Pay no attention to the life behind the curtain: as it turns out, I’m about to embark on an impromptu weekend trip and there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to watch tonight’s game in as timely of a fashion as I’d like, so I might not have my recap up until tomorrow afternoon or so. I apologize for the inconvenience, and encourage you guys to try and fill the gap by doing some citizen recapping in this right here open thread.
The Bucks are definitely going to be motivated after a very tough loss to the Lakers in overtime that hurt in just about every way possible, so let’s hope the Cavs bring their A game, move the ball to keep LeBron from having to work against Mbah a Moute for all of his points, keep Jennings from getting hot, and make Jennings work on defense.
On a completely random note, saw Avatar at midnight last night. You should see it in 3-D immediately. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before, visually. And I’m not a blockbuster movie kind of guy. Whoa. The epitome of getting your 10 bucks worth. And the script is more than good enough to justify the spectacle; some of the dialog is predictably getting ragged on as a form of cultural posturing, but does anyone remember some of the clunker lines from The Dark Knight, supposedly the greatest and most nuanced blockbuster for geniuses ever?
Alright folks, have a good weekend and I’ll try to get a Bucks recap up as soon as I can.
Quick recap:
Cavs were uncharacteristicly cold out of the gate, but fought their way back by the end of the quarter behind a joint effort from Mo, Z, and James. Delonte provided a much needed punch off the bench in the second quarter after the Bucks tried to pull away again, although his outside shot is still on indefinite leave. The Cavs seemed to have an opportunity to blow open the game a couple times, but struggled with turnovers and mysteriously were 1 for 3 on 3′s in the first half (none in the 2nd).
Stifling defence and some much needed 3′s by Mo, James, and Parker allowed the Cavs to pull away in the 3rd, but did not carry the momentum into the fourth. The Cavs were up by 9 when James returned with 8 minutes left; he teamed up with West to keep the Cavs up by ten until the offense fell apart with 4:30 left. Luckily, the Cavs played good enough D to stay alive, but their shortest possession after the seven minute mark ended with 7 seconds on the shot clock! While it is good to take advantage of the fact that time is on your side, it is very hard for a team to produce an offensive rythem with these kinds of shots.
On the defensive end, the Cavs did well to hold Bogut and Jennings to a combined 7/28 from the field. It could have been a looooong night for the Cavs.
Sharpshooters Parker and Boobie were off tonight, along with Hickson. James stat line is tainted by 6 turnovers and does not reflect how poorly he played at the end of the game. Varejao and Z had 6 point apiece to go with game high +11 and +10 respectively. Delonte had a big game, but his 10% from long range is a serious concern. It a lot easier for him to create on offense when opponents have to respect that shot, but on nights like tonight it just doesnt matter. Shaq only played 18 minutes, but played well. Cavs are going to small ball a lot more.
First recap i’ve written, hope it helps someone…g’night.
I only saw a few minutes in the 4th, so that’s all I can comment on. I did like the small ball lineup, and it seemed like they were very intense on defense for a while. They were all flying around and had great energy defensively, and it got us to up 15 points until the offense went stone cold.
I was really bothered by the complete lack of penetration by our offense at the end. It seemed like every shot was an ill-advised jumper and nobody was going to the hole. Fortunately some very good defense bailed us out. Moon had a good block late in the game, Andy had a key steal, and Mo did a fantastic job on Jennings at the end. Speaking of Andy, he missed at least two shots right at the rim that he usually makes. Hickson had almost no offensive contribution in his minutes, which is disappointing. His only points came on a fast break dunk, and he missed two chances at the line after a strong attempt. What’s happened to his scoring?
I’m glad we won this one, but I fear that if Jennings’ shot had been falling at all we never would have survived. Hopefully they can get more focused in time for this big road trip coming up. Oh, also…. Delonte! He was fantastic. Focused, hustling, finishing strong… Now just to get him on the court every night…