KneeCap: Summer Cavs 91, Summer Nets 83 in OT (or, Why Stop Now?)
2016-07-17
Apparently, the Summer League Cavs are just having too much fun to stop their summer run. After coming back to upset the favored Lakers on Thursday, the Cavs cut down the Brooklyn Nets in the quarterfinal round of the Vegas Summer League Tournament, 91-83 in overtime.
Despite getting out to a fast start, leading by as much as 10 in the first quarter behind yet another strong scoring effort from Jordan McRae (12 points in the period), the Cavs let Brooklyn back into the game in the second. The Nets went on an 11-0 run, but the Cavs answered with their own 8-0 run, and evened the score at 41 by halftime.
Mamba starts out strong…
https://vine.co/v/5Zu107BUxMI
The third quarter featured more runs by each team (another 11-0 spurt by the Nets, followed by an 11-2 answer from the Cavs), as neither team seemed able to pull away. With neither Orange Mamba nor Killer Shrimp having a particularly good shooting night, the Cavs relied on help from unexpected places. DeAndre Liggins hit one of his three triples on the night, and then some dude named Eli Carter went on an absolute tear, scoring eight straight points. Before I could look him up, Fred McLeod got me up to speed…
Eli Carter is a guy who spent 2 years at Rutgers, then one at Florida and final year at Boston College..
— Fred McLeod (@CavsFredMcLeod) July 17, 2016
Eli Carter heat check…
https://vine.co/v/5ZuYJuBOB0T
The Summer Cavs fell behind by as much as seven in the fourth quarter, with sharpshooter Beau Beech hitting back-to-back threes. But then, like their Championship predecessors, these Cavs dug deep to answer with a 12-0 burst, fueled by threes from Liggins and Raphiael Putney with an assist from Felder. Cleveland had a four point lead until Sean Kilpatrick evened things up with a couple trips to the line. It was all even at 83 with 10 seconds remaining, but McRae couldn’t hit on a step-back ISO triple. Overtime.
Coach Phil Handy must have had some words for his squad before the the two minute extra period, because the tenacious Cavs defense held the Nets scoreless. A Killer Shrimp drive and a heads up play by Orange Mamba helped the Cavs close out the game on an 8-0 run, and move on to the Summer League Semi-Finals.
Heads up play by McRae (after driving into traffic)…
https://vine.co/v/5Zzqizr7bZe
Handy had an odd rotation tonight, bringing Felder off the bench and holding McRae out for the entire second quarter. Maybe he was just trying to get a better look at guys like Liggins, Carter and Putney without Mamba hijacking the offense, or maybe Ty Lue’s presence on the sidelines rubbed off on him. Whatever the reason, those other guys stepped up on a night when McRae and Felder were fairly cold (7-24 and 3-16 respectively). Liggins, Carter and Putney combined to shoot 11-18 from the field, and 7-9 from downtown, for 36 points. Kenny Gabriel also chipped in a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards.
Putney with the high arc to tie it…
https://vine.co/v/5ZzuVJW1aqU
The Cavs will now the Bulls Sunday night at 8pm EST for the right to play in the Summer League Tournament Finals. Coverage will be on ESPN2.
Gotta say, this year’s Summer League has been one of the most fun to watch in recent memory. And, not just because of the surprising Cavs. All four quarter-finals games went down to the wire today, with two needing overtime to settle. Granted, it’s still Summer League… but it’s been way more entertaining than expected.
GO SUMMER CAVS!
#EndlessCavalierSummer
Why stop now? Because the Bulls says so.
Just a thought, why not add a Larry o’brien trophy to the blog header image? We gotta milk this thing.
I do not care for McRae’s game. I like Felder but still worried about his size
I think he’d be a decent NBA player if he was 6’4″…but he’s not…
Those Valentine prayers were a killer…
Evil, thanks for the Summer League coverage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM0dbwDc2FE
How I feel about the summer Cavs. Great run, guys.
Co-sign!
No magic for Putney… Summer Cavs ran out of gas….
McRae ran out of gas… 6-16 only 2-4 from the line and 5 turnovers…
Hell of an effort by the Summer Cavs… Silver lining, at least they won’t get torched by former pick Tyus Jones in the Finals…
Nice work – we’ll get our revenge come regular season.
Wait… do the Bulls have both Grants? Just like Horace and Harvey?
Single elimination is fun. But sad.
Oh man, Shrimp got spooked on that drive.
Come on Summer Cavs!
Damn… that’s probably game
Oy. Didn’t need to do that, Kay.
So you’re sayin there’s a chance!
Cavs have a chance… I’d set it up for Putney to hit a three…
Tall task for the summer cavs here, but felder gets to the line.
Gonna be tough to get out of this hole… Mamba just not hitting shots
Felder mid-ranger earlier…
https://vine.co/v/5ZhzmBupz90
McRae with a couple lousy possessions in a row.
I think he’s tired…
Oh come on… Absurd bank shot
That three was hideous.
Happy Birthday Denzel…
Portis moves his pivot foot… a lot…
Bulldozer screen there.
Kinda surprised they didn’t call that illegal screen…
Nice D!
Mamba looking more Black than Orange tonight…
Great D I. Mean.
Great stuff there!
Forgot this was on! Great stuff so far. Another tight one.
Sweet pass from Killer Shrimp
KShrimp has three blocks tonight
Mamba!
Felder with a Dellyesque flob!
Wonder if McRae is tired…
KShrimp with the runner!
Putney with another three!
Killer Shrimp to the rescue on D with a nice block.
Pitney with the and-one!
Put eye I mean
Damn you auto correct!
If Stockton had any other last name he would not be playing.
He’s got a good handle and passing skills, but no shot at all to speak of…
Simpson is long in the tooth. He graduated from St. Mary’s before Delly enrolled there.
He got UP for that over the back on Felicio tho…
Nice D by Eli Carter…
Putney with the big trey!
That was huge.
Cavs struggling to score this half…
Feels like clock is about to strike midnight on our Cinderella guys.
Have faith Charlie!
#EndlessCavsSummer
Liggins with the spin and scoop!
The trapping on Felder is really working.
Bulls are big up front. Gotta box out hard.
Bulls really playing tough D to start second half.
Portis and Felicio will probably be heavy rotation guys this year…
McRae missing a lot of bunnies this half…
https://twitter.com/cavs/status/754843704997711872
Summer Cavs at it again… looking to take down the undefeated Bulls… Up 46-36 at half, even with Orange Mamba in foul trouble…
Mamba picks up his third foul and will probably sit the remaining 4:30 of the first half…
https://twitter.com/TheRealBenChew/status/754838763767947264
Stockton’s got some of his dad’s moves…
https://twitter.com/M0NSTARSBBALL/status/754838643399950340
Killer Shrimp with ANOTHER three!
https://twitter.com/cavs/status/754836500613783552
Putney and Liggins could make an NBA team… probably not the Cavs, but another team…
Killer Shrimp shooting much better this game… 3-3 and 1-1 from three so far…
Putney just pulled off a terrific pump fake jam…
I see the Bulls got Cool Jack Cooley this Summer League…
AV should probably re-think this… after all, you never know when you might have another shot at one…
https://twitter.com/AmicoHoops/status/754764724609351681
The team should make him (and also MDN) rings. I am sure AV will be happy to collect one in after a couple of years. You can’t blame him for sulking for a while.
You can blame him for re-signing with the Dubs tho…
Eh. He sucks.
Glad he didnt get one
R.I.P . NATE THURMOND —–1 THING TO REMEMBER ABOUT ” KILLER SHRIMP ” ( YES THECALIBER OF PLAYERS HE IS GOING AGAINST IS SOMEWHAT SUB PAR NBA STANDARDS ) BUT ALSO THE PLAYERS HE IS PLAYING WITH —-BELIEVE IF YOU PUT HIM WITH THE PLAYERS ON THE CURRENT CAVS ROSTER HIS PLAY / SKILL LEVEL WILL ELEVATE EVEN MORE / LIKE WHAT I SEE FROM HIM SO FAR / BELIEVE HE IS FAR MORE ADVANCED THAN DELLY WAS AT THIS STAGE OF HIS CARREER
Shrimp looked pretty small last night; worried it takes him so much effort just to pass the ball – lots of lobbed hi arc skip feeds
Otoh, that almost putback slam late in the game was almost awesome
Really? Thought he moved the ball well and had a lot of hockey assists.
Agree that his skip passes kind of sail. Really gets into the paint, though, and finds people.
Did I miss discussion of Nate Thurmond’s passing? I loved the old guy back in the Miracle of Richfield days. Various media tributes have focused on his career with the Warriors, which is probably fitting, but we did retire his number in Cleveland, too. I can’t find an origin story for “get that weak stuff outta here!”, so I like to think it first happened on the court by AC after a signature Nate Thurmond rejection. Rest in Peace, big guy.
I think that for decades, the NBA did everything to get Boston into the finals. The only way they beat the Cavs in 1976 was by calling two imaginary offensive fouls on Nate in about a minute, putting him out of the game, and allowing Boston to win and advance. Earlier that season, Jim Chones had broken his foot; otherwise the Cavs win easily.
Can anyone review that game and see how my memory on the two weak foul calls is?
I also think that in game 7 in LeBron’s fifth year the referees refused to let Boston lose.
I have the same memory of Thurmond fouling out on two cheap calls. I think it was game 6 in Richfield, which ended up being the closeout game for Boston, but I can’t find a box score in a quick search.
That was SO frustrating, coming in the wake of the Chones injury. I’m not even sure who the third-string center was, because there was such a dropoff. Luke Witte? John Lambert?
There was also a buzzer beater by Charlie Scott that was after the buzzer. Key play in game 5 or 6. I hope that bitter memory is correct.
BTW, Nate led Bowling Green to the NCAA finals, but was injured at the end of the game in the semifinals, and could not play in the finals, resulting in the biggest loss in NCAA finals history. (I think that is correct).
Only watched first half last night. Looking forward to watching second half + OT today on DVR. But KShrimp really did look good. He pushes the ball, finds open guys and generally stays in front of his man on D. The only real caveat is his shooting. Hope he can improve that.