Recap: Washington 113, Cleveland 99 (Or, Fear the Walking Dead)

While many in our nation’s capital were just being served their third round of drinks at Bottomless Mimosa Brunch, the Cavaliers took to the court at the Verizon Center to face the Wizards and see if the sword is, in fact, mightier than the wand.

Just as I was thinking about how, historically, these 1pm Sunday matinees have never been a favorite of LeBron James (or any player in the NBA), news broke that The King would be sitting out today’s contest. After playing 40 minutes in Friday night’s 99-97 loss to the Raptors, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue chose to rest the Cavs’ star. Richard Jefferson started in his place.

After beginning the season with high hopes, the Wizards have struggled, hit with injuries and inconsistent play. They started the game 2.5 games out of the eighth playoff spot in the East and had yet to make a push, despite finally having a healthy roster and trading for Markieff Morris at the trade deadline. The Cavs, meanwhile, were 2-10 without James over the last two season. Which team was up to the challenge of bucking recent history and which was caught still sleeping off a late Saturday night?

Of course, if you’ve read the headline, you already know…

Fist Quarter:

The Cavs came out looking to exploit 6-10 Kevin Love’s size advantage over the Wizards’ 6-7 stretch four Jared Dudley. After missing his first two hooks over Dudley, Love barely squeezed in a fall-away. Still, Love was extremely active, looking to take his man off the dribble, as well as establish position in the post. In the early going, though, both teams looked like they would have appreciated another couple hours to warm up their shots.

Not surprisingly, Kyrie Irving had no plans to be shown up by the opposing point guard this day. Irving and John Wall went after each other early. After allowing an Irving three, Wall nailed a wide-open jumper that was wide-open because Irving got stuck to the screen man. Irving answered by weaving through the paint and filling up the cup. Irving led the Cavs with 10 points in the first.

A vicious block of Love that knocked the Cavs’ power forward to the floor (with no call) led to an uncharacteristic clank on a three ball by Bradley Beal and an Iman Shumpert three in transition that put the Cavs up 18-12 halfway through the quarter.

A 16-2 Wizards run led by Wall and newly acquired Morris was finally stemmed by an Irving triple. But the Wizards kept feasting on a slow-moving Cavs defense. Washington was able to get what it wanted from the arc and from distance on their way to 60% shooting for the quarter and, at the break, the Cavs found themselves in an early hole, down 28-35.

The 35 points the #Cavs allowed were the most they’ve given up in a first quarter this season. Not exactly the start they were hoping for.

— Jason Lloyd (@JasonLloydABJ) February 28, 2016

Second Quarter:

The Cavs went to their bench, hoping Matthew Dellavedova and Timofey Mozgov would help slow down Washington.

Mozgov responded with, perhaps, the shot of the game:

But Timo also coughed it up three times in a four minute span. With seven minutes left in the half, the wine and gold were down 43-33.

Irving re-entered the game with just over six minutes left and scored quickly. Love followed that by finally getting a hook to fall, but just when you thought the Cavs were ready to get something going, Wall hit an open jumper from the foul line and then converted an and-one break despite being wrapped up by Tristan Thompson to push the Wizards lead to 11.

J.R. Smith tried to keep the Cavs in it with five points late in the quarter, only to see the Wizards grab three offensive possessions in one play on the way to a demoralizingly easy layup by Wall.

Love responded by scoring on a drive and Dellavedova chipped in a Delly Trey, but with the clock ticking down, the Cavs allowed Wall to slice through what looked like all 14 members of their squad to keep the Wiz up by nine at the break 63-54.

Oh, and Irving didn’t even attempt to get a shot off before the clock expired.

Kyrie Irving didn’t want to shoot half court shot before buzzer so he wouldn’t mess up FG percentage. He ended up hitting it after buzzer.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 28, 2016

Third Quarter:

The Wizards continued to exploit the Cavs problems on defense. They picked on Smith, who was forced to continually help out on the perimeter and then recover a ways back to his own man. This freed up Otto Porter Jr. who nailed back-to-back three pointers and helped push Washington’s advantage up to 18.

The Cavs problems weren’t just limited to their defense. They looked disinterested and discombobulated on offense, as well. When they weren’t coughing up unforced turnovers, they were resorting to isolation ball, sometimes from the least desired sources. On one possession, Shumpert and his poor ball handling went full-Kyrie trying to dribble his man into submission before tossing up a shot.

I probably don’t even have to mention the fact that the shot did not, in fact, go in.

With just over six minutes left, Coach Lue showed his frustration with the lack of effort shown by his starters by subbing out everyone except Jefferson. Unfortunately, the move may have been too little too late. The Wizards had already found their groove and the Cavs’ heads had yet to clear customs from their trip back into the States.

The Wizards outscored the Cavs 33-16 in the third quarter. The score 96-70 after three.

Lue told players before the game if they compete & play hard they’re tough to beat. Not sure they’re doing much of either in this beatdown

— Jason Lloyd (@JasonLloydABJ) February 28, 2016

Fourth Quarter:

More of the same…

Though, to be completely fair, Mozgov came in for the fourth and played with much better decisiveness, outworking the Wizards on the glass and giving a lift to the Cavs offense. Of course, if you were a Wizards big man, with your team up 30, your work was practically done. So, take that praise with a handful of salt.

And we saw the first appearance of D-League call-up Jordan McRae. McRae scored eight points in seven of the garbage-iest minutes around. Still, he got those eight on 2-4 shooting from the floor and did lead the team in +/- with a positive 15.

The Wizards also trotted out former Cavs Drew Gooden and newly-acquired J.J. Hickson. So, that was cool… I guess.

When the final buzzer sounded, it was Wizards 113 , Cavs 99.

The Wizards were led by Wall and Porter, who both scored 21 points. Wall chipped in 13 assists and Marcin Gortat had 13 points and 9 boards.

Irving led the Cavs with 28 points (9-20 shooting) and six assists. Love had 12 points, five boards and went 4-11 from the field.

Reasons to Believe:

•Um… well there’s…

•There was that one play where…

•Richard Jefferson was the only Cavs starter to finish the game with a positive +/-. He was +2 in 33 minutes. Of the Cavs rotation players, Mozgov was the only other player to give more than he gave up. He finished with a +1 in 25 minutes, chipping in 10 points and 10 rebounds.

After watching this game, I may need some bottomless mimosas myself.

Reasons to Quit:

•If LeBron James was the leader he says he is, he would say to the rest of the team, “I’m resting until you prove that you are a disciplined enough basketball team — a hungry enough team — to win without me.” The Cavs have the talent, but they have yet to show that they have the heart to grind out wins when James doesn’t play.

•The Cavs started out the game the right way. They looked to move the ball and find the mismatch. The ball often found its way to the third or fourth option… unfortunately, that option was Thompson who couldn’t convert the short jumpers his teammates created for him. By the time the Wizards picked up steam, the Cavs had abandoned trying to run an offense and resorted to Irving or Love going one-on-one, an infection that quickly spread to the rest of the team. The Shumpert play I described above was (unfortunately) wildly indicative of how this team played in a game they could have won.

•Thompson finished the game 1-4 for two points and two rebounds in 21 minutes of action. Too often, the Wizards’ players found themselves wide open in the paint, which led Coach Lue to lean on Mozgov.

•Channing Frye had a clunker of a game. He was held scoreless on 0-5 shooting (0-4 from three) with five personal fouls. He did chip in on the boards, grabbing five.

The Cavs better hope the showers at The Q can wash some of this stink off as they return home tomorrow night to face the Indiana Pacers.