Recap: Toronto 99, Cleveland 97 (Or, the time Kyle Lowry was the best player in the Eastern Conference)
2016-02-27
Cleveland lost a tough one in Toronto. The Cavs led 91-82 at the 5:37 mark, but lost the battle to Kyle Lowry and a collection whistle happy officials that sent Kyle to the line 15 times. As LeBron said, the Cavs made “mental mistake after mental mistake” late in the game and blew a nine point lead. Lowry scored 43 in 43 minutes, dropped nine dimes, grabbed five boards, and pilfered four steals, while only turning it over twice. Lowry definitely bested Kyrie Irving and Matthew Dellavedova at the guard spot who only combined for 18 points and four assists. And he bested LeBron who had a good all around game (25, eight, and seven) but whose six turnovers were tough to overcome.
Early on, Cleveland played strong, stretching out to a 7-0 lead at the tip, but it was 15 all a few minutes later. The Cavs stretched the lead to 31-21 to close the first, behind some solid LBJ shooting (including a rare three) and some good front court play. They ended a nice first quarter up 31-21 behind an all around good game.
The Cavs missed their opportunity to stretch the lead into the 20s in the second quarter when they kept turning it over and missing shots. Bismack “I’m better than Tristan Thompson but make a sixth of his pay” Biyambo destroyed the Cavs bigs for ten points in the quarter. Most of this destruction came when Kyrie Irving was trying to play defense and Cory Joseph and Kyle Lowry were putting him in the blender. The book on Kyrie now is: “make him negotiate a screen and you can probably score a basket. Make him negotiate two screens and you’ll definitely score one.”
The third started out nice with a set play for J.R. to get him a jumper. He shot 3-6 from three and added a vintage George Gervin finger roll in the the third for an 11 point second half (which gave me an excuse to include one of the greatest basketball commercials ever). The Game got chippy as Cleveland kept inching away and Luis Scola fouled every Cav on the floor at least twice. The officials finally caught on and began their litany of makeup calls, which included the second flagrant in three games on Delly. Then Lowry began his parade to the line, as he threw himself into defender after defender and got whistle after whistle.
The Kyle Lowry show continued in the fourth. Cleveland was afraid to defend him for rightful fear of the refs, and he got Terrance Ross (15 points) involved just enough to keep the Cavs’ honest. But Kyle kept driving, hitting, and when neither of those happened he picked up cheap fouls. Kevin Love had some nice plays down the stretch, and finished with 20 (5-15 from the floor, but 8-10 from the freebie line) nine boards, and five dimes. Up nine going into crunch time, Cleveland played prevent offense: walking it up the floor, milking every second of the clock, and only scoring six points the rest of the way. Lowry gave Toronto a three point lead at just under the two minute mark by throwing himself into Kevin Love’s hand and getting an and-1, to which I said, “If they’re going to call that garbage, put him on the deck!”
Kevin responded with a three from the right corner on an LBJ kickout, and getting himself to the line when Lowry closed out too agressively, to put the Cavs back up two. Lowry responded with a back-down isolation two over Delly, during which no help was given. All tied up, Cleveland got some nice ball movement, and LeBron seemed to have an advantage three feet from the bucket, but sensing the double, kicked it out to J.R. who missed a 27-footer. Lowry hit a loong two on Matthew Dellavedova’s island to give Toronto a 99-97 lead.
With a scant three seconds and change left, Ty Lue burned through two straight 20 second timeouts to call an inbound play, and when Bismack deflected the Kevin Love pass out of bounds, the Cavs had no timeouts remaining to draw up something new. Regardless, the replay review on the deflection took so long that Lue had time to draw something up, which was apparently an LBJ 26-foot-pull-up-with-two-seconds-still-on-the-clock airball to end the game.
Tom and I offered a point/counterpoint afterwards.
Tom Pestak:
The Cavs should have an appropriate fear of the Raptors. They have been one of the best teams in the NBA for the past few months and Kyle Lowry has had the three best games of his career (arguably) against the Cavs (twice) and the Warriors.
He’s a bulldog and he clearly uses his strong frame to draw all kinds of contact. It reminded me very much of Finals 2k6 Wade, the way he got whatever he wanted off the high screens or the isolation, could back down defenders at will, and got every. single. call. (many of them late)
The Cavs should be afraid that they got outclassed despite the fact that DeRozan, arguably the Raps second best player, was sick and played like crap (1-11 from the floor), and they don’t even have DeMarre Carroll back.
Tonight’s game felt a little bit like playing the Warriors, in that any lapses the Cavs had, even momentarily, just killed them. The Cavs had a chance to create some separation at the end of the third quarter and just didn’t get it done. The refs really hurt them at that juncture, as Lowry’s parade to the free throw line coupled with a patently ridiculous flagrant foul on Delly – can we talk about that for a second? What the hell is he SUPPOSED TO DO if not swipe for the ball, get biceps instead, and hold on for dear life to prevent the easy bucket. That’s like, textbook basketball strategy in that situation. Guys do that to LeBron about once a game – it’s never called a flagrant. I get that it looked awkward and that after LeBron landed on Delly his fingertips grazed Biyambo’s forehead, but COME ON. That is as clean of a hard foul as you can possibly get.
https://vine.co/v/i6j3taviX5K
NBA players, in my opinion, aren’t bred to be necessarily “softer” than years ago, but it’s stuff like this that causes every single fan of the game to think the game has gone soft. And why do we need 10 minutes to review these calls?! I just don’t understand it. As a fan of the game, If I was the ref, I’d watch that video and say: “was he trying to hurt him or trying to prevent an easy basket?” Prevent easy basket. “Did he possibly endanger him by swiping at the head or neck area or was there incidental contact between his finger tips and Biyambo’s face after 3 guys were flailing like rag dolls?” Yeah, Rag dolls.. TWO SHOTS. LET’S GO. 30 second pow-wow and get back out there. It’s ridiculous!
…back to what I was saying. Mozgov continues to undermine the Cavs with his terrible hands. A.C. was criticizing LeBron for making that behind the back pass because, “LeBron should know Timo can’t catch that.” Well he NEEDS to be able to catch that. He’s not a stretch 5. If you can get one palm on the ball you should be able to corral it. And Iman Shumpert – what in the world has happened to him on offense? Lazy passes all the time, terrible hands, can’t take anyone off the dribble without going all Pavlovic on it… The refs gave the Raptors free throws to end the third, the Cavs gave the Raptors second chance opportunities and turnovers to start the fourth, and Kyle Lowry just took them home.
It’s bothersome to me that the Cavs aren’t good enough yet to get away with some lapses. They had to play LeBron 40 minutes tonight. That was a playoff atmosphere and they fought extremely hard and they lost. Because they weren’t good enough. I just keep waiting for this team, with its talent and depth and shooting, to have a stretch (like last season) when they look completely unstoppable. You just don’t get it. It’s not like last year, where there was insane malaise to start before something clicked. They are grinding this season. They’ll play well and win 3, 4, 5, 6 games in a row. And then you’ll get a game like this, or the Boston game, or the Charlotte game. Where, you know the Cavs are playing hard and want to win. They just get outclassed. The Boston game was a bit flukey, but it seems like dribble penetration from PG’s is the Cavs kryptonite on D right now…
On a positive note, I really liked the way the Cavs featured Kevin Love in the offense in the second half. He looked like one of the most important players on the court in crunch time and he scored five unanswered to give the Cavs a 2-point lead that they blew.
Nate Smith
To your first point, absolutely. The Cavs should be scared. Kyle Lowry dominates the Cavs because while Delly can be a decent defensive point guard, he struggles with very quick guards. With Shump defending so inconsistently this year, Cleveland seems to have no answer for him. And yeah, DeRozen didn’t play well, and DeMarre isn’t back. Also, that arena is one of the NBA’s toughest. I LOVE their bench: Patterson, Biyambo, Ross, Joseph… They’re brutally tough, and they close games better than they open.
As for the refs, they were a joke tonight. Bad call after bad call both ways: they’d make a bad call, or miss a call, and then there’d be a makeup call on the next play and on and on all game. And yeah, Delly’s “thug” reputation is perhaps the NBA’s most ridiculous. The flagrant was tough, but I knew he was going to get it as soon as I saw it. Really, it happened because LeBron and Delly kind of hi/lowed Biyambo. It was a tough call, but the game was getting chippy, and you just knew it was coming.
It got chippy because the Raps junked it up at the beginning of the third as Scola just reached out and grabbed any Cav within five feet of him until the refs finally put an end to it. Smart strategy by them. Toronto had to do something to match the Cavs. The Cavs didn’t lose because of the officials. They had more talent, so Toronto employed the neutral zone trap and made it a battle of physical and mental toughness, beating Cleveland in both aspects.
Moz didn’t have great hands, but TT dropped SOOO MANY rebounds and passes tonight. When neither can catch, the Cavs are in trouble.
And Iman? Yeah. He just had a baby (or his significant other did). This is the most underrated aspect of NBA life. New dads usually play like garbage. It just happens. But he does seem far too comfortable with his $40 million dollar deal. His defensive execution has gone down a notch, but everyone on the Cavs has regressed.
Take Delly tonight and Wednesday: shaded his man the wrong way both times. Wednesday he was pushing Lin to the right, and tonight, he pushed Lowry left. Know you opponent! Matt’s late game D stunk: he played the wrong hand, didn’t slide his feet and got them crossed up, and showed poor defensive shot clock awareness. It was disappointing.
And I wonder how much of that goes to coaching. Lue’s coaching stunk. LeBron was exhausted by the game’s end, played his minutes high for the season, and at one point, Lue called two straight 20 second timeouts, leaving him with none when he needed one at the end of the game. The Cavs are at a disadvantage in late game situations this playoffs, especially because of the below stat and LeBron’s maniacal need to take last second shots – oh, and the Cavaliers inability to run decent out of bounds plays late in games for like the last two seasons. UGH. Check that, last 5 seasons?
LeBron James is 5-47 on game-tying/go-ahead shots in final 5 seconds in last 10 years. Only Jamal Crawford is worse pic.twitter.com/jQ8UsoQCGv
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 27, 2016
Thank God Cleveland has J.R. Smith. Speaking of J.R. why the hell don’t they run late game stuff for him? Why was LeBron the primary option both times in the final inbound?
As for Toronto, do you think they’d beat Cleveland in a ECF matchup?
Tom Pestak
I don’t know. But last season after game 4 in Chicago, when David Blatt got KILLED – Ryan Russillo said on his show the next day that Blatt should be fired immediately. After a playoff win! And not just because of his snafu with the timeout he didn’t have. Rusillo was inconsolable because Blatt called for LeBron to inbound the ball at the end. His critique summed up the NBA zeitgeist: “Dude?!”
Let’s go back and think about that situation. J.R. Smith is the only reason the Cavs were even in that game. He may have saved the Cavs season with his outside shooting in the second half when the Cavs couldn’t get any offensive rhythm. And yet it’s a mortal sin for LeBron, one of the best players of all time at passing over the defense, to inbound the ball to a guy like J.R. Smith, who can get off any shot he wants? And is a better shooter? It makes so much strategic sense for LeBron to be the inbounder there.
LeBron used to avoid late game shots unless they were layups or dunks (clutch dunks!). I think after the all-star game where Kobe ribbed him for being scared to shoot in the all-star game got into his head. Ever since then he’s gotta be the guy to take technicals (hate that) and he’s gotta be the guy to take the last shot, despite his 5 for 47 (my God…) mark.
I don’t want to pile on LeBron too much, because I thought he played a nice game tonight. We have collectively taken for granted how much usage he absorbs, so his highlights and shortcomings are easy to point out, but not the sheer amount of energy he needs to expend in every game. He was a game high +10 tonight and I thought the team let him down a bit in the second half. He also missed a bunch of bunnies he normally makes.
As far as a playoff series, I think Cavs/Raptors would be a fantastic series, not unlike last year’s Cavs/Bulls series. And if I had to wager my money, I’d take the Cavs to emerge victorious. I just refuse to believe the Cavs are operating at even 75% of their ceiling this year.
That said, the Cavs need to figure out what to do about slashing guards. I was shocked that there was no help defense on those last two plays by the Raptors. Lowry, having a career night, and torching any and everyone that tried to defend him, gets to just back down Delly with, I dunno, 4 dribbles? Neither LeBron nor TT ever even faked a swipe to make Lowry pick up his dribble. And then on the final play, why not quickly trap and get the ball out of Lowry’s hands? With no Derozan, the rest of that team is one-dimensional offensively.
While Kyrie (10 points, one dime, two turnovers on 4-11 shooting) continues to be all over the place (good games, bad games, great games, horrible games), I really liked what I saw from Kevin Love down the stretch tonight. He held his own against Jonas on a few backdowns, he was an intergral part of the Cavs offensive sets down the stretch, and his five quick points where clutch.
I wish I had an answer for the team as a whole – they looked so solid in that win over OKC, and that was without Shumpert and only nine minutes of bed-bug-bitten Irving. Or was that flu-Irving before the bed bugs? On his “hey Windy” podcast this morning, Windy wondered aloud if Delly would crush the bed bugs and eat them for breakfast.
You are right about Delly though, he made a bunch of mistakes tonight. I like him a lot more as a pick and roll defender and a weakside defender than in isolation. He gets backed down too easily and guys can shoot over him from 15 feet with ease.
The Cavs are not a great defensive team right now. They have a lot of overrated defensive players: Delly, Shumpert, TT, Mozgov, some horrific defenders: Kyrie, Mo, a guy that seems more effective than he is: J.R., and a guy whose defense seems to wax and wane in LeBron. Add somewhat undersized Kevin Love to the mix, and you have a team that is 14th in defensive rating since Tyronn Lue moved from defensive coordinator to head coach.
I’d rather play the Celtics than the Raptors in the playoffs, that’s for sure.
Nate Smith
I don’t get Kyrie Irving. We talk about fake tough guys, but Kyrie Irving might be a fake smart guy. I’ve never seen such a cerebral sounding guy have with such an unfocused game. He just doesn’t seem to have a purpose half the time when he’s on the floor. Part of that is the LeBron tax, for sure. James can be a difficult guy to play with if you’re not a catch-and-shoot player.
And yeah, I don’t want to pile on either. But you nailed it two weeks ago, when you said the Cavs don’t have a system or rotation for getting LeBron consistent rest. This is my biggest Lue criticism. He doesn’t seem to have a freaking plan half the time. Last week he said, “I probably should have sat LeBron tonight.” Tonight he plays him 40!? True, LeBron was the best Cavalier by a long shot, and Cleveland was not doing well with him off the floor, but how about resting the King for a couple minutes when you’re up early in the fourth? I’ve not seen much good thinking on his throne by coach Lue. Maybe he needs to get off his big chair and start thinking on his feet.
As far as LeBron in late game situations? Confirmation bias of the Magic and Bulls playoff shots has skewed this: LeBron is a terrible late game shooter. I had forgotten about Kobe’s all-star criticisms. They might be the Mamba’s be the best defensive play ever. Why oh why oh why do the Cavs so consistently suck at late game inbounds situations? I mean, maybe the Cavs have a title if LeBron lets someone else shoot it at the end of Finals game one. You can tell these pull-up shots aren’t going in like three seconds before he shoots them. You can see LeBron sizing guys up, and we’re all yelling, “there’s a reason they’re letting you shoot!” I call it the LeChuck special, and it hasn’t changed in 13 years.
And what do I say about J.R.? Did I ever think I’d like the guy this much? He just seems in such a great mental space. He even seemed appropriately exhausted, disappointed, yet already on to the next game in the locker room. There’s a maturity there I just don’t remember. Of course he’s a new Dad too, and playing a lot better than Shump.
I liked Dwayne Casey’s coaching tonight. It was little things: like waiting till the 1:54 mark to put Bismack in, so the Cavs couldn’t play hack-a-Biyambo or the way the Raptors junked it up in the third to throw the game out of rhythm. And you point to Delly bad decisions tonight, but I feel like this is on the coaching staff too. Either he’s forgetting the scouting report, or someone’s not getting it to him in the huddle. The worst part of Ty Lue as a head coach is that the Cavs lost their best assistant. Of course Shump fouled Lowry every other play in the third, so he wasn’t on him late. This seems like a mistake, like Shump’s 4/$40 million contract.
Yeah, Cleveland isn’t a great defensive team, and they’re worse now with Frye. He’s going to get owned by good teams in the playoffs. He looked like old-man-threes-and-fouls at the Y tonight. But back to my point. You’re so dead on about not doubling Lowry late. Ross’s two triples when the Cavs tried this midway through the fourth were a big reason it didn’t happen later, but just don’t double off that guy! AC said it on Lowry’s post-up. Austin Carr might have broadcast his best game tonight, too. He was calling out the plays before they happened all night. He even called Lowry’s move to the left late. AND ugh. Delly had LeBron to help on his right. Why did he give Lowry the left!? You don’t let the best player in the eastern conference go the way he wants to go.
I’m scared, angry, and frustrated, Tom. Hold me.
Nice shot by Curry. Great game. So the Cavs beat the Thunder soundly. And Golden State won in overtime on a miraculous shot after a stretch when OKC didn’t do many things right. And the Cavs don’t have a chance. Hmmm. I remember the year the New England Patriots had a perfect season going . . . Brady had – like – 50 td passes midway through the season and nobody had a chance of beating them that year. And somebody did. I say, when the Cavs have the ball run the skinny Curry through 2 picks on every offensive… Read more »
Even if the Cavs don’t win the championship I’ve made up my mind to enjoy the season on a nightly basis. I’m going to enjoy JR’s crazy three’s, Kyrie’s ridiculous drives to the basket, LBJ thunderous dunks, and so forth.
And before and after every game I’m going to play the song, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
Curry is just unguardable. The game winner and 12 three pointers was insane. No one can beat them in a 7 game series. They were out rebounded by 30 boards, and still won.
Forget beating them in a series…winning a game against them seems like an impossible enough task.
Yeah, the Cavs might steal one and at best two games. But it would take perfect games from us, and many GS turnovers.
Yep. He’s the best player in the NBA for a reason. No way any team beats the Warriors in a 7 game series. Cavs will be lucky to win one. Cavs should sit out the rest of the year and trade Kyrie for 2-way players. There is no way the Cavs win squat this year.
Cavs need to be realistic. This team will not get it done. Last year was a different story. Shump, and Moz came back to earth. They are not as good as they were last year. Lue is a coach that, on most nights, is overmatched. The players like him, and he used to get them to play defense, now they have a midget scrub that is ignored. This team is screwed and will not win anything more than an ECF. Time to make some serious trades. Starting with ball hog Kyrie!
I’ll wait until I see what happens in the playoffs, but the first guy to get traded this off season, IMO, like it or not, is Love. And he’ll almost certainly fall into Ainge’s filthy mitts. If that happens, the Cavs better rook him in the deal. If they lose in the playoffs, or in the finals, I’m positive Love will be the scapegoat, no matter how well he plays. I doubt KI gets dealt, because I’m sure the Cavs FO sees him as a ‘face’ of the organization.
I think a shakeup is inevitable if we lose the Finals, and agree that either Love or Ki will get dealt due to LeBron’s advancing age. I would rather trade KI for two players who can excel on both sides of the court, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cavs shopped both to see who brought the best haul.
Westbrook has improved so much as a facilitator, but not Irving. It’s very obvious that KI doesn’t make teammates better like Westbrook does. KI is such a talent, but he is lacking between the ears.
A shake up? I think a big part of Golden State’s success comes from them being together for several years which leads to on court chemistry. The same goes for San Antonio. We see KLove fitting in better in recent months. We’ll see the same from Kyrie by the end of the playoff run.
We locked people up long term for a reason. You keep your core and add a missing piece or two. We’re not playing “fantasy basketball.” Other teams don’t give away their stars, so don’t expect one in a trade.
Gotta say after seeing that performance I agree. How do you guard a guy that hits 45 percent of his 30-40 foot shots and that has the best or second best handles in the league and that finishes at a 68% clip near the basket? I mean he is having the best statistical season of all time for a reason. It is plain ridiculous, basically like a video game cheat code. I am fairly certain he could score 50 a night if he played 45 minutes a game. Hell he scores 31 a night and only takes less than 20… Read more »
The more invincible the Warriors look, the more I hope the Cavs are at home getting themselves psyched to take them down in the Finals in a big upset. 42 years of Cleveland sports fandom…at some point something awesome must break our way!
I really think games like tonight’s demoralize every other team in the NBA….at least the ones who like to think they are trying to win a title…
I know what you mean but:
“It’s alway seems impossible until it’s done” (Nelson Mandela)
Go Cavs!
Thunder may have put a stake in the Warriors for this game. Maybe.
Did that just happen??
I spoke too soon….
Can’t believe it. What a dumb foul. The Warriors… ugh do i hate them.
They are invincible zombies…it’s crazy.
Zombie Warriors march on, torching everything in their path…
Boom, Kd!!! Huge shot
Curry is officially ridiculous. Braymond showing chinks
Two problems. The first of which many bloggers here have mentioned in Love’s unselfish play. I’ve never seen a play be MORE unselfish when they are holding down his level of talent. So it REALLY bothered me when Lue said Love needs to worry less about his brand. I don’t get that comment one bit. And two, at some point all this talk about cavs turning it on in the playoffs or oh I’m not worried we will take them in 5 loses it’s muster. We just can’t keep looking like this on a semi regular basis. I don’t have… Read more »
Watching Andy play in OKC versus GS. I bet he has a great +/- with these guys. It’s much easier to focus on him when he’s on another team and I can see how his constant movement helps on offense.
He just had a great little sequence with Iggy where Iguadala was stuck in the corner and Andy kept moving around tossed the bal back and forth and then set a pick leading to a drive for a layup.
Andy is still good. I don’t understand why he was dissed so by some Cavs fans. Is he the same hyperactive animal from 4-5 years ago? No. But he’s still an active defender, decent rebounder, and a “point center” that can also reliably hit from the elbow. And we could have used him last night against Toronto when Mozgov was having a bad game and their bigs dominated. He’s also a good locker room guy. Does Kevin Durant take it to the basket anymore? He was a top 5 player in the NBA when he was equally a threat to… Read more »
I haven’t been able to see much of this game tonight, but he takes it to the hoop plenty in the times I’ve seen them play this year. He’s pretty clearly a top 2 or 3 player….top 5 at worst this year.
Part of the problem with Lue being a new coach is he really wants to win every game. So he is managing minutes terribly. He also isn’t used to managing the offense and defense and inbounds plays and timeouts and halftime adjustments all at the same time. Half the time he misses obvious things and it seems like he doesn’t know what he’s trying to accomplish half the time. We’ll see if they turn it on in the playoffs. That’s when I’m most worried about not having Blatt. I thought he was exceptional last year in the playoffs. I dont’… Read more »
This isn’t directed towards you, Joey, at all – just taking a tangent from your post. I don’t so much buy this idea that some have propagated that the Cavs will ‘turn it on for the playoffs’. That’s not what they did last season — they were humming for months coming into the playoffs, they didn’t ‘turn it on’ at that point. In general, teams don’t just ‘turn it on’ for the playoffs.
Completely agree. I will say they did improve defensively in the playoffs though. But a lot of that was circumstantial. This team is very frustrating. I was hoping that whatever they were planning would come into fruition, but the more I see them play, the more I realize that they lack the intelligence to know what makes them great. We have a very stupid team. If we don’t win it this year, I may endorse trading Kyrie. He reminds me of Harden.
Wait a minute, I thought Lue has been coaching this team the entire time Blatt was here. He shouldn’t be having any problem now that he is the official head coach, right?
RAY ALLEN’S BAGS ARE PACKED—COLS IS FLYING HIM TO CLEVELAND AS WE SPEAK ( WITHOUT A PLANE )
Are we just gonna leave two spots open or do we bring in anyone? Kevin Martin? Shaq? AC?
Shaq would be a great pickup….he can still dunk, as he demonstrated to Barkley a few weeks ago.
McRae looks comfortable handling and distributing (as well as scoring), though unclear how much of a left hand he has. Here are highlights from his first NBA game (Suns vs. Knicks), starting with three assists by him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLDpUNTESxg
STUPID QUESTION ( MT WIFE TELLS ME I AM GUILTY QUITE OFTEN )——IF ROCKETS BUY OUT TY LAWSON SHOULD THE CAVS PURSUE / WE ALL KNOW THE GARBAGE HE BRINGS ——–BUT / IF HE WOULD RID OF THE GARBAGE DOES HE / WOULD HE HELP THIS TEAM —–JUST THROWING IT OUT THERE FOR RESPONSE …………..YOUR TURN …..
No thanks! He’s pretty worthless. He’s fallen off a cliff. I remember when some considered him a top 5 PG.
I think the team is what it is at this point. They just need to play better. I don’t see a move that they could make that would really make a difference. Maybe fire the defensive midget they’ve brought in?
Not a chance. If JR was baggage when he came Ty Lawson is a luggage emporium…
It’s not even just the baggage – Lawson absolutely sucks.
Spurs To Sign Andre Miller hoopsrumors.com/2016/02/spurs-…
San Antonio may be the new front-runner if Kevin Martin is bought out. Per @ESPNSteinLine. hoopsrumors.com/2016/02/wolves…
BACK TO MCRAE ( NICKNAMED THE ORANGE MAMBA ) ALOT OF BLOGGERS DID NOT WANT ANOTHER 34 YR OLD DECLINING SKILLS PLAYER AKA / JOE JOHNSON/ PREFERRED FOR THE CAVS TO GO AFTER A YOUNGER MORE ATHLETIC WING —- J.J. MIGHT HAVE BEEN CAVS 1ST PURSUIT BUT LONG TERM ” ORANGE MAMBA ” MAY HELP MORE —LET’S GIVE HIM A CHANCE AND THE SUPPORT
ARCH YOU MIGHT BE CORRECT –BUT I THINK YOU HAVE TO GIVE HIM MINUTES TO SEE IF THERE IS ANY POTENTIAL THERE TO BE AN ASSET OR NOT—CONSIDER HIM BEING A BIGER / POSSIBLY MORE SKILLED VERSION OF MDN
ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT SCALE —–MORE IMPORTANT OF THE LOSS TO THE RAPTORS IS THE RECENT LOSS TO ONE OF EVILS FAMILY MEMBERS ( AND A LOSS TO ALL OF US NOT ENJOYING EVIL’S DAILY COMMENTARY ) YOU ARE IN OUR MINDS AND PRAYERS EVIL —TAKE CARE AND HURRY BACK ( UNDER YOUR TERMS )
Aw Man I didn’t know… :( I wondered what happen to him. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with you Evil Genius!
Maybe he can defend better than Kyrie?
Loss wasnt lebrons fault, but I wish Lue would write 5/47 on the whiteboard and tell Lebron hes the inbounder from here on out.
Also shump is awful; he should cut his hair and refocus his game like when Lebron ditched the headband
Agreed. But we all saw how that went down in last year’s Bulls game. And LeBron of course had to call out that he changed the play to make himself the shooter in the huddle.
I must have missed all this on Shump. It’s hard to watch every single player closely. He was one I didn’t pay close attention to. There was a time he and Delly had quite the defensive duo going on. Sadly, it has declined.
As @Chris_Reichert reported Jordan McRae to Cleveland on a 10-day. Will cost Cleveland $30k in salary and $206k in taxes.
I doubt McRae ever plays for the Cavs.
I’d like to get $30,000 for ten days of work.
Our guard play has been atrocious.
I almost don’t think the CRaptors even get to the ECF this year. They rely on getting to the line. Don’t think that’s sustainable in the playoffs. Could see Indy, Miami, Boston and possibly Chicago knocking them off.
I don’t think the CRaptors have a shot against the Cavs during the playoffs. They may win one or two games. They got a lot of help from the officiating crew, and hit a ton of tough shots, while Lowery went Nova, and they only won by 2.
What are the odds that masai ujiri goes on a cursing rampage in front of a packed crowd before the playoffs? He’s done it the past two years, and got fined both times.
Toronto could steal a couple from us in the playoffs, but I don’t see them taking the series. Those touch fouls called for Lowry are the softest things ever! LeBron would shoot 40 free throws a game if he got all those calls. The good Cavs offense and ball movement was great tonight. They really played decently smart for their standards on offense. One of the better LeBron performances of the season, and I can be a huge critic of him. My biggest criticism is that JR doesn’t get enough plays and shots for him. Lue should be utilizing him… Read more »
On Lebron’s shot…. Rewind a little further. Before that final 3 seconds, a play before.. Lebron did just that. The ball was flying all over the place and Love gave Lebron a quick pass in the paint where he was covered by 2 Raptors and then he shot a quick pass to JR which he shot up a quick 3 and it didn’t go in. Kyrie’s mental zone was in no man’s land. So fast forward last 3 seconds. Not a lot of time there, so he had to go for it. That wasn’t the reason Cavs lost. It is… Read more »
Agreed. We lost this game on defense. Lowry was going off and we made zero adjustments. It was bad coaching, bad basketball, and just ugly overall.
Dead on about Shump. I was surprised that they only played Delly on Lowry late in the game. Shump and Kyrie were torched all game. It was shocking to see that from Shump. Hope it is just a lack of sleep.
I can’t get this image of Shump out of my mind: at the beginning of the regular season last year against the Knicks, Kyrie blows past Shump for a high bank shot from the left side (to win the game maybe?) Who was that guy with the flat top that Kyrie just schooled, I wondered.
At this point, I really regret the Cavs couldn’t find some good trade for Shump before the dealine. As you note, he is almost unplayable right now.
HAVE WE SIGNED JORDAN MCRAE —-ARE WE LOOKING AT ANY OTHER BUYOUTS THAT MAY HELP—–ANY OPINIONS FROM MY FELLOW ” G.M.” BLOGGERS WHO WE SHOULD PURSUE ?
If I recall, we were almost a top five defense under Blatt and have now sunk to 14th since Lue took over. As noted in the fine write-up, it also doesn’t seem Lue has a clue sometimes how he wants to manage minutes/rotations. And I am not pushing the panic buttom, rather the very worried button, that Kyrie just will never function as a proper point guard. He does not make other players better, and his one assist last night (versay say the five by KLove) is ludicrous. As Jason Lloyd noted in his write-up, the time may be coming… Read more »
Agree that Lue has been meh. I don’t think he has been bad – the team has had some great success with him. But Blatt was also great. So it was a move that hasn’t really made the team better yet.
The quick and early success was due to an attitude shift on the part of the players – not necessarily because of anything Lue taught or did. I hate to say it, but we’re stuck with a bunch of prima donnas. A bunch of very talented prima donnas. Some nights you see the “very talented” team. Other nights we get to watch the prima donnas. The prima donnas got Blatt fired. For the most part, last night the Cavs played like a very talented team . . . but a talented, tough, and competitive Kyle Lowry, ref calls, and crowd… Read more »
But isn’t it just possible they are bored with regular season? Last years playoffs have me pretty confident that the Cavs are tough as nails – they are just kind of bored right now.
Yes, Hot Sauce. It’s very possible. I recall the old Celtics and Laker championship dynasties. They would let the other team stay close until the last two minutes of games – and then just obliterate them. Both teams did this for years to the extent that it became commonplace to say that you only have to watch the last two minutes of a basketball game to know what happened. They conserved energy and preserved health over the course of the season by doing that. The Cavs were the better team last night. But it is an opportunity for them to… Read more »
They wouldn’t be bored if they were winning.
No doubt that this team is talented enough to win a championship.
Tremendous doubt that they are physically and mentally tough enough.
I’m thinking that an effective strategy against Golden State could be to run Curry through two picks on every offensive play all series long. Have the guy Curry is guarding go around two picks and just wear the sucker down.
Unfortunately, I think a tougher team is going to beat us to the finals.
This. I was being about running him to death on defense last night. Whoever they hide him on.
That’d make sense if the Warriors didn’t switch so much.
Did you not watch the playoffs last year? That was the most mentally tough team in the NBA. Players kept going down but LeBron and company would not let them lose.
Please. Do not unlearn what you learned last year. Playoff basketball is a different beast. And LeBron is made for it
Last year the Warriors looked a bit nervous and rattled in the finals the first three games. But then they figured it out, and won out easily. I think the Warriors would have won 6 more straight games against that depleted Cavs team if they had to, but they only needed the three wins to close it out. They are far more mentally tough this year.
Good Nate Smith comment: “The worst part of Ty Lue as a head coach is that the Cavs lost their best assistant.”
Lue’s a good guy. I wish him success. But I’ve seen nothing exceptional about him in his interviews or his team’s play.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the locker room issue that Blatt was fired for was more on the guys than on the coach.
Agreed with that comment too!
I need to look up what J.R. is shooting on wide open 3s. I know his rep is that he shoots better on contested 360 no scope 3s but I feel like he has become almost automatic when he’s wide open and spotted. His arc is higher than I remember and his lower body a bit quieter. Ben?
That would be a cool stat to know!!
J.R”s realease has been a touch quicker than sometimes in the past. Thats part of the reason that he sometimes misses long when he has TOO long to set. He is feeling the ball so well that he occasionally overclubs. But he is very rarely missing left or right. Awesome. His release is also more open relaxed hand than finger point. I like that more as the point sometimes leads to unnecessary tension. The dude is on fire. The ball is going up like a feather. I’m happy.
On shots with the closest defender 4-6 ft away (shot that’s classified ‘open’ per nba.com) JR takes 2.6 3pt shots per game, hitting 47.1%.
On shots with the closest defender 6 ft and farther (classified as ‘wide open’) JR takes 2.1 3pt shots per game, hitting 41.6%.
If you combine the two, he’s hitting 44.6% on shots where the nearest defender is at least 4 ft away.
I HAVE MENTIONED IN A RECENT BLOG I AM GOING TO REFRAIN FROM ” PANIC BUTTON MODE ” AND NOT JUMP ALL OVER A CAVS LOSS AND NOT JUMP TOO HIGH ON A CAVS WIN ——-EVENTUALLY COME APRIL / MAY / JUNE EVERYTHING WILL UNFOLD ( NO MORE TIME FOR EXCUSES / PROCESSES / GALVANIZING / TRADES OR PICK UPS ) IT WILL BE TIME TO ” MAN UP ” –COMPETE AND HOPEFULLY WIN —–AND THEN I WILL ( WE ) WILL EITHER BE FILLING THIS BLOG WITH PRAISES OR LOUD ” MOANS/ GROANS “— -UNTILL THEN AM GOING TO… Read more »
Kyrie stunk and deserves every criticism thrown his way. Our Bigs were a joke. Cavs defense is much worse since Lue took over. That is very worrisome. Unaccountability just got expanded past the Big 3.
We lost by two points. On the road. Give it a rest.
When you stop posting the same crap 30 times a day, you can tell people to give it a rest. Until then, you don’t have much argumentative authority.
Nate I think often it’s healthy to give indulgent sentiment some short shrift without in anyway shutting down discussion. Otherwise there is too much wallowing in loss. This is the role of the super ego according to Freud.
Freud sucks…….
TV63 – Totally agree! Which is why I am not worried. Lowry had the game of his life, we basically sleep walk down the stretch, KI was horrible, and we controlled most of the game and still almost win at the end on road. Its a great sign for the Cavs against the East. It reminded me a lot of that Hawks game we lost on the road last year post-All Star Break. We were as bad as we could be, and still had a chance. We then swept them in playoffs. Now, teh Finals are another matter. But Cavs… Read more »
I don’t recall seeing the ball in Kyrie’s hands much of the game.
Now, did they ask somebody else to be the primary ball handler and Kyrie pouted and didn’t work hard to get it? I don’t know.
Good point. Sure hope KI isn’t pouting.
There’s a third possibility – The Raptors played darn good physical defense against him . . . and he had an off night.
I prefer to believe this one.
Every night one Cav seems to be on fire, and another Cav has an off night and is the target of all the bloggers.
He was 4-11 and 0-2 from the 3 point line. And only 1 lousy assist. At the end (the very end), you seen his team mates ( LeBron and even JR) not pass him the ball. Review the game & you’ll see it too.
DeRozan is probably not gonna shoot 1-11 again though, and they’ll be getting a great defender in Carroll back to put on LeBron. I could Toronto pushing it to 6 in the playoffs
Announcers said he was playing hurt. Not sure what the injury was.
He’s a big boy Cols. Not a child. Lebron takes criticism almost daily. Nothing wrong with Kyrie getting some his way. He’s a part of the Big 3. It comes with the territory.
Lowry is a pretty impressive athlete. It’s amazing how much he’s transformed his physique since he entered the league. I could never see that amount of mass working on similarly sized guards.
I admire his game and his intensity.
Every game does not have to cause an existential crisis if we lose. Lowry was awesome tonight. Maybe the Raptors steal one game in the playoffs because he’s awesome. But that’s pretty much it. Losing by 2 on the road to a fired up good team is fine. It happens to everyone except the GSW.
Playoffs are a different animal.
Yeah. Lowry was a MONSTER. Willed that victory. That post-up on Delly to tie the game in the final minute was clinical. Poor Delly had no chance. Just did his dramatic “flail his arms thing.”
But if that is what Raps need to beat us by 2 points at home – that is great for Cavs!
No doubt, Delly and Kyrie have trouble with Lowry. It’s just a bad matchup for them. However, the game recap mentions how no other Cav helped Delly out in the back down. I was yelling at the tv for someone to come in and trap Lowry (or even feint towards him). It was an opportunity to force him into a mistake at a critical moment.
It was one of the mental breakdowns that LBJ alluded to after the game.
Good write up.
This was a frustrating game to watch, solely because of the refs. I don’t understand why they think they need to control the game. That tech on Shumpert was just awful.
I do hope that the Lebron last second shot stat gets back to Lebron. He needs to realize that unless he is driving to the hoop, he needs to give it up to someone.
Lastly, I just want to add my admiration of J.R. He has been the most consistent player on this team all season, even with being in the refs doghouse all season.
Yep. JR has been awesome this year. Top 5 shooting guard.
Yep. JR didn’t get paid last year so he has something to work for. I wonder how he’d be doing with a $10MM contract?
Until recently, Delly was playing closest to his skill level. He has the second largest disparity in pay.
None of our max guys are having the best year of their careers.
I wonder if this can be used as a commentary on Socialism. Ie: Getting something for nothing.
Nope. This makes zero sense whatsoever.
I forgot the tech on Shump. Might be the worst one I’ve seen all year. Hopefully he gets it rescinded… Anyone know who the guy calling ALL the fouls was?
Eh . . . a couple of years ago they were automatically T’ing up guys that showed up a ref by being demonstrative after a call. It really cut down on the whining for the rest of the year. Do I like that they called it on our guy at that time (being they don’t call it much anymore)? No. I’d like to see them resurrect that practice, but then on the flipside I’d like teams to be able to send game films to the league office and have officials’ pay docked for consistently making ridiculous calls. (Of course, that… Read more »
Eh Cavs will win in 4 or 5 in the playoffs. Playoff LeBron and playoffs Cavs are a different beast. I know it frustrates some but that’s the deal with this team. Coast and then turn it on in the playoffs. Don’t unlearn the lessons from last year.
Except this team is not last year’s team. They lost three games the entire second half of the season. This team lost twice in the first week back from the All Star break. This team also has lost its defensive identity. The idea that that Cavs are just going to roll to the finals is foolhardy and is the exact same mindset the team apparently has which is going to cost them at some point.
Last season had three acts: poor first half, dominating run from early January into March when they were the hottest team in the league, then coasting in the final weeks once they were pretty much locked into the 2 seed.
So last season they had that extended stretch of excellence to draw on as they headed into the playoffs. This season, they’re still trying to find themselves.
The Raptors may or may not fold in the playoffs, but based on their wins against quality teams this year, they have at least as good a case as the Cavs for being considered the best in the East. And they were actually very competitive in their two games with the Warriors to boot. Shump has mostly been a big disappointment this season. I understand his rapping and clothing line are doing great, though. I think Love has been really good, and I can say this – I’ve yet to see him play selfish out there, wish I could say… Read more »
If I could get even odds right now on Cavs/Raptors in a 7 game series, I would bet my house. Literally. Raptors are solid, but playoffs are just so different, and the Cavs have like 3 more levels of intensity – especially LeBron. Raptors are maxed out (very much like ATL last year). You could see it last night — that game was do or die for them.
The Bulls actually still scare me more than Raps. They have a couple extra playoff gears.
Meh. Toronto will fold like a lawnchair in playoffs.
Cavs continue to give less than 100% for large chunks of games. Frustrating as heck to watch, but come playoff time that will end.
GSW remains heavy Finals favorite.
Good for KI to watch Lowry own him. He has more talent than Lowry, but Lowry is playing at a higher mental level. This will light a fire under him. Imagine Kyrie with 6 more years of experience like Lowry! Future is bright!