Preview & Live Thread: Cavs vs Warriors
2015-02-26
They say to be the best, you have to beat the best. With that thought in mind, tonight’s match-up is the biggest of the season. The Golden State Warriors come in to Cleveland with the league’s best record: 44-10 and are 8-2 in the last ten games (as are the Cavs). We all know about the brilliance of Golden State’s starting back-court — Curry and Klay combine to score 46 points and 11 assists and eight rebounds per game while posting all-time shooting percentages. But there’s more than just these two that make Golden State click.
Chris Ballard wrote a fantastic piece in Sports Illustrated on how the Warriors have gone from playoff “One-and-done to NBA title Favorites.” Ballard examines Klay, Curry, Kerr, Barnes, Iguodala, and secret sauce ingredient, Draymond Green (who is playing like the biggest draft steal of the last 10 years). The article even touches on what CtBers know is the real reason for Golden State’s success, the presence of three former Cavalier Herculoids: Mo Speights, Shaun Livingston, and now assistant coach, Luke Walton. It’s a great article and a more complete Warriors preview than I could give you.
Speaking of Draymond Green, he’s got to be on the short list for the league’s “Most Improved Player” award, and he’s angling his way to a max contract this coming summer. He’s become an unbelievably smart and competitive defender, who despite his 6’6″ size can guard players at almost every position, and he’s added enough offense that he’s not a liability on that end of the floor. But is he really that improved or is he just getting extra playing time? The showdown with Draymond and Kevin, tonight, might give us some answers.
Another candidate for most improved is the Cavs own Kyrie Irving. According to Zach Kempner at NumberFire.com, Irving leads the NBA in improvement when it comes to Wins Above Replacement. Of course, the article notes, LeBron James’ addition might have something to do with that.
Enjoy the game, tonight, and Go Cavs!
Wins Above Replacement
| Player | ’13-’14 WAR | ’14-’15 WAR (Estimated) | Difference (Estimated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyrie Irving | 1.45 | 13.12 | +11.67 |
| Khris Middleton | 0.10 | 11.14 | +11.04 |
| James Harden | 9.67 | 19.74 | +10.07 |
| Tyreke Evans | -0.75 | 8.96 | +9.71 |
| Anthony Davis | 5.46 | 14.18 | +8.72 |
| Ben McLemore | -4.29 | 4.10 | +8.39 |
| Markieff Morris | 3.20 | 10.81 | +7.61 |
| Lou Williams | 0.28 | 7.48 | +7.20 |
| Darren Collison | 0.82 | 7.84 | +7.02 |
| Cody Zeller | 0.09 | 7.08 | +6.99 |
| Jeff Teague | 2.05 | 8.96 | +6.91 |
| Gordon Hayward | 4.99 | 11.72 | +6.73 |
| John Wall | 8.30 | 14.55 | +6.25 |
| Tyson Chandler | 5.80 | 11.99 | +6.19 |
| Brandon Jennings | -2.82 | 3.29 | +6.11 |
| Russell Westbrook | 6.89 | 12.94 | +6.05 |
| DeMarcus Cousins | 4.45 | 10.47 | +6.02 |
| Draymond Green | 6.54 | 12.17 | +5.63 |
| Harrison Barnes | -0.74 | 4.64 | +5.38 |
| Jared Dudley | 1.93 | 7.26 | +5.33 |
Tom’s weekly segment on Dayton Sportsradio was in studio – Nate even called in! Listen here: http://www.wingam.com/Tom-Pestak-from-Cavstheblog-com-talks-NBA-Cavs-wit/17320024?pid=459695
What does 8760 mean?
Great game, watched on phone so couldn’t comment here. Seemed like Cavs were in full control at the end. Hopefully Kyrie is okay though there is still several weeks left so he can get right for the playoffs.
I don’t know if anyone else is still awake and watching TNT, but this OKC/Suns game is RIDICULOUS!!! What a battle for the 8 seed!
Westbrook already has a triple-double and Bledsoe is one assist short of having one going into OT…
Was watching it, EG… Phoenix pulls it off!
Dion unfortunately had a Shaqtin a fool moment in the OT where he threw a cross-court pass to someone in the second row…
Cavs now officially the hottest team in the NBA with the OKC loss though…
HAHAHA… I saw that!!! He got caught in the air and no one was open… terrible decision making. Got stuffed by Bledsoe on a lay up as well. God bless Saint Weirdo.
Man. Lebron played out of his mind tonight, I can’t get over it. It was unbelievable, on such a stage, with all this MVP talk, gong up against the favorite for MVP, man…….just ridiculous
He got a fresh haircut for the game tonight! HAHAHA… but seriously, tonight was a stepping stone. Saw Lebron in the post more than the whole season. Same with Love, honestly. JR, #Samson, and Kyrie playing lockdown perimeter defense. The Iron Curtain living up to the name. The pieces are there, just need to stay healthy.
Deadspin even got in on this game: http://deadspin.com/lebron-james-and-the-scary-cavaliers-put-a-beatdown-on-1688381203?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
@EthanJSkolnick: Kyrie Irving (shoulder) will not travel to Indiana tonight, and is doubtful for tomorrow’s game. Having an MRI in morning.
Yikes… need Jones, maybe Harris tomorrow night…. need more from Perkins as well.
@SamAmicoFSO: Cavs not yet sure of severity of Kyrie’s shoulder, as MRI scheduled for Friday at Cleveland Clinic. He did play, however, after the injury.
Hopefully just a sprain/strain…. I’m really worried it’s a separated/dislocated shoulder.
He did come back in the game so I’d like to believe/hope it’s not too serious. Hopefully it’s no more than a couple of weeks of missed time. He did injure his shoulder a couple of years ago when Valanciunas took him out with a screen.
I think you’re right Arch… doubt he goes back into the game if it’s that serious… fingers crossed….
The fact that he’s listed at “doubtful” and not “out” for tomorrow’s game is also a more positive sign. He should probably just rest it and meet team in Houston if it feels better on the weekend, unless the MRI shows something more serious…
I hope this means we’ll be seeing these navy jerseys more often. They’re my favorite ones and I prefer them by far over those sharp/weird yellow jerseys (people like to call them gold).
That sharp/weird yellow color jersey honestly physically hurts my eyes when I see them on the TV screen. They’re not that soft classic yellow/gold that the Lakers wear and is easy on the eyes. And honestly, the Lakers have made that yellow gold jersey a trademark of their storied franchise and I feel they deserve to wear it alone.
Totally agree! I really wish the Cavs would bust out some alternative jerseys more often…
Oh totally, would love to see away jerseys from late ’70s, late ’80s and the mid to late ’90s.
http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/history/uniform_history.html
Honestly man, I hope they revamp their jerseys this off-season and incorporate the block pattern down the side of the jerseys from the ’74-’81 jerseys. But let’s see what Gilbert decides….
YES those are pretty sweet looking!!!
As long as they don’t bring back the 94-99 jerseys… those were horrible…
Agreed… along with 2003-2010 as well honestly.
Kevin Love needs to be a bigger factor tomorrow when we play the Pacers. They play tough inside and we need to open up the driving lanes.
@EthanJSkolnick: LeBron: “I was challenged by my coaches this morning. They wanted me to play in the post a little more & be aggressive.”
I thought that was an interesting comment by LBJ. He said that to let everyone know he can be coached.
This guy must be smoking with Cols; he has a theory on how the Cavs can get Embiid for nothing:
Well, it is the 76’ers.
Embiid has not rehabilitated well. He has gained a lot of (fat) weight and hasn’t appeared to be as driven as he was in the past. Philly officials are disappointed.
That is interesting. He would still be an all time great “flyer” to see if you could get him in the right path. I think LeBron is pretty good at that.
Let’s wreck this league!
HAHAHAHAHA…. OH BOY!
KLove with the interview right now…
20 games ago we were 19-20 and the world was ending. Incredible to think about.
I’m happy we won but this wasn’t the most fun game to watch. I thought this would have been a little more fast paced, but there were a lot of half court sets, whistle blows, missed shots, missed FTs. I like watching Kerr get so mad that he took his jacket off. I was waiting for the belt to come off… Or the shoe… I’ll compliment the defense. The Splash Brothers didn’t play particularly well. I thought we got some homer calls, but I’ll take it, especially after getting homered twice in Detroit.
Respectfully disagree Arch… this was one of the most fun games I think I’ve watched all year… Splash Bros didn’t play well because the Cavs guards stepped up and played great and challenging D… There were bad calls both ways… GSW was just afraid to go inside for points… Moz was a game high +17 for a reason…
Really? You think this was the most fun game? It felt kind of sloppy to me. I’m not disappointed in anyway but just felt it lacked Jolt. LeBron was the show. Kyrie had a quiet 24. I guess I wanted to see a shoot out between Curry and Kyrie. I also watched the game at the bar, so my focus was diverted at times.
It might appear ugly to some, but I’m learning to enjoy defensive games as beautiful and well played.
Well, I guess you could say that the Cavs started taking over physically, but I agree with EG…. this was one of the best games of the season, if not the best game.
Games I liked better:
– Double Nickles – Kyrie scores 55 to beat Portland without LeBron
– The OKC game at home
– The game we blew out the Hawks
– The game we blew out the Clippers
Loved the double nickel game… but missed seeing LBJ in it.
The other three were all blowouts and while fun, weren’t as satisfying
Double nickel game was awesome for sure… but as EG said, no LBJ.
This one was contested all the way through, and everybody contributed to the win.
The game against the Clippers… I hear you, I thought that was the game I was most hyped for until tonight’s game.
Crowd was electric too! Wish I could have been there…
Just to clarify – I just wanted to see more balanced scoring. But each game is different so this one was a game LeBron needed to dominate. The defense was really solid the final 3 quarters and I applaud that.
No worries Arch… I could see what you were saying. I think for me personally, the part that I didn’t like about the game was stressing that GSW would go off at any moment from 3 HAHAHAHA!!!!
I was thinking the same thing. I kept thinking Curry was gonna just take over and tie it up in 15 seconds.
And that’s probably why it was up there for me… the level of competition, the pre-game hype, the TNT doubters at halftime, the way the Cavs responded after giving up 33 points in the first quarter, the danger of the Splash Bros suddenly finding a way to bust loose… just made it fun from start to finish for me…
Just hope Kyrie is okay…
Gotcha! Didn’t here the TNT crew at half time. I just think it would’ve been more fun had they played better and we won. I’m nitpicking at this point.
According to Phelps… Steph Curry was 4-7 at one point in the game and then went 1-10 for the remainder…
didn’t get to watch much was that due to good defensive pressure or just cold shooting? Amazing win!
Very good defensive pressure from Cavs tonight…
great to hear! We have really worked on closing out on 3 pt shooting lately. Dang loving the stats when you look at how well everyone played and then you see domination with Lebron! Here we go…
When the Cavs used to be 30th or so in perimeter defense, Golden State is the type of team that would light us up.
Not anymore.
Definitely wore them down! Beat them up!
Shumpert in particular would not allow curry any space
why we got him. He wants to cover the best player, just like LeBron.
Cavs are 18-0 at home when they score 100…
TT is the sub of the game on FSO… this was his best game in a while…
Hit some key shots, Delly had his sick fadeaway that was huge… Total team effort!!!
And his dribble move before the shot was Kyrie-esque!
YES IT WAS!!!! I’m glad he’s working on his handling!
Think about this roster that Blatt has put together.
I know you meant Griff… but yes… it’s pretty amazing!
I mean Griffin.
To think that we only have 4 original Cavs and only 3 are healthy. We have come so far in such a short time.
Thought we did an excellent job closing out on curry and thompson in the second half. Forced gs into a number of midrange jumpers and contested threes. We also did a better job of limiting layups and points in the paint. I think the refs were somewhat beneficial for us but the aggresive team in a game which the refs allow physical play usually gets the benefit of the doubt when calling fouls on so called vertically contested layups or interior plays. In addition, more physical play is usually allowed in the playoffs, so this bodes well if we have… Read more »
I don’t know if GS makes the finals… there are some tough and physical teams in the WC that might follow the Cavs blueprint for beating them (teams like Memphis, Portland and Clippers)…
Definitely, EG… I’d be tempted to argue all of those teams are just as good as GS.
Need a few more JR Swish threes from Love & LBJ post up kick outs.
I know it’s been said before… but how much better is it listening to Blatt instead of Mike Brown?
I start my day at work every day listening to the prior day Blatt presser. Dude is the best.
HAHAHAHA…. I do the same thing Hot Sauce!!!
Its perfect for checking emails and settling into the day ;)
WOW… glad I’m not the only one!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Make sure you start tomorrow off listening to my Podcast
Yes, this is always a good listen!
Blatt extolling the virtues of JR and Iman’s selfless attitudes on defense… love this guy!
When was the last time our defense was this good for such an extended period??
Probably not since 2008-09
I loved that as well, EG… also LBJ did the same in his post-game.
According to Phelps… this is the Cavs 10th straight win against the WC…
I will say GS plays a beautiful style of basketball. They share the ball much better than us. What stuck out tonight, however, was how much talent we have. So much talent. And how much more physical we are than them. I feel like Blatt was really smart about attacking individual matchups. He came up and went right at Green in post with LBJ. They also went to Love in the post more than normal when Lee or Green were on him. When it could have been tempting to try to run with GS, Blatt and LBJ instead exposed GS’s… Read more »
Definitely Hot Sauce… physicality was the key. Our guards are too long for Steph, and Klay couldn’t get in a rhythm until late…
In short, Golden State can’t get much better . . . . . . . . . . . but we can.
Also interesting. I felt like GS was cold, but they shot 38% from deep tonight. We only shot 32% from deep. We just dominated the paint.
Our current roster is made up so that, if one phase of the game isn’t working, some other system kicks in and propels us forward. We’re like a “run flat” tire . . . we can blow out . . . and still head down the road.
Not according to Barkley and the TNT crew ;) HAHAHAHAHA
Sadly missed a lot of the game other than radio but that stat and point is music to my ear. We struggled earlier dominating the paint and relied on hot shooting. Damn we are so good and like UDpg just mentioned we can get better!
This is a great comment.
Yes the Warriors bait you into running pick and rolls by aggressively checking ball-handlers almost out to the 3point line. And then they have the personnel to switch many PnRs. So the Cavs made a very calculated (and uncharacteristic) decision to attack Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes in the post. Try to force the Warriors to double team. The Warriors didn’t – and the Cavs punished them.
Agree with Tom… great observations. That’s why I didn’t mind as much as others the lack of assists and the abundance of iso plays tonight. It was about match ups… which is playoff basketball.
I think they could’ve gone to Love even more consistently than they did, in fact. But that’s really nitpicking.
Sometimes, it’s not about the plays… it’s about the players. When you have a mismatch… you have to keep on going to well until it runs dry.
Cavs in third place by themselves… one game back of the Raps for the 2 seed!
Great night for the blue unies!
What a monster game for the King and the whole team.
Only 43 points for the Warriors in the second half… I’m liking this trend for the Cavs D…
This game reminded me of the Mike Tyson – Buster Douglas fight. Buster took the lead early and held onto it for awhile, but you just knew that Tyson was going to land a combination to send Douglas to the floor. The announcers just knew the Curry and Thompson would get hot and pull it out. In both cases – it never happened.
THE POWER OF DEFENSE!
You did NOT just compare the Cavs to Buster Douglas… ;)
I was hoping noone would notice that.
It was more the GS comparison to Tyson. Everyone (TNT announcers) knew he was going to throw a roundhouse knockout punch. But he never challenged.
I got the analogy… just giving you a hard time… ;)
For all the complaining the Warriors did about not getting to the line… they only hit 10-19 when they went there…
Shut their offense down after the 1st quarter 23 – 22 – 21 the rest of the game!!!!
Plus we still got the post-game interviews!
Also – LBJ’s leadership insane tonight. Showed the young boys what it means to play big boy basketball. No trash talking. No preaching. Just dominating from the opening tip.
YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE ALL WITNESSES!!!!!
Absolutely! They kept their cool when the Warriors didn’t…
I hope the rest of the team saw the look in his eyes. The focus. The “I will not be denied.” And start to duplicate it.
Comment too short first attempt, so let’s try again: joy joy joy joy joy joy joy, happy place
BIG TIME WIN FELLAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CELEBRATE!!!!!!
SUCH AN AMAZING WIN!!!