Recap: Cavs 114, Pistons 106 (Or, Beginning of the MON-TAGE (Montage!))

In between the TKOs at the hands of the Warriors and Bulls, the Cavs have been feasting on Spider Ricos.  We all know Spider Rico’s “a bum”, so tonight was a chance for the Cavs to get back on track against a dangerous team in the Detroit Pistons.  The Pistons, you’ll recall, are the only team to really lay the wood to the Golden State Warriors this season.  The Cavs need to metaphorically “switch hands” if they’re going to stand a chance against the Warriors or Spurs in a Finals.  There’s been a lot of chatter on the Cavs’ needing to improve their conditioning to morph into an uptempo team.  The other points of emphasis?  Getting Kevin Love more involved.

Tonight the Cavs slashed and thrashed with a sense of urgency for three quarters, building up a 20-point lead that sustained them during cool down.  Each of the Big 3 scored at least 20 points without needing 20 shots.  The Cavs clawed for every rebound and parried the Piston’s undisciplined assaults into focused icewater meditations at the free throw line, finishing 27 of 29 at the stripe.

1st Quarter: Respawn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF6p4tXWPFU

The Cavs, to their credit, simultaneously played fast and with aggression while continually letting Kevin Love get his reps.  They moved the ball, they moved bodies, they attacked the basket as though Andre Drummond hadn’t yet checked into the game (he, of course, is a starter), and Kevin Love got to work on all sorts of scoring situations.  He hit two triples and two shots inside, including a strong layup in traffic.  All in all, he finished with seven shots in the quarter.  One potential benefit of speeding up the pace is that Kevin Love may loosen up a bit mentally, knowing his next hook shot won’t be the last time the Cavs let him go to work “again!”.

https://vine.co/v/i51YEFb0Ixg

Ty Lue gave Tristan a quick hook after his first foul and brought in Mozgov.  It was a curious move, but Moz fared pretty well offensively in the quarter.  He grabbed three offensive boards including a nifty one on a J.R. Smith-airballed floater that Mozgov tip-passed to Shumpert who canned a three as the shot clock expired.  The Cavs moved the ball furiously for the entire possession but LeBron passed up a wide open spot-3 before shoveling to J.R. who rushed his shot.  It perfectly encapsulated the Cavs current state – trying to get stronger, dealing with a setback, and persevering for a big basket.  Delly found both TT and LeBron cutting to the rack for strong finishes in traffic.  At the other end, Andre Drummond flashed a variety of post moves and a feathery soft touch on his jump-hook.  Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had the green light and mostly took advantage, burying two threes, including a PU3IT (#ShadesOfPietrus) and shaking loose for two layups.  Kyrie got stuck on a screen that gave Reggie Jackson an uncontested 18-footer, but Kyrie would got off the mat.  After 1, the Cavs led 33 to 27 and landed body blows to the Pistons in the form of 20 points in the paint.

2nd Quarter: (“And you will make your second shot”)

Notice Norman Dale doesn’t even bother discussing the first shot.  Maybe it was his supreme confidence that calmed Ollie’s nerves and transformed a shaky free throw tosser into a cool-headed fundamental machine.  The Cavs, going into this game, were 25th in the league in FT% at a paltry 72%.  In the second quarter, they sank 15 of 16 freebies.  Kyrie Irving played with his turbo button taped down, aggressively attacking the middle of the half-court at every opportunity, which earned him eight free throw attempts.

Matthew Dellavedova fed Tristan twice for an and-1 and a contested finish, giving him five quick points.  Delly also started the quarter by burying a three when the defender decided to go under the screen.  Nice to see Delly abandon any hesitation.

Speaking of hesitation, remember the theme of the first quarter?  How improving the pace could have a residual benefit of allowing Kevin Love to clear his conscience when looking to score?  Well, this play happened:

https://vine.co/v/i5nKOdVxH0W

It may not seem like much, but this is not the type of shot we are accustomed to Kevin Love taking.  Normally, he’s either wide open and takes his time, or he sort of convinces himself he may as well.  The body language on this triple pull exudes supreme confidence.  Perhaps it’s the confidence of knowing his team is going to keep calling his number.

At the defensive end, the Cavs overplayed to chase Detroit off the 3-point line, resulting in lots of Deeee-troit dribble-drives.  The Pistons shot 9 of 11 from the free throw line as they attacked the Cavs in the paint.  Andre Drummond continued to power through defenders en route to three more buckets in the paint.  Interestingly, for as horrific of a free throw shooter as Drummond is, he flashed a really nice touch around the basket.  And I don’t mean from 2 feet, but far enough away that the ball had to go up before going down.  To close out the half, there was a miscommunication or missed assignment on defense and Reggie Jackson drove past Tristan Thompson for an easy layup to end the half.  LeBron. Was. Livid.  Here’s the play in question.

https://vine.co/v/i5newqdEZ9i

Twitter used it as an opportunity to stick up for their 6’10” 240 lb (of steel), $85 million dollar snowflake, Tristan Thompson.  “Oh how dare LeBron, that hypocrite, raise his voice in protest of a defensive assignment! ” Uh, screw that!  It’s about time this team got mad, and I don’t mean whiny, I mean emotionally determined to stop making excuses and get right.

Cavs operating under a "see something, say something" accountability plan. Don't read too much into it. https://t.co/hyJrLFnv31

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 30, 2016

As in, it’s not a big deal.  I think it is a big deal – but for the right reasons.  This team needs to stop looking for excuses when they get knocked down.  LeBron leaving it all hang out against TT is exactly what this team needs.  I keep hearing about how unhappy the players are.  Then get mad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk82j1jQw_8#t=60s

Thanks to a little more aggression and some better outside shooting, the Cavs took an eight point leading into halftime: 66-58.

3rd Quarter: (“All of a sudden you feel like you can’t miss”)

The Pistons adjusted to protect against the interior scoring and dribble penetration that plagued them in the first half.  It didn’t matter, as LeBron James started draining long 2s.  Near the half-way point of the quarter, LeBron broke away for an uncontested dunk.  I can’t recall ever seeing LeBron blow a wide open breakaway dunk before.  But tonight the ball slipped out of his hand as he elevated.  Fortunately, LeBron got his other hand on it and it banged off the glass and the Cavs maintained possession.  The crowd at the Palace of Auburn Hills finally had something to jeer about.  As the gleeful chorus rained down onto the hardwood, LeBron found Kevin Love for a 3 and the Cavs reeled off seven straight points in a minute.  “All part of the plan!” shouted Fred McLeod.

WATCH: Cavaliers' LeBron James misses wide-open dunkhttps://t.co/c6J8rpOotapic.twitter.com/4fYtF09YVt

— CBS Sports NBA (@CBSSportsNBA) January 30, 2016

Reggie Jackson cut through the teeth of the Cavs defense to throw down a vicious dunk, which, again, ignited the crowd and under normal circumstances would quell the violence.  Sure enough, the Piston defense tightened the screws only to have J.R. Smith hit a ridiculous, contested fadeaway three from the right corner.  On the next Cavs possession, LeBron dribbled from the right side of the elbow to the left at full speed facing the Piston’s bench.  He jumped, turn in mid-air, and with the full weight of his 260 lb frame careening towards Stan Van Gundy’s considerably more doughy 260 lb frame he threw up a joke of a shot that went in.  LeBron’s momentum almost caused him to collide with Van Gundy.  The palace crowd got Hustled.  Another notable play came when the Pistons tried to trap Delly on the sideline.  He was able to sling it around a defender to LeBron who jump-passed across the court to Kevin Love, spotted up at the 3-point line.  As KCP closed out furiously, K Love put the ball on the deck, forced the help defender (Drummond) to step up, and thrusted a pass over the top to give Mozgov a soft slam.

https://vine.co/v/i5nHIXAEHOp

This kind of interior passing that involves Kevin Love is something I hope we see more and more.  The Spurs love plays like this with Boris Diaw feeding another big man after a strong close out.  The Cavs hung 96 points on the Pistons (a top 10 defensive team) through three quarters and led 96 to 78 heading into the 4th.

4th Quarter: “Launch Maverick on Alert 5”

Things got dicey to start the 4th.  Maybe the Cavs were fatigued from the tempo they forced throughout the first three quarters.  The Pistons shot down six quick points from the Cavs lead forcing Ty Lue to call a timeout.  The Cavs made the smart decision to slow down the offense, limit turnovers, run some clock, and let their Top Gun talent shoot down the mounting comeback.  Kyrie Irving drained three mid-range Js to fend off the Pistons push.  Then, LeBron dribbled the air out of the ball until just a few ticks remained on the shot clock, drove left, and kicked to Zydrunas  Mozzy for the baseline J.  A lot of fans complained about the reversion to LeIso, but in this circumstance, I think it was the right move to limit the Pistons offensive attack.

And and-1 by Marcus Morris kept the battle tense, cutting the Cavs lead to single digits with almost 5 minutes to play.  But Kevin Love stuck a 12 foot jump-hook, buying just enough time for Maverick Irving to engage.

"Three Pistons, no problem!" @KyrieIrving with the JETS on @FOXSportsOHhttps://t.co/lhYWdl77EE

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 30, 2016

Bingo!  That effectively ended the skirmish.  Kyrie is definitely a Maverick.  He has trust issues, he can be dangerous, and he’s talented as hell.

The Good:

-Tristan Thompson, the Peachbasket Punisher, grabbed 14 rebounds, made all five of his free throws, and played an excellent all-around game.  He got abused by Andre Drummond a few times but he also forced Reggie Jackson into an embarrassing traveling violation when Jackson tried taking TT to the cup.

-The Cavs Big 3 were outstanding individually.  More importantly, the Cavs were determined to get Kevin Love involved in the offense in a variety of ways and it paid off.

-Kyrie Irving certainly worked harder on defense than we are used to seeing.  Nate commented that he thought it was Kyrie’s best defensive game of the year.

-The Cavs made 27 of 29 Free throws!  That’s awesome.  They also outrebounded the Pistons and dished out 20 dimes to only 7 turnovers.  They would have had more assists but the Pistons had to keep fouling.

-Delly looks so much more comfortable running the offense this year.  On multiple occasions the Pistons tried forcing him to his left hand or into a trap and Delly just shredded the coverage leading to nifty dimes to his teammates.

-The Cavs played with aggression from the outset. I’d say it was the most impressive offensive execution I’ve seen through the first three quarters.

-LeBron became the youngest player to eclipse 26,000 points.

The Bad:

Richard Jefferson missed everything on a wide open 3 point attempt. J.R.’s floater wasn’t falling tonight.  The Cavs had trouble anytime Andre Drummond established good post position.

The Ugly:

Marcus Morris kept grabbing and holding LeBron’s arms.  At one point LeBron had had enough and the refs called a double technical which was a cop out move.  Later, after Mozgov was fouled on the head, Morris stood over Mozgov’s body and taunted him, twice.  No technical.

Stan Van Gundy unleashed on the Cavs brass for firing David Blatt.

Final Thoughts

The Cavs are in the midst of their training montage.  I was encouraged by the offensive aggression and the involvement of Kevin Love.  They have a long way to go, there will be setbacks and pain, but they have a plan and they’re going to fight like mad to execute it.   It’s time to go to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqwuYX3fZZc