Recap: Blazers 105, Cavaliers 76 (Or, C’mon Mom, Let Me Sleep a Little Longer!)
2015-12-27
The Cavaliers traveled to Portland looking to avenge their loss against the Warriors on Christmas Day. After shooting 31% against the Golden State, the prospect of lighting up Portland’s shaky defense must have excited the coaching staff. Apparently it did nothing to excite the players. With Kyrie Irving held out on the second night of a back-to-back, and Damien Lillard hobbled by plantar fasciitis, their ongoing point guard duel was postponed for a later date.
Instead, C.J. McCollum and Allen Crabbe took the backcourt reigns for Portland coach Terry Stotts and straight demolished a disinterested Cleveland team. The GlenOak product, McCollum, filled in beautifully for Lillard providing offensive punch in the Pick and Roll game while using his long arms to bother Dellavedova on the other end. With C.J. sliding over to the point, Allen Crabbe started at the two and had his best evening as a pro. The Cavs did not have their best anything.
1st Quarter:
Kevin Love got the Cavs on the board by draining a dead center three ball courtesy of LeBron James. It was nice to see a long ball finally drop through the net, but it came from a possession that featured zero ball or player movement. That was the theme of the first quarter for an apathetic Cavaliers squad. Offensively, the Cavs lazily stood around before tossing the ball to the Blazers, or hoisting a contested jumper. Defensively, they were even worse.
C.J. McCollum had a field day running the offense. Though he has been starting at shooting guard this season, McCollum is truly a scoring point guard capable of doing supreme damage as a PnR ball handler. Kevin Love did not get the message. Kevin was barely awake to start the contest lazily hanging in the lane as a PnR Ice defender. Against a shooter like C.J. McCollum, that is deadly. C.J.’s blow-by layup, assist for a Crabbe corner three and two pull-up jumpers gave Portland a 13-4 lead before the first game stoppage.
Unfortunately for Coach Blatt, the timeout did nothing to solve the Cavaliers’ problems. Love turned the ball over on a telegraphed post entry pass out of the break. On the next defensive possession, Kevin didn’t help LeBron on a weak side screen that led to a left corner three for Aminu. On the occasion that Love did step up to the level of the pick, he allowed McCollum to split the double for another paint bucket.
The Cavs were awful as a team on the offensive end. It was astounding to see so many lazy passes from guys who barely jogged through their actions. Too many jumpers from not enough play action led the Cavs to shoot sub 25% from the field while the Blazers gained momentum. After one miserable quarter. 34-12 Blazers.
2nd Quarter:
Mo, Shump, RJ, TT, and Andy began the period with slightly more energy. It didn’t produce immediate results as Allen Crabbe added to his 13 first quarter points. At the first game stoppage, the Blazers still led 40-16.
An interesting lineup of Delly, Shump, RJ, LeBron and TT emerged from the huddle. The defense finally got some stops while two Delly treys sandwiched a LeBron layup to cut the lead to 16 with 6:45 remaining the half. But, the Blazers had a huge answer to that mini-run by reeling off 11 straight before Blatt stopped play at the 4:35 with the Cavs down 27.
Love drained two more threes and Mozzy finally got an oop to drop on a nice alley from LeBron, but Allen Crabbe and the Blazers continued to scorch the nets. With some help from Meyers Leonard and Mason Plumlee, Portland went to the locker room up 63-34.
3rd Quarter:
The starters returned to the floor to begin the second half. Kevin and J.R. hit a couple threes to give the Cavs a moment of hope. It was for naught. Smith chucked three after three trying to get hot while Portland methodically continued the beatdown. Other than a mini-beef with Meyers Leonard in the middle of the quarter, the Cavs’ spirit did nothing to affect the game. After three, 90-59.
4th Quarter:
Much Danger Ninja, Shump, RJ, Champ, and Andy started the final period of garbage time. Then Sasha Kaun subbed in for Andy. Then Andy subbed in for Shump. Basketball was played. Yup.
Thoughts:
The Blazers did nothing profoundly well on the defensive end. They are a poor defensive team that looks to overload the strong side with a man-zone look. They customarily “Ice” on PnR, though Stotts will blitz certain ball-handlers, like LeBron. The Blazers have solid length (without Lillard) and attempt to use that length to cover for an otherwise conservative system. Even so, they often run themselves out of position on basic ball swings. Ya know, the kind of thing that the Cavs curiously avoided in this contest.
The Cavs’ lack of energy was startling. I haven’t seen the Cavs play with that kind of boredom since pre-bowling trip last season. It is fine to chalk it up to post Warriors letdown, or holiday cookies gone awry. Honestly, it isn’t that big of a deal in the long run, but man was it astounding to watch. Other than a few stretches in the second quarter, Cleveland simply didn’t play this game.
Let’s talk about the team that did play this game. If I’m GM Neil Olshey of the Blazers, I’m taking calls on Damien Lillard. Lillard is an offensive genius, but his defensive play is criminal. A team is not going to win anything substantial when its highest profile player can’t play both ends of the floor. C.J. McCollum’s emergence as a 20 PPG scorer, or more importantly, C.J.’s ability to wreak havoc as a primary ball-handler should alleviate any hesitance on Olshey’s part to deal Lillard should good opportunity arise.
I doubt Allen Crabbe is about to become Reggie Miller, but his skill-set and length are helpful for Stotts. With Crabbe at the two and the long-armed McCollum at the point, the Blazers actually have a shot of stopping someone. The Lillard/McCollum backcourt gives up as much as it gives.
Ok, one more note on the King. His jumper has been broken for the better part of two seasons. I’m not sure what the solution is but the problem is apparent. He has been falling to his left on all jumpshots, and even ones with very little elevation. If he can’t figure this out at some point, spacing is going to become problematic. A defense can’t just leave LeBron like it would Tony Allen, because he is too hard to stop on cuts to the rim. Still, teams will test it out more and more as long as James is LeBrick.
Sure it would be great to be destroying teams on road trips and playing like world champs. Ah well, not to be in late December of 2015, but no reason to get down. 4 key players (KLove, Shump, Moz, and Kyrie) are working their way back from injuries. I’m more or less with Cols on this one. LeBron’s post game is fine, it will be there in the playoffs when needed. He needs to get his shot turned around if at all possible, since the threat of it sets up his drives nicely, and the point guards are all good… Read more »
I seem to be repeating myself a lot this past few days but I’ll keep posting it until someone else chimes in with a different perspective. Couple of points here – Coach Blatt needs to grow a massive pair in order to deal with this team. Between LeBron’s ego, TT’s self over-valuing and Moz/Love’s mental doubts, it feels as if everyone is doing whatever they want and we don’t really have a head coach. I was expecting Blatt to turn into a more vocal and stronger(leadership wise) coach, but it seems like he hasn’t made the stride. After making to… Read more »
Can’t disagree with much of anything. Anymore, when Lebron takes a jumper, 3 pointer or not, I just expect a miss. The number one thing he can do to help the Cavs win a championship is to fix that.
Thanks for the recap — tuned out midway into the 2nd quarter on this one. Hopefully this gets guys out of thinking that the way to rally the team is to grab the ball, run it up the floor and immediately launch a pull-up jumper. What a stinker.
It seems like Bron’s work on adding a Jordan-esque fallaway during the summer before last as backfired. While its a useful shot, it has infected his regular jump shot.
Hope for better times tonight.
Second and third that motion!!
Great stuff, Ben. Blatt needs a rotation and he needs to go deep into his bench all the time. Also – I’m done with us bloggers doling out the happy talk after the loss to the Warriors. I feel like the Cavs players and coaches were way too proud of themselves after that loss. To a man, everything was about how good their D was and how next time they won’t have that flukey poor shooting. Whether that’s true or not, that shouldn’t be the mindset of a hungry team. After the Spurs completely eviscerated Miami in game 3 of… Read more »
I wholeheartedly agree with you. That mindset is something we should all adopt input own lives in 2016. Let’s not adopt a wait and see mindset. Cavs the blog should be the most productive workforce in the USA, and the Cleveland Cavaliers should follow suit. They are professionals and damn good ones. A 33-3 second half should be easy to come by as long as they play with the hunger they played with last season. And my own business should skyrocket to the top of its potential as it did last spring. We as Cleveland fans can expect no more… Read more »
I am Scotch! I definitely am.
I think you get it Tom. Perfectly said.
Couldn’t agree more with the happy talk business. The Cavs competed with the Warriors, as we’d expect — it’s not like other teams haven’t also competed with them. They don’t get a cookie for that. And keep in mind that, if anything, the Warriors were more depleted in that game than the Cavs. Barnes out, and Curry missed a chunk of the game, and didn’t seem 100% for most of it. And it’s not like the Cavs led most of the game, and lost at the end. The Warriors had control most of the game. Like you (and Nate, I’m… Read more »
Ben, I just want to tell you that you’re one of the best NBA analysts writing. The bit about LeBron fading to his left on jumpers and how the Blazers should look at trading Lillard are two fantastic observations you won’t read anywhere else. Really a superior recap to a lousy game. Feel privileged to work with you.
Totally agree. Ben always points out something in every article that I hadn’t noticed. I also think you are going to be right about Porzingis, if he develops a dead-eye 3 point shot. Even if he doesn’t, he’s going to be good.
Thanks MikeO. Yeah, Porzingis is required viewing right now. He is like watching Michael Phelps when he was 15. Stroke wasn’t completely refined yet, he looked like a puppy, and still he was already all world.
Wow, Nate. Thanks for message, man. The pleasure is mine to work on this great site.
EVEN THOUGH WE STARTED OUT WITH 19-7 RECORD THERE WAS STILL SOME DOUBT IN MY MIND ABOUT THESE CAVS —A FEW OF THOSE WINS WE BARELY WON AGAINST WEAK TEAMS AT HOME AND ALTHOUGH LAST NIGHT WAS A TOTAL TRAVESTY –THERE HAVE BEEN OTHER GAMES THAT LED TO CONCERNS ( RAPTORS / BUCKS 1ST GAME / MIAMI 2ND GAME / PISTONS / ALL OF THE 76ER’S AND KNICKS GAMES / BLATT MENTIONED LAST NIGHT THAT HE SAID AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A STRUGGLE ( AND PROBABLY WAS SURPRISED / PLEASED TO BE 19… Read more »
Cheers, NOMAD!
NICE!!!! in Seth Rogen voice
I really liked what RJ said yesterday after the game “we need to impose our will on them from the beginning”. That should be their goal from now on, the Cavs need to hit first and make the other teams afraid of them.
I feel bad for anyone who sat through that. If professional players who are very well paid aren’t going to give a $hit, I’m sure not going to.
These losses suck, but that’s not how the Cavs will play every night, and certainly not in the playoffs. You can rattle off that championship teams don’t lose like that, but I’m more concerned with their overall road record. Gotta start shooting better. That starts with LeBron and also means Blatt has to figure out his rotations soon.
I was so wrong about how this game would go. I thought the Cavs would be invigorated by that close loss at Golden State and want to come out guns blazing and punish a lesser team. I guess they just felt like taking the day off.
Ben I was dreading reliving the game while reading the recap. You somehow captured the devastation of the loss with hints of optimism…and the decision to cover the Blazers at the end vs the struggling Cavs was heaven sent. Something about that made instant sense while reading. Seriously well handled recap. As for the loss…the Cavs clearly put major effort into that warriors game, and coming up short was painful. Not just losing, but losing while playing better on both ends and just missing shots…it must have been that “are we destined to lose to this team even when we… Read more »
Nice recap Ben. While the Cavs lost to GSW they may have felt good about how things would have gone had their shooting not been unusually poor…many were open shots. Also they really didn’t have the “real” KI back. So there may be reason for optimism. They had put so much into the GSW game, it’s not surprising they’d not be into the Portland game.
They played a highly contested game in game one of a back to back against a good team. Then they lost by 100 to a bad team missing their best player. A 15 point loss would have been disheartening, but that game was nothing short of an embarrassment. I’m not saying they’re done or anything, but they need to remember this game and move forward with the mindset that they have to work to win in this league.
thanks Scotch!
I was disappointed Blatt wasn’t pissed at this team in his interview after the game. He had an opportunity to go Popovich and bench these players that didn’t want to put in the effort. It does start with Mosgov to Mo (he only played 4 mins the night before). He has a full roster now They need to get the message in order to keep their spot is to earn it. No more free passes for poor performances. Fans are not buying the standard “Oh it’s a Bad Shooting Night” excuse anymore. There is a problem and it needs fixed.… Read more »
I don’t think Blatt is the kind of coach to go off on his team in the press. He consistently protects his players when talking to outsiders. I’ll bet he digs into them quite a bit behind closed doors.
Wouldn’t mind if he did. You see Rick Carlisle go off on just beating the Nets by 1 pt? He threaten some of these players wouldn’t be back after the 1so the year. And that was over a win!
Blatt is not the kind of coach to get us the ring, He is a rookie in NBA , I said that when Gilbert hired him and I say it now. We need an veteran coach who has been in play offs and knows the NBA. look Jordan had Phil and the rest is history. I hope that I’m wrong, I have been waiting for a title for almost 40 years and I’m getting tired. that is just my opinion . Go Cavs.
He actually has coached and led by a game in the NBA finals. He’s the guy for the job. Ask the rest of the great coaches in the league.
Phil was a rookie wen he had Jordan.
Thanks for taking on the most unenviable job of recapping this one, Ben… and great job!
This was an indefensible loss for the Cavs. The best medicine for a team-wide shooting epidemic is better defense to provide easy break opportunities, but the Cavs brought zero energy on that end either.
I hope they’re embarrassed… and I hope they take it out on the Suns on Monday. If they don’t, there may be larger issues at play…
Well said, EG. Indefensible. They gotta know that games like that shouldn’t EVER happen to championship teams. Hope they use this game as a reminder of what happens when you take a night off.
Geez, I had a rotten dream last night. Can’t remember all the details, thankfully. Just one of those things you put out of your mind and move on.
Ben, that’s a great T-shirt image for this game.
I remember that after the Cavs defeated the Heat at the beginning of this season Wade said that he was impressed that the Cavs had an improved offense and that they were no longer an all ISO team. Well that has changed and I personally believe that the Cavs offense has become limited do to the fact that the Cavs are running most of their offense thru Lebron and opposing teams are not doubling up on him and the Cavs can get a decent shot off of LeBron running ISO’s all night. Maybe the Cavs need to tarde for a… Read more »
Not sure if we really need that.. Kyrie has played 2 games in limited minutes. Once he’s back with his full workload, we should be able to get back to where we were last spring.
I think its so difficult to take losses like these because the rest of the NBA is comparing us to the Warriors. Yes, I know, we have to block that comparison as much as we can, but I feel like even the best of us have that creeping into the backs of our minds. The Spurs and Warriors just don’t do this. Ever.
Yeah but the Cavs also nade the Warriors look human on their court with gritty defense. I think they played with the intensity of a playoff game in Oakland and were thoroughly spent.
Hate to say it like this, but losing to a sub par team by what felt like 60 points (without their best player) on the end of a back to back to back to back to back to back playoff games wouldn’t matter. I know it’s still early, but what a disheartening loss. That kind of performance is not indicative of a championship team. They gotta take a long look in the mirror and just play better.
I think Lebron is shooting all of his shots like a fadeaway jumper using his shoulders to hurl the ball. If you watch Curry he lifts the ball up through the line of his body. Curry is using a larger and more stable muscle group which gives him better control. In fact, Curry doesn’t really shoot fadeaway shots at all.
You have a point but I think that is more about his mindset. IMO the I want to be as efficient as possible kind of hurts his offensive game. Right now most of his points come of fast breaks or great sets that the Cavs run for him for really deep post ups in which he gets the ball and most times gets layups. He is shooting an horrible % outside of the paint and teams are not doubling him and that’s why the Cavs offense sucks right now.
Sorry I meant to write that LeBron wants to be as efficient as possible and I think it has affected his outside shot.
Brilliant capture – your 4th quarter summary was like reading my mind as I watched.
But can I say, for anyone feeling angsty about this performance, watch the post-game interview with RJ. He’s always been good at talking, and maybe that’s why he got the gig talking after this game. His explanation of likely causes of this performance, mindset of the team for the roadtrip etc were succinct and revealing (unlike the coach and Lebron) and gives me some hope that the vets in the room will make sure the team gets on the correct path.