Recap: Cleveland 106, Minnesota 90 (or fourth quarter of ‘Bron > three quarters of ‘Drew)

Cleveland rode a hot first quarter and a dominant fourth quarter to a 16 point victory over the Timberwolves, and won game that was closer than the final score appeared. It was the fourth game in five nights for the Cavs, and they join the Hornets and the Hawks as the only teams that have swept a four-in-five stretch this year. The 2015 revenge tour rolled on, and the Cavs won their 10th straight. Amazingly, with Kevin Love returning to Minnesota, Kyrie Irving still coming down from a 55 point game, and Andrew Wiggins facing the team that drafted him, LeBron was almost an afterthought before the game started. By the end, he wasn’t. LBJ scored a game high 36, including 13 in the final nine minutes, and went 14-25 from the floor, as if to say, “OK, rook. I know you’ve got game, but I’m the King.”

First Quarter:

Minnesota started Lorenzo Brown, a player on a 10-day contract, at point guard, and Brown played an astonishing 48 minutes. He started off the game by finding Wiggins for an effortless three from the left wing. Cleveland countered by getting six quick points inside, including a Timofey Mozgov post-up where he clearly traveled. His confidence bolstered, Mozzy scored 10 in the quarter off nice flip-ins, lob finishes, and putback dunks. Unfortunately, he couldn’t avoid fouling Nikola Pekovic, and that limited Mozgov’s effectiveness the entire game. The rest of the Cavs managed to balance the scoring. Love, Shump, and Smith all hit threes, and LeBron drove at will. Defensively, the Cavs were solid, but Andrew Wiggins was definitely heating up. He scored 12 points in the period on mid-range J’s, threes, and dribble drives. He single-handedly kept the Wolves within shouting distance at 30-21, Cavs.

Second Quarter:

Delly! Threw in a floater to kick off the quarter — a rare inside bucket for the Aussie. LeBron followed that up with a classic wing post-up, taking up the torch from Kobe and Jordan before him. James caught it at the right wing, used a TT screen to get to the elbow, backed down Wiggins, and buried a turnaround jumper from the right baseline. As pretty as that was, the Cavs offense slowed down, and a series of Cavs turnovers allowed the T-Wolves to reel off an 11-2 run. Thad Young and Andrew Wiggins buckets fueled the run, but LeBron, as he would do throughout the night, coolly scored to calm the troops. That LeBron three, combined with Kyrie’s trips to the line, pushed the lead back to five before a “how the hell did he score that?” Wiggins layup on the right block. It was his 23rd point of the half, a career high. On the final possession, Kyrie appeared to have beaten the game clock with an all-star style three, but replay showed he had a fingernail on the ball when the game clock read zero. The score remained 52-49, Cavs.

Third Quarter

KLove, opened up the first with a nifty cut from the weak side into a post-up for an easy two. The bucket gave Kevin a double double 14 seconds into the third. Despite another brilliant drive from LeBron, the Cavs defense was a sieve. The Wolves scored layups on three consecutive trips, and then Zangief Pekovic drew two consecutive Mozgov fouls. Zangief hit all four freebies, leading to this exchange between Ralph Mozgov, and Zangief Pekovic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh4f8SUp-PU&x-yt-cl=85114404&feature=player_detailpage&x-yt-ts=1422579428

The score was all tied up again before Kyrie hit a triple and Smith hit a Saint Weirdo style step-back deuce. Then Wiggins made a move that elicited a comment from yours truly, “LeBron could learn something about moving without the ball from this kid.” ‘Drew  threw the ball into the post to Pek, cut to the elbow, and then when his man (LeBron) man went to double, Andrew cut hard,  Nikola hit him with a perfect pass, and Wiggins finished off the and-1. I know. I’m gushing, but that was a really heady play from a 19-year-old (and a nice pass from Zangief).

Kyrie kept up the scoring, and despite the fact that his shot wasn’t falling, he was playing hard. Here, he had one of the best tips you’ll ever see from a point guard. Irving missed on the left side shooting over Pek, and his ball bounced around the rim for like three seconds, enough time for an out of bounds Kyrie to come all the way around and tip it in from the right side. Irving must be taking tips from TT on how to clean up the trash.

But the Cavs went ice cold. Love scored the only two points of a four minute stretch, when he deftly snagged a LeBron miss and ducked under the defense to lay it in off the right square. Despite the bailout, it was the kind of maddening possession that makes one curse the King. LeBron dribbled for no less than 20 seconds before sending up a stepback triple. Despite clear mismatches with Thad Young guarding LeBron, and Andrew Wiggins guarding Love, Irving, Smith, Shumpert, and James were content to fire up threes-point bricks over that stretch. Effective defensive rebounding and a Wiggins 19-footer gave Minnesota the lead. Then, a Thad Young layup stretched it to three.

Delly, Marion, and James checked back in to try to stop the bleeding, and Smith didn’t re-emerge till garbage time. A Tristan putback cut it to one, before the teams traded baskets (including Wiggins’ 31st point) to close the quarter with the Timberwolves up 79-76.

Fourth Quarter: Good guys came out with a lineup of James, Marion, Dellavedova, Miller, and Thompson.  Cleveland was battling the Wolves and the refs early on, and they could not get a foul call or even a possession call. Gorgui Dieng had a couple nice plays, getting to the line, and then feeding Wiggins under the bucket from the high post. I yelled, “RUN THAT PLAY FOR KEVIN LOVE!” after Dieng operated from Kevin’s favorite spot in Minnesota, the elbow. Minny stretched it to five, before a couple clutch TT freebies, and then I leaped from my couch and yelled, “DELLY TREY!!!” as the Cavs tied it up. I remember remarking, “Why is Miller playing?” Mike shortly thereafter got beat on a cut by Chase Budinger (that sentence should never be written again in an NBA recap) and Mike was forced to send Chase to the line.

Then this happened. The Chosen One drove the left lane, left Thaddeus Young in the dust, and finished far above Gorgui Ding. That’s levitation, holmes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6hiPYAyTuU

Sadly, on the next possession, the officials called one of their many phantom fouls this game when they whistled Marion for a moving screen that wasn’t after a Mike Miller steal. Then they made a quasi-makeup call on the other end when they whistled Budinger for stepping out of bounds. The officiating in this game was exhausting. Tristan Thompson started playing some serious defense, and he sent a Pekovic layup to the stands. LeBron decided that he’d seen enough B.S.. He caught Zangief on a switch and backed up to the right corner to drain a triple and put the Cavs up three with eight minutes left.

‘Bron charged to the free throw line on a couple possessions to put the Cavs up four with six minutes left. A minute later, after Love bobbled a pass, LeBron got the ball on the left wing with the shot clock winding down. James lined up Wiggins and buried a 26-footer in his eye. A 22-footer 30 seconds later stretched the lead to nine, and the way the Cavs were playing defense, it might as well have well been 20.

A Delly Steal! and a Delly Trey! at 2:28 made the lead 99-87, and that was about all she wrote as Cleveland went on to pitch a 30-11 period.

—

Speaking of Matthew Dellavedova, he had his best game in weeks. Blatt put him in late in the third, and Hellofadova! flew around on on defense for nine fourth quarter minutes. His two triples were gravy. Whenever Delly doesn’t crash the offensive boards, he’s almost always the one responsible for containing any any of the opponents’ leakouts. I noticed last game that he’s always pointing out the leaking offensive player and covering till that players’ man gets back. The steal he had late came off this habit when Matt intercepted a Lorenzo Brown pass intended for Wiggins. Conversely, this might be the game that knocks J.R. Smith from the starting lineup. Blatt clearly lost defensive faith in him. Smith was  glued to the bench for most of the fourth. Delly finished with 10, a steal, a dime, and a rebound off 3-5 shooting, and was a part of the late game shutdown squad. Smith finished with five points and was 1-6 from three in 23 minutes. J.R. seemed a step slow on defense at times, too.

In other unsung hero news, Lorenzo Brown played a gutty game for the Wolves. After signing a 10-day contract this last week, he started tonight, and played all 48 minutes. Talk about your trials by fire. Brown only scored one, but he had nine assists and only three turnovers. He also harassed Kyrie Irving into a 4-16 shooting night. Irving finished with 12 points, four assists, two steals, and three turnovers. Despite the rough shooting, Irving’s defensive intensity continued through most of the night.

I’ll call this round a draw for the ole Kevin Love/Andrew Wiggins debate. Love scored 14, shooting a ho-hum 6-14, including 1-5 from three, but he was a loose ball gathering machine. Kevin gobbled up 17 rebounds in 36 minutes and added three dimes. Meanwhile, Wiggins looked electric for three quarters, then succumbed to the Cavs defensive pressure. Andrew finished with 33 points off 63TS%, four steals, a dime, a board, and only one turnover. But his team could have used him in the fourth, when he only scored one field goal. If we’re being honest, the Lorenzo Brown situation probably had as much to do with the Cavs fourth quarter domination as did Cleveland’s defense. Minny played  a point guard off the street for 48 minutes. When Wiggins gets Ricky Rubio back, watch out.

The Ralph/Zangief battle was won by Zangief, who didn’t crush Mozgov‘s head between his thighs like sparrow’s egg, but he did trick Mozzy into foul trouble. Still, Mozgov’s scoring was an early bonus. 14 points in 17 minutes is nothing to sneeze at. The Cavs had little answer for Pekovic in the third, especially after Mozgov went out, the dude is just a wall of muscle, beard, and ink. 14 points and 12 boards for the Pek.

Tristan Thompson finally figured out the move that had been flummoxing Mozgov all game, Pekovic’s left shoulder turnaround layup/shot. I don’t even know why it bothered Moz so much. Pek wasn’t even finishing with the left hand. But he kept spinning right around Timo into that move. TT, on the other hand figured out how to sit on it, and swat it. Thompson’s athleticism was bothersome for the Wolves. Even more bothersome were Tristan’s four blocks.  Tristan’s 13 boards (four offensive), were all needed, and helped contribute to Cleveland’s 52-35 rebound advantage.

David Blatt played Mike Miller tonight for eight minutes, mostly in the fourth quarter. I was baffled by this move until someone on the live thread pointed out that Mike had family from North Dakota at the game. I get that decision. Sometimes, to get players to trust you, you have to trust them. And sometimes, you have to realize that there are more important things than one regular season game. Mike Brown never got this, and ultimately, I think that’s why players tuned him out. David Blatt had a reputation as a bit of a hard case in Europe. But here in the U.S., he might be proving to be a players’ coach.

Anthony Bennett: in 13 minutes he had two points, a turnover, an assist, and a foul. I forgot he was out there most of the time. I give him one more year in the league before Minnesota cuts bait. For as great as getting Andrew Wiggins was for the Wolves, Anthony Bennett’s a bust, and Thaddeus Young is going to walk. I’m not quite sure what that says about Flip Saunders the coach, vs. Flip Saunders the G.M.

Saving the best for last, LeBron James was vintage, nay, transcendent tonight. He forced little, and the turnovers that have been bothering him of late were limited to just three. James cut through the defense like it was warm butter more that once, and his jumper, especially from the right side, was feathery. James even took it upon himself to lock up Andrew Wiggins in the fourth quarter. In 40 minutes, LeBron finished with 36 points, six rebounds, five assists, and 63TS%. LeBron James and the Cavs saved their best effort till the fourth quarter, and on the fourth game in five nights, that’s enough.