Recap: Cavs 101, Suns 97 (or, Say Uncle!)

While there was hope for an impending Cavalier supernova last night… the result was instead more akin to an informal backyard wrestling match. In the end, the Cavs with their superior talent were finally able to bully a much depleted, yet surprisingly resilient Suns team into submission. Don’t get me wrong, this game was still a massive improvement over the wine & gold’s previous dud of an outing against the Portland Trailblazers, as the Cavs’ offense regained some semblance of dominance while facing yet another inferior team on the road. However, some early lackluster defense, coupled with a late scoring drought, kept the Suns in the fight for much longer than anticipated. Fortunately, the Cavs ultimately imposed their will, even on an off-night from the native son, thanks in large part to a welcome return visit from their other favorite relative. How we’ve missed you, Uncle Drew…

No Mercy

Historians say that during the days of the Roman Empire, children, when confronted by a bully, would be forced to say the Latin phrase, “Patrue, mi Patruissimo,” or, “Uncle, my best Uncle,” in order to surrender. Given the current dire state of the Suns franchise (down two starters, losers of 16 of their last 21, and with an embattled coach at the helm), the Cavs were probably hoping to get Phoenix to cry “uncle” early in this one… especially since this game was the front end of another back-to-back. And, early on it looked like they were well on their way to forcing the beleaguered Suns to surrender, by pounding away with three point bombs. Little did they know they would need their own “best Uncle” to save the day.

Center Of Attention

David Blatt made a last minute alteration to his starting lineup, that involved swapping out the struggling Timofey Mozgov for Tristan Thompson, a move that sounds like it might be the new norm going forward.

“I just felt like we needed to be a little faster around the court starting the game, a little bit more mobile,” Blatt told reporters after the game. “Just to shake it up a little bit. We went through a pretty tough game two nights before and I just wanted to inject some new energy.”

The move didn’t necessarily pay immediate dividends, however, as TT seemed to have a bit of trouble grabbing offensive boards against the taller Alex Len, and lost Jon Leuer on a couple of switches. Canadian Dynamite also fizzled offensively, scoring a lone dunk late in the second quarter to go with four boards. Still, his absence was notable once Timo checked in, as Tyson Chandler ate Moz alive on the offensive glass. Chandler had four second chance rebounds, and the Suns had eight of their 10 O-boards (which the Suns converted into 12 points) in the first half with Mozzy on the floor. At least Timo was able to notch three blocks and throw down a couple of dunks in his back-up role off the bench, although he still apparently needs to wipe his hands better after pre-game meals.

Here Come The Haymakers

After nearly a week of cold shooting, the law of averages finally favored the Cavs in a big way. They came out dropping bombs from downtown, with J.R. Swish leading the way and landing the first two blows. Four other Cavs (Kyrie, Delly, JFJ and R.J.) also went deep from beyond the arc, and they peppered the Suns, hitting 6-11 in the first quarter. And, when they weren’t raining fire from long range, they got the ball inside for Kevin Love and LeBron to bang around for points in the paint. Unfortunately, they didn’t do much in the way of keeping their guard up, allowing the Suns to keep the battle close with four (mostly uncontested) three balls of their own, and some easy drives by Brandon Knight. Phoenix also had the aforementioned second chance points off of a series of O-boards and their fair share of fortuitous bounces. Despite the re-awakening of the Cavs’ shooting percentages and scoring prowess, they led only 34-31 after one.

All’s Fair In Love & War(ren)

The second quarter started off well enough with a Delly lob to Moz for a dunk, but then T.J. Warren decided to join the fray. The backup wing filled in admirably for a suspended Markieff Morris, keying a 9-0 Suns run, and scoring 10 of his game-high 23 in the quarter. Even though LeBron stopped the onslaught with his first triple (in what seems like years), Warren countered it with his own trey to maintain the brief Phoenix advantage. It wasn’t until Kevin Love took matters into his own hands with a couple of threes midway through the period, that the Cavs were able to finally pull things back to even.

https://vine.co/v/iqO2K0nWFBn

KLove used the last of his eight points in the quarter to cap the scoring and put the Cavs up by six. J.R. and Delly also hit threes (J.R.’s was kind of unbelievable), and Kyrie got into the act with a couple of drives to the rack. Defense was still mostly a rumor on both sides, although R.J. had a couple of blocks (he wound up with four for the game). At the end of a productive half, the Cavs still led 60-54.

A See-Saw Battle

Typically (when they’re not getting blown out like Saturday), the Cavs use the third quarter to either claw their way back into games or extend their lead using defensive intensity. This game was no different, as they were able to limit the Suns to just 19 points for the period. However, they also cooled off a bit themselves, tallying just 21. The three point barrage continued (though the Cavs would only convert 3-13 in the quarter), and every time they started to build the lead and get separation from the Suns, Phoenix came firing right back at them. There were also some strange developments in the third, as Delly committed a rare turnover (he had four on the night), LeBron somehow picked up three fouls in just over 30 seconds (two were questionably drawn by Brandon Knight), and Kevin Love had to go to the locker room with a “thumb stinger.” Love’s absence led to a steady diet of James Jones, and the Suns took advantage, pulling to within one on a Mirza Teletovic dunk. But, the Cavs finally locked Knight (nine of his 18 in the quarter) and company down, holding them scoreless for the final 4:35. Meanwhile, Kyrie was able to drive inside to get a bucket and then a trip to the line to close out the scoring. Cavs led 81-73 after three.

Uncle Drew To The Rescue

Despite T.J. Warren going berserk once again (11 points in the quarter), the Cavs were able to maintain a bit of a cushion through the first half of the fourth, primarily due to a couple of timely triples from R.J. and Iman Shumpert and a pair of free throws from LeBron. That is, at least until the Suns augmented a Warren deep three with a handful of trips to the line themselves to cut the lead to two. Following an ill-advised Le-ISO step-back, face-palm three with the shot clock running down, J.R. made his first key offensive board of the quarter and got the ball to Kyrie who calmly bounced in a 10-foot jumper. A Brandon Knight triple cut the lead to one, and both Kyrie and LBJ missed three-pointers at the other end. Knight was feeling it, and apparently drained another triple to give the Suns a two point lead… but, hold the phone! Tyson Chandler was (rightly) whistled for an illegal screen on Shumpert… nullifying the bucket. This was hotly contested by both Chandler and Coach Hornacek, but to no avail. The next Cavs possession turned out to be the deciding one. They used every bit of the 24-second clock, as Kyrie nearly turned the ball over (and would have if not for an amazing save by J.R.). J.R. got the ball back to Love, who unsuccessfully pump faked his man before kicking it back to Kyrie… who calmly drained a triple from the top of the key… with .02 seconds on the shot-clock. Welcome back, Uncle Drew!

https://vine.co/v/iqegB7Qb6Ag

After another defensive stop, Kyrie hit his sixth and seventh points of the quarter from the line to finally force the Suns to give in and cry “uncle!” Cavs close it out, 101-97.

The Evil

Hands Up If You Played Good Defense. Considering the current offensive limitations of the Suns (missing leading scorer, Eric Bledsoe, with a knee injury, and Markieff Morris due to suspension), and all of the dysfunction that Phoenix is going through at the moment (firing two assistant coaches yesterday), the Cavs seemingly should have been able to shut them down earlier and more often. After giving up 54 points in the first half, they were able to tighten things up in the third quarter, but still gave up too many open looks… and the Suns took advantage.

Glass Half Empty. The Cavs lost the rebounding war with the Suns, 44-37, and allowed Phoenix to snag 14 offensive boards (most of them in the first half with Moz in the middle). They also got dominated on points in the paint, 40-26. Some of this had to do with their excellent night of shooting from beyond the arc, but they also didn’t seem like their board-crashing selves in this one. Only TT wound up with double digits (10), and it’s debatable whether or not the switch with him and Timo was all that successful in this maiden run. Over the long haul, the swap may help both guys flourish… but time will tell.

At Least He Passed English. Something definitely seemed off with LeBron in this one. Maybe he was tired from being out dancing the night before. Maybe he was just trying to get back into a rhythm with Kyrie back in the mix. Maybe he was upset with himself for missing four of his nine free throws and four of his five three point attempts. Whatever it was, his grumpy demeanor was remarked on by a number of observers in the live thread. It’s been well-documented lately that the all the King’s efforts haven’t been able to put his humpty dumpty broken shot back together again… and that he should probably spend more time hanging out in the post and playing off the ball. Maybe another couple of performances like this one (just 14 points on 4-10 shooting, with four boards and seven assists) will convince him. On a more positive note, he passed the great Alex English for 17th place on the all-time scoring list. Next up… The Big Ticket.

Unusually Careless. The bench bunch certainly contributed some timely shots and big threes (6-12) against the Suns, so it’s hard to be too hard on them for their mistakes. However, the normally sure handed, plus/minus ratio wizard, Delly had four turnovers to offset his five assists. Shump also had three turns and just one assist. With the additional miscues from James Jones and Richard Jefferson, the reserves had 10 of the 17 total team turnovers on the night. As a result, they were all on the negative side of the plus/minus column.

All Warren… No Peace. It seems like it’s becoming a trend (or maybe it’s just a scrub-fuego holdover phenomenon from last season), but the Cavs seem to let one reserve wing from the opposing team inexplicably go off in nearly every game, and without seemingly making an adjustment to stop them. Against Golden State it was Shawn Livingston. Against the Blazers it was Allen Crabbe. This time it was T.J. Warren (9-15 and 4-5 from deep). It’s gotten beyond anomaly or coincidence, and is something that bears closer examination by Blatt and the coaching staff.

The Genius

Dropping Bombs With Aplomb. Not only did the Cavs discover a rejuvenated shooting percentage against the Suns, but they also knocked down a barrage of three point shots. They started out blazing hot and only cooled down a little in the third quarter. Overall, they hit 17-41 (41.5%) from downtown, and shot a robust 46.5% from the field. Maybe the best news on this front though, is that eight of the 10 Cavs who played (minus just TT and Moz) made a three pointer, and five of them hit at least two triples. That’s a heck of a way to break out of a team-wide slump.

Ain’t No Thing But A Thumb Sting. Kevin Love was having such a good night offensively (6-11, 3-6 from deep), that it was a shame it had to get rudely interrupted by an apparent injury to his thumb. Breaths were held throughout the viewing audience as Kev headed back to the locker room for treatment. Ultimately, he returned to the game, and by all accounts is fine.

Kevin Love said his hand injury (getting R thumb caught on Tyson Chandler) was just a "stinger." Says it's fine now.

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 29, 2015

J.ust R.idiculous. When good things happened for the Cavs in this game, J.R. was usually in the middle of it. He became the nuclear option from downtown, connecting on 5-11 bombs (for 17 points)… including this unbelievable one from behind the backboard… as he was falling out of bounds…

https://vine.co/v/iqO2Y7D9b2z

But perhaps his greatest contribution to this win was his amazing save of an errant Kyrie pass… somehow getting it back in bounds to Kevin Love, who got it back to Kyrie for the eventual game winner. J.R. is doing all the little things lately to help this team be successful.

He Just Gets Buckets, Youngblood. Man, is it good to have Kyrie back, and doing the voodoo that he does best. All Uncle Drew did in this one was score a team-high 22 points in 24 minutes on 7-16 from the floor. He was just 2-7 from three, but one of those was the last second dagger that finally iced the Suns. Not to mention, he was also a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe, and showed no fear driving inside. He won’t be around in the back-to-back against Denver… but Kyrie is determined that will be the last game he’ll miss this year. Let’s hope for the Cavs’ sake that bears out, because they’re a much more dangerous team with him on the floor.

One Last Suckerpunch

Even though the Suns seem like a team that the Cavs should have been able to dispatch fairly handily, there are no easy games on the road. Often times out of the chaos of injuries, player issues and coaching instability, comes a steely resolve that fosters momentum. Yes, the Cavs have a bad habit of playing down to their competition on given nights this season, but it’s still a net positive to get a road win (especially after a couple of disheartening losses).

Also, maybe the reason that Jeff Hornacek is embattled in the first place is his lack of attention to detail…

Full Jeff Hornacek quote on Matthew Dellavedova. It was part of Hornacek's opening statement postgame. Unprompted. pic.twitter.com/bYOXbd7vSP

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 29, 2015

It was actually Iman Shumpert… but keep fighting the good fight Coach!

Let’s hope the Cavs can even up this road trip in Denver and return home on an upswing.