Preseason Recap: Memphis 96, Cleveland 92 (or, Games are won in the Trenches)

Cleveland closed its 2014 preseason with an incredibly physical game with the Memphis Grit and Grind. If you like to watch amazingly large athletes slam into each other in the paint, circle December 21st and March 26th on your calender. Though only preseason, it was clear that any meeting between these two frontcourts will be an all-out sumo match. The Memphis style of play gave the Cavaliers a chance to see how Blatt’s adapting system functions in a slowly paced game. Shawn Marion started in place of a resting LeBron James. Anderson Varejao was in the circle for tip-off. Though competitive throughout, the game was clearly an evaluative exercise for both franchises. Starters saw limited minutes in the second half.

Kyrie Irving: Uncle Drew did a great job of pushing the ball. Any time he got the rebound, he immediately sprinted up the floor for early offense. He had flurry of fancy layups with a nasty step-back mixed in. All in transition. I think the message(DON’T WALK) has finally been received. Irving’s jumper continues to look beautiful. His release is a tick quicker and the arc a bit higher. Kyrie’s ball hasn’t touched the rim much lately. Defensively, he had active hands. His off-ball defense has continued to improve. We’ll discuss the coordination with his Big on Pick and Roll in a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EFjlmHR5ic

Dion Waiters: It seems every announcing team starts the game promoting the common Dion narrative. I wonder whether LeBron actually did Waiters a disservice by mentioning him in the same breath as Mario Chalmers. We all recognize that Dion loves the mid-range pull-up. What most of the league doesn’t seem to notice is that Dion is actually quite a good shooter and distributor. He has had a couple “rough” shooting games in this preseason. Still, he is making a great percentage on threes. I expect his left wing three to drop every time. Other than a couple passing miscues, Dion had a nice game in spite of being checked by Tony Allen.

Kevin Love: I could watch Zach Randolph and Kevin Love battle for post/rebound position all day. Love started on Marc Gasol in this one(though he and Varejao often switched assignments). Despite Kevin’s reputation as a poor defender, he ranked highly as a post defender last season. He did a solid job with is lower body against the Memphis behemoths, but Love is simply too small to truly contest Gasol’s jumper. His defensive rotation was mentally sound, but a half step too slow when recovering his man. His big to big rotation with Andy wasn’t perfect, but improved. Offensively, Love’s shot wasn’t really on. More surprisingly, he only took one three. But for the love of pizza, his passing was beautiful. He may have only tallied one assist, but he showed his amazing ability to “throw a guy open” a la Aaron Rogers. One beautiful bounce pass to Tristan made me squeal.

Tristan Thompson: Speaking of squealing. This happened.

Tristan was solid in this one. He hit a nice catch and shoot jumper from the elbow. He looked springy. He continues to make his free throws. But that is enough writing. Use this time to watch that dunk again.

Anderson Varejao: It is a pleasure anytime we get to watch Andy play a Gasol brother. Unfortunately, the refs didn’t agree. Wild Thing picked up four fouls in only 16 minutes. Andy was not amused. Still, he found a way to drop in another beautiful sweeping right-handed hook. That is becoming one of my favorite shots.

Shawn Marion: Maybe seeing Vince Carter confused Matrix into thinking it is 2005. Whatever it was, with 3:52 left in the first quarter, Marion shook Vince out of his shoes on the right wing, drove to the middle and finished a gorgeous little left-handed scoop shot. Shawn looked downright spry in this game. If he can give the team 15 minutes of that energy per night, the Cavs will be thrilled.

Joe Harris: Apparently, Joe likes finishing with his left hand. On two occasions, he received the ball on the right wing extended, up-faked, and made a driving left-handed bucket. Everyone is playing him to shoot the three. I’ve been impressed with his ability to get into the teeth of the defense when the opportunity presents itself. Defensively, he is using his underrated size to bump offensive players off their path. Harris showed he can have a nice game even when shooting 1-4 behind the arc.

Mathew Dellavedova: Delly had four assists in 12 minutes. Please refer to the video above. I love everything.

Battle for the Fourth Big: Brendan Haywood: got the first run in this game and acquitted himself quite well. In seven minutes, he had four boards. He got insanely good post depth on the left block and took advantage with a strong layup over his right shoulder. His two misses came on a prolonged possession that eventually ended with a Waiters corner three. Defensively, he completely and utterly lost Kosta Koufos on a simple dive to the rim. I’m not sure Brendan even moved his feet. But, ya know, he’s seven feet tall.

Can Alex Kirk please grow his hair out?

Alex Kirk got the next turn in the lineup. This was not his best showing. He seemed determined to show his worth as a stretch five. I understand your thinking, but maybe that 21 foot jumper shouldn’t be your go to move, big guy. His rotation on defense was between awful and mediocre. To be fair, asking him to switch on everything is rather foolhardy. Again, we will get to that.

Lou Amundson only got eight minutes of playing time. He played well in limited run. He even hit a jumper to make up for his horrific looking free throw attempts.

A.J. Price obviously isn’t a big, but Hubie Brown brought up a relevant point. A.J. Price is probably battling Alex Kirk for the last active roster spot. This was not the way he wanted to go out. Price missed all four of his attempts. Worse, he was clearly shot hunting the three. He did pick up four assists, and has played well throughout the preseason, but I would still probably take Kirk. Of course, all of this gets dicey when you factor in a potential Ray Allen signing.

David Blatt: We saw some beautiful things on the offensive end from Blatt’s scheme. At 7:33 of the first quarter, Kyrie tossed the ball to Matrix on the right wing, and a weakside screen from Andy freed Love to seemingly clear the lane in search for a center three ball. Instead, Love faked toward the three point line and dove to the rim where he finished after receiving a nice feed from Marion. This weakside screen action happens on almost every play. The misdirection off of it will continue to befuddle defenses. Hubie Brown, when he wasn’t calling Russia the Soviet Union, was praising the Cavalier offense and its ability to consistently attack the middle of the defense. Memphis did tighten up in the third quarter. They began to sniff out some of the action that allows for deep post catches, but then that opened up some driving lanes. This offense will be great.

Defensively, I am less enthusiastic with the Cavs’ scheme. Perhaps Blatt is simply testing his Bigs to see who can show and recover and who cannot. I can save you the time, David. Haywood and Kirk can’t do it! Blatt also had everyone switching on screens in the second half. On ball, off ball, it didn’t matter. The second frame clearly was used as a trial. We saw some 2-3 Zone(at least that is what they were attempting) and a good amount of trapping ball pressure. I have faith in Blatt’s ability to create a good defensive scheme for this roster. I hope the week of practice further irons out the wrinkles.