Recap: Cleveland 109, Orlando 100 (or, meet Sven, the lighting-it-up specialist for “The A.V. Club”)
2013-12-13
Cleveland came into this game 1-10 on the road, with a game against the reigning NBA Champions looming tomorrow. This was a sandwich game that might have doomed the Cavs earlier this season. The biggest “juice” from this game was the match-up between the number one and number two NBA draft picks, Anthony Bennett and Victor Oladipo. The juice from the match-up between the 17th and 18th picks of the 2012 draft, Tyler Zeller and Andrew Nicholson, was pretty much an afterthought. How did Cleveland dig out this win? Kyrie Irving, rebounds, 10 turnovers, and 60 bench points…
1st Quarter: Cleveland jumped out to a 5-0 lead off two quick C.J. Miles jumpers (a great sign!). Then, Kyrie canned a couple quick mid-rangers (another great sign!), followed by Oladipo scoring 7 straight for the Magic (not a great sign for Chris Grant!). And then the Cavs’ offense turned into the Browns’ running game. Taking advantage of Cleveland’s poor spacing and awful ball movement, Orlando short circuited the Cavs’ offense, and destroyed Cleveland’s plans to get the ball into Andrew Bynum. Cleveland let the ball stick and resorted to contested two point pull-ups and bad passes. By 3:28, Orlando had a 14 point lead. Fortunately, Andy came in and drained a 2013 signature foul line jumper to stem the tide (he’s only shooting about 75% on these so far this year). He followed it up with a playground-esque hook shot from the hip, straight off the square. Earl Clark knocked down a wing three, and Dion gave the ball to Oladipo which resulted in a Tobias Harris layup to leave it 28-19, Magic.
2nd Quarter: Gumdrop Bear! kicked off his quarter with the best move of his pro career: a nifty little layup while standing behind the basket off a Dion dime. Unfortunately Andrew Nicholson is the one who rattled off seven straight points for Orlando this quarter, sandwiched between a Jack turnover and “Damnit, Dion!” pull-up brick. The Cavs flipped their caps, and started to rally behind… Earl Clark three pointers, a silky 19-footer from Gumdrop, and a lob finish from AB15!? OK, Kyrie Irving shooting, driving, and diming had something to do with it too.
The Cavs closed out shooters really well throughout the game. Varejao’s rejection of an Oladipo three in this stretch was a great example. After Jack tied it up at 40 with two freebies, Oladipo turned in an 18 second sequence where he stole the ball twice, fed Aaron Afflalo for an 18 footer, and got himself to the free throw line for two more. His PER for this stretch was 34,000. Fortunately, C.J. and Kyrie closed out this quarter as well as the Cavs have closed out a quarter all year, outscoring the Magic 10-4 between the two of them over the final 2:13, to cut it to 51-50, Magic.
3rd Quarter: Or, the Kyrie Irving quarter. Cleveland used Bynum as a decoy and ran pick and roll and screen action to the opposite (right) side of the court. In the funniest non-call of the game, T.T. and Irving tackled Oladipo off a trap at the top of the key, which led to a Kyrie dunk after the scrum. After that, everything was on for Uncle Drew. He ripped twine after twine, sprung by Thompson screens, ridiculous dribble moves, and a buttery pure jumper. He finished the quarter with 11 points. Oladipo gave him all he could handle on the other side of the court, with jumpers, right side drives, and a drive where the Cavs forced him left and he scored anyway. Oladipo scored 13 in the third. Cleveland and Orlando traded baskets a lot this quarter, keyed by Oladipo and Jameer Nelson’s shooting and distributing. Despite the guards’ points, Cleveland defended Orlando’s wings really well, consistently denying the ball to Orlando’s leading scorer, Aaron Afflalo, and completely stymieing Tobias Harris.
Cleveland had their troubles scoring, especially when C.J. was firing away with defenders surgically attached to him off the curl screen. The quarter got more frustrating as Dion and Kyrie took stagnant offense pull-ups. Saint Weirdo redeemed with nasty left side layup after he spun off Vucevic. A Nicholson jumper closed the quarter, 76-73, Magic.
4th Quarter: Jarrett Jack zipped the ball cross-court to a charging Waiters who stepped into a left wing three in transition. Splash. The NBA Jam announcer quoth, “He’s heating up!” A minute later, Jack fed Dion slashing from right to left, for an and-1. Channeling Marv Albert, I declared “He’s on fire!” and made flame noises as I gesticulated in my living room. So what if Tobias got it going for six points, and everyone ignored Nicholson as he grabbed an o-board, trotted to the left quarter and drained it with no one within 10 feet. Dion had wings on his feet, and was awash in the glow of flame as he scored the Cleveland’s first 14 points in the first five minutes of the fourth off a collection of drives and “no no no… yes!” pull-ups. The Cavs finally broke through to take the lead at 87-85. Then, Waiters broke his own scoring streak to skip it to Delly in the right corner for a three that skimmed the the side of the back board and ripped the twine. Magic timeout. 90-85, Cavs.
Crunch Time: Speaking of Delly, his defense was infectious: consistent ball denial — fronting Aaron Afflalo every damned time. He got under the Magic’s skin. They started to unravel after the timeout. Vucevic had the ball knocked away by Dion, Delly grabbed it, and Nikola decided a Montenegran bear hug was in order for Delly. T.T. hit a rhythm J (I know, right?). Vucevic turned it over with a moving screen. Dion bricked a 17 footer, and Matty-D ran the rebound down with pure… freaking… hustle… I swear, everyone else was moving in slow motion, and he was in real time. Then, without a conscience, he pulled up from the right wing and drained it to put Cleveland up 10.
Then, the Cavs got lost in the moment, a bit. Despite Delly drawing an offensive foul from Afflalo, the Magic ran off five straight. Brown called a T.O. Kyrie and Dion took advantage of being in the bonus, attacked, and got to the line. The Cavs closed out the perimeter and everyone (Andy) grabbed the rebounds. Six straight Cavs free throws, followed by two straight Oladipo layups off some “lets dribble for 20 seconds for no reason” and panic offense by Kyrie left the Cavs lead at five with a minute left. Dion drove, got swatted by Vucevic, and Andy iced the game with a trailing layup.
The s**t got real in the closing seconds when the Magic were pressing with 13 seconds left, trailing by 6. The Cavs beat the press. Andy stood under the basket, and layed it in. Then, Andrew Nicholson leveled him. I get that you don’t want to run it up on a team, but when they’re pressing and you beat the press, you lay it up. That’s basketball. Andy rolled on the floor for several minutes holding his left knee. (He’d already banged his right knee with Oladipo earlier in the game). Nicholson got a flagrant 2 and was ejected. Andy was available for interviews after the game, so he appears, O.K., but I’d be more than happy not to see him play tomorrow against Miami.
Takeaways: This is the best the Cavs have looked on the road all year. They shook off a night when things just weren’t clicking with Bynum, and found a way to win through protecting the ball, rebounding, and great guard play. It doesn’t hurt when you’ve got a bench that can score 60. Kyrie offensively: 31 points, 5 dimes, 2 turnovers off 59% true shooting — the sort of every day Irving brilliance that we all take for granted unless it’s not there. Kyrie’s defense wasn’t great, but it was good in spots. Delly and Waiters helped him out on that end a lot. The Vinnie Johnson comparisons will continue to grow for Neon Dion after a 16 point fourth quarter. If only he could take the two point jump shot off the dribble out of his game. He was 2-7 on that shot and 8-18 on the game. The Cavs only committed 10 turnovers. Let’s hope that keeps up.
I’ll mostly ignore the Victor/Anthony dynamic. I just wonder if Gilbert watched the game with Grant and if Dan just shot scathing looks at Chris every time Oladipo did something good (which was often). Oladipo was clearly “up” for this game: 26 points, .86 TS% with 4 assists, 4 steals, and 2 turnovers. Orlando has finally figured out that playing Oladipo at point guard off the bench is stupid. Now that he’s starting at his natural position, Victor will be two laps ahead of everyone for rookie of the year, come March. In the words of Bill Simmons, I will now light myself on fire.
Cleveland went 11 deep in this one, and I have to give Brown credit. Every button he pushed tonight was the right one. Cleveland’s bench wore down the Magic. They just couldn’t match the energy or depth. The extended run for Delly helped set the tone on defense and helped keep the Cavs sharp on the road. Earl Clark seems to have settled into a very nice role as a backup power forward, and he’s become deadly on the wing from three. Jack still isn’t shooting great (and he’s taking awful shots), but he’s running the offense and steadying the ship when he’s in. Even Gumdrop Bear looked a lot more like Champ Bear tonight. It’s time to name this bench. Since Cleveland’s bench is led by a curly haired Brazilian who posted 10 points, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks, a steal, a dime, no turnovers, and a game high +17 in 32 minutes, I’m voting for “The A.V. Club.” Hopefully. its signature member is in a suit tomorrow, taking a much deserved night off. Meanwhile, we need to give these A.V. Club guys some “nerd names.”
“Saint Weirdo was an anagram of Dion Waiters. It didn’t match his personality or game.”
Whaaaaat? It totally does!
And Thompson needs to learn to pass
Dion, Delly, Andy make me love this team. Irving, Clark and Thompson showed some serious fight tonight as well. Gee is worthless. No one even closes out on him. If yor within ten feet of him he can’t make a 3.
Gumdrop bear is hilarious. We all want him to succeed but he is not even close right now. He may get there, but in the meantime, he’s Gumdrop bear.
BTW, watching the game against the Heat. We’re gonna lose it but I love the fight. This is more like the team I imagined in preseason. Guys like DIon and Dellavedova (and 3rd quarter Tristan) showing serious heart.
The reason for Gumdrop bear was his body shape. Which he did not look like last night against Orlando. He is clearly getting into better shape and hopefully he can start contributing more as a result.
Saint Weirdo was an anagram of Dion Waiters. It didn’t match his personality or game. Gumdrop Bear on the other hand…kind of makes sense. Hopefully he can outperform this nickname in due time.
Hear, hear! Well said, Josh…
I didn’t think last years “Saint Weirdo” could be topped in terms of stupidity and annoyance, but Gumdrop Bear is well on its way to doing just that.
I’m sure Dan Gilbert didn’t shoot any looks about Oladipos somewhat fluke game. He is intelligent enough to understand things like sample size, age and offseason injuries impacting a rookies performance.
All I would like to say is that we saw some flashes of an NBA player in Bennett during a time where our offense wasn’t necessarily clicking. It’s good to seem him fight for some buckets, hopefully this pans out into some efficient play time for him in the future during times when our offense is hitting its stride. I dunno if i’m just being overly optimistic here, but he might, just might, pan out into our missing SF link in the future.
I love DW’s response when AV hot cheapshotted. Remember when ZI got mugged in a playoff game about six years ago, and the rest of the team acted like North Korean congressmen who didn’t get tapped on the shoulder:
Who, me? I didn’t see anything!
BTW, if Dennis Rodman is reading this, note that the aisle seat is a bad spot in NK.
Jake , I’m talking primarily threes and LeBron can be much more selective playing with a bunch of other scorers with the cHeat. With his size and status and ability tyo get inside his overall percentage will always be higher. His misses seldom count because a foul is almost always in called when he does. Playing with Ray Allen in particular seems to have boosted LBJ’s 3 PT% the last two years. I’m saying that the much more average numbers prior to that were the result of his having to be THE scorer on his teams more so than his… Read more »
^^ Lebron has one of the highest shooting percentages in the league and probably the highest for his position
Good point Rodney Mac. I often refer to Reggie Miller’s comments when people want to rate a scorer on shooting percentage. He posited often when calling games that players who get paid to only be spot up shooters with a high 3 pt% avoid shooting rushed at the end of the clock shots in order to maintain their precious %. That is why good shooters like Kobe and even LeBron who are counted on as scorers have lower percentages. They’re paid to try to score in those situations. I’v always said that a solid 2 for 5 a night 40%… Read more »
@ least 2 of Dion’s 2-7 mid-range jumpers came with less than 3 on the shot clock turning a bad shot into a good shot.
True. Olapido is a month and a half younger than Kyrie.
A year and a half in age and two years in college also separates the two rookies. Oladipo killed it though last night as did Waiters. They should both be considered untouchable by their teams unless in a package for a superstar.
Olapido said during the summer that he was glad he didn’t go to Cleveland. Grant was down to McLemore or Bennett and went with Bennett. I do agree with you that Bennett’s issues are much more mental than physical. It appears that he’s dropped some weight and he didn’t look as lost tonight. Hopefully he can build on this performance and get out of his funk for good. I have to watch his highlight videos from college once a week to talk myself off the ledge. He has talent and they could absolutely use his offensive potential.
It seemed pretty clear that last night’s performance was a big “f you” game from Oladipo to Grant for not drafting him; I know that was certainly above his skill level (at least at this point in his career)…nonetheless, the biggest thing that separates Oladipo and Bennett at this point is their mental makeup. Oladipo’s tenacity and aggression was on display last night, he knows he belongs in this league and isn’t afraid to prove it. Conversely, Bennett often plays timid and unsure of his own abilities. As has been said before, if Bennett could get out of his own… Read more »
Do you know how ticked I got when people would do stuff like this and no one would do anything back before Dion got here. Knowing people have your back gives you confidence in yourself and your teammates regardless if its just useless posturing at the end of a game. Just knowing someone has your back no matter what is a great thing for chemistry. There is a reason people say they love having guys like Kendrick Perkins and Metta on their teams.
Ha…Cory…we do NOT need Dion to be irrationally confident. We need him to get fouled and spot up for threes. Remember Damon Jones? HE was irrationally confident and would stick up for guys twice his size. And HE was a waste of time.
Nate,
Your guy Andrew Nicholson looks really good.
League Pass Broadband sucks. If they don’t want people watching their games illegally online they need to step their game up. It was great seeing Waiters and Irving both have good games. I don’t buy that Waiters is being dealt as Amico stated on twitter. Whatever the issues were in the locker room, they seem to over. Dion might be the only guy on this team with a backbone. Twice in the past week he’s come to the defense of a guy who’s 8 inches taller than him. Every team needs a guy with irrational confidence, a little craziness and… Read more »
Awesome review Nate. Liked the pace a lot. Sven played really great and really stupid tonight. He could have been at the line 8 more times instead of 2-7 on those two pointers. Nobody could keep him out of the lane and he had Vucevic guessing. And heck, kudos to you for giving MB credit…I’m not sure I’m ready to do that yet but it’s getting difficult not to recognize the way he’s using the bench effectively. And it seems that instead of Dion and Jack being redundant, Jack has taken a lot of pressure off Dion on offense. It’s… Read more »