Recap: Cleveland 117, Brooklyn 92 (or, the septuple double)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLQ_XUndRsk
It’s hard to believe that there are only 12 regular season games left after this one. And it’s hard to believe that there was a time not too long ago when Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, and Brook Lopez were considered elite players. Cleveland overcame a sluggish first quarter against those guys to eviscerate the Nets to the tune of 45 field goals off of 32 assists, 55% from the field, 52 points in the paint, and 15-29 from three. Seven Cavs scored in double figures as the Cavs looked electric for the final three periods. To be honest, much of this was because Brooklyn’s defense was lackluster at best. But who cares? We have dunks, threes, and dimes to discuss!

First Quarter: The Cavs rolled into the building without shaving, grabbed a cup of coffee, cherry picked the best donuts in the break room, and surfed the internet for a good half hour before they decided to actually start working. By the time LeBron stopped laughing at Matthew McConaughey’s Austin video store commercials, and Kevin Love finished his SWSX updates, the Nets were up 20-7. Thad Young, meanwhile, had snuck into the office before dawn and notched nine points in the first six minutes. That hotshot young Jr. Executive from the Scoring Dept., Kyrie Irving, finally got fed up and kicked everyone into gear. He collected his own miss and laid it in to start an 11-2 run. As the announcers noted, Kyrie played with fantastic pace from early on and maintained a perfect balance of scoring and assisting. He finished the quarter with nine points and four dimes off a variety of drives, pull-ups, catch-and shoot jumpers, and fantastic setups.

The Cavs made a concerted effort early to get the ball in to Love and Mozgov in the high and low post, and despite it not always being successful, it was good to see (and would pay dividends later). Kyrie made his finest assist when he found Kevin Love with a filthy bounce pass in transition, and Love flung it in off the square for an And-1 bucket. Delly had a nice little runner in the lane when Brooklyn was obviously overplaying for the lob pass, and Matt made them pay. After the morning meeting, the Cavs ended the quarter down just 26-23.

Second Quarter: Earl Joseph Smith III canned an 18-fot step back over Bojan Bogdanovic to kick off the quarter, and to kick off a scoring explosion from downtown. J.R. got red hot and in the space 2:17 hit three triples and assisted on two Shumpert mid-rangers. Smith’s triples were all on smart finds from LeBron who actually posted up (I know, right!?), drew the defense, and kicked it to the gunner twice out of the low post. The King then kicked it to J.R. out of the high post for the third triple. It was fun to watch and was all a part of a 13-2 run that put the Cavs up double digits and in control for the rest of the game.

J.R. finished with 14 in the period, and LeBron with nine. Meanwhile the defense was flying around. The Delly/Shumpert back court terrorized the Nets, and Mozgov’s paint defense was much improved. He actually guarded someone on pick-and-rolls. On one possession I saw Delly challenge three different players.

My favorite play of the night happened when Brook Lopez went up for a weak layup and stood there dumbfounded as J.R. obliterated it. Love collected and lasered a pass to Irving at half-court. Kyrie slashed and danced to set up LeBron who cut in behind him and then obliterated the rim.

Good, God, that was awesome. There’s nothing better than turning beautiful defense into beautiful offense. Despite a Joe Johnson shot with one second left in the half, the Cavs finished up 59-47.

Third Quarter: When the game came back from half-time, Shump and Perkins were bobbing their head and Shump was testifying the words of whatever hip-hop song was on the speakers. My buddy Eric remarked, “Those two should have their own buddy-cop show.”  I would watch the crap out of that.

Brooklyn came out determined to keep it a game, and after a quick 7-2 run by New Jersey, I was a bit worried. Kyrie Irving and Timofey Mozgov simply chuckled, unveiled their new high-wire act, and slashed and lobbed the Nets to death. The Irving-Mozgov connection was sick, as Irving hit Mozzy with drive-and-dish passes, lobs, passes while falling down, and Nash-like forays into the lane which drew three defenders. Mozzy finished with not one, not two, not three, but five dunks, and was a part of the fantastic effort by the Cavs to cut off the ball, especially away from the play on the weak side of the pick-and-roll.

Love got in on the assist party by finding Tristan and Mozzy for even more paint field goals, and when the Cavs weren’t cashing in on the pick and roll, they were posting up and kicking out. Mozgov had a nice pass out of the post to set up J.R. for yet another three-point swish. Meanwhile, only Deron Williams — who hit a variety of tough shots — and Jarrett Jack kept the game from getting completely embarrassing for Brooklyn. Thompson hit three straight in the paint, and even little Matthew Dellavedova buried a three with 17 seconds as the Cavs grabbed the game by the throat and closed the quarter up 94-73.

Fourth Quarter: LeBron inexplicably played deep into garbage time. He didn’t leave till the 5:04 mark, when he was replaced by Marion. I guess Blatt is sick of his bench blowing leads late in games, and the starters having to go back in. It wasn’t as much of an issue tonight, as Dellavedova was on-point, and the Nets defense was unengaged. Delly popped in another triple, and then found James Jones on pick-and-pops on consecutive possessions to put the Cavs up 24 early in the fourth, and the Nets cleared their bench.

When Perk Came in in the fourth, I imagined the comedy relief part of the Shump/Perk cop show, where Perk tries to throw the bad guy into the back of the sedan only to clank the perp off the side of the car multiple times before Detective Perkins finally just pushes everyone out of the way and angrily dunks the scofflaw into the the seat…. or something along those lines. Maybe we need to storyboard this.

Watching Perkins try to put things in baskets at this point is… amusing in the way that watching any very large, very angry man try to do things requiring deft coordination is amusing. The best moment came when Perk tried to go behind the back, and the ball inexplicably squirted through three Nets defenders before Marion scooped it up and laid it in. It was that kind of night for the Cavs. Mike Miller even hit a three.

Conclusions: The Nets do not play good defense, and it showed. The Cavs lit them up. Seven Cavs finished in double digits, tonight: the starters, plus Tristan and Iman. Delly finished with eight. The passing was phenomenal, especially from Irving, who had 10 dimes and only one turnover. LeBron chipped in seven with only two turnovers, and Delly had five assists. It was nice to see the Cavs protect the ball after a sloppy first quarter, but the Nets didn’t exactly exert pressure.

My favorite part of the game was when Delly and Shump were flying around, switching everything on the perimeter (I didn’t rewind the tape to tell if it was a matchup zone, but it looked like it might have been). It absolutely stymied the Nets. The entire bench played well, and looked much more relaxed tonight. Let’s hope they can contribute against good teams in the future.

Kevin Love’s return was a relief. He looked a lot livelier, and his ability to rebound helps this entire team. I loved the way the Cavs used him in the post and as a playmaker (four assists), and the way he’s come light years on defense this year. I’m not believing any rumors about him. I’ll worry about all the garbage from the rumor mill when the season’s over. This was his most complete game in some time.

LeBron, aside from some thunderous finishes was mostly an afterthought. Thankfully, he only played hero ball a couple times. It was nice to see him blend into the offense and not have to control everything. His ever-present basketball gravity opens things up for everyone else.

Mozzy had 17 points in 16 minutes. I love having him on the court. When teams over-commit to LeBron, Kyrie, J.R., and Love, Mozilla makes them pay. He balances the court so well from the inside. His pick-and-roll defense was much more “aware” tonight.