Recap: Cavs 90, Bobcats 79 (Or, Delonte’s Back and there’s gonna be trouble.)
2009-10-31
Overview: Spurred on by Delonte West’s triumphant return and Mo Williams’ continued return to form, the Cavs comfortably put away the offensively-challenged Bobcats.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
Keeping it short because it’s Halloween:
-Mo gets the first bullet tonight. Looking fantastic tonight, putting down his signature three from the left corner behind a screen, a corner dive behind a Varejao back-screen, drives to the hoop, everything. The lane was a little clogged when he drove and tried to create, but Mo is shooting. And by the way, I’ve always been a little skeptical of the “Godfather” music for Mo. But tonight, he set a screen on Gerald Wallace, injured his hip, then comfortably drained a three as Wallace was writhing in pain. That’s a bucket that warrants some Nino Rota music right there. By the way, “injure Gerald Wallace and score a 4-on-5 bucket” is something that could be in a playbook.
-LeBron was extremely passive, but had an efficient night anyways and managed to set the tone.
-DELONTE’S BACK, BABY. An open three from the corner, pushing on the break, getting gritty steals, some beautiful step-back jumpers, hustle plays to free up the team, and everyone benefited. Beyond good to see him back on the floor.
-However, AP made a strong case for his starting spot, hitting every open jumper available to him.
-Also, Z throwing down off the bench. Love it. 5 blocks? 5 blocks. On another world defensively than Shaq.
-Speaking of Shaq’s D, of the 14 points Charlotte got against the Cavs’ starting 5, 8 were a direct result of Shaq getting abused on the PnR: 3 easy Felton jumpers and 1 Chandler alley-oop when Shaq tried to show. Ugh.
-Andy all over the place, and looking like the guy we gave the big contract to. This team has looked great, although the teams they’ve played have been terrible. But it’s good to be at .500, I’ll tell you that.
Bullets of Randomness:
In lieu of describing the Bobcats, let’s go through my top 3 Halloween costume ideas for this year.
#1: This is what I ended up going with: a cardboard box around the waist duct-taped to my shirt, and 3 mylar balloons clipped to my belt. Balloon Boy FTW. Pictures available upon request.
#2: Spiked hair, Ed Hardy shirt, tight jeans, and a piece of paper on the chest that says “-9.” Jon minus 9.
#3: Crazy hair, stutter shades. Go with friends. When asked about costumes, make sure one of your friends goes first, then interrupt and say “You’ve got a great costume and I’ma let you finish, but (either say I or Beyonce) has one of the best costumes of ALL TIME!
Alright, campers, Happy Halloween. See you next week.
[…] The next game, which has ex UNC players on each side of the court, it’s the Charlotte Bobcats going to the Q and taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers in front of 20,562 fans. For the home team it is the tandem of Danny Green and Jawad Williams. While Green doesn’t even dress for the game, the other ex Heel, Williams gets a couple of minutes of playing time and does not do anything (at least from what the box score shows). On the other side, for the Bobcats it’s ex national champion Raymond Felton, who starts at the point… Read more »
Delonte! Yay!
Wins are encouraging, but Minnesota and Charlotte are pretty damn awful.
I just hope we can perform like this against a good team. Glad to have Delonte back. His troubles aren’t over with the gun charges and assault case pending. With his condition I hope being on the court is a sign he’s getting help, getting better and that being on the court doesn’t add to his problems. I also hope the whatever went down between him and his wife has been resolved as well. As much as I want to cheer for him and the team, I can’t if he turns out to have really abused her. Innocent until proven… Read more »
john i disagree with you( and agree with windy, who thought it was shaq’s best performance as well) and think shaq played very good defense in that game. best of the year, so far. and how do mention Z’s blocks and not mention that shaq had 3, if i remember correctly?
i sense a lot of anti-shaq vibe from people who should know better. curious…
West just got in trouble for assaulting his wife. (To be fair, no evidence of any assault has been made public, but she filed a police report.) Should we really be celebrating him right now? And is it best for him personally to be back on the court, under the intense spotlight of this championship quest?
Seeing Delonte out there just made my weekend. And only 1% in the team sense, 99% in the human/personal sense. Knowing that basketball keeps him sane, I am happier and happier everytime he so much as shoots, let alone makes a shot. I just feel better “knowing” (and I put that in quotation marks only ’cause nobody really knows what is going through his head) that he feels better being on the basketball court. I’m sure I speak for all of Cleveland when I say “Welcome back, Delonte. You were sorely missed – 1st as person, 2nd as a player.”
is it just me or does shaq and varejao not seem to be working? how about andres nocioni as a strech pf? he can provide some defence on rasheed wallace and rashard lewis too
Loved seeing Delonte back…. speaking of Halloween, Its Always Sunny is picking up steam. I saw numerous greenmans, dayman (and Dee’s character from the musical), as well as the birds of war from the most recent episode. Very excited to see that.