Recap: Wiz 97, Cavs 85 (or, Abra Cadaver!)

The Wizards cast a spell on the Cavs tonight, rendering them the equivalent of the walking dead while Washington raced past them faster than you could say “Presto!” Even though the Wiz entered the Q on a four game losing streak, turns out, they had plenty of surprises up their sleeve for the wine & gold… like rabbit-out-of-the-hat pace, endless pockets of small ball, sleight of hand tricks to force a slew of turnovers, and an act that seemingly made the Cavs’ defense magically disappear. And, of course, at the center of it all was the “Amazing John Wall” who continuously sawed the zombie Cavs’ rim protection in half, and somehow got away with nary a threat of violence.

The headline video not only provides a fitting subtitle for this recap, but also encapsulates the Cavs cadaverous performance in the one word chorus that The Hives belt out (“BAD!”), while matching the breakneck pace at which the Wizards chose to play (plus, it’s a personal fave).

Dead Men Walking

The tone was set from the start of this one by the Wizards, as they sprinted out to a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes. They caught the Cavs flat-footed, as they could only shuffle around, a good step or two behind the speedy basketball magicians. Timofey Mozgov in particular seemed completely out of sorts as he played almost mindlessly during his nine minutes on the court. I think I distinctly heard him moan “brains!” as he meandered aimlessly, turning the ball over twice and getting blocked twice in the opening minute of the game. After a quick trigger timeout, the Cavs stirred from their sleepwalking a bit, even tying the game at 14 with a couple LeBron drives and threes from Mo and J.R. Yet, they still couldn’t seem to keep John Wall or Marcin Gortat from turning the paint into their own personal stage, as the Wiz scored half of their points in the quarter at the rim. Cavs trailed 27-24.

Now You See Me…

The Cavs kept it close for a few more minutes into the second quarter before John Wall put on his own command performance, scoring 13 points on a series of sleight of hand drives to the rack (he had four layups in this period alone), while (as Nate so visually put it) “wearing Mo Williams as a cape.” For a guy who had been having more than his share of trouble putting the ball in the hole (just 39% coming into this game), Wall was certainly able to entrance the Cavs’ defense into allowing him any shot he chose, both inside and out. In addition to pacing up their speed of play, the Wiz also took an interesting and effective approach on defense, essentially abandoning any attempt at guarding Tristan Thompson and allowing Gortat to roam the paint and double up on any sort of post play by Kevin Love and LeBron. Maybe Marcin is actually a genie, or maybe the wizardry carried over to the officials, but Gortat was seemingly invisible to them as he camped out under the rim. This led to the Cavs shooting (and missing) a barrage of outside shots, and going completely scoreless during a three minute rest period for LeBron. Mo also continued the zombie theme by somehow strolling his way into an unpressured 8-second call. The Wizard lead grew to double digits, and the Cavs trailed at the half, 54-43.

Colder Than A Corpse

It was deja vu all over again as the Wiz started the second half much the same way they did the first, with an 8-0 run. Rigor mortis must have set in for the Cavs at this point, because they again had extreme difficulty holding onto the ball. They once again turned it over four times in the first three minutes, with two more courtesy of the MozZombie. And, even when they did keep a handle on the rock, their shooting went as cold as a Siberian morgue, as they started the half hitting just 1-9. Washington pushed their margin out to 22 points with just over five minutes remaining before the Cavs’ bench finally started to help warm things up a bit. David Blatt finally inserted Andy Varejao to inject some energy into the lineup. Then, Richard Jefferson drained a three, and Delly and J.R. Smith came alive to combine for a 15 point barrage, which pulled the Cavs back to within 11. After Coach Blatt earned his first technical of the young season while arguing a blocking call on AV, Brad Beal hit the free throw and two more jumpers to end the quarter. Cavs trailed 80-67.

And, For My Final Trick…

Every time it appeared the Cavs might finally be on the verge of figuring out the secret to John Wall’s wizardry in this game, he surprised them with one more dazzling move. As a result, the fourth quarter unfolded much like the second, as Wall took over… this time with two of his three triples in the game. Wall is not exactly known for his long range abilities (he’s shooting just 29% on the year), but he dug deep into his bag of tricks and seemingly launched a three every time the Cavs started to threaten. When he wasn’t draining those, he was driving and dishing to set up his teammates (he had a game high 10 dimes). But, despite Wall’s 10 points in the quarter, the Cavs were able to chip the lead down to 10 with just under three minutes to play. However, even though the Cavs were ultimately able to get stops down the stretch, they just couldn’t convert any of their own opportunities on the offensive end. Cavs home win streak disappears into thin air… 97-85.

The Evil

So much went wrong in this game that I’m sure I’ll forget some of it… but here goes:

So many turnovers. The Cavs achieved their season high in the amount of times they coughed up the basketball with 18. LeBron had half of these, many as a result of trying to force the action. These turnovers led to 25 points for the Wizards. On one hand, credit is due to Washington for their hustle and defensive scheme which certainly contributed to the Cavs’ turnover woes. On the other, the general lethargy displayed by the Cavs led to some lazy passes and key mental errors. Moz in particular had some real issues with four turns in just nine minutes of play.

Undersharing and oversharing. With just 15 assists, it would seem that the Cavs didn’t move the ball enough in this one. That’s partially correct, as the Wiz forced some turnovers early when the Cavs tried too hard to make the extra pass, and the quickness of Washington undid their plans. This led to the ball sticking a bit more often later in the game. Also, the overall rocky shooting contributed considerably to a lower assist ratio.

Ice cold shooting. The Cavs shot a mind and rim bending 33% from the floor, and just managed to reach 30% from three with a last couple of bombs from Delly and J.R. in the fourth (they were just 9-30 from beyond the arc). If not for Delly (5-9, and 3-3 from deep) and Mo (5-10, and 2-3 from deep), it would have been much, much worse. Kevin Love (2-10), J.R. (3-14), Moz (0-3) and James Jones (0-3) all had brutal shooting nights. Even LeBron wasn’t his usual efficient self at just 8-20 from the field.

Shellacked in the paint. The Wiz dominated the inside, doubling up the Cavs 44-22 on points in the paint. With the ineffectiveness of Moz, and the small ball lineup Washington employed, the Wiz were able to run a virtual layup line for the majority of the contest.

I-Zombie. There’s no kind way to say this… Mozzy stunk this game. Maybe it’s his knee, in which case the Cavs should probably give him time off to heal up more. However, the knee is not connected to the hands or the brain last time I checked. Timo’s hands of stone were a little more forgivable last season when he was able to effectively protect the rim, but when he’s not capable of doing that, his turnovers are magnified. He also often doesn’t look like he’s mentally locked into the action. The Cavs are going to need him to find his focus, because it’s going to be a taller order to ask TT and AV to stop the internal bleeding at the rim.

Slo-Mo. Against upper level PGs with the type of speed and wizardry that John Wall possesses, there is no question that Mo will get fully exposed. I feel like I’ve typed this at least a dozen times already this season, but even though Mo will never be expected to be a defensive stalwart, he’s got to at least try to slow the other guy down (or at least wear him out on the other end). Mo’s offense is his defense to a large degree, and despite hitting some shots tonight, he definitely seemed a step slow even in that department. He frequently strolled the ball up the floor, once even inexcusably not in time to beat the 8-second clock. That just can’t happen.

Lost Love. This was maybe Kevin Love’s worst game of the year. With Moz neutralized by his own ineptitude, and TT neutralized by his own offensive shortcomings, Kevin was left at the mercy of constant double-teams in the post. This left only his outside shot as an option, but unfortunately Kev couldn’t knock down any of his three fairly wide open threes. He also only had eight boards and no assists, and became a relative non-factor on both ends of the court, logging a game low -24. KLove will likely bounce back from this poor performance, but this was a night that the Cavs could have really used his shooting to open up the paint.

Hands Off. The Wiz completely abandoned any pretense of guarding Tristan Thompson and instead used their extra body (often Gortat) to double Kevin and LeBron. With his fairly limited offensive game (outside of the receiving end of the Loaded Wombat), having TT out there gave Washington an edge in their defensive scheme.

In Need of Adjustment. Granted, Coach Blatt has more limited options against a team like the Wiz that plays small with an up-tempo pace (especially missing both Kyrie and Shump). However, it seemed like he should have utilized both Andy and Delly sooner and more frequently in this game to counter what Washington was doing. Inserting them both along with RJ, TT and JR in the third paid some dividends by infusing some life into the defense. This also seemed like a game where it might have made some sense to see if Jared Cunningham’s athleticism could have made a difference.

The Genius

Conversely, not a lot of positive to takeaway from this one, but here’s a few silver linings:

Feeling Charitable. The Cavs got to the line 23 times and converted 20 of their freebies for a stellar 87%. Given the season-long issues on this front, it was refreshing to see them at least knocking these down with some regularity.

Reserve Fuel. Delly, TT, RJ and Andy all contributed in this one. Delly had one of his better shooting nights (a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc) and brought energy on the defensive end. He didn’t stop Wall either, but at least slowed him down here and there. TT snagged 11 boards and did his best to fill in for an ineffective Moz. RJ hit a couple of big shots. And AV brought his frenetic energy to help infuse some life into the effort in the third quarter. The only main reserve tank that came up empty was JFJ who missed all three of his triple attempts, although he did help make some key stops in the fourth.

Even on an Off-Night. It’s weird to say that LeBron wasn’t up to his usual standards, since he did still lead the team with 24 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. But, his nine turnovers definitely put a crimp in his evening. He did play some lock down defense in the fourth, although he oddly couldn’t convert several point blank attempts at the rim down the stretch. It certainly looked like he absorbed his fair share of contact on those drives, but he doesn’t seem to be getting many calls in the early going. He did have perhaps the prettiest play of the night though with this beauty of an assist to RJ…

https://vine.co/v/iWMJQI0dtPq

Eulogy

It’s easy to chalk this loss up to being “just one of those games” on a night where the Cavs just didn’t have it. Yet, the Cavs got beaten soundly (at home) by a Washington team that had been on the ropes in the early part of the season, and losers of four straight. For all of the tough talk about becoming a team that plays with rage, with an edge, and with a single-minded purpose, this was an oddly lethargic performance from the Cavs. It will be interesting to see how they respond with their upcoming weekend back-to-back at New Orleans and Miami. It will also be interesting to see if other teams start utilizing more small ball lineups to try to expose the weaknesses of the Cavs, and how they will counter that tactic.