Recap: Cavs 99, Mavs 98 (Or, Runs Don’t Mean a Thing)

https://vine.co/v/iwEdPvVeHiI

The Cavs did it. They finally won a game without LeBron James playing. It wasn’t pretty, but it still counts. The Cavs went up by as much as 20 in the second quarter after going on a 19-2 run. However, Dallas fought back with a 22-7 run of their own to be within six at the half. Cleveland then held Dallas to just 17 points in the third quarter, but their 16 point lead evaporated in the fourth. Open 3s stopped falling, and the Mavs persistently attacked the paint with pick and roll play. Dallas used an 11 point run in the middle of the final twelve to get within eight, and a few minutes later ZaZa Pachulia laid in a wide open shot at the basket to put the Mavs down two with three to go, 95-93.

With 16 seconds left to play and Dallas down two, Irving threw the ball out of bounds after the Mavs trapped him hard near the left sideline. He held onto the ball for about three seconds too many. The Mavs then brought the ball up the floor, and ran a pick and roll on the right side with Dirk as the screener. Kyrie ended up on Dirk, and Thompson ended up on Devin Harris. Normally, this type of switch would have been a surprise, but the Cavs were switching on screens and trapping much of the night. Harris tried to get Dirk the ball, knowing he could shoot over Kyrie, but Kyrie jumped the passing lane, sealing the win for the Cavs. It was a lucky steal, but sometimes you need a little luck to get the win. Dirk fouled Irving, and he hit the free throws to finish the game off.

Kyrie led the Cavs, getting 33 points on 13-28 shooting, but he had just one assist. Kevin Love also showed up getting a double-double before halftime, and finishing the game with 23 points and 18 boards. The Mavs were led by Dirk who had 20 points and David Lee who also had 20 points. J.J. Barea had 17 points, nine of which came in the fourth. ZaZa had all eight of his points in the final frame.

The first quarter started with Kyrie nailing a mid-range jumper from the right side of the floor. The Cavs looked to get into their sets quickly on offense, and Kevin Love benefited. He kept getting touches in the extended post. And, even though he scored just three points off five shots, he stayed active getting two offensive boards.

Kyrie was red hot in the quarter, scoring 11 on 5-7 shooting. His mid range shot continues to be on point.

Kyrie’s First Quarter Shot Chart

Dallas stayed in the game thanks to some lackluster pick and roll defense from the Cavs. Early on, Raymond Felton was driving deep into the paint, as he kept finding a Cavalier big on him early in the shot clock. He had four points. Later in quarter, David Lee started setting screens. The Cavs decided to trap, but the rotations were often late, resulting in Lee getting nine points off completely open looks.

With five minutes to go in the quarter, Iman had a steal that led to a layup by Kyrie on the break. J.R. also got a steal that he ran down for a flashy dunk. In the final minute, Delly had a nice play in semi-transition where Dirk ended up on him and he took it to the rack for a smooth Jefferson style reverse layup. After one, the Cavs led, 31-28. The Mavs shot 57.1%  from the field, but the Cavs out-rebounded the Mavs by five.

The Cavs started the second quarter red hot. They went on a 19-2 run in the first six minutes. Delly did an excellent job of feeding KLove the rock down low. Love had eight points during the run. Delly had four assists, two were for 3s from Irving and Channing Frye. The Mavericks’ offense during this time was rather stagnant, with most of the passes not resulting in clean looks. There was almost zero dribbling penetration. With 6:00 minutes to go, the Cavs were up 50-30.

The Mavs didn’t get discouraged though, and responded with a 22-7 run of their own. They made more of an effort to use Lee screens to get down into the paint and cause some Cavalier scrambling to free up shooters. Dirk had nine points during the comeback push. The Cavs went cold from the floor and made some poor decisions. Shumpert cut to the rim on one play and sucked in two defenders, but botched a pass to Tristan who had an easy dunk. On another play, J.R. Smith fouled Wes Matthews at the 3-point line. The Cavs finished the quarter nicely though. TT recovered a Love turnover on the offensive end and found Love for a 3-pointer with under a mintue to go.

https://vine.co/v/iwEuKOXulqi

And, Delly ran a one man fast break after a Dallas miss to get a layup and free throw. He missed the freebie. Cavs went into the locker room up, 57-51.

The third quarter started out with a 17-3 Cavs run. Kyrie opened it up, hitting a mid-range jumper. J.R. then drove in for two layups. Irving felt left out and drove to the rim too, hitting a bank shot. Iman then recovered his own turnover a few plays later and found Smith for a 3-pointer. The next play he ripped the ball from Wes Matthews and found Irving for a long-ball. Kevin Love then hit a 3-pointer with 7:45 to go that put the Cavs up 74-54. The Mavs struggled to score off of jump shots, but they had some success with Lee screening and going to the rim. Lee had six points in the period. The Cavs shot 50% from the field and the Mavs shot just 37.5%. The Cavs entered the fourth up big, 84-68.

The fourth quarter just wasn’t pretty. The Cavs really tried to get good looks from beyond the arc using penetration, and it actually worked. They attempted ten 3s, all of which were open, but hit just one of them. They made just 5-20 shots in the final 12 minutes.

With each missed 3-pointer, the Cavs got a little more tight, and Irving took a few more dribbles each possession. He just didn’t have it going though. He had eight points, but it was on 2-9 shooting and he had two turnovers from holding onto the ball too long after a double team came. He continued to make the case (if you’re one of those folks who wants to think this) that he isn’t always the worst defender by getting a clutch block on ZaZa with 1:21 left in the game. The Mavs would have been within two had ZaZa made it.

https://vine.co/v/iwEwnhQwbAH

The Mavs unleashed their secret weapon in the fourth, ZaZa. He ran the pick and roll to perfection. Each time the Cavs sent a guy to trap, he would linger just long enough to make sure two Cavaliers were committed before rolling hard to the rim for an easy finish. ZaZa’s biggest contribution came when he grabbed a steal with 7:12 left and ran the floor for a dunk. It was a feel good play for Dallas.

J.J. Barea was his partner in crime. When J.J. wasn’t passing out to the 3-line (two of his three assists were on threes), or hitting ZaZa rolling to the hoop, he was blowing by Kyrie and getting easy layups. He had three in the quarter. His nine points help put the Mavs in a position to win. In the end though, the Cavs lucked out and the Mavs were unable to get the ball to Dirk when Kyrie got switched onto him, and it was a one possession game. It just wasn’t the right night for Dallas to get the upset win.

Gripes

1. Cleveland can’t play pick and roll defense like they did tonight and expect to contend. They were trapping and switching with no plan beyond those actions. No, seriously… I don’t think they discussed what to do after trapping because there were less than five successful second rotations all night. They made David Lee look like Amar’e Stoudemire in 2007.

2. Threes, you gotta hit them. If the Wine & Gold could have hit just two more 3s in the fourth, they wouldn’t have had to sweat this game out. It’s great that they manufactured 36 3-point attempts, but it’s becoming more and more common for the Cavs to get into trouble because they aren’t hitting open deep balls.

3. Look at this major mix up. Kevin Love comes up and tries to trap Chandler Parsons. Tristan Thompson follows ZaZa for a second to slow him just enough for Love to get back on him. TT then returns to Dirk to prevent the open 3-pointer. Meanwhile, Kevin is just chilling enjoying how well Dirk can make a touch pass to a wide open guy at the rim.

4. Why didn’t Timofey Mozgov or James Jones get playing time tonight? Just wondering. If Tyronn Lue isn’t going to use Mozgov, the Cavs should have tried to trade him. He’s too mentally fragile to have his minutes jerked around like this.

Hypes

1. The Cavs won the rebounding battle 48-32. They had 13 offensive boards and 22 second chance points.

2. Cleveland was able to get 11 fast break points. They had nine steals, which helped that number.

3. Delly had an above average game. He had eight points and dished out seven dimes. He was 50% from the field, but missed all four of his threes.

4. Iman did well starting. He had three steals, five assists, four rebounds, and two points. He took just two shots in 31 minutes of action and his defense was a bright spot during the game.

5. Channing Frye continues to impress from deep. He was 3-5.

6. When Dallas ran their zone defense, the Cavs penetrated and found open looks from beyond the arc. They just couldn’t make them.

7. The Cavs face Orlando on Friday.