Recap: Cavs 110, Mavs 107 (Or, Down To The Final Minute, Twice)

The Cavs grinded out their eighth straight win tonight against the Mavs. They shot just 41.2% from the field, while the Mavs shot 49.4%. They dropped 17 3-pointers to help even the game out. With 1.9 seconds left in regulation, the Cavs had a chance to win, but they were unable to inbound the ball cleanly for a quality shot. It took the Cavs all the way until the final 13 seconds of overtime to ensure victory tonight. With 13 seconds left, the Mavs were down by four and Deron Williams had the ball. He started to go up for his shot to bring the Mavs within two, but Iman Shumpert stripped the ball from him. The Cavs then waddled to a 110-107 victory.

While Kyrie Irving scored eight points in the fourth quarter to help the Cavs take the game to overtime, and LeBron James scored five and dished out three assists for seven points in overtime to get the win, Timofey Mozgov was the Cavs’ true star tonight. He was +18 in 20 minutes of action and was 4-6 for ten points. He also had nine boards (four offensive) and ran the floor like the Mozgov of last season. He provided the Cavs with a much needed spark in the first quarter to chip into a 16 point Dallas lead, which was established in the first seven minutes of the game. Without Timo’s energy, the Cavs would have been dead before the second quarter had even started.

First Quarter

Dirk scored a two on the Mavs’ first possession by running off of a Zaza Pachulia screen. The Cavs then tried to trap the German the next play, and he found Zaza for a smooth jumper. The Cavs clearly feared Dirk early on and it showed. Chandler Parsons had an easy cut to the rim just minutes into the quarter, as LeBron watched Dirk instead of him. In the first six minutes of play, Dirk scored or earned an assist on 11 of the Mavs’ 20 points. Meanwhile, the Cavs put up just seven points and seemed to be incapable of scoring. Kevin Love was 0-5 to start the game. The Cavs were down by as many as 16 points in the first seven minutes and shot just 33% from the floor for the quarter.

First timeout didn’t do much good, so #Cavs try another one. Not shooting, not defending. Bad combination, trail 23-7 early

— Jason Lloyd (@JasonLloydABJ) January 13, 2016

However, they killed much of the Mavs’ lead in the final four minutes of play with a 15-2 run. Timofey Mozgov was the leader of the come back. He had an offensive rebound that led to a J.R. Smith 3-pointer, and he also blocked a Wes Matthews shot, which led to him receiving a Delly lob. He dunked so hard Austin Carr almost apologized for all the times he complained about him “being weak.”  And, fianlly, Timo grabbed another offensive board that eventually led to a Delly trey. Cavs down, 25-22.

Second Quarter

The second quarter started out just how you would expect when JaVale McGee is playing minutes against your team. He JaFailed when he tipped in a ball that was almost all the way down and got called for basket interference. It didn’t matter though, as the Mavs went on a 7-2 run to lead 32-24 with eight minutes to go till halftime. Kyrie let J.J. Barea blast by him coming off of a screen, and then he ran into him the Mavs’ next possession, giving him two free throws. The Cavs still weren’t able to score this quarter hitting just 37.5% from the floor. Eight of their 25 points were off of steals. The Mavs shot 55% from the floor dropping ten of their 18 tries.

Delly out there thinking he’s Reggie Miller. (Mozzy out there thinking he’s Mac Miller.) pic.twitter.com/15vZ62q6TO

— Scott @ WFNY (@WFNYScott) January 13, 2016

The Cavs went on 10-8 run in the final two minutes of the quarter. Delly made the tiny run worth noting. As the Mavs played a 3-2 zone, Delly glided to a soft area on the right side of the court above the 3-point line. The King tossed him the ball, and he nailed a long ball. Delly then hounded Deron Williams after the ball was inbounded and got a steal. He immediately hit another 3-pointer. All of that took place in the span of eight seconds. Felton then played like his actual body weight and went big to score a jumper over LeBron to end the quarter. The Cavs went into the half down, 52-47.

Third Quarter

Irving started the quarter out right forcing Williams to turn the ball over. Smith then came down the court and hit a 3-pointer off of Kyrie’s pass. Williams had the last laugh though coming back and passing to both Chandler Parsons and Wesley Matthews for open 3-pointers. Neither team managed to shoot particularly well though this quarter, with the Cavs hitting 3-11 3s and the Mavs hitting 2-7. The Cavs managed just two points of off four turnovers.

With 4:07 left in the quarter, Delly was called for a phantom foul on Deron Williams. He honestly didn’t touch him at all in the replay. The ball lied though and Deron made both of his free throws, Mavs 67-55. The Cavs were bailed out the next play, as LeBron plowed into a Dallas player and wasn’t called for it. He then passed to the ball to Shumpert, who played ping pong with J.R. Smith for second before draining a shot from beyond the arc. A few minutes later, Delly hit LeBron cutting to the rim for an easy two. A few plays later he threw a lob to Moz, which was flushed down easily. Kyrie scored a layup to end the quarter, but the Cavs were still down, 72-67.

Fourth Quarter

The Cavs figured out that driving the ball leads to easy buckets. Kyrie opened the quarter penetrating for a layup. He missed it, but Mozgov grabbed it and passed it out. RJ received the ball and Dallas’s defense was scrambling, so he put it on the floor, blew by Dirk, and slammed it hard. Dirk missed a jumper the next play. and the Cavs sprinted down the floor. Kyrie found Delly for a 3-pointer to tie the game at 72. Kyrie continued to slice apart the Maverick’s defense, so he could kick the ball out to open guys for easy buckets. He had two assists and eight points in the quarter.

LeBron also used his post-up gravity to generate clear passing lanes for the Cavs. He had one assist in the quarter.

The two teams traded buckets up until the 6:09 mark. LeBron then posted up and found Kyrie for a 3-pointer to put the Cavs up, 85-83. The next play Chandler Parsons threw a bad pass, which the King grabbed. The King found Love in the post, and then ran down the lane. Love tossed him the ball, as Mozgov was cutting in from the baseline. Mozzy received a touch pass and tried to go up with two hands. He got fouled and made two free throws to put Cavs up by four. Mozzy gave it back though by fouling Zaza the next play.

The Cavs then went on to have one possession with four offensive boards, three courtesy of Love, that resulted in two points. The next play the Mavs missed, and the Cavs had a possession with two offensive boards, which resulted in no points. With 3:19 left the score was 89-85. Despite all the offensive rebounding, the Mavs didn’t give up. Wes Matthews hit two threes in a row, and went to the line for two free ones, after blowing by J.R. Smith, to put the Mavs up 93-91 with 39 seconds left.

LeBron then brought the ball up the floor and dribbled towards Parsons. He picked the ball up and Parsons hit him as he took his two steps to the rim and laid the ball in. The refs called the foul on the floor though, and LeBron was denied the continuation 3-point play chance. Luckily, the King hit both free throws to tie the game at 93. Deron Williams then took a Dirk pick and got TT on him, which led to an easy layup to put the Mavs up 95-93. The Cavs were forced to call a time out.

LeBron takes it VICIOUSLY to the rack to tie the game! https://t.co/w1GSeSzC6O

— Cavaliers Nation (@WeAreCavsNation) January 13, 2016

Out of the timeout the, LeBron got the ball. Irving and Love both set a screen for him, and he had a clear path to the rim. He looked at the rim and muttered, “you’re next” as he powered towards it and threw the ball into it. Unfortunately for Devin Harris, the King didn’t notice he was under the hoop and acted as if nothing happened when their bodies collided mid-air. The refs pretended they were LeBron too and ignored the contact. With 20 seconds left, the Mavs called a timeout and ran a play for Dirk. Dirk used a screen and got Iman Shumpert on him. I screamed in agony, as I watched Dirk prepare for his classic turnaround “j” from the foul line. He couldn’t get it off though. Shump stripped the ball from him as he turned towards the hoop looking to making space. The Cavs were unable to score with their extra chance, and the game went to overtime.

Overtime

The Cavs decided to play overtime with their small ball unit of Irving, Smith, Delly, James, and Love, while Dallas played their regular starting lineup. The Cavs started in odd fashion. After seeing how well driving the ball against the Mavs worked, LeBron still decided to jack up a 3-pointer, which he missed. Dirk nailed his 3-ball on the other end. The Cavs and Mavs traded baskets until about a minute and a half was left to play.

At that point, LeBron decided the Cavs were winning with the Mavs up 103-102. Deron Williams drove to the hoop from the right side of the floor, and the King ran all the way from the left corner to contest Williams at the rim. Williams tossed the rock too high on the glass. Irving rebounded the ball, and passed it to James. Then he sprinted down the lane and James found him for a layup to put the Cavs up by one. A few plays later with the Cavs up 106-105, LeBron used an Irving screen and Williams ended up on him. He backed Williams into the paint, and Williams acted like LeBron let off a mini explosion from his back, as he dropped to the ground trying to draw a foul. With no one near him, the King looked at the hoop for a second.

KYRIE IRVING ?????? #CavsNation #Cavs #Mavs #NBA https://t.co/X55VN50MJj

— Cavs Nation (@CavsNationNet) January 13, 2016

He then saw Kyrie behind the arc and gave him the ball. Irving hit the 3-pointer to put the Cavs up by four with 13 seconds to go till victory. Iman ensured the win when he stripped Williams the next trip down the floor.

Gripes

1.The Cavs defense against the Mavs’ pick and roll play made no sense much of the game. In the first quarter, they kept doubling the ball handler, and it just didn’t work out, as Deron Williams is a pretty good passer. Sometimes, they tried to double team Dirk or Zaza, which also didn’t work seeing as they are two of the best play making bigs in the game. Once Mozgov came into the game, the Cavs calmed down a little bit because he doesn’t allow them to trap as much.

2. Kyrie is improving on the defensive end, but I still notice he is often behind his man sort of chasing him at times. Irving has gotten better at making something out of the plays where he’s doing that, but chasing your guy from behind isn’t a recipe for success.

3. Chandler Parsons went off for 24 points knocking down ten of his 14 shots. LeBron was often the man guarding him tonight, and that’s just not acceptable. The King needs to set a better example for the team. In the first quarter, Parsons cut behind LeBron as LeBron was watching what Dirk was doing. That’s an amateur way to get beat. LeBron also got beat in overtime by Dirk for a 3-pointer when he was cheating into the paint for a rebound, and the Mavs made an extra pass.

4. The Cavs had 28 assists on 40 made shots, which is pretty dang good. However, the Cavs still had possessions where the ball stuck with one guy. Usually those possessions were LeIsos where LeBron got the ball, dribbled for 13 seconds, and launched a three. There were some plays in transition though where the Cavs should have stopped the ball and set up the offense, instead of taking a difficult unassisted shot.

Hypes

1.The Cavs shot just 41.2% from the field, while the Mavs shot 47.4%. They still won though because they kept manufacturing good 3-point looks. They took 44 3-pointers and hit 17 of them. The Mavs made just 11 deep balls.

2. The Cavs got 17 offensive boards and scored 15 points off of them, which helped them when they couldn’t score a basket in their half-court sets.

3.Kyrie scored 20 points on 8-20 shooting, which isn’t very efficient. However, he influenced the game by driving into the paint and collapsing Dallas’s defense, so he could dish out nine assists. Love struggled to score too putting up just 15 points and hitting just three of his nine 3-pointers. He did grab six offensive boards and five defensive boards though.

4. The Wine & Gold had just ten turnovers, which led to only 12 points. It’s a lot easier to shoot the ball poorly and still win when you’re protecting the ball.

5. Iman Shumpert showed how clutch he was with his strip of Dirk at the end or regulation to get the Cavs the final shot and his strip of Deron Williams at the end of overtime to prevent the Mavs from getting within striking distance. Shump only scored ten points, but it didn’t mess with his defense at all. He had three steals this evening.

6. Delly was a team high +21 tonight.

7. The King shot 50% from 3-point land on six shots and scored 27 points. He also had ten rebounds and seven assists.

8. The Cavs face the Spurs in San Antonio on Thursday. Hopefully, this overtime win didn’t take too much out of them.