Recap: Cavs 108, Wiz 83 (or, Powering Forward)

On a night when the Cavs honored one of their most electric past iterations, the 1975-76 “Miracle of Richfield” team, they may have just tapped into an important key to fueling their future. In his ongoing attempts to rev up the team’s pace of play, while decreasing the size of the lineup to compete in today’s NBA, Coach Tyronn Lue took advantage of a scheduled rest day for his regular Power Forward, Kevin Love, to revisit an old experiment… plugging LeBron James in at the four. It’s something that has worked in the past, both during James’ final few years in South Beach, and to supercharge various stretches of the Cavs’ playoff run last season, but ultimately requires the willingness of LBJ himself to embrace life in the post. Against the Wizards, the same squad that had blitzed the King-less Cavs less than a week earlier, the results were positively undeniable. And, now that the switch has been flipped, it seems like LeBron will spend less time fighting the power position, while Kevin may just have to learn to love being a stretch five. It’s a small (ball) world after all…

Power Chords

The night started off with an electric riff, as one of the legends of the “Miracle” team, Jim Chones, banged out the National Anthem on his bass guitar. It was an awesome moment…

Enter Shumpman

Part of the domino effect of moving LeBron from the wing to the post to fill in for KLove, was the opportunity for Coach Lue to insert Iman Shumpert at the three. Having witnessed the devastation of John Wall torching his way through the Cavs’ starting guards just five days prior, Lue opted to add some quicker and handsier perimeter play from the Shump… er, jump. Both teams came out cold, misfiring on their first six shots combined, however, the presence of Shump did seem to help the Cavs pump up their defensive intensity. Even though he missed his only shot in the quarter (and had one dangerously long, nearly two Vine possession), he moved the ball and got his hands on a couple of deflections. In all, he was +25 for the game despite scoring only two points.

The Flying Russian (Part I)

The Cavs didn’t opt for a complete small ball lineup to start, as Timofey Mozgov received a second straight nod over Tristan Thompson (although it was possible that Mozzy was in there to counter Marcin Gortat who is one of the few capable Centers of size in the EC). Given that he might be dividing time with not only TT but also KLove at the five going forward, the big Russian made the most of his opportunity in this one. Moz hit an early turnaround jumper off an assist from LBJ, and it was a good omen for things to come. He cleaned up after a Kyrie drive, diving through the lane after his point guard to hammer home the ricochet, and then jammed a backdoor alley-oop from J.R. Smith. In addition to his quick six points, Timo also pulled down three boards in his limited time in the frame.

How To Steal From Bradley Beal (And Throw It Down In C-Town)

Bradley Beal is still on a minutes restriction as he works his way back from a stress reaction in his leg, and more recently a broken nose and concussion, but he’s been on fire of late, scoring 26 points in his last game and 17 against the Cavs on Sunday. None of this fooled LeBron James, as the small ball Power Forward victimized Beal not once, but twice on almost identical back-to-back plays over the course of about 12 seconds in the middle of the quarter… pilfering the rock and jamming it with extreme authority on both occasions. It’s entirely possible that Beal’s clear facemask just got too fogged up to see LBJ coming (you’re welcome Bradley…)

LeBron with back-to-back steals and dunks!! pic.twitter.com/6dAt2ma0aB

— Cavaliers Nation (@WeAreCavsNation) March 5, 2016

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

Since he was freed up from getting roasted on the pick and roll on the defensive end (the Cavs were able to hide him on Garrett Temple), Kyrie had time to match John Wall shot for shot in the first quarter. He did have one possession where he seemed to be trying to see how many times he could get blocked by Marcin Gortat before finally getting sent to the line. The next time, he learned his lesson and hit a floater over the top, leading the Cavs with eight points in the quarter. Richard Jefferson was not as fortunate. After checking in for Shump, R.J. tried several times to get a simple reverse layup… but got blocked, and missed a bunny on successive possessions before finally sneaking one into the hoop. His bad luck returned shortly thereafter, and he was called for a double dribble on what should have been an easy two on a fast break. R.J.’s mis-adventures probably cost the Cavs a chance to break 30 for the quarter, though the botched pick and roll with Kyrie and LeBron as the clock ran out didn’t help much either. Cavs led 27-23 after one.

Della-tonation

If you were caught up in Jon Barry’s Zapruder-esque dissection of LeBron James’ cryptic Tweet from earlier in the week, you might have missed Matthew Dellavedova going berserk to start the second quarter. Delly patiently wove his way through the Washington defense for a cool fadeaway; hit a long two after dribbling off a TT screen; and finally drained his patented (and extremely accurate) deep knee-bend triple from the right corner following one of the best ball movement sequences possibly of the season for the Cavs…

https://vine.co/v/iXALwFJWAMv

The Aussie Assassin racked up seven quick points to help put the Cavs up by double digits halfway through the quarter, and knocked down another three later on to give him 10 for the period (he scored 12 for the game).

The Flying Russian (Part II)

After a couple of uncontested mid-rangers for John Wall, Ty Lue called a timeout to regroup. Wall and LBJ traded buckets, and then came the play that essentially broke the game open for the Cavs. Kyrie (likely having closely read and taken to heart David’s Wood Shop piece yesterday) actually patiently waited for his roll man (in this instance Timo) to make his charge down the lane, and put the ball where only an airborne Russian could possibly get to it. Commenter, Phil Hubbard came up with likely the perfect concoction that might represent a “Flying Russian” (White Russian + Red Bull)… and after this display, I really, really wanted one…

https://vine.co/v/iXquj2MYKZY

This kicked off an 11-4 Cavalier explosion, featuring back-to-back triples from LeBron and Kyrie, another Flying Russian dunk off of an underhanded feed from LBJ, and the aforementioned Delly trey. Only a Wall and-1, and a double dose of downtown heat checks from LeBron kept the Wizards from being completely blown out by halftime, as the Cavs extended their lead to 17 at the break, 59-42.

Power Jackets

At halftime, the members of the “Miracle of Richfield” team (including Coach Bill Fitch, and former Voice of the Cavs, Joe Tait) were honored in a well deserved and awesome ceremony. They all got commemorative leather jackets that Nate and I will probably be trying to outbid each other for on eBay if any of them has a weak moment and decides to sell theirs.

Blown Fuses

LeBron found Moz for another easy dunk to start the third for his sixth assist, then grabbed his eighth rebound and steamrolled coast-to-coast for a layup to give him 13 points. The King was in full-on triple double mode when the power suddenly went out on the Cavs’ offense. They went 0-9 during the next four minutes, missing threes and bunnies alike. Fortunately, the wine and gold kept up their defensive intensity, forcing three turnovers and holding the Wiz to just two buckets over the same period of time. Coach Lue took a timeout following the second one that cut the Cavs’ lead to 13.

That Light Bulb Moment

Out of the timeout, Kyrie had the ball beyond the arc on the left wing, and seemed to have a moment of shooting clarity. He then calmly drained a three from about 26 feet…

https://vine.co/v/iXqi0M57QKJ

He nailed another one the next time down the floor, this time off the dribble. Even though he missed the inevitable heat check, he followed it up with another great pick and roll with LBJ that led to a hockey assist dunk for Moz. Before the Wiz knew what hit them, they found themselves down by nearly 20.

A Powerful Force

LeBron finished off his night early, but with a flourish, getting to the line twice on drives and pushing the ball up the floor for another hockey assist leading to an RJ triple. On the final possession of the quarter, instead of jacking up a three from beyond the arc, he put the ball on the floor, dribbled through three Washington defenders as if they were traffic cones, and drove home points 18 and 19. He fell short of a triple double, but still was able to sit out his ninth fourth quarter of the season after racking up 19 points, 13 boards and seven assists. Cavs led 83-63 after three.

Everything Is Awesome Time…

It’s always fun when the Fourth Quarter is pretty much entirely garbage time (because it also makes for a lot of hijinks and camaraderie on the Live Thread). Some highlights:

Tristan Thompson started hitting every shot he took, grabbing every rebound and had a massive block on “Razor” Ramon Sessions.

Delly made a great bank shot off the wrong foot.

James Freaking Jones not only got in the game, but hit a three, a pull up two, tried a drive and dish and even blocked NeNe’s shot!

Kyrie notched his eighth assist on said JFJ three before checking out with a game high 21 points as well.

Channing Frye made an appearance and canned a triple.

At one point JJ Hickson AND Drew Gooden were on the court for the Wiz.

Jordan McRae banked in a long three.

Sasha Kaun scored to officially put all 12 Cavs that played on the board.

Cavs repay the favor to the Wiz, and win by 25.

The Evil:

After all of the media noise over cryptic Tweets, trips to South Beach, rampant unhappiness, wild speculation about the future and Eastern Conference foes nipping at their heels… this game was exactly what the Cavaliers needed to power through the nonsense.

Other than the fact that I wish that LBJ wouldn’t use a made three as an excuse to take three or four more (and that’s really kind of a nit-pick in a game like this), and that the Cavs need to be mindful of wasting easy scoring opportunities, I don’t have anything overly negative to say or point out, although I’m sure there will be some report about how Kevin Love wasn’t needed…

The Genius:

There was so much to like about this game, so I’ll try and hit the highlights:

• LeBron was outstanding at the four, almost netting a triple double in just 30 minutes of play. Credit to Coach Lue for plugging him in there, and credit to LeBron for embracing that it’s time for him to be the dominant post player this team needs him to be.
• Kyrie clearly must have read David’s Wood Shop piece, because he was markedly better running the pick and roll in this game. He also seemed to get his shot from deep back a bit tonight.
• Timo had a terrific game on both ends of the court. His hands weren’t an issue, and he had confidence throwing the ball down.
• Even though he didn’t score much, Shump thrived in the starting lineup, providing a much needed early punch to the team’s defensive intensity.
• Delly was kind of a scoring machine off the bench. He continues to shoot a tremendous percentage from three, and has great patience when running the offense.
• Every Cav scored, and half a dozen of them were in double digits.
• The Cavs just surpassed the magic number of assists with 24, and only committed nine turnovers while forcing 16 by the Wiz.
• The Cavs held Washington to 39% shooting, and didn’t allow John Wall to go off.
• The Cavs organization had a terrific night celebrating the “Miracle of Richfield” team.

Parting Shot:

Here’s hoping the Cavs can build on the extra gear that they re-discovered against the Wizards, and incorporate Kevin Love (at the four and maybe at the five too) going forward. The Celtics should pose a larger challenge than the Wiz, especially on the second night of a back-to-back (although Boston played last night also), but these are the teams to whom the Cavs most need to send a message now. It’s time to wield their power and flex their Eastern Conference muscles.