Recap: Cavs 93, Hawks 88 (Or, the time the Cavs won 60)
2010-04-03
Overview: The Cavs were able to pull away from the Atlanta Hawks down the stretch, beating them by a final score of 93-88. LeBron James and Mo Williams combined for 51 points to lead the way for the Cavs.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
-One of the keys for the Cavs against the Hawks was managing the possession battle. The Hawks are an excellent offensive rebounding team, but the Cavs were able to hold them to only nine offensive boards while collecting 14 offensive rebounds of their own.
Hickson in particular was great on the offensive boards, taking advantage of Josh Smith’s unwillingness to box out and flying right around him en route to grabbing seven offensive rebounds. Smith is such a good athlete that he can usually get the rebound without needing to box his man out, but that didn’t work against a player as athletic as JJ.
-Mo Williams! Aggressive on offense, hitting big shots, and PLAYING DEFENSE! Good lord! I don’t know what got into Mo tonight, but I like it. Bibby and Crawford combined to go 8-25 from the floor, and Mo was making life very difficult on both of them throughout the game. And four blocks? Are we having serious time right now? Great game for Mo.
-LeBron missed a few easy ones early, and spent most of the half in distributor mode. In the second half, he got more aggressive, and was the one who put the Hawks away late. LeBron also had a great rebounding game; not only did he snag 13 defensive boards, but you could tell he really wanted all of them and looked more active on the glass than he normally does.
-Also, LeBron had two very nice post moves in the first quarter, but failed to finish either of them. First, he missed a very nice little jump hook from the left block, then failed to convert the layup after an absolutely gorgeous up-and-under move from the middle of the paint. Fortunately, LeBron did convert one shot from the post, putting in an easy little lefty finger roll from the right block.
-Breaking down LeTakeover:
-LeBron entered the game with the score tied at 72 and eight minutes left to play. With the score tied at 76 with six minutes left to play, the Cavs hit the afterburners. LeBron made a layup, hit a big three to put the Cavs up by five, and then missed the heat-check three. (WHY DOES HE DO THAT?) The next time down, the Cavs used their scissor-cut play to get Mo a decent look for a three, and he nailed it to put the Cavs in the driver’s seat.
After that, LeBron got flashy and hit a step-back 23-footer after some shaking and baking on the perimeter, then stripped Jamaal Crawford and ran the floor for an uncontested dunk. On the next possession, with the Q absolutely rattling with “M-V-P” chants and everyone on their feet, LeBron ran the clock down, made his move, and…air-balled an absolutely terrible off-balance three. Oh, LeBron.
-More great fourth-quarter defense from the Cavs; after Jamaal Crawford hit a jumper with 7:56 left to play, the Hawks didn’t manage another field goal until there was only 1:13 left to play.
-Other notes:
-Rough nights for both Delonte and AP, who combined to go 4-16 from the floor. Fortunately, they both helped shut down Joe Johnson, who only went 6-17 from the field himself.
-Looks like Jawad Williams and Chris Jent may have had a kerfuffle on the sidelines, leading to his benching. We’ll see how this plays out.
-Antawn Jamison had an almost spectacularly average game, scoring 12 points on 11 shots and grabbing seven rebounds. Other than that epic, epic, fail of a first game, Antawn’s been very consistent. Except for the free throws.
-Alright, that’s all for tonight. Cavs can clinch the NBA’s best record with a win over the Celtics on Sunday. Let’s see if they can get it done.
I liked what I saw out of J.J. this game. He’s going to do some very good things in the playoffs this year.
Oh and the refs. Before the game, I said the refs were probably going to try to give this to the Celtics, because there was no gain from Cleveland winning, and a Celtics win would help keep the dream alive for Celtics fans. And that is exactly what happened. I saw so many BS fouls in the first 3 quarters, especially on Leon Powe, not letting the Cavs get any rhythm. Then Lebron said F this and started driving to the lane, and he still didn’t get any of those calls he deserved. And the refs were very quick to… Read more »
I can’t be that upset, at least they made it interesting. I was so frustrated and annoyed in the third quarter I turned off the game.
What will be annoying is how this game (in which the Cavs had essentially nothing to play for, and had no Shaq and AV), will be shown as evidence of Boston rounding into form in time for the playoffs. *rolls eyes*
@Rich I think AV’s just sitting it out now. No point risking him in what would’ve been a testy game where’d he might have pulled something going 110%.
We’ll pick up at least one win over next 2/3 games, that’s if LAL don’t lose before then.
@Rich: I look at it more as, I can’t believe we lost a game we were winning 104-103 with 3 minutes to go, all the momentum in the world and Boston seemingly unable to stop Lebron. I hate criticising Lebron, so Il try be nice, but did he not learn anything from the way he single handedly got the cavs back in the game by driving to the rim EVERY time. I know it sounds stupid because we were down so big, but we gave that game away, big time. Had it, lost it. grrrr.
Forget about the shot. The bigger question has to be why is Varejao still out? This little hamstring injury seems to be taking logner and longer for him to come back from. I’m actually pretty worried about it and starting to think we aren’t hearing the whole story from the Cavs staff. Second, I can’t wait for the playoffs. I can’t wait for when the Celts come to Cleveland and are in the midst of a 20 point beatdown and LeBron just lets poor, old KG have it. The guy runs his mouth up 20 or down 20..it’s amazing. FT… Read more »
If LeBron had made that shot we’d be calling him AMAZING!
He didn’t. So what.
We’ve shown that we can beat the Celts if we really want (even if we give them a 22pt head start).
About the Celtics game Ok, ray allen is getting way too many wide open 3’s. I don’t understand how you leave him open that many times. And it wasn’t just allen; in the first 3 quarters everyone on the celtics was getting wide open jumpers. Also, Lebron is the reason we went from being down 22 or whatever to being in the game, but at the same time: 0-9 from 3 14-22 FT With 2 minutes left and Lebron getting to the rim and converting however-many times in a row, he pulls up for a signature longest-2-possible and bricks it.… Read more »
LeBron I love you, but that was the dumbest shot of all time
My God, LeBron giveth and LeBron taketh away. Four seconds left, one on one fast break, and he pulls up for a three? If he would have taken three more steps he would have sent the game to over time. LeBlown Games!
You can’t believe the Cavs lost a game in which they were down 17 going into the 4th? Seems fairly believable.
cannot BELIEVE the cavs lost that. ARGHHH.
My lazy error — skimmed the article looking for “Anthony Parker”. Thanks for catching that.
Glad you agree though. I completely agree with your analysis on Parker and D-Weezy.
Chip, give the recap another scan (my emphasis):
“Rough nights for both Delonte and AP, who combined to go 4-16 from the floor. Fortunately, they both helped shut down Joe Johnson, who only went 6-17 from the field himself.”
I agree, though. Parker’s tough perimeter D will be a big factor in the playoffs. And as John noted, if he’s being platooned with Delonte, the Cavs can completely take a big scorer out of the game.
Forgot to mention Parker’s killer D on Joe Johnson. Although Parker was cold, his D was great and that aspect of his game will be huge in the playoffs.
if lebron would cut out the ridiculous heat checks, hed probably shoot near 40% from 3..
“WHY DOES HE DO THAT” 1) Lebron loves the heat check jumper. I think he feels like back-to-back jumpers help keep his rhythm. I notice them a lot more after reading the CavsBlog and hate them just as much as you do. 2) Lebron is just as much of a entertainer as a ball player. Consecutive threes look great on a highlight reel. 3) Lebron has way too much fun on the court sometimes. This may be good and bad. Sometimes he puts up ridiculous shots like the off balance three you mentioned. I wonder why he does that. It… Read more »