korver, the Cavs shot 13-24 (54%) from downtown, and the guards were primarily responsible for that.

Collin Sexton had another strong start, shooting 7-18 (2-2 from deep) for 16 points, and adding five boards, four assists and a steal. JR Smith shot 5-13 and knocked down 3-7 from range, to go with three rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block. And, Rodney Hood was 7-12 (2-3 from beyond the arc) for 16 points to go with two assists and two boards. He channeled his inner JR on more than one occasion…

The story of the game, however, were the two guards off the bench. Jordan Clarkson and David Nwaba were a pretty dynamic duo in their time together. JC knocked down 9-15 for a game high 24 points to go with five rebounds and two dimes. And, Nwaba channeled his inner Nick Chubb (I don’t know why this “channeling his inner…” has hijacked my theme) by showing why he should be in the rotation more often. The athletic guard finished with a highly efficient 7-9 shooting (2-2 from deep) for 18 points to go with five rebounds, two assists and a block. He was +22 in his 27 minutes of play.

And, of course, Channing Frye was the sweet syrup that topped off this delicious french toast of a victory with his two late bombs that got the crowd off its feet.

Parting Shot

This was a solid win over a decent team. Granted, that decent team had a horrible night shooting the ball, but credit to the Cavs for taking advantage and producing a runaway victory. It’s great to see this team working hard to overcome their multitude of injuries, and to see some of the young guys start to grasp concepts and grow into roles. It’s also amazing to see vets like Thompson and Smith showing they can still help lead and contribute. If the Cavs can continue to compete like they have over the past week, they should be able to ambush a few other unsuspecting teams as well.

There will still be many rough days ahead… but at least a handful of them will be Tuesdays.

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CategoryFeatured Recaps
Tagscollin sexton David Nwaba Jordan Clarkson JR Smith Larry Nance Jr. Rodney Hood Tide Pods Tristan Thompson
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Jason

Look, KD has to win one on his own to be considered an all-timer. Has an MVP, two finals MVP, and two titles. But he got the last two by joining a 72 win team with a title under its belt. If he wants to enter the top tier(s) at SF (LeBron, Bird, Doc, Baylor, Havlicek) he has to win one as the lead dog on his own.

I think he realizes it and that is why he is gone after this year.

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John B

Every star has had a second superstar. Name one ship where the team didn’t have another top ten guy. BTW, Baylor never won. He has surpassed Baylor and Havlichek in my book. And the sixers were nearly as talented a super team as the sixties teams. Doc (1 time nba MVP), Moses freaking Malone (3 time MVP), Andrew Toney (2 time all star), Bobby Jones (4 time all star, 8 time all 1st team d, 1 time 2nd), Maurice Cheeks (4 time all star, 4 time all 1st d). By that time Malone was their best player. LBJ formed the… Read more »

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Patrick

Only the second time in the last eight years that the Cavs and Browns have each won a game by at least 10 points in the same week. Other occurrence was December 2015 when Browns beat 49ers 24-10 and Cavs crushed Magic 111-76 and Celtics 89-77. Prior occurrence to that was in December 2009 involving Raiders, Rockets, Lakers, and Hawks.

Nwaba and Clarkson definitely need to be on court together. Complementary strengths/weaknesses.

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MikeO

When Durant and Kyrie are both on the Nets next year, that is going to be one whiny, annoying team…

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EvilGenius

I think KD is going to the Knicks…

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MikeO

Thanks EG. First game I’ve completely missed. Was dead tired after work, and slept through it. Figures it was one of their better games. TT has been more like 2016 TT this year, after just being bad most of last year.

Just from what I’ve read, it sounds like Kemba missed a lot of open shots…but winning by a wide margin has to give them confidence. Nwaba needs to play more, he actually knows the game.

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EvilGenius

Yeah TT has been dynamite the last week or so… and it was probably the worst Kemba performance I’ve seen in a long time…

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believeLAND

If the rest of the league has learned anything from “the process” in Philadelphia, it’s to not do it.

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EvilGenius

Just to show you guys how lucky I was to avoid the fires… here’s a topographical map… my house is in the yellow circle…

IMG_8091.jpg
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CLF

Wow that’s insane… Glad you’re ok!!!

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JRL

Oh jeeeeezz. Glad you are okay mate.
Hoping for a quick recovery to everyone out there.

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EvilGenius

Thanks guys!

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believeLAND

Wow EG, stay safe! Prayers for you and everyone out west.

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John B

Yikes.

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EvilGenius

I didn’t put this in the recap, but I should have… it really did seem like Clarkson had some great chemistry with Nwaba with those two leading the second unit. I hope Coach Drew recognizes this and makes that a more permanent pairing…

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JRL

I think is good at rotations as opposed to Lue

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JRL

*Drew

Meaning he’ll figure it out.

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John B

Also Clarkson has been very solid defensively of late. Also fighting around d picks. Great layup saving block last night. Some good strips down low.

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NOMAD

THE NBA HAS IT’S “SEASON LONG DRAMA STORY “—-DURANT / WARRIORS ——–FOR ONCE IT ISN’T LA-BRON –CAVS ——–HAVE FUN WITH IT OUT THERE IN OAKLAND : )——–DON’T MISS THOSE DAYS AT ALL !!

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JRL

I can’t wait for the Dray/KD volcano to erupt 😂

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NOMAD

JMAY —THANKS FOR THE INFO –WOW –4 DAYS BEFORE NEXT GAME —TIME FOR SOME QUALITY PRACTICES/ ONLY REASON I WILL GIVE HARRISON A “PASS ‘ CARD —WANT TO SEE HIS PLAY AFTER 4 DAYS PRACTICE WITH THE TEAM / PLAYERS ——-OTHERWISE SHORTEN HIS 45 DAY CONTRACT DOWN TO 10 DAY ASAP

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buck turgidson

color me impressed.. perhaps shame and embarrassment have brought out some pride and anger in the cav-nots.. maximal effort was never required when superman was here.. as austin and campy keep reminding the faithful.. “winning in this league requires practice, talent and effort”.. talent is talent.. can’t change your talent level, but with practice and effort, many (not all) things are possible.. if they bring it like last night every game.. redemption is a possibility.. but not too much.. we do want to be in the zion sweepstakes

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John B

Yes. That is why I thought they way underachieved those first six. Their offense is more active. A bit Helter skelter, but guys aren’t just standing around to begin sets.

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John B

Also worst three teams have equal odds this year, so we should aim to be the best out of the three. Other two worst teams aren’t much worse odds.

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John B

And don’t forget coaching. Great coaches can elevate their personnel well beyond what they should do.

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Jason

We have played 13 games. Leading scorers: Love (3), Clarkson (3), Hood (2), Hill, Sexton, Korver, Smith, Thompson.

And possibly our dumb coaches will figure out to play Nwaba more.

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John B

Drew has generally made the right calls. Defensively they aren’t getting utterly lost anymore and their p and r d looks so so so so much better. And not just because of effort. They are in the right positions coming off the screen and their help rotations have beenuch better.

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ChrisKorvalier

Great recap, EG. I love the french toast reference!

This was such a fun game to watch. It’s exactly the kind of basketball a lot of us were hoping for after LeBrexit 2.0. Now how do we get this every night?

I think how many times the Cavs wear the new uniforms is already pre-determined as they mentioned a total of 6 games they would wear them on the pre-game show. I’m not sure if that’s good news or bad news.

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EvilGenius

Thanks CK! You’re right about the number of times they are supposed to wear the new unis… although I think there’s some provision about being able to lobby to wear them more than that (although that might just be for the playoffs, which we are probably safe from worrying about…) but I could be wrong…

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JRL

Great recap EG.
Glad to hear you’re okay.

Watching the reaction from the team as Frye made his 3’s let’s me know they aren’t letting the losing record get to them. Happy to see that.

Is TT playing so well because he knows Drew will bench him if needed?

I like the uniforms. A good way to get past the LeBron era.

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EvilGenius

Appreciate it JRL! Been a long week out here, but the worst has passed

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Jason

Again, we only have 14 on the roster. We have an open spot. I am a big believer in 3 PGs out of 15. Especially when one PG is a rook and the other could get traded. Not giving up on Harrison yet. He does look out of synch.

As for TT, I cannot belueve I am gonna say this, but keep him. He has been tremendous.

Even with Love out, we really should have 3/4 wins instead of just two.

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EvilGenius

Unfortunately, I think Harrison is what he is… another guard who can’t really shoot or find the open man… granted, he’s just 24, but the Cavs have enough guys already who need to be better shooters and find the open man better…

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John B

He is legit awful. Like one of the worst players I have ever seen play pg.

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NOMAD

VERY CREATIVE RECAP EVIL—-” TUES BE –OR NOT TUES BE “—( OK I AM STRETCHING IT—SORRY )——GREAT NIGHT —WATCHED THE RECAP ( AND LIKE FELLOW BLOGGER -ARCH )—SIPPING ( GULPING )–DOWN SOME GREAT LAKES CHRISTMAS ALES –( DRINKING THEM HAS BECOME KIND OF NOSTALGIC —–PUTS YOU INTO THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT / THEME )—-BELIEVE THEY SIGNED HARRISON TO 45 DAY CONTRACT / THEY CAN SPEED THAT UP AND CUT OUT THE OTHER 40 DAYS ——” BRING UP / SIGN THE” BONZI “———–POSTED LAST NIGHT —JUST AS A “WHAT IF ” QUESTION “——-THE WAY T.T. IS PLAYING —WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR… Read more »

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EvilGenius

Thanks NOMAD!

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JMay

Great recap, EG. LOVE the David Nwaba game. After tonight’s game the Cavs have four straight days off. I look forward to what that practice time will accomplish. I haven’t heard much about changes in practice schedules but it has to be more often than the last four seasons now that LeBron isn’t here, right?

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EvilGenius

Thanks JMay! The nice thing about having so many younger guys is that they should have fresher legs to practice as much as Coach Drew wants them to… certainly seems like they have been.

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JMay

This is honestly some of the only mid-season improvements I’ve seen from the Cavs in a long time. For the past four years the improvement only comes between regular season and post season. It’s refreshing to finally feel like maybe they are actually working on things this summer.

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JMay

Not summer… season*

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