The Cavs opened the season at home against the Toronto Raptors, losing 104-96. Down 10 at half after an unimpressive display, the Cavaliers narrowed the Raptors’ lead in the third quarter, but failed to execute on both ends of the floor in the fourth, allowing the Toronto wings too many open jumpers and settling for contested shots on the offensive end.
– Kyrie Irving looked lost. I’m not going to press the panic button on Irving’s future after one poor performance, but he did a lot of things wrong in this game. He helped too far off of Jose Calderon in the first half, which led to a handful of relatively uncontested threes for the Spaniard, and he’s still figuring out how to defend the pick and roll. On offense, he failed to consistently drive past Calderon (who, in polite terms, is a sub-par defender), and when he did get to the rim, the Toronto bigs collapsed on him and his layup attempts were blocked. He didn’t play as many minutes in the second half as he did in the first, which was probably for the best, since the Cavs had a legitimate shot at winning the game, and Irving wasn’t helping the cause.
– In contrast to Irving, Ramon Sessions was the best Cavalier on the floor tonight. He had everything working on offense. He was slashing to the hoop and laying the ball in with both hands, finding open players in the paint, and even hitting a couple of three-pointers. I don’t think Byron Scott will pull the plug on the Irving-as-starter experiment after one game, but it will be interesting to see what happens if Sessions outplays Irving for the first few weeks of the season. I actually think, even if Sessions is the better player, that he’s such a perfect fit as a bench scorer that I would use him like the Cavaliers used to use Andy Varejao during the Lebron Era: bring him off the bench some six minutes into the game, and if he gives the team a spark, keep him in as long as he’s playing well.
– Tristan Thompson looked good. He played a game that lined up with his scouting report rather perfectly. TT worked very hard on both ends of the floor, over-helped on defense (he’ll learn), pulled down two offensive boards, looked supremely athletic, clunked his free throws, and flushed the ball with authority when given the chance. What I liked best about Thompson’s game tonight was his decisiveness when he caught the ball. He received the pass and went into his move immediately. He’s so athletic that, when he decided quickly what he was going to do with he ball once he got it, the Toronto defenders had a tough time staying in front of him as he moved toward the rim. Really solid debut from the former Longhorn.
– Antawn Jamison: 15 points on 6-20 shooting. And no, his defense wasn’t good either.
– Though, to be fair, almost every Cavalier’s defense was awful in this one. The Raps shot 9-21 from beyond the arc and 53% from the field. The guards weren’t able to stay in front of Toronto’s perimeter players, and the help on penetration often came late. You can probably chalk the late help up to rust—these guys haven’t played with each other for very long, and communication is crucial to good defense—but there were some Jamisonian closeouts on open Raptor shooters, especially in the second half.
The Cavs travel to Detroit, with whom they split two close preseason games, on Wednesday. In the meantime, if you see Antawn Jamison, please do me a favor and close a door on his wrist. Not, like, to the point where there’s tendon damage or he experiences severe pain, but enough that if he takes more than twelve shots a game, it gets really sore and he has to sit down for twenty minutes to ice it.
The perfect season is dead. 0-66 is still in play. Until next time.
Is it me, or did Byron Scott coach this game to lose? I knew the game was over when he took Ramon out and put Irving back in during crunch time. If Scott was coaching to win, there’s no way Irving would have been in the game, or even Jamison right? Argh. Let tankapalooza 2012 begin.
I was at the game–not sure I buy everyone’s assessment of Kyrie’s performance. His shot didn’t drop and he didn’t burn Calderon and get to the hole much, but it’s not fair to ignore the 7 dimes to 1 TO. If he hits a few more of those shots, everyone’s calling this a solid debut. Look past the ugly line.
Ryan Hollins is horrible. …and how about Gee’s near death experience?
Ramon should be the starter at point right now. He’s taken his shots in the NBA and he is much improved, even from last year. His confidence was through the roof in this game and it really looks like he knows how to play POINT guard now. Remember last year? Driving to the hoop for 2 or a turnover? Now he’s drilling 3s like it’s no big deal and showing off some decent passing skills while he’s at it. I’m not taking anything away from Kyrie after one night, but learning from the bench seems best. He’s still our guy.
And Jamison. You make me angry.
It was good to see Thompson and Gee looking athletic and attacking the basket; hopefully they both can continue that. It was just one game though, which is the same thing I tell myself about Irving’s performance.
It’s game 1 but . . . it is indefensible to have two guys who have NO future with the Cavs playing such big minutes. Jamison should’ve been bought out last week (nobody is assuming the prorated portion of that contract to take on his awful game at the deadline), and Hollins is NEVER going to be a rotation player on a .500 team. Why on earth didn’t Samuels play? Why didn’t Eyenga play? What’s the point of having a rebuilding year if the bulk of your minutes go to guys who have no future with the team? We’re lucky, given the state of our franchise, to have a proven coach like Scott on the bench. That being said, I have no idea what the hell he was doing last night.
Here are the NBA debuts from some PGs you might have heard of.
Derrick Rose’s went 3-9 from the field for 11 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds.
Chris paul had 13 points, 4 assists.
Steve Nash played 5 minutes and his only stat was a miss from 3.
Rondo shot 2 of 6 for 6 points, and 3 assists
Talking about panic buttons, even in jest, is just ridiculous. Kyrie didnt play much in college, had 2 weeks of training camp, and is playing one of the hardest positions to learn at the NBA level. He had a solid start, got 7 assists which to me is much more important than low FG% at this point, and didn’t look totally overwhelmed. What else can you ask for? Let’s all lighten up.
I agree with Biff about Samuels. Does anyone know why he didn’t play last night?
I must say Hoopsdog is right, Coach Scott didn’t seem to want the win. There is no way you put Jameson and Parker back in the game after the way Sessions and Gee were playing, its ridiculous.
Why on earth would you consider taking Sessions off when he was the best player on the floor? I can see only one reason and that is to have Jameson and Parker get some tradeable value, only problem with that is, they have to be playing good, in order for other team to want them.
As far as Irving goes, I’m not sure he should had started the game. I would had like for him to come off the bench and be eased into it. But he did get the first game out the way, so hopefully he will be less stressed tomorrow.
Hollins suck. My dead grandma could probably block one of his dunk attempts.
Tristan played to his advantages and it will be fun to see him grow.
Walk it off Gee, it is only a broken vertebrae…
Antawn Jamison is a joke and should manage a Chuck E. Cheese because when he touches the ball he is CHUCKING! So happy we didnt part with JJ and grab Amare instead of this clown. But on the bright side, he’s not nearly as bad as Ryan Hollins.
So far I love both draft picks.
Yeah, definitely not time to hit the panic button on Kyrie. He made some very good passes. Once he settles, he’ll be a decent scorer as well.
I love defense, so I continue to hate this team. I detest watching Jamison play and Irving was worse tonight, but at least he doesn’t have 14 years of experience…
Tristan played quite well. His rotations were off, but the team effort defensively was so atrocious, that even Andy looked like he was out of position. It is easier to believe that the other 4 guys were out of position than Andy. This tells us something about our level of play on that end of the floor.
I like a few things about Sessions, but he is and will continue to be a garbage time player. He doesn’t make a single player better. He actively refuses to look for Boobie off screens or for that matter, anybody at all. He ball hogs and if his shot is going in and the defense collapses a bit for dish offs, he looks decent at times. In reality, he never is able to do that against decent defenses. And defensively, he is only a half step above a 19 year old with little to no experience. I hope that games like this give Sessions a bit of trade value. We will never be a good team with him and Jamison getting minutes.
Irving has an awful defensive stance. He bends over at the waist with his butt way too high in the air. This actually is great, because this is fixable. It better be or we will be simply hoping for a starting caliber player out of the first overall pick instead of a possible All-Star. (let’s not even mention Superstar. It isn’t going to happen for him. He isn’t athletic enough.)
Casspi is totally lost too, but like everyone says, I like his hustle. I hate when I have to praise someone’s hustle.
Gee played very well. I would rather start Gee at the 2 than Parker.
I would trade Jamison, Sessions and Hollins as soon as possible. I literally do not care what we get in return for Hollins or Jamison, and in reality, that is probably why they are still on the team. Nobody wants them. At the same time, GMs aren’t nearly as smart as we think they are. In the age of League pass, many of us watch as much basketball if not more than they do. Reputation lasts a lot longer than it should, so we might be able to get a 2nd rounder or something from these crappy players. I would rather lose with Erden getting Hollins minutes, Samuels getting Jamison’s minutes and Boobie getting Session’s minutes with Eyenga getting more minutes at the 2 or 3 depending on where he is better… Losing isn’t a problem. Playing with veterans who provide an awful defensive example is.
We will win 13 games max this season… Bring on the draft!!!!
Agree about Hollins. I think he actually got one of his dunks blocked by the rim last night on the baseline… I remember it being on the left side of my TV screen, but forget which quarter it happened in…
Parker didn’t play that poorly. Gee was hot, but no reason not to bring Parker back in… Why leave him in, just waiting for him to go cold. It’s like those ridiculous “heat checks” announcers talk about. Let’s shoot more ridiculous shots until one misses, then go back to playing a team game.
Irving wasn’t that much of a disappointment on the offensive end, like someone said – a lot of his shots didn’t fall. That will happen. At least he wasn’t afraid of taking shots AND driving, like most of our guards the past few years (minus Sessions). However, he looked so lost on the pick and roll. So sad. It wasn’t just like it was once or twice, it seemed to be EVERY time. Something that can be helped in practice at least… Did anyone else notice him getting turned around the wrong way on defense, giving up a few easy mid-range jump shots? Those are instincts that hopefully can be re-learned at the NBA level.
Jamison looks so slow, but he always does. Let’s all get over him and accept him for what he is – some ridiculous form of trade bait that only the NBA CBA can create. That being said, he seems to be a good person, and I hate when people pile up on a professional athlete who seems to keep out of trouble and be a role model of sorts for personal conduct.
I always figured if we played Sessions and gave him a chance, he could be a GOOD guard, not great or Elite, but does anyone remember him playing in Milwaukee? Then he was banished to Minnesota after putting together some good numbers… He’d be a great piece to trade to a New York, etc. – a team that has no great point and wants to up the pace for their superstars…
Loved what i saw from Gee and Thompson last night. Andy played well but he was on floor with guys that struggled. Thought Parker played well to be honest. Sessions looks like our best offensive weapon again. Very puzzled why Samuels didnt play at all. Wondering if Eyenga is a bust which would be a huge bummer. Still missing Mike Brown