Overview: The Bobcats snapped the Cavs’ winning streak by outlasting them 91-88 on Sunday night, with former Cav Flip Murray hitting the go-ahead three with a minute to play. The game was the Bobcats’ third win on the road this season, and the Cavaliers’ third loss at home. The Cavs have now officially lost more games at the Q than they did all of last season.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
-Another strange game. In a game between two teams that hang their hats on defense, the Cavs shot 48% from the field and 43% from three, with the Bobcats shooting 49%/44%. And neither team turned it over all that much.
-Even stranger was that LeBron and Mo both had strong scoring nights and the Cavs still managed to lose, and that almost never happens.
-LeBron threw up a 29/7/6 on 66% TS against the Bobcats and was doing the little things, sharing the ball, fighting Crash Wallace for rebounds, and getting some timely blocks, but had an oddly passive fourth quarter. He didn’t get his first assist of the quarter until there was 2:14 to play, his first point of the quarter until there was 1:15 to play, and his first field goal of the quarter until there were 15 seconds left. Maybe the lanes weren’t there, maybe Mo had openings, or maybe LeBron actually got a little bit gassed, but he didn’t go for the jugular in this one the way Cavs fans are used to seeing him do.
The good news is that LeBron had 10 points on 11 jumpers, and the better news is that he seems to be getting better at using his jumper to set up driving lanes for himself; there were a few times this game where LeBron was able to force a defender to try and take away his outside jumper, then blew by them for an easy finish.
-Mo was even better, hitting jumpers from everywhere (especially the left corner) and finishing with 27 points on 75% True Shooting. I’m not sure how to react to a game where Mo goes off and the Cavs lose, because it almost never happens. Although Mo did have six of the Cavs’ 12 turnovers on the night, which is a no-no.
-If that was weird, this is weirder: The problem for the Cavs tonight was Anderson Varejao. I definitely can’t remember the last time I wrote that sentence. I don’t think it’s happened this year, and maybe not in years prior. It’s an anomaly.
Andy went 1-8 from the floor, didn’t finish easy shots, got frustrated, took bad angles around the basket, and finished with a -8 mark the day after he took the league lead in overall plus-minus. Basketball’s a funny game.
If anything, this game made me realize just how good Varejao is. For all the good things Varejao does for the Cavaliers each and every night cleaning up garbage baskets, cutting and finding seams for layups when LeBron has the ball, working the boards on both ends of the floor, playing great defense, drawing fouls, providing energy, and increasingly showing real skill around the basket, the guy almost never has an off-night.
That’s insane. Think about how often Mo Williams, the other guy in the argument for the second-best player on the Cavs, has off nights all the time. Andy has them so seldom that I actually didn’t realize he was having one tonight until I checked the final box, because I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.
And when Andy does have an off night, the Cavs can lose to the Bobcats even with LeBron, Mo, and Delonte all having strong games. With Andy off his game, JJ Hickson had to play the entire third quarter and Shaq had to play the final eight minutes of the game. While both of them played as well as can be expected of them, going a combined 6-7 from the field, none of the frontcourts the Cavs threw out over the course of the second half had the same pop that they normally do. The Varejao/LeBron frontcourt wasn’t used to give the Cavs their usual shot in the arm offensively, Shaq being on the court for so much of the fourth played a role in LeBron being able to do his thing with the floor spaced, and overall the Cavs didn’t look nearly as dynamic on either side of the floor.
-Cavs with a rare loss in points in the paint tonight, with Charlotte edging them 40-38 in that area. This happened despite Boris Diaw scoring zero points in 38 minutes.
-Definitely some issues with execution down the stretch, as LeBron and Shaq each missed a free throw in the final minute and a half and the Cavs didn’t give the foul on Flip Murray, a 68% foul shooter, when they had him trapped, instead letting seconds tick off the clock and the ball get to Stephen Jackson, who drained both FTs.
-Flip Murray: 10 points on 6 shots and 2 free throws.
-The Entire Cavaliers Bench: 12 points on 23 shots and 4 free throws.
-Flip was a big factor tonight. Not only did he have the game-breaking three-ball off the dribble down the stretch, but he rolled off 7 points in the final 3:45 of the second quarter to cut Cavs’ lead the lead to only one at halftime after they’d led by as many as nine earlier in the quarter.
-Good night for Delonte, who played solid ball off the bench. He hit his third three of the year as well, which is a very promising sign, as tonight showed how important it is to have the floor spaced in crunch-time.
-More good news: Shaq again was on the floor to start the 2nd quarter with the second unit, and they scored 12 points and kept the lead steady at 6 while LeBron sat.
-Terrible night for Z, who went 0-4 and finished with a game-low -11.
-Jamario Moon also went 0-5 from the field; when that jumper of his looks bad, it looks bad.
Bullets of Randomness:
-Strong game for Diop, who went 5-6 from the field, had two big blocks, and finished with a game-high +11.
-Jackson was big for Charlotte in the second half, but I don’t like his game that much. He’s a chucker, will throw up a lot of bricks, and doesn’t really look to set up high-percentage shots for himself or his teammates. He get get his shot off and will get hot from time to time, but on a long enough timeline his style of play is a bad bet. Although he does make love to pressure.
-Anyone else kinda miss Flip sometimes?
Sup Krolik, this is Rich that comments on dime live from time to time. I certainly didn’t feel that bad about the loss today and it seems you didn’t either. It just was a strange game and sometimes bad teams (althoug the bobcats will make the playoffs) do stuff they aren’t supposed to do. Today it was make 3s, and they will probably go 1/14 in the next game they play. But when Gerald Wallace is hitting threes, it just isn’t your night. I would like to add something though. I really really thought this is the type of team the cavs should go small against in the 4th. Let LeBron match up with Wallace and throw Varejao or even hickson at Diop. If the Cats want to pound him down inside against a smaller man, let them and we can live with the results.
Andy doesn’t really have offense so why is it surprising that when someone actually defends him, and doesn’t leave to double somebody else, that he scores less points. He has a few moves around the paint but thats about it. He’s not really guy we can count on for offense. He is a great defender and does all the other things you mentioned well. In the end Lebron looked gassed. Wish he didn’t have to do as much work on the boards so he could’ve had a game winner this year. Like the other guy who has three :(
I’m still waiting for someone to explain the foul they called on Mo when he went around the pick near midcourt at the end of the game.
But the biggest question by far is how do neither Delonte nor Shaq foul Flip? Two, count ‘em TWO guys blew that one, and it wasn’t like they didn’t get there in time, it was like they didn’t know they were supposed to foul…
Any thoughts on why the Cavs didn’t foul Flip Murray? I like our chances with about 12 seconds left down at the most 3 and perhaps only 1 or 2 a lot better than being down 3 with 2.5 seconds left.
It was a strange game … and another loss to another sub-.500 team. With the way the Cavs have played (and the other teams in the East have slumped) it’s hard to complain when the Cavs finally don’t have karma on their side … but it’s still a tough loss to swallow.
Losses come from somewhere people…would you rather them lose to the good teams like last year? Personally I think losing to the bad ones and beating the good ones is a much better sign for the playoffs. And after 7 wins in a row, a loss shouldn’t be hard to swallow, you will lose games.
@Rich: I’m not really sure how losing to a bad team could ever be considered a good thing … it’s dumb losses in the middle of the season that usually come back to kill a team at the end of the season (a fact I currently am enjoying reminding my friends who are Steelers’ fans). Championship teams don’t take their foot off the gas.
On the Flip no-foul: According to Windhorst Shaq and Delonte were going for a game winning steal instead.
Re: Missing Flip: no, not really. I miss him as much as I miss Shannon Brown. Yeah, he’s doing well now, but probably wouldn’t get the chances on the Cavs’ current roster.
I liked what Flip brought to the Cavs when he was here, but his 36.0% FG% is even more dreadful than our old buddy Larry Hughes’ (36.8%) this year.
Charlie, the Lakers beat all the good teams last year, and would struggle with a Knicks/Pacers type from time to time. Losses suck, but losing to bad teams isn’t a death sentence.
@Charlie. The difference here is one loss in the NBA doesn’t kill you. The Steelers were fighting to just make the playoffs..and to a team that is doing that every loss does matter. However, what about the Chargers? No one even remembers their losses early in the season. The Cavs have already won their division pretty much and making the playoffs isn’t even in question…so I can’t fathom how a loss to the bobcats comes back to haunt them. It isn’t like getting home court throughout did them any good last year. Championship teams can’t win every game…winning 7 and losing 1 is good in my book. I mean would you rather replace this loss with one to the Lakers, or the Hawks? I wouldn’t.
Oh..and like said above, the Lakers lost at home to the Heat and the Pacers last year…championship teams do have slip-ups to lesser teams every single year. It happens when you play 82 games.
Rich: I don’t disagree that good teams slip up against bad teams … I’ve just seen enough sports to worry about a team that acts like it can just “flip the switch” and play at the top of its game … when it chooses to. If it was just one game it would be one thing … but 6 of the Cavs’ 9 losses are to teams currently at or (well) below .500. I find that puzzling, precisely because these were teams the Cavs mopped the floor with last year. I believe it’s a false choice to “choose” between losing to a good team or a bad team: I want (and expect) them to beat both teams when they have the talent to do so … especially in a year that might be the most pivotal in Cleveland Cavaliers’ (if not all of Cleveland sports) history.
Maybe it’s just a question of expectations. If all you care about is winning the division and making the playoffs, then I agree completely: any given game doesn’t really matter. The Cavs could lose 10 in a row and probably still win the division by double digits. For me, my hope for the Cavs is to win home court throughout the playoffs as they did last year. In that case, every game does count. In early January it’s easy to say home court doesn’t matter … but try and tell me that when it’s time for Game 7 of the Finals. I want that game in Cleveland.
Home court didn’t seem to matter much last year…..Good teams win on the road, in the playoffs. To be completely honest, I’d rather they did NOT get the 1 seed that way they could have a chance at getting Boston in the 2nd round (Boston will not be the 4th seed). But that’s just me. Second of all, when we say these are the teams they mopped the floor with last year, this is not the same bobcats team. This team will make the playoffs fairly easily and I expect will be above .500 at year’s end. And to me, it didn’t seem like there was any flipping of the switch. The Bobcats shot WELL over their season average from 3…and it wasn’t because of bad defense for the most part. When Flip Murray and Gerald Wallace hit shoot stand still 3s, thats good for you as a defense. When they go in, well maybe it’s just their night. Mo played well. Shaq played Well. LeBron played well. Delonte played well. With all of the main guys playing well it is hard for me to say that they didn’t play with energy or try. Just because a team loses a game doesn’t mean they didn’t give effort…this is the NBA and the other teams do have enough talent to beat you when they are hot..just the way it is.
I just can’t fault a team for losing a game after beating the Lakers, Hawks, Suns, and Kings on the road plus beating the Rockets, and Hawks at home. That can’t last forever and ever and a decent Bobcats team was ready. Again though, the Lakers from last year absolutely flipped the switch. They were blown out in Houston twice in the playoffs, but didn’t matter. The Cavs however played as hard as possible the 1st and 2nd round…and in the end that didn’t matter. If the cavs don’t get up for bad teams regularly and drop a few, I’m ok with it as long as they continue to get up with the good teams, aka the teams they will see in the playoffs.
I think we’re just not on the same wavelength so I’ll make this my last post on the subject. I’m talking more about the broader pattern of inconsistent play against bad teams than this specific game against Charlotte. 82games has some interesting numbers on this issue, if you compare this year’s “W-L Profiles” with last year’s. But I’ll leave it at that.
As for home court/#1 seed … I couldn’t disagree more. Last year it made the difference between making it to the conference finals and getting bounced a second straight year in the second round. This year … who knows how it’ll matter because it’s a different year. Being a #1 seed doesn’t guarantee anything … but there’s a whole lot of sports history that suggests it sure doesn’t hurt either.