Live Thread: Suns at Cavaliers
2015-03-07
The Wine and Gold return to balmy Cleveland looking for their 13th consecutive home win. After allowing 36 first quarter points in the road loss to the Hawks, the Cavaliers will likely come out ready for opening tip. Fresh off a dramatic overtime victory in Brooklyn, the Suns come into town only a game and a half back in the tight race for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
On January 13th, the Suns extended the Cavs’ losing streak to six. It was the first game that the current Cavalier starting five was intact. The Suns and Markieff Morris fought back a tough Cavalier rally to pull out the victory. Since then, the Cavs went bowling, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas were shipped out East, and Brandon Knight made his way to the desert. Knight has struggled with his shot since being acquired via trade. Still, a backcourt with Knight and Eric Bledsoe has the potential to be very good.
The Suns are a tough bunch. P.J. Tucker has traveled the hoops world and has come back with all sorts of international nasty. Both he and Bledsoe have been on a tear lately. They always bring it on the defensive end, but their offensive numbers have ticked up in recent games. The Suns are second in the league in pace. They might not be quite as quick as they once were with the Dragon, but the home team better be prepared to get back in transition.
LeBron and Kyrie combined for 13 turnovers the last time the two teams played. Look for that number to be much lower, especially after the turnover fest in Atlanta. One would hope the Cavs would make ball-security a point of emphasis going forward. Sound off.
Update: Alex Len is out with a sore ankle. Earl Barron will start.
Maybe he’s hoping the refs don’t recognize him so they start calling fouls again…
TT noticed too… King looked like he was locked in though…
He must be “business LeBron” now…
Honestly let kyrie sit longer. He has been working hard and we are ahead. Give the second unit time to build a lead. Back to back games are brutal this late in season I bet.
LBJ with no headband!
LeBron re-enters with no headband??
Did LeBron take off the headband?
Second foul will put Moz on the bench. Mozgov is actually Russian for “sad eyes.”
@BobCavsinsider: Kyrie Irving has been on the bench since first Q. He has played just 7:29
Good foul by Moz… Morris is lucky he didn’t get decapitated… IF HE DIES, HE DIES…
Agreed… no easy baskets around the rim.
Is Kyrie injured? Has he played in the 2nd quarter at all?
I think it’s just Blatt rolling with what’s working, and not minding if Kyrie and LeBron play reduced minutes tonight.
He played 41 minutes last night… maybe Blatt is just giving him extended rest with the Suns missing so many shots…
No, not yet… I was wondering the same thing… I’m thinking it’s actually a combination of Delly playing well and milking it, and saving Kyrie’s legs for later.
THis offense is a well oiled machine right now…. Also interesting, Delly’s played nearly the whole 2nd quarter.
JR SWISHHHHHH!!!
Mozgov in beast mode tonight, and Cavs are feeding the beast.
It just doesn’t seem like Love wants to go into the post… I’ve been watching him all game and he just seems to always float out to the perimeter…
I don’t blame him as much against the Morris twins because they’re bigger and more physical. But on that last one, he had Tucker I believe who’s definitely smaller.
He got low on that last possession, but probably more for rebounding purposes since it looked like a called three for JR…
This is a game where we should be able to get our starters rest in the 4th Quarter.
K Love should’ve back him down, had smaller defender on him.
Bledsoe should get some points for getting the ball to sit on top of the backboard…
Sticking with Delly for a lot of this first half. LOVE IT!!!!
Hope LBJ doesn’t have to play much… probably could have won this one without him…
Cavs up by 11 but seems like they should be up by 20+ given how Suns are playing…
Moz showing his agility with the perimeter deflection. Phoenix with just 2 points in the 2nd more than halfway through the quarter.
Glad to see the officiating has improved… (sarcasm)
Phoenix has missed their last 10 shots!!!! WOW!
Cavs just DIVING at the rim tonight… great activity…
We are too big for Phoenix.
Moz and TT together is a good look. Blatt hasn’t done that much.
That seems like the second or third shot clock violation already…
WOW… they’re really clamping down on defense!
Brons fingerprints all over so far despite two points
Can’t believe that this is the 18th back-to-back for the Cavs already this year…
It’s absurd, the only saving grace of it at this point is they will have a lot of time off relative to other teams at the end of the regular season.
If teams rest players more, they’ll force the league to change its scheduling practices.
Can’t complain too much about ball movement for the Cavs so far tonight…
They’re locked in offense and defense right now.
Also, GREAT defense on the last possession!
Another great defensive possession!
GREAT LOOK BY LBJ!!! TT FOR THE +1!!!!
Delly growing his “outback” beard to look tougher…
Delly and Moz got some good chemistry this game!
RUDY TO MOZERATI!!!!!!! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PLAY!!!!
I don’t think Morris plays this well against anyone but the Cavs…
I think Delly shot a heat check there HAHAHA!
Cavs shot 67% from the field that quarter while holding Suns to 42%
Delly is so good, even his passes go in.
In the words of Nate Smith, “Delly sweats excellence.”
That was an awesome mistake!
HAHAHA DELLY”S ON FIRE!!!!
Defense has started to impose its will especially since Shump, Delly, and TT came in!
Yes… and LBJ too… that lineup played some tough D…
Sharing the ball well also, looking good so far!
Yep, after Phoenix started something like 7 of 10, they’ve since gone 1 for 9.
Shump forcing Knight into an awful three attempt…
LeBron has not scored… but he does have 4 assists and 3 rebounds…
Great ball movement…. leads to open 3 for #Samson!
Delly in there fighting!
NICE DELLY!!!! WAY TO BE!!! RUDY RUDY RUDY!!!
JR with the too-nasty block! Refs feel sorry for Tucker and give him the call.
KEEP FEEDING LOVE!!!
K Love seems to shoot better early in games.
It’d be nice to see them ride the hot hand.
LOVE with the HEAT CHECK!
Moz has had lots of good starts like this — but then they stop looking for him. He (and LeBron) are on the bench after the TO. Let’s see if they ever look for him again after he comes back in.
Isn’t this LBJ’s usual rest?
Yes. I should have left LeBron out; I was really just talking about Moz. If you thought TO meant turnover, I just meant they were both out after the timeout.
KLove is still hitting his threes… would love to see him get down low on these Suns… they have very little size inside…
His 3pt % is equal to that of JR at this point of the season… almost hitting his career high numbers. Been on a tear last month or so.
WOW…. first team to play defense wins HAHAHA!!! Already 5 or 6 assists in the game for the Cavs.
LeBron gets halfway through the first quarter before his first turnover.
I thought that was excusable, he tried to attack the rim, they probably fouled him on the reach in.
ANOTHER great roll by Moz! Love his activity!
Moz rolls and strolls to his third hoop. About 4 steps there.
Let’s get Moz 20 pts tonight.
That was bizarre… KLove passing into JR in the post… shouldn’t that be the other way around?
Better job already by Moz down low…
Didn’t look like much of a foul on Moz… he stood straight up
GREAT roll to the rim by MOZ!!
Kyrie looks particularly pumped up…
Just the rumor of defense being played right now by the Cavs…
Either team really HAHAHA!
AC joins the chorus: “It makes no sense” not to use Mozgov.
I noticed that as well… he’s always right on the money.
Fun to see AC joking around with TT and The Champ before the game… at least until DirecTV cut the feed from FSO and switched it over to NBATV…
That’s messed up… FSO and NBATV carry the game on Time Warner.
They still have Fred and AC commentating on NBATV though… so still good…
Excellent…. hAHAHA!
Markieff Morris shot his mouth off last time… Cavs need to shut him up tonight…
Live posts from the game here… Well received national anthem by young boy, nice way to kick of imminent victory
You and TV63 are there…#C:tBKarma in the house!
Excellent!!! That’s pretty cool…. Enjoy the game cwzagger!!!
Fire up the Revenge Tour 2015 for one more equalizer… Cavs take out their frustrations on the Suns… 118-102
CLE is favored by 11. Over/under @ 211.5… Smart money’s on PHX to cover/win and the over.
I’ll take CLE 111-101.