The Cavs beat the Bobcats 102-94 in a sloppy, entertaining game. The Cavs climbed out from beneath a double-digit deficit in the second half, outscoring the ‘Cats 33-20 in the third quarter and 23-17 in the fourth.
–Kyrie Irving had one of those games the box score can’t quite explain. His numbers look great: 25 points on 9-16 shooting, 7 assists, and 3 turnovers, but the quality of his play fluctuated throughout the game. Let’s dissect it in bullet form.
–Irving was torched by D.J. Augustin (D.J. Augustin!) in the first half, who had accumulated 19 points by the time the teams headed for the locker room. Twice in the second quarter, Irving helped off of Augustin when he didn’t need to, which led to two relatively uncontested threes for D.J. I think this problem of over-helping stems from the way Irving was taught to defend at Duke. Many superior college programs (Duke included) play a high-pressure defensive system that involves a lot of trapping and doubling, which, when employed against collegiate perimeter players, is very effective in terms of forcing turnovers. Against NBA competition: not so much. Irving has to become a better decision-maker in terms of when to help (hint: don’t help on a Gerald Henderson drive that starts 19 feet from the bucket), and when to stick to his man. He also has to a.) take another half-step off of speedier point guards, b.) direct penetration toward the help behind him, and c.) react a half-second sooner on drives. I hope Byron Scott will drill that into his head, and we’ll see him grow into a more competent defender.
–Irving disappeared for awhile in the third quarter while Ramon Sessions dominated the ball. We’re only about 20 minutes into the Irving/Sessions backcourt experiment, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Both players need the ball. When Sessions was running the point, Irving just drifted to the corner, and waited while the shot clock ticked down. He’s not really a spot-up shooter, and he doesn’t move particularly well of the ball. Neither does Sessions. Plus, they’re both sub-par defenders. Parker, Gibson, and Gee are all better fits for the 2-guard spot.
–Kyrie Irving won the Cavaliers a basketball game in the fourth quarter. He was aggressive, crafty around the rim, and wanted to take the tough shots required to put the Cavs up for good. The moves he exhibited going toward the basket in the final period (that lay-up around B.J. Mullens!) are why GMs salivate over bigger point guards: Irving can absorb contact in the paint and still lay the ball in from a variety of angles. I know the Cavs don’t really have anyone else besides Jamison who can dependably score the ball by himself, but it’s been encouraging to see Irving accept the challenge of being the the Cavs number one option in crunch time.
–TT was relatively quiet in this game (8 points, 2 rebounds), but I’m coming around on him. He has such an ugly game (not a lot of post-up moves, no face-up game, no jumper), but he uses his strength and quickness to get shots up from right next to the rim, and he gets a couple of easy dunks every game via putbacks and solid point guard play. He reminds me of a more athletic Tyler Hansbrough, which is a hybrid compliment/concern. Also: free throws, but you already knew that.
–Jamison threw a hard eight tonight. 9-16 for 20 points. I tip my cap.
–Casspi kept his starting job for another day. He nabbed a handful of hustle points, sprinting down the floor after Bobcats buckets, and laying the ball in before the defense could get set. Casspi might need to start doing more of this, since he’s been struggling from beyond the arc.
The Cavs are now 6-6 and return from their seven-game road trip for a game against the Golden State Warriors tomorrow.
Couple of things…
- Augustin is a good player. The Bobcats are a horrible basketball team.
- Erden had a great stretch early in the 4th quarter. He turned it over around the foul line, fouled the guy who stole it. And then hacked the man he was guarding 3-4 times before they finally called him for his 2nd foul in 15 seconds of play.
Nice to see the boys at .500. I didn’t comment on the “Andy, we will miss you” post because I was too choke up and too busy with work. I now can say with certainty that the biggest reason Andy will be gone is because the Cavs’ management will realize in February that if they keep Andy, this team will beat enough bad teams (Lord are there many this year!) and a few decent teams to drop far enough in the lottery (this team will NOT make the playoffs with their current forwards) to slow the rebuilding process. That fact makes me sad. I want my sons to note how tenaciously Andy goes after everything on the court, how he antagonizes offensive players within the rules of the game, how he infects his teammates with a desire to hit the floor and give up their bodies, how he outworks the majority of players who are mord talented than he is. People speculated hee was the player who would suffer most in LeBron’s wake; I would argue he was the raon the Cavs didn’t suffer without LBJ to start last season, and he is the type of player that the Heat are not complete without. Thankfully, I am not sure another one exists in the NBA…so forget it, Miami.
I have confidence that Irving will become a solid defender. His coaches, teammates, etc need to make sure this is a focal point for him.
The 6 – 6 start to the season is exciting. It’s releaving to beat the “bad” teams; I didn’t want to see another season like last year. As far as getting too good too fast, I am still pretty confident the Cavs won’t win more than 25 games this year. Reasons include:
- The Cavs schedule has been horrible. The combined record of their opponents is 64 – 96. According to Hollinger’s power rankings, this has been the second easiest schedule in the NBA.
- From a frequency of games perspective, the Cavs’ schedule hasn’t been brutal yet. Only one team has played fewer games. The 12 games in 17 days at the end of the season is going to be a killer.
- Of their top 9 players, noone has missed a game. I won’t turn this into a research project, but can any other NBA team say that? Obviously perfect health is unsustainable and eventually some players will miss time. The Cavs margin for error is small; if Irving or Varejao (or even Jamison) miss some time this year, things could get ugly.
Like I’ve been saying all season, I really, really think the Cavs are one really good piece away from being very, very good. Once they get a forward, and maybe a decent center, watch out.
Even on his ‘eh’ nights Kyrie is fun to watch and has his great moments. This kid is a STUD!
Question for those who want to move Varejao: What do you think the Cavs draft position will be if they don’t move Varejao, and what do you think it will be if they do? The highest win share total AV has ever had in an 82 game season is 8. So let’s assume he is worth 6 wins in this shortened season and let’s assume he is traded at the 1/3rd mark of the season. The Cavs would then be roughly 4 wins worse for making the trade. With 4 less wins, the Cavs would likely move up 4-5 spots in the draft.
My question: Do you really think giving up a young, talented center who is under (a reasonable) contract for 2 more years is worth getting a few slots higher in the draft? This seems insane to me. If we were to gain 10 spots in the draft, then maybe. But I just don’t see how that is possible given how KI is performing.
One other note: The Cavs have not played tough teams yet, but 9 of 12 games have been on the road. Winning on the road is hard, even against middling teams. For example, currently, road teams are a collective 70-124 this year. As such, I think the Cavs could continue to play .500 ball even as their schedule toughens.
I think the Cavs have had as perfect of a schedule as you could hope for in terms of breaking your rookies into the league. Considering the condensed schedule and looking at the number of games we’ve played and the type of talent we’ve played against, I don’t know if we could have gotten into a better schedule.
Kyrie and Tristan have been able to get use to the NBA game and gain some confidence. Kyrie has really been eatin alive by Calderon and Augustin this year (not elite guys), but hopefully that will help the coaches help him understand how to play better defense. I’ve heard a lot about how highly coachable TT is, so I’m hoping/assuming that Kyrie is coachable as well. What has somewhat been a let down for me is the fact that TT hasn’t gotten more time. Not that I don’t understand that AJ is a better PF (at this point in time), but I do think that TT should be getting more time and especiall more time against starting PF’s. The kid is still improving and I’m assuming that B. Scott has a plan, maybe he recognizes that Jamison is gone (by trade or injury or weardown) by mid-season so he trying to limit TT’s minuts so that he’s ‘fresh’ once AJ no longer avaialble for all the minutes he’s goten.
Right now I think the Cavs are playing 1 game better than they did last year (I think we were 5-7 at this point in time last year). But we’ve played a much easier schedule to this point, so although Kyrie and TT could be considerd an upgrade from Mo and Moon, and Gee has certainly been playing better than last year, I’m still not sure how much better we are than last years abysmal season. Assuming that Andy stays in better health this year, I think 25 games is about right, but I’d take the over. One thing that plays into the Cavs favor is that although the team isn’t heavily talented, they are very deep. Sessions, Boobie, Gee, TT and (Samardo/Erden) are a ‘solid’ second 5. I think that Gee may be replaced with Casspi in the second team and I’m hoping that Erden eventually plays more like the guy we saw in Boston. With such a deep bench, we’ll have an ‘edge’ on other teams this year near the end of the season who aren’t nearly as deep. Obviously we’ll have to worry about the rookie wall as well, but I would trust giving more minutes to Sessions as needed late in the season and, as mentioned before TT hasn’t gotten many minutes yet so he may be fine + if Erden’s play improves, Samardo can help play some of the PF minutes to give AJ/TT more rest.
Nice comments from everyone. I think Kyrie, along with everyone else (except Andy), was gassed yesterday, which would account for the poor defensive showing. I saw Kyrie holding his knees many times during the FIRST quarter. I think the road trip took its toll and I expect better defensive during the homestand.
Umm, sure the Cavs have not played a lot of good teams but hello! They’ve played the fewest home games of ANY TEAM in the league. That is what, contrary to how some here have characterized it, has made the play of Kyrie and TT so impressive so far. Young team and players don’t win on the road matter who they play! Surely we’ve all watched NBA basketball long enough I recognize that. Just sayin’
Kj,
I wasn’t trying to characterize the play of Irving and TT based on the schedule. I’m very pleased by both of their play so far.
I also didn’t mean to de-value the 4 road wins, even against poor teams.
To me though, the combination of the three items I mention above outweighs the home / road split, particularly the health. Of all players on the Cavs’ roster, only one has played a full season’s worth of games in the last three years. That’s Ramon Sessions and he’s only done it once. Players are going to miss some games, which will move some to losses column. There are 22 back-to-back games on the Cavs’ schedule this year. So far, they have only played 2 (tonight will be the 3rd). That, combined with the weak level of opponents, makes me think times are going to get rougher.
I’ll love to be proven wrong though.
I did turn the continuity / health thing into a little research project.
The Cavs have had 9 players play in every one of their games this season. No other NBA team has had this many; 3 teams have had 8 players play in every one of their games. New Jersey brings up the bottom, with only 2 players having played in every game.
NBA average is 5.8 players per team playing in every game so far this season. In summary…players miss games, the Cavs haven’t experienced that this year, it will probably correct to the mean and adversely affect the Cavs in several games.
Ok great comment Bryan. This is totally in response to you:
I’m not sure stats (even advanced stats like win shares) effectively evaluate Andy’s contributions. He is truly a no-stats all star. That being said I agree that I wouldn’t put the 8-10 wins that he is worth as meaning much in the grand scheme of things. heck, we netted kyrie with ridiculously low odds and despite having the best chance at #1 with our won sucky record, we only got 4th. So to me, it doesn’t make sense to trade away a guy just to tank.
A lot has been made about how Varejao won’t be good when the Cavs would be competitive again. I say, why not? Who ages fastest in the nba? Guards. Varejao is going to lose some quickness which will hurt his PnR defense. But his offense game is 100% hustle, creativity, and touch around the basket, and most of his defensive game is just position, pestering, and hustle. Also, Andy is a young 29. He hasn’t been playing NBA since he was 18. He has played less minutes than KEVIN DURANT. No one thinks he’s old right? I don’t see Andy hanging up the laces at 32. I think he’ll play into his late 30s.
More importantly, Andy allows you flexibility. He might be the best PnR defender in the NBA. You really allows you to have some defense liabilities at other positions, and he’s smart enough to not hurt you on the offensive end but savvy enough that you can’t leave him alone ala Ben Wallace. He has a reasonable contract, is a fan favorite, and even if he doesn’t have an ounce of “leadership” he leads by example. I think it makes sense for the Cavs to draft a dominant wing player and find an above average center in FA or through a trade, and keep Andy as the 6th man of the future.