Recap: Cavs 121, Wizards 115 (or, Assists Aren’t Everything)
2016-01-07
The Cavaliers traveled to our nation’s capital to take on ex-Cavalier legends Ramon Sessions, Randy Wittman, and Drew Gooden. Fortunately for the Cavaliers’ win probability, Gooden was scratched after morning shootaround with a bum calf. Cleveland’s less heralded current players, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and J.R. Smith did an admirable job combating the Wizards’ backup superstar PG. Let’s get to it. (Sorry, Ramon)
1st Quarter:
J.R. Smith began his strong first quarter by stealing a John Wall skip pass. Smith baited Wall into throwing it by leaning toward the roll man before returning to the passing lane. Kevin Love did a great job of sagging under a screen to stick to Gortat. That freed Smith for the steal. J.R. got the Cavs on the board with two pretty scoop floaters off the bounce. His new found comfort with that shot is a wonderful development. We all know teams must closeout hard on his jumper. When J.R. hits off the bounce, he becomes all the more valuable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0Rn92V-bLQ
The Wizards, led by the ridiculously fast John Wall, didn’t let a Cavalier bucket dissuade them from pushing for early offense. The Cavs were a bit slow to get the memo. After a knock away steal/breakaway dunk by Wall (nice travel by the way), the Cavs took a timeout down 13-8 with 7:27 remaining. Out of the timeout, LeIso splashed from 20 and J.R. Scooped to cut the lead before Delly subbed in for Kyrie Irving.
The Wizards were quick to double anyone in the post. They also doubled the roll man in LeBron PnR situations. That makes it hard to get the normal ball movement that Cavs fans are accustomed to seeing. The Wiz generally do a decent job of zoning on the weakside to in a way that prevents easy cross-court passes. Still, the Cavs could have done a better job cutting from the weakside to break that zone.
On the flip side, Cleveland played under all Pick and Rolls, daring John Wall to shoot. It was a good bet as Wall strangely pulled up twice against Love in mismatch situations, missing both times. I’m sure Wiz fans weren’t pleased.
If one were to only see the Cavs’ box score with nary an assist and the Wizards’ double digit advantage in fastbreak points, one would assume that Cleveland was getting killed. Instead, the first quarter was a beautiful example of how PnR penetration is the most powerful thing in the NBA. The Delly/TT PnR combo produced points even if they didn’t come on the first shot. The Cavs straight pounded the Wiz with multiple putback attempts. Though Cleveland didn’t capitalize on all of them, seven first quarter offensive rebounds kept the Cavs in it. 26-24 Wizards.
2nd Quarter:
Ky, Delly, Shump, RJ, and Moz started the second period for Cleveland. And Hallelujah, the Cavs finally got an assist at the 10:09 mark of the second when Delly found Kyrie on a nice cut through the lane. Both teams tried to run offense, but nothing really took hold until LeBron checked back in for Jefferson at the 9:12 mark.
It was clear that LeBron and Coach Blatt had made some adjustments between quarters. The Cavs began to properly anticipate the Wizard double team. Tristan got two easy dunks as Cleveland thwarted Washington’s gameplan. Delly caught Gortat leaning torward LeBron’s left block post position and fired a bullet to TT at the rim. The second dunk came off a sweet behind the back feed from LeBron as the Wizards scrambled to recover from the failed double.
For Washington, Ramon Sessions kept the Wiz going with a mini 5-0 run and some adequate offensive play. But alas, he couldn’t stay in front of Kyrie. Surprise. The Cavs inched closer until J.R. Swish made another appearance. The ball found J.R. in rhythm for two right wing three balls to put the Cavs up for the first time 40-37.
John Wall also made the a needed adjustment when he passed up the opportunity to go at Kevin Love on a switch. Instead, he worked the offense to find Gortat posted up on poor Shumpert on the block. Gortat dropped it in to tie it at 41.
From there, it was all Cavs. With Love playing center, and LeBron playing power forward, the Cavs began an avalanche of offense and rotating defense.
When Kyrie checked in for Delly, the lineup of Love, Bron, J.R., Shump, and Ky flew by the Wizard defense. Smith hit another bomb, Kyrie had two nasty finishes in the lane and the defense swarmed to get the King early offensive opportunities.
After Dellavedova checked in to give Smith a blow, my favorite sequence of the quarter pushed the lead to double digits. The Wiz tried to get the ball to John Wall against Delly in the post, but Mathew was having none of it. Gary Neal skip passed the rock from the left wing to the right corner to what looked like an open man. Instead, Shump closed out, forcing baseline. Kevin Love crashed down to supply help, leaving Gortat alone? Nope! Kyrie rotated down on Gortat to grab the steal. Of course, the ball was whipped around on the offensive end before Shump drilled a wide-open three in secondary transition. I love basketball. Plus 19 points over the last nine minutes of the quarter gave the Cavs a 62-50 advantage at the half.
3rd Quarter:
Kevin Love buried a nice left elbow jumper from LeBron to start the third quarter scoring. And there would be a lot of scoring. LeBron got the first of three consecutive left wing threes to dance on the front of the rim before it found its way home. The King then pulled up twice from roughly the same spot, this time hitting nothing but nylon. On his failed fourth attempt, the Washington crowd actually sighed in disappointment, only to watch his fifth try fly through the net moments later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWN-1RoEUAo&t=2m6s
Yes, it was fun. But on the other end, the Cavs stopped playing the defense that gave them the halftime lead. John Wall’s jumper began to fall. Dudley, Porter, and Garrett Temple began raining jumpers as well. A mix of poor transition defense, lazy rotation D, and good offensive ball movement and shot making from the Wiz added up to a 14 for 19 shooting quarter for Washington.
LeBron cooled off from downtown and the Cavs missed some bunnies to help the Washington surge. A great drive and dunk from LeBron helped change momentum. A Delly-Oop found Tristan for a wicked throw down. But really it was J.R. Swish who saved the quarter for Cleveland. J.R. hit a right wing three off a nice kickout pass from TT. Smith later stopped a 9-0 run with a deep contested jumper to beat the shot clock. Finally, he knocked down a long three at the end of the quarter to give the Cavs some life heading to the fourth. With three in book 95-89, Cleveland.
4th Quarter:
Ky, Shump, J.R., Bron, and Tristan looked to get the Cavs back on track in the fourth quarter. For the first few minutes, they weren’t so successful. The Wizards made it all the way back to 95-95 after a steal and finish. And then, Kyrie decided to go off. Ky-Ridiculous. Uncle Drew, Mr. Fourth Quarter. All.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwsRSdzit9I&t=0m37s
Kyrie went on a personal 10-0 run after the Wizards tied the game. His 19 fourth quarter points came on an array of pull-up jumpers, English Muffin layups and a dagger three. LeBron and J.R. helped to seal the game for Cleveland as defensively, the Cavs shut down the Wizards for the better part of the quarter. Some mini-garbage time Wall jumpers made the game appear closer than it was.
Thoughts:
J.R. Smith played phenomenal basketball. His defensive intelligence was on display from the tip. He had active hands throughout. J.R. does have a tendency to get beat off the dribble if his man refuses the pick. He needs to do a better job of forcing his guy toward the pick if that is the scheme. Other than that, he was amazing. I already mentioned his scoop floaters off the bounce. He made five more threes, two of which were absolutely necessary. He deserves top honors as he was great throughout.
Kyrie Irving is back. Sweet baby basketball, is he fun.
Kevin Love had five big offensive boards. Kevin actually had a pretty nice floor game, but he missed about four bunnies that he’d love to have back. Still, I really like seeing him roll to the elbow on PnR as he did to start the third quarter. He also did a great job of doing the roll-post-seal when he gets a switch. Good stuff.
I hate to be a wet blanket, but I really don’t enjoy LeHeatCheck as much as I love LeDefense. LeBron’s defense was at its very worst when he was bursting in flames. Fine, Fine. Basketball is entertainment. It was fun. I give.
Tristan did a great job defending the switch, but what really stood out was his passing. On two occasions, Tristan found wide open shooters for three point attempts. J.R. drilled the first one, and Shump missed the second. Regardless of outcome, he has gotten much better at passing out of the PnR catch.
The lineups with Love and Bron as the only bigmen were devastatingly effective. Those are likely to be the best chance against the Warriors if it comes to that. Against the Spurs, not so much. Ok, it’s January.
Minutes. Just looking at the boxscore, I would be annoyed by the minute distribution. Still, the actual game didn’t feature sustained high intensity. Let’s put it this way. A calorie is not a calorie. Some make you fat(cookies), some don’t really(scotch). Some minutes tire you out, some don’t. LeBron’s 40 minutes were not particularly fattening.
The Wiz have some nice building blocks there. Porter and Temple have both really developed in the last year. When Beal gets back, they should start rolling again soon. Til next time.
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2016/01/mo_williams_says_he_has_a_part.html#incart_river_index
Mo with partial tear in his thumb. Surgery not required, six week heal time if not furthered damaged, he states he’ll play through it.
I can’t see any reason to play him until it heals. No point in weakening an injury for a player who is out of the rotation but a valuable break glass in case of injury player. Get well soon.
I recommend Brian Windhorst’s article over at True Hoop discussing “The Big Short” and Sam Hinkie’s long game with the 76ers. It’s especially relevant during a week of stock market turbulence. Chris Grant could have drafted better, much better, but Griffin spending his horded assets last year put this team’s foundation in place for 3-4 years.
Sam Hinkie has no idea what he is doing. It’s very easy to tank for 3+ years.
Yeah this is great stuff by Windhorst.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/73918/the-76ers-big-short
Well, we probably don’t need a rehash of “The Hinkie Letters.” But does anyone really consider the Sixers “Hinkie’s half-painted masterpiece”? There are at least two big problems with Windy comparing Hinkie’s long game to the Big Short: –In the NBA, with free agency, you can’t buy and hold (or take a short position) indefinitely. Collecting nothing but young raw talent that will take years to develop because you’re trying to be great in five years instead of competitive in a year or two is a sure way to miss out on the best years of the players you draft.… Read more »
I think your second point is the biggest difference: in finance, the point is to make money, period. The money that’s invested doesn’t change – a dollar is a dollar is a dollar. In sports, a player doesn’t stay the same year after year. He must improve, and then, eventually, he will begin to deteriorate. There is a finite amount of time in which that player gives you value. And further complicating things, a player must use his younger years to improve to lay the foundation for his prime. If you aren’t maximizing the improvement during a rebuild, you end… Read more »
Players may be beaten down by losses but the cream rises to the top. Kyrie, TT, and Love had to endure some pretty awful seasons and they aren’t broken shells of agony (like any Cleveland Browns fan). So in that regard, if you are sure of your guys mental makeup, you can build on young potential. Of course at some point you need to compete to get those guys to stay with the club but it fits well within a long play rebuild.
Great players may rise to the top, but that doesn’t mean you should waste NBA talents that need some guideance. J.R. Smith for example. Or Jalil Okafor. If all those guys need is a strong professional atmosphere to develop into winning pieces, why deny them that for the sake of a fringe player or extra second round pick?
Hinkie has done nothing but tank. There is no coherent strategy other than lose. Anyone, even Nate could’ve done this. The hard part is building a team, not losing all your games.
That is true, but in fairness, the counter is that he’s not just losing games, he using the losing to get good picks. Now, if the picks don’t work out, its a waste. But guys like Saric, Embiid, Noel, Okafor – those guys could turn out to be good to great players. Embiid and Saric have yet to play a game, but they have very high ceilings.
If we can compete with the Spurs or Warriors already they are in trouble come June. This team has so little chemistry right now and they are still awesome
Lakers blew it….. Kobe wasn’t in during final ticks of the game.
That’s because Kobe is just about the worst player in the League right now.
Kobe coaches more than Scott. Russell disappeared into the crowd. He got hurt pretty bad. Kobe is going over there not Scott. Man! I’m really impressed on Kobe inspiring and encouraging these guys. He’s clapping his hands, getting in Russell’s ear to finish from the bench. Still 1 min left 1 pt game
I can’t believe I’m watching Lakers and kings game. 1 pt game 4 mins left 4th quarter. LoL What is Scott doing on these line-ups? Arms folded, no talking, no time-outs
The Lakers are a joke. I can think of any professional sports scenario that screams incompetence more than hiring not one, but TWO fired coaches from Cleveland in a row. Mitch coming out and saying this season is more about Kobe than developing his young talent. I have to think that Jimmy Buss, Byron Scott, Kobe, and Kupcheck just keep cashing checks and laughing about it every night knowing none of them will be around next season.
Maybe they’d be interested in Smokin’ Joe for D’Angelo Russell, straight up?
lol as much as I’d love this trade, we can’t afford the minutes for another guard! I’d rather have a 19 year old that can take up lebrons mantle in 4 years haha
Sarcasm was featured in this writeup ;) And I guess I had forgotten the fact that the Lakers had hired both Brown and Scott as coaches (thanks, JoeyB).
And then we re-hired Brown again, right? Aye, ye, ye. Sarcasm is the only thing to keep us sane. But here we are now!!!!
Boy do things get interesting (and scary) after the Philly game. Dallas, SA, Houston, and GS all in a row. Thats a bear of a stretch. While I doubt we come out of that unscathed, I dream about listening to the talking heads if we won out in January.
LBJ must have read the CtB blog about his shooting. He’s gone off since he read his shooting percentage is lower than Dion Waiters’.
Men lie. Women lie. Buckets DNT
Thank you for sharing this!
This may explain Mo’s run of DNPs:
Dave McMenamin @mcten 12s13 seconds ago
More Cavs news: As Mo Williams shared on his IG, he’s in NY w/ a hand specialist. Source says he’s seeking 2nd opinion on sprained R thumb
Makes sense. He was great early on and then tailed off.
Totally agree…. could’ve used him off the bench last couple of games for scoring. All five starters won’t go for 20 points a piece every game.
More Cavs news: As Mo Williams shared on his IG, he’s in NY w/ a hand specialist. Source says he’s seeking 2nd opinion on sprained R thumb
According to Haynes, Cavs keeping Cunningham.
This will make zero difference one way or the other. But I’m glad he gets paid.
That’s great. Could be a small but important piece of depth in the playoffs.
Very glad Danger Ninja is on the team. He’s now the third PG, SG, and SF. Not insignificant, but hopefully we don’t need to find out.
You think he’s better than Mo? Your probably right because of fit
MUCH DANGER NINJA!!!
I said blob instead of blog. Although, I kind of like it. Cavs: the Blob.
I’m starting to get the feeling that our collective perception of J.R. is outpacing the reality of what he’s bringing to the table. He’s shown to be a more willing defender but he’s not necessarily always effective, as Ben pointed out in the recap. (His DRTG has been worse than Mo Williams and Jared Cunningham). When he’s been on the bench the Cavs have been an elite defensive team and an average offensive team. When he takes the court they get better on offense (103 -> 106) and noticeably worse on defense (95->102). Despite playing on the most talented team… Read more »
Really great analysis Tom. You are right on. J.R. certainly isn’t perfect. I think the blob’s effusive praise is more a result of him being so much beyond our expectations. Kind of like Delly, actually. If Delly was a first overall pick, we’d be really frustrated with him. But because so little was expected, we delight in him surpassing those expectations. Most of us saw J.R. as an older, crazier Dion. So everything he is bring to the table last year and now is a pleasant surprise. If he can maintain his 3pt shooting, that floater, and team first attitude,… Read more »
that makes sense.
See I saw him as a HUUUUUGE upgrade over Waiters. I remember 6th man of the year J.R. Smith.
Nah. JR is pretty freaking good. He’s just about the perfect 2 guard. He’s on the Klay Thompson level but without Klay’s pritine reputation.
Do NOT leave Westbrook hanging.
Good stuff, Tom. I think Joey makes a good point – I, for one, thought he was going to be a disaster when they brought him over last season. To me, he’s very valuable when he’s hot from 3, and a bit of a black hole when he’s cold from 3. It’s tough foe me to get a handle on him defensively. He makes some plays, and people tend to remember those, but he blows a lot of plays, too, which lead to easy buckets. Thanks for digging up some of the numbers.
He’s not a black hole. He’s got a good floor game, he defends well and he doesn’t take stupid shots. He’s like a better Delly.
I didn’t know I could roll my eyes that far back in my head until I read that.
Cols how is Mo a good defender?
Cols is ……
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PCz_qk19Qw
I agree with the overall sentiment of your post and enjoyed the analysis, Tom. I’ve mentioned on a couple of occasions, according to PER, JR is clearly not as good this year than he was last year (This year: 11.3 PER; Last year: 13.6, 14.5 w/ CLE). For most of this season, JR has been ~ 9 PER, but the last few games have helped out his rating tremendously. The biggest difference to me, and I’ve Blatt, LBJ, and Hubie Brown mention it, is that JR is not looking for his shot enough. Many of the games this year, he… Read more »
I agree. I’d love for him to take 10 threes a night. Never would have thought I’d say that when the trade was first made, that J.R. should be taking that many threes on a team with LBJ, Love, and KI.
10 3s a game is a bit rich for my blood. Curry is the only guy in the league I think should be taking 10 (he is). He’s an outlier.
I think J.R. is shooting just the right amount.
He is, but he could shoot more. The problem for JR is our team also employs LeBron, Kyrie, and Love who are all better than him. But being the 4th best player on our team isn’t too shabby.
I’d like to see JR and Love take more shots, too, but there just aren’t enough shots to go around. I think JR is giving the coaching staff and the team exactly what they need and want. In other words, I think that he is actually refraining from jacking up a bunch of shots on purpose, but he is still playing really well. Does PER take that into account?
PER is always going to be very low on someone deferring to teammates and doing dirty work like JR or Delly. Basically, role players are better critiqued based on the traits the team wants them to bring to the table and if course RAPM.
JR’s PER is low because he’s not registering a lot of traditional box score stats per minute. But the Cavs don’t really want him to.
HAHA… I agree JoeyB. I wish he’d eliminated the ISO long 2s he’s prone to shoot, but no one’s perfect. Tom, you’re probably right… but he is averaging more than 1 shot fewer 3s per game this year than last year… so he could stand to shoot 3s a bit more and 2s a bit less…. and these averages include the last 2 games where he’s shot 24 3pt shots which has drastically increased his average. When I said what I said, I was mainly inferring that he’s shooting too many low % 2pt jumpers. :) He does average 10-11… Read more »
One huge problem with average based analyses is that they fail to properly quantity high standard deviation players like JR. JR can single handedly win games with his shooting. He has huge upswing games and terrible games. The Cavs are talented enough to overcome his deficits but his ability to change the entire nature of the Cavs offense some nights, like last night when his presence was opening everything for Bron and kyrie
Been saying this. Thing Cavs have over estimated. JR’s Defense (much more intense but still not good) Mo Williams and RJ’s defense
Under estimate md Kevin Loves Defense. And off the ball defense in general
Teams inquiring about availability of Cavs’ Timofey Mozgov, @SpearsNBAYahoo reports. yhoo.it/1n6ogAi
Timo ain’t going nowhere. We’re going to need him. Some nights not, but you don’t want to be caught without him in a seven game series against the wrong center. Not only that, he is on a very cheap contract. There isn’t much a team could offer that would make it worthwhile for us.
Nah. We don’t need him.
You have the same reputation as JR.. Smh
Good point, we have Mo Williams
I would be interested to see what could even be offered worth Mozzy.
I only watched the highlights, but LeBron looks like he’s getting his shoulders centered over his hips on his jumper again. He’s been leaning to his left all season, so it looks like he’s working on his mechanics.
A fan shot a laser into James Harden’s eye’s while shooting a free throw. This reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where George gets upstaged by a guy with a laser pointer. “Damn you Laser guy… you’re just a prop comic.”
Jason Lloyd @JasonLloydABJ 17m17 minutes ago
#Cavs Kyrie Irving strengthens grip on 2nd place in All-Star voting. Now leads Toronto’s Kyle Lowry by nearly 30,000 votes in backcourt
Kyrie also increased his lead from 35k to 63k over Wall, who is in 5th. And that was before last night’s head-to-head thumping.
But how can this be? John Wall is a better player than Kyrie. At leasts that’s what the media tells me.
The announcers of Isiah Tomas & Greg Anthony said otherwise (Kyrie > Wall) and that the people voting knew what they were talking about. They raved about his handles and those handles are better than Curry’s easily.
IN REGARDS TO J.R. HOW DOES HIS CONTRACT READ—-DO WE HAVE HIM FOR 2 YRS OR DO WE GO THRU THE WHOLE DRAMA NEXT OFF SEASON—-PLEASE EDUCATE ( BEING OLD I FORGET EASILY —JUST ASK MRS NOMAD )
http://www.spotrac.com/nba/cleveland-cavaliers/j.r.-smith/
Player option. Yes, we’ll be going through it again. It is an extremely goofy contract. JR can opt out, he’s due $5 million next year, but if he does not opt out, only $2 million of it is guaranteed.
http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/cleveland-cavaliers-j-r-smith-contract-partial-guarantee-opt-out-090415
Great stuff, Ben. “Sweet baby basketball”!!
Ok, I give up: What’s an English muffin layup?
haha… I may have just made it up. But I would say it is a soft layup off glass with a ridiculous amount of english(spin) on it.
That sorta makes sense. And maybe from the old Thomas’s ads, how Kyrie manages to finds nooks and crannies to get the ball up.
Oh, nice add, Phil. I will pretend I was totally thinking of that.
My favorite part of an excellent recap.
I normally turn my nose up at anything facebook related, but I really, really wanted a ‘like’ button for this one haha
Ben, stellar recap! I love the way you’re able to translate everything within your estimable basketball brain into words. As much as I enjoy recapping games… I probably enjoy reading yours even more…
I would love to see a mid-season two-man tournament between LBJ & Kyrie, Steph & Donkey, Russ & Durant and Wade & Bosh and see who the best G/F tandem of superstars is in the league… Like JoeyB, I’d put my $12 Billion on LBJ and Kyrie…
I love this team!
LeBron and Kyrie would trash all others.
Unless the competition was who can be the biggest mouth breather on the planet.
Thanks EG!!! I’d say the same. =)
Russ and Durant would be the toughest battle, but I think Bron takes Durant to school on the block. Russ is terrifying though. In two-on-two- you really have to be able to check a guy head up. How do you guard him? Yes, the same could be said about Kyrie. That would be fun.
I was at the game last night (moved to DC from Cleveland for work about 16 months ago). Compared to the Q, it’s amazing how quiet the Verizon Center was throughout the game as a whole, sans really loud cheering for Lebron and Kyrie. When Lebron made his back-to-back-to-back 3’s, the place went nuts and I felt like I was back in Cleveland. I was also impressed by the amount of Cavs gear I saw; maybe it’s just due to the nature of DC itself. Regardless, it was a hell of a game and I was yelling M-F-Q! throughout the… Read more »
This story made my day, Natalie… Love that you were shouting MFQ!
Seriously, what the hell is MFQ?
“Mr. Fourth Quarter”
Can I mean it as “Motha F****ng Quilla” ???
Gotta be careful to emphasize the ‘M,’ so the ‘F-Q’ isn’t misunderstood.
Good point, Phil!! I also think I yelled KYRIDICULOUS a few times — at least that can’t be construed as questionable (or at least I hope not!)
Great recap Ben. I thought it was great that you pointed out out that KLove roll-post-seal move. He did that about 6 times in the game and they all led to layups for Kyrie and Lebron. I don’t remember them doing that play much before tonight though. Wish he would’ve gotten a few more attempts but he did miss about four bunny tip ins and the Wiz did everything they could to keep him and Lebron out of the post. If Lebron’s 3 pointer is back for good, Kevin doing bunny hooks in the lane or passing out to shooters… Read more »
That game was really fun to watch. Temple from the Wizards wasn’t really on my radar until last night when he just couldn’t miss. Is he that good, or was this a fluke game?
AC mentioned entering tonight he was a career 30% 3 pt shooter.. So i’m guessing it was just one of those nights for him
So real talk. Anyone else who watched the game hear that absurd Looney Tune laugh when John Wall’s free throw got stuck on the rim?
It did sound like AC went full joker on that shot as the ball slllooooowwwly dribbled off the rim
Oh man, it was all Kyrie and LeBron ISOs and I missed it? That’s my favorite basketball!!!
Regarding the JR fouls on jumpshooters. I think it’s all reputation. If Tony Allen or Kawhi Leonard did those same things they would not get called for a foul, but JR is not known for his defense (even though he’s a good defender) and he’s known as a knucklhead (even though he’s not been one at all for the Cavs) so he gets screwed on thsoe calls.
Cols is totally right now this one. JR still has a bad rep with the officials. If gets so many ticky-tac calls against him.
Blatt and LeBron should really make it a point to talk often about how good JR’s defense is. Repetition gets a message across. Slowly, ever so slowly, they might start to undo the officials’ biases.
This might help too: How JR has learned to stop complaining and stay away from techs:
http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland-cavaliers/cleveland-cavaliers-1.275356/cavs-guard-j-r-smith-giving-nba-referees-the-silent-treatment-1.652477#.Vo6B_miH3SA.twitter
Agree he gets a lot of ticky-tac and reputation fouls… but there’s no denying he does commit the occasional bonehead actual foul on jumpshooters. Still, I think JR has been a major unsung hero for the Cavs this season so far. His play on both ends has been at a higher level, and even though his shot wasn’t falling early in the season… the law of averages has caught up in a big way lately…
And he’s developed a better floor game. JR is so good right now, but all anyone wants to remember is he used to be a crazy person. He’s no longer crazy.
I disagree. He is still very crazy, and capable of losing it at any moment. That said, he is very important to this team, and one of the four key secondary stars (with TT, Shump, and Delly). He’s like a fireworks show at home. Done right and it’s beautiful; One mishap though and someone loses a hand.
Nope. He lost his mind exactly once with the Cavs and that was with Crowder acting like a complete idiot even after we sent Perkins out to shut him up.
So no, he’s not like a fireworks show at home or any such nonsense. He’s been really good and pretty much a model citizen. for cleveland.
Seems like JR, LeBron, and Kyrie carried this team.
And water is wet.
JR has been great this year minus the usual fouling of jumpshooters lol. Very focused and contributing nicely even when the shots ain’t falling. The defense improved a notch too.
Kyrie the man! Please let him and everyone be healthy.
Two consecutive solid wins against solid teams (Wizards record atm might be a lil ugly but they will contend for a spot soon). 1 down 6 to go. Let’s go Cavs!
Good recap Ben. Missed most of this one but I relived it through the review.
Great entertaining game, though I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t get nasty Orlando/Cavs 2009 ECF flashbacks while Washington seemingly went cheat code in the 3rd period. Made me want to curl up in a ball and find my happy place…