Recap: Cavs 98, Nets 94 (or this ain’t your slightly younger self’s Mike Brown Cavs)
2013-10-30
Opening Night isn’t exactly like Christmas for NBA fans. Christmas is more like Christmas for NBA fans (because of the day-long slate of nationally televised games and … well, because it’s actually Christmas) but that didn’t mean that the Cavaliers would kick off their 2013-14 campaign completely bereft of gifts for their fans. After blanket local and national skepticism about whether of not newly acquired center Andrew Bynum would ever play for the Cavs after missing all of last season, that particular cat could not be kept bagged. Rumors heated up as the days ticked down to tip-off, but head coach Mike Brown remained noncommittal. Bynum, he said, was close, but wouldn’t play until he was ready. Finally, in a warm-up that ended less than an hour before game time, Bynum told Brown he felt ready and the Bynum Era Cavs took the court.
First quarter: Less than two minutes into the game, questions about Kyrie Irving’s defense were temporarily hushed as the Cavs’ star point guard poked the ball loose from Deron Williams and pushed a break that eventually led to a Earl Clark dunk. The rest of the defense, though, started shaky. After the Nets opened a 10-2 lead with 9:46 left in the first, Mike Brown continued his preseason form of burning time outs to fix his team’s still awkward-fitting defensive identity. Four points a piece from Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson (including a pretty right handed jumper from nearly three point range!!) got the Cavs back to within four at 14-10 Nets. With Irving out with early foul trouble, the Cavs rode Thompson and Jarrett Jack until first overall pick Anthony Bennett subbed out Thompson at 4:40 then, with 3:40 left in the first, Bynum stood up, peeled off his white warm-up and entered (our hearts) the game. Let’s get this out of the way first: a Bennett/Bynum front court is not built for speed. But, they’re both very good on the boards and defending the hoop. Behind 10 points from Jack and five from C.J. Miles, the Cavs bench chips away at the Nets’ lead, finally taking a 27-26 lead after one.
Second quarter: Bynum kicks the quarter off by swatting a Williams shot several rows deep. His first points as a Cav came seconds later at 10:33 as he cleaned up an Alonzo Gee miss, got fouled and hit the freebie. Gee, meanwhile, was flying all over the court, being a disruptive gem on the defensive end. He did, however, continue to shy away taking corner threes opting, instead, for his trademark ill-fated careens along the baseline. For anyone wondering exactly how long Bennett could stay on the court because of his incredibly high preseason rate of fouling, should feel a little relieved. The rookie didn’t pick up his first foul until the 8:06 mark — or over eight minutes of court time. Good work, big man! Most of the starters for both teams were back in by the six minute mark, but Brooklyn started feeding on a steady diet of Brook Lopez down low. The Nets’ center finished the half with 15 points, most coming in the final five minutes of the half. Irving’s first points of the season didn’t come until 28.4 seconds left in the half when Waiters drove then dumped the ball off to a cutting Irving under the basket. At the half, the Cavs reclaimed their one-point lead at 49-48.
Third quarter: Dion Waiters started feeling it toward the end of the first half, getting some jumpers to fall after his drives were … eh, less than successful. He starts the third by hitting a three. Yes, his jumper looks much better this year. It looks like an actual jumper. Plenty has been said (and will surely be said again) about he should not fall in love with it, but you also like your shooting guard to be able to hit open shots, right? (Author’s Note: Waiters promptly fell in love with the jumper, started drifting a little on his next attempt and missed). The Q got a little nervous when a Paul Pierce three and a bucket by Kevin Garnett put the Nets up one — almost like they’d seen those two do damage in this building before.
Brown’s influence on this team was never more apparent than at the 6:22 mark when Irving poked the ball loose from Williams before, after three wine and gold jerseys where on the floor grabbing and poking at the ball, returning to Irving who smothered it and called time out. That’s Mike Brown 50/50 basketball, ladies and gentlemen! TT went on his own little mini-run (a jumper from the elbow and a left-handed hook) to put the Cavs up 73-66. Then, it took most of three quarters, but Bennett finally got his first NBA points going 1-2 at the line with 49 seconds to go in the third. After 36, it’s Cavs 79, Nets 70.
Fourth quarter: Aaaaaaand there’s where the sloppy play was hiding. Turnovers by Jack and Tyler Zeller led to easy buckets for the Nets and another Mike Brown quick-trigger time out. The Cavs pushed their lead back to six at 82-76, but Jason Terry canned two straight threes (the second after another Cavaliers turnover) and suddenly it was a tie game with 7:33 to go. And just when it looked like the Cavs were headed to a shot clock violation and another turnover, a wild Varejao jumper (no, seriously … I’m not making a joke) seemed like it might be the spark that got the Cavs going again. It wasn’t. Both teams really struggled to do much of anything offensively in the fourth, but with 3:51 left in the game, the Nets had outscored the Cavs 16-7 to keep it knotted at 86. You read that right. Seven points in the first eight minutes of the fourth. And The Q got that queezy feeling again. But Varejao continued to battle Lopez down low and made a real impact leading to some missed bunnies under the Nets’ basket. A Varejao jumper at 28.1 seconds left (after a … shall we say protracted dribbling display by Irving) put the Cavs up two at 93-91 and some stout defense and five points combined at the free throw line from Irving and Varejao sealed the game. Irving only goes 4-16 from the field for 15 points but he pulls down seven rebounds, the Cavs have six players in double figures led by Thompson’s 18 to go along with nine rebounds and this years’ Wine and Gold win 98-94.
Your Cavaliers are 1-0, my friends.
From another blog:
Living in Las Vegas I saw TT play high school and saw the talent he had but most Cleveland fans wrote him off last year now everyone’s on the bandwagon in true Cleveland fashion. Now let me tell you I’ve also watched Anthony Bennett play a lot to and let me tell you he’s a stud give him a year and he’ll make the progress that TT has.
Completely agree with Hot Sauce. How far did Andy develop from what he was as a rookie? Tristan has followed a similar transformation in less time. Anthony Bennett was probably a more polished offensive player as a senior in high school than Tristan is now. I get that instant reaction is what drives the conversation and creates content, but we shouldn’t put too much into Bennett’s production at this point. He’s obviously not in game shape yet. If anything, that’s one of the most impressive things about him. He’s at least 10 pounds overweight and he’s the most explosive player… Read more »
I thought I’d check in today with a few comments but Hot Sauce seems to have said everything that I thought was important. Love the depth of the bench. I got fooled into thinking they were deeper than they really were in the past, but this roster is really deep. The hockey rotations that Brown used last night showed that they have two solid five man groups. Add Karasev and Zeller to that mix and they are probably 12 men deep with solid NBA rotation players. That bodes well as insurance against future injuries as well as dominating other teams… Read more »
Again, how does Bynum feel today? Dion doesn’t quite have the handle and ability to finish around the rim that Kyrie does, but he appears to be nearly as unguardable as Kyrie. Yes, he’s a shooting guard and those guys need ice water in their veins. If you introduce hesitancy and second guessing into the shooting equation their percentage goes down the tube. He’ll always take a few bad shots. But he’s definitely improved his decision making and is actually playing better off Kyrie – which is the most important thing for him. Last year, CJ played like he was… Read more »
I was surprised with how agile Bynum looked. When he was trying to get open and away from Reggie Evans. he had some surprisingly quick cuts. It’s looking good for us if he can keep up his health in the “Andrew Bynum Experiment, Reloaded.”
Hot Sauce, you continue you to be a voice of reason around here and the contrast between you and Nate, who seems to get farther off the reservation, is stark.
But go peep the FTS blog. People still saying Barnes over Dion and Olidipo over Bennett, just like they did with Jonas over TT. Check Jonas’ box score last night and then check TT’s.
So, the OBVIOUS answer is exactly what you said, Sauce. The Cavs know how to develop players and both Bennett and Dion have either elite physical tools and/or skills that point to bright futures.
Wow, what a way to start the season. Lots of things to like, not much to nitpick. I thought Kyrie’s D was improved. Admittely, he wasn’t tested very often. The Nets were running their offense through Lopez and Pierce. Still, he was able to keep his man in front of him, and didn’t get lost in traffic (aside from one time). Bynum’s impact was obvious and immediate. I just hope his knees aren’t sore today. I thought Bennett did fine for his first game. I was impressed that he took a rebound away from Reggie Evans (3rd quarter, I think).… Read more »
Hot Sauce- your auto correct changed “awesomely fast rate” to “alarmingly fast rate”.
OK, so Nate missed my point. I am not going to debate our subjective views of “explosiveness.” The broader point is that no one doubts Waiters and Bennet have “talent.” The question is how they will develop. Development is something that is judged over 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc. Not game to game or decision by decision. TT is a player who was criticized routinely in this forum from game to game and decision to decision. However, at a macro level, TT has developed at an alarmingly fast rate. This pattern should teach us to be… Read more »
Watched the replay this morning (stupid not having NBA TV)- lots to love about this game as a Cavs fan and some thoughts on BRK. 1. Watching this game reminded me some of the Cavs-Spurs Finals where their length and collapsing defense shut down almost all driving lanes and the Cavs offense was just suffocated. The Celtics are HUGE- 8 of their 10 players who saw the floor last night are 6’6 or taller (and Kirilenko is 6’9) and they use their length well to shut down driving lanes. The Cavs were forced into a lot of jump shots because… Read more »
“Elite” explosiveness? I’d rate their explosiveness as good to very good, maybe an 87 or 88. I don’t know if I’d call it elite though. Dion is good, but he gets to the rim as much with strength and ability to change direction (Bennett similarly) as he does with speed and leaping ability. Neither will ever win a dunk contest or elevate above a good shot-blocker for a bucket.
One comment: now that we have seen how TT is developing, can we all be a bit more patient with Dion and Bennett? The Cavs believe in their player development system, which includes detailed plans on conditioning, performance, etc. It has worked for TT. It also appears to be working for Bynum. Criticisms of Dion and Bennett based on singular plays in individual games really miss the larger point with those guys – they both have ELITE explosiveness and the team picked them with the understanding that they will grow over time. With Bynum, AV, TT and Zeller and Jack… Read more »
Did anyone else think about what was going the Garnett’s head when TT was draining jumpers? He had to be like WTF he couldn’t do that last season. TT may not develop into a better player than Kyrie Irving but big men who can score, defend and rebound are at a premium. I would say he definitely has the potential to be the more valuable player.
Kyrie was also being guarded by a player who guarded him all last year in practice, and is probably one of the best on ball defenders in the league, and is 6-7 in Shaun Livingston
Kyrie was trying to do too much. With all the “Kyrie” hype and the expectations for the team – it’s like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. He has good wing men this year. He needs to trust them.
Gutsy win for a young team against likely the eventual three seed in the East. If TT can play like this consistently we’ll be in good shape. I think Kyrie will be fine, but his dribbling displays irked me a bit. They seem purposeless at times other than attempting to get on a highlight reel.
Where the hell was Deron Williams?
That was awesome. And enough with the dion takes bad shots thing. He’s a shooting guard. He’s going to shoot some outside shots.
I was at the game and it is interesting what you notice while you are at the game that you do not notice on TV. Bynum looked like he was moving around just fine and did not appear to be as out of shape as I would expect. On the flipside, Bennett looked like he was gasping for air all game. He needs desperately to strengthen his conditioning. However, his shoulders look like wings growing out of his neck and seems to be incredibly strong underneath. TT was no less than exceptional. When the defender has no idea any longer… Read more »
I thought that the Cavs showed more defensive intensity in one game under Brown that they did all last season under Scott, and I liked Scott. I liked the fight for the 50/50 ball described above. I also liked that Dion Waiters hounded Joe Johnson all night even though Johnson was bigger. I don’t think he would have done that before Brown became coach. The writer didn’t mention that Gee got a three pointed from the corner, a shot that the Cavs have been working with him on all pre-season.