Recap: Cavs 102, Heat 92 (or, Our Stars Are Better Than Yours)

As I geared up to watch the Cavs take on the Heat in Opening Night at the Q, I noticed a Tweet that included an interesting factoid about a few of the stars involved in this game. It was to be the first time since Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals that LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh would all be playing on the same court together (not including a preseason game in Brazil later that fall). Though LeBron took part in all four contests against his former team last season, Bosh missed all but one (due to a serious blood clot issue), which happened to be the same one that Wade missed due to injury.

So, after nearly a year and a half, here was the former “big three” back together before tip-off, trading hugs and secret handshakes… except no longer as teammates. The new “big three” now resides in Cleveland, although the third guy of the triumvirate will be wearing a suit on the bench for a little while longer. That seemingly meant a square-off between two star duos, with Wade and Bosh v. LeBron and his anointed once-and-future-all-star, Kevin Love. Unfortunately for the Heat, they were unaware that beyond the greatness of the Cavs’ top two stars, they also have an entire team of Space Stars…

First Quarter:

The game started out delivering on its promise of being a clash of two opposing sets of stars. DWade and Chris Bosh each hit triples en route to giving the Heat an early margin. Then, LeBron and KLove took turns taking it to the Heat. LBJ attacked voraciously from the post down, flashing an array of moves and drives to the hoop, and decimating whoever tried to guard him (be it Luol Deng or rookie Justise Winslow). After that, Love got to work both inside and out, mixing a dunk and a layup with a few trips to the line from drawn fouls. They were a two-man wrecking crew, until the Delly/TT lob show took over toward the end of the quarter. TT even uncharacteristically drained a 15-foot jumper off a Delly assist to give the Cavs their largest lead of the quarter. At the end of the first, the Cavs’ stars had outscored the Heat stars 19-10, and the Cavs led 29-23.

Second Quarter:

After sitting for about five and a half minutes of game time, LeBron checked back in and promptly picked up where he left off, once again attacking in and around the paint. The King scored nearly half of the Cavs 18 points in the low scoring quarter, mostly on back-down, turnaround jumpers and spin moves. He also assisted on the Cavs’ only two triples in their first 15 tries, first hitting Delly and then KLove for long bombs from downtown. The Cavs also stepped their game up defensively, swarming the Miami shooters and holding the Heat without a bucket for almost five minutes to start the quarter to push the lead to double digits. Eventually, Bosh got loose on his own seven point run, then handed the reins over to Wade who abused J.R. Smith mercilessly. After forcing J.R. into a bad turnover, Wade went into 2006 Finals mode, drawing back-to-back phantom menace fouls on him (at least Swish didn’t lose his cool, and Coach Blatt quickly subbed Delly in for him to stop the bleeding). Thanks to a pull-up shot from Mo Gotti to finish the scoring, Cavs still led 47-42 at the half.

Third Quarter:

LeBron got a chance to take it easy in the third, as KLove was seemingly everywhere, doing everything to keep the offense flowing. In fact, all the King had to do was finish off a touchdown pass from Kevin with dunk. Love also dished a couple of terrific passes to Moz for easy buckets, and ripped down a few more boards before draining back-to-back triples to push the Cavs’ advantage, and notch another double digit quarter for himself. One of them was assisted by Delly, who took over ball-handling duties, dishing out four dimes in the latter stages of the period (including yet another high handoff to TT). Wade did what he could to offset Love’s barrage, frustrating J.R. further with two more phantom fouls and trips to the line. But, the Cavs maintained some breathing room, and led 76-67 after three.

https://vine.co/v/e3mvIxrDUOb

Fourth Quarter:

When KLove and LeBron had both checked out with two minutes to go in the third, they turned things over to Delly, TT, RJ, Andy and Much Danger Ninja with a seven point lead. By the time the two stars returned with 8:18 to go in the fourth, this wrecking crew had pushed the lead to 15. In their almost six minutes on the floor together, this unit didn’t just hold down the fort… they stormed the enemy base! And it wasn’t just against the Heat reserves, as both Wade and Bosh checked back in before Bron and Kevin did. Delly and TT were up to their old tricks again (Delly with three more assists, and TT with another oop and a HUGE block on Chris Bosh), and old man Jefferson pulled some tricks of his own with a triple and a driving throw-down. MDN also kicked in two buckets and an assist for good measure. Aside from a lone Mario Chalmers layup, the Cavs kept the Heat off of the scoreboard until midway through the quarter. By then, the lead had ballooned to 19, and the game was effectively over. A meaningless nine point run by Goran Dragic made the final score seem respectable… Cavs 102-92.

Space Ghost

LeBron James was ruthlessly malicious with efficiency in this game. As the leader of the Space Stars, he came out on a mission tonight to work out of the post and show how fully dominant he could be against the likes of Luol Deng and Justise Winslow. The King had his way with the Heat front line down low, alternately spinning for a fade-away, or taking it to the rack off of a sublime back-down. He only took two shots from beyond the arc, and not many more from beyond 15 feet. Still, he was able to pour in a game high 29 points on a blisteringly efficient 13-19 shots (68.4%!), with five boards and four assists in just 34 minutes. It was brilliant to see him go to work early and often on his old pals, especially after he often seemed thrown off when going against the Heat last season. It seems safe to say that he’s over whatever mental block might have existed on that front… much to the likely dismay of the Sockless Curmudgeon (shout out to commenter Joey B for the awesomely descriptive adjective). Also, between his pregame comments about wanting to play all 82 games this season, and his aggressive interior play, Bron seemed to be sending a message to the world to stop worrying about his back.

Space Ace

Talk is cheap, but so far the lip service that both LeBron and Coach Blatt have dished out about Kevin Love being more of a focal point for the offense has a ring of truth. Somebody pointed out on the live thread that KLove’s numbers aren’t all that inflated from last year’s. However, the eye test will show you a semblance of a much more active and involved Love. Granted, it’s still way early, but it sure seems like Kevin has picked up where he left off in the Celtics series last spring… and then some. His floor spacing has always been an added feature to the offense that creates a next level of dynamism, but he’s also working his inside game more like he did in his Minnesota days. Maybe it’s due to his off season training, maybe it’s due to his newfound chemistry and confidence level with LeBron, maybe it’s the cheapo headband. Whatever it is… it’s working like gangbusters so far. With 24 points (on 6-15 shooting, and a perfect nine trips to the charity stripe), 14 boards, five assists and one terrific block on Chris Bosh, Love was clearly the second best star on the floor tonight.

Space Stars

I don’t pretend to be as well-versed in knowledge of the Space Stars as some of my C:tB cohorts, and, since I don’t want to risk blaspheming against the original Herculoids, I’ll just label the members of the Cavalier bench collectively as “a galaxy of heroes teamed together in an interstellar battle against evil.”

The Cavs bench just might be "a thing" this season https://t.co/MPrx0XktjZ

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 31, 2015

If you read only the first half of the box score, you’d see that Delly shot only 1-5 tonight (1-4 from beyond the arc), and that might disappoint you. However, it’s the second half of the box score that tells the tale of his true worth… five rebounds, a game high 10 assists, one steal, ZERO turnovers and a ridiculous team high +23 in 27 minutes. Now, here’s where it gets really crazy… in 65 minutes of play in three games, Delly has 17 assists and ONE turnover, and the Cavs are +56 when he’s on the floor. He is playing with so much more confidence thus far this season, and is pushing the ball up the floor, making the correct passes and running the offense extremely well. He has also perfected his patented alley-oop to TT to such a degree that it begs for some sort of moniker…

https://twitter.com/tompestak/status/660260280216256512

Speaking of TT, it really didn’t take him all that long to shake off the rust of missing training camp and preseason ball. Though he already seemed to have his rebounding mojo back since the second half of the Bulls game, he got his offensive and defensive mojo back tonight, with a major assist (or four) from Delly. Canadian Dynamite hit his first five shots on his way to 6-9 for 13 points. Most of his buckets were of the high-handoff and dunk variety, although he did hit a “no, no, no… yes!” 15-footer early on. He also pulled down nine boards and had this monster block on Chris Bosh…

Andy Varejao did several awesome things in his 16 minutes of play. He took a terrific charge. He pulled down eight rebounds. He played with an electric abandon — and when he was on the court with TT, the Heat stood no chance of getting a second chance possession. He hit one of his nearly automatic jumpers from the right elbow, to beat the clock no less. And… most importantly, he stayed healthy. I know not everyone agrees, but I love what Andy brings to this team. He’s been terrific thus far, and effective in his limited role. And, to paraphrase Mark Twain… “the rumors of Andy’s demise have been greatly exaggerated…”

Richard Jefferson (aka RJ… aka old man Ram-a-Jam) continues to turn back the clock this year. It now seems like every other game he busts out with a sick drive and slam when the opponent least expects it. RJ didn’t have his usual stellar shooting night (just 2-7, 1-3 from deep), and turned it over a few times, yet he was still able to play substantial minutes for LeBron (27), and even got to spend some time at the two given J.R.’s troubles.

And, who would have expected Much Danger Ninja (Jared Cunningham) to get as much run as he has off the bench? The stealthy one made good use of his nine minutes, hitting 2-4 shots with a couple assists, and was part of the unit that doubled the lead between the third and fourth quarters.

The Evil:

Though the Cavs were able to keep most of the Heat, including Chris Bosh, in check, they let DWade get more of what he wanted than they should have early. Most of this came at the expense of J.R. Smith who had a devil of a time guarding Wade. Part of the issue was that the officials, who are already predisposed to not give J.R. the benefit of the doubt, were suddenly transported back to 2006… a time where nicknames like W.O.W. and Flash were still relevant when referring to Dwayne. Poor J.R. got more and more visibly frustrated with the touch fouls, but to his credit, he didn’t blow up. Still, DWade was able to tally 25 points on 8-15 shooting (8-8 from the line) in just 30 minutes of play.

The starting back court for the Cavs had a mostly forgettable evening. Combined, J.R. and Mo Gotti shot just 3-18 (0-7 from three) for eight points. They had a mere two rebounds and three assists between them as well to go with three turnovers. Mo has had his ups and downs shooting so far this year, but did actually do a solid job of staying in front of Goran Dragic. J.R., on the other hand, is in an extended shooting funk that dates all the way back to last year’s playoffs. Hopefully, Mr. Swish can get his mind right and start knocking them down again soon. It makes me wonder if he’s putting too much pressure on himself to be a good defender as a starter…

It seemed like every Cavs big man had at least one shot blocked by Hassan Whiteside (he had six for the game). I get that blocking shots is his thing, but more than a few of these seemed avoidable. And, speaking of horrific blocks… I felt really bad for Mo when he got unsuspectingly munched by DWade on that wide open three. I yelled at my screen like I was at a horror movie “Look out MO!!”

Maybe it’s just because it’s almost “Movember” but it’s odd to see an abundance of porn-staches adorning the lips of LeBron, J.R., etc. (maybe LeBron is more Space Ace with the stache…)

The Genius:

The Cavs are moving and sharing the ball at an unbelievable clip. They had another 25 assists in this game, and have racked up a total of 80 in just three games!

Favorite postgame moment had to be J.R. Smith looking at the boxscore and marveling to no one in particular about Delly's 10-ast, 0-TO line

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 31, 2015

The Cavs dominated the boards once again (49-38) and the points in the paint (46-38). They also held yet another opponent to 43% or below from the field.

I know I didn’t mention Moz specifically, although the big man has done a pretty admirable job in limited minutes. Likely the Cavs are protecting his surgically repaired knee. He doesn’t seem quite as mobile as he was last year just yet, however, he did have several good moments and throwdowns against the Heat. I also love that KLove is always looking to feed the big Russian the ball down low.

Parting Shots:

For a team being touted in some corners as a sexy pick to challenge the Cavs for Eastern Conference supremacy… the Heat at full strength sure didn’t look like they could run with a Cavs team missing it’s starting back court.

With upcoming games against the Sixers (twice), Knicks (twice), Pacers and Jazz, the Cavs shouldn’t really be challenged until they visit Milwaukee on November 14. Barring injury or complacency, this should be a fun stretch of dominance. And before every game, we can say…

“Now get set for 48 laser-blasting minutes of action, adventure, fun with… Space Stars!”