Not a Recap: Cavs 113, Milwaukee 108
2013-01-26Nate will offer something more substantive later today, but in the event anyone is up early on a Saturday, and has thoughts on the game, put ’em here.
The first thirty minutes went poorly, with defensive breakdowns and unconscious Milwaukee shooting allowing the Bucks to pile-up 82 points with five minutes still to go in the third. Cleveland trailed by twenty, until Kyrie and Tristan scored 16 in the final four minutes to draw it close.
The new super-second-string secured the win in the fourth. New addition Speights netted 8 points in the quarter, and fellow arrival Wayne Ellington drilled a three. Livingston, Gibson and Walton also got in on the action and that group of five mounted a 21 to 8 run to give Cleveland the lead. Kyrie sealed the deal with six points in the final thirty-five seconds, and all of Cleveland is joyous.
Kyrie finished with 35 points on 83% true shooting. Tristan posted 18 & 6 with three blocks. Dion added 16 points and 4 assists on 60% TS, and Livingston and Speights offered 12 and 10 points, respectively, from the bench. The most interesting man alive, Luke Walton, again tallied seven assists & five boards, and finished an awesome putback. He almost dunked…honest to goodness.
Look for Nate’s recap later.
Dion was pissed? I swear people look for flaws from him when there are none. Dion was one of the visible guys jumping up and down when Ellington hit that 3. At not point did he look angry on the bench.
JNeids, Dion may have been pissed, but the starters weren’t playing defense. The great thing about having a full roster is the accountability goes up. If you know the guy behind you is going to play if you screw up, it makes everyone more accountable.
I had no problem with Scott running with the bench team, although mostly the starters were responsible for bringing it from a 20pt deficit to 9 to begin with. With a game tonight in Toronto, there’s no reason to put the starters (except Kyrie for his FT shooting) back in when the bench was playing so well for once.
No one, except everyone who didn’t write for CtB could have predicted that a young team would improve as the season wore on.
That stupid “Googling Tanks…” post will rank as an all time blunder by the writers here.
I found it very curious that Byron opted to go with the new guys on clutch time last night. You could see the frustration on Dion’s face when they showed shots of the bench during timeouts. He wanted to be out there. And maybe the new guys were playing well, I don’t know since I could only follow along on my phone, and while I don’t like this me-first ‘tude from Waiters, I think Byron is partially to blame for it last night and I can’t say I blame Dion. I’m not trying to spoil the party so I’ll end… Read more »
“I really like homegrown players that become great…one of the reasons I don’t want to trade Andy.”
You’re a good fan but bad GM.
Thing about the NBA is most GMs have this flaw.
yeah I agree. I don’t really want to give up TT. I think he’ll be great. probably not Kevin Love great but who knows. plus, I really like homegrown players that become great…one of the reasons I don’t want to trade Andy.
but hey, i get sentimental like this after wins…they’re so rare these days. I read recaps like all day long,, it’s like a fairy tale for a night.
Every single person in Minnesota except maybe Kevin Love says no to that We’re ahead of OKC if you want to look at it like that. I forget if I posted this here. This is using basketball-reference’s O/DRating stats, Not updated through last night’s game. Advanced O/DRating Margin of Victory Cavs 11: -9.6 (tank for Kyrie… check dat defensive 111.8 points per 100 possessions) 12: -7.8 (Kyrie year one) 13: -5.7 (Kyrie year two so far… semi-interesting note: we’ve jumped up .2 since I first compiled this stat 22 days ago) — Sonics/Thunder Advanced MoV 07: -3.1 (tank for Durant)… Read more »
I say nay. Kevin Love was quietly having a pretty bad season before he got hurt, and I love me some TT. I could talk myself into the deal if it were to happen, but I’m more than content to stand pat until the summer
Not sure who pointed out that the Thunder started off terribly (3-24?) in year two AD (After Durant) and then they dramatically improved as the season went on…We might be heading there. Tristan’s crazy swag development, Kyrie becoming a top six offensive player in the league. The new and improved zoo crew (bench). Efficient Waiters. Zeller as the goofy tall white guy who draws charges. They’ll still end up as a bottom 6 team in the league, but the pups are growing into their paws. It’s wins like this that are the enjoyable part of a growth season. Long car… Read more »
Cory Hughey,
I’ve noted that the Thunder started 3 – 29 in year 2 AD, then finished 20 – 30.
Kyrie is pretty good; the only young player in the league that seems to project better is Durant. The Thunder also got a few teams to give them something for nothing, a la the Leuer trade.
We’ll see what happens, but the recent stretch of Tristan improvements and more frequent Dion-efficiency is very encouraging.