Recap: Cavs 128, Mavs 90 (or, Black Friday Blowout)

The Q resembled more of a shopping mall than a basketball arena on Friday night, as the Cavaliers mobbed the visiting Dallas Mavericks more thoroughly than a horde of shoppers desperate for a terrific holiday deal. The Cavs were relentless from the start… blowing the doors open on their mad rush to score big, grab everything that wasn’t nailed down, and generally pick the Mavericks apart until there was nothing left of Mark Cuban’s formerly well-stocked club. In the end, the wine & gold walked out with their arms full of just about everything they wanted… including an NBA record for back-to-back games with 20 three pointers, and the best start (12-2) in franchise history. At this rate, they should be ready for Christmas Day.

From a game perspective, the suspense was over quickly in this one. About halfway through the first quarter, the question of whether or not the Cavs would win was replaced with… by how much? Cleveland led by 20 after one… 34 after two… and as much as 45 in the third before winning by 38, the largest margin of victory this season. The Mavericks, riddled with injuries (primarily to their cadre of ball-handlers), and with a collection of players that looked to be priced to sell come February, came in on a seven game losing streak… which the Cavs easily extended. They were already the team with the worst record in the League coming in, but after this post-holiday blitzing, the 2-13 Mavs looked more worse for wear than the seasonal help at Target probably do this morning.

The Doorbuster

After Wednesday night’s pre-Turkey Day “Love Fest” there was a decent chance that might just continue into this game, although the obligatory first post up opportunity to Kevin went awry. Then, it seemed like maybe it was J.R. Smith’s turn to catch fire when he drained his second shot from downtown. But, it was Uncle Drew who kicked down the door and cashed in on the biggest early deals of the night. Kyrie didn’t have quite the points explosion that Kev did the previous outing, but he was even more economical with his shots. He absolutely took over in the first quarter, outscoring the Mavs (19-16) on a perfect 7-7 from the field, including 4-4 from beyond the arc. Like a 50% off deal on a Samsung 60″ UHD 4K… he couldn’t miss (he was 10-10 before he finally missed one). His doorbusting antics continued a trend of a Cav outscoring the competition in the opening frame (Love edged the Blazers 34-31), and set up LeBron to quip that it’s probably his turn against Philadelphia on Sunday…

“I said we’re at a point now where we’re having one individual outscore opponents,” James said postgame. “I said it’s my turn to do it on Sunday. We can hold Philly to zero and I will score two. See how good we play defensively.”

As in Kevin’s historic first quarter where LBJ had seven assists, he had a hand in Kyrie’s outburst as well, dishing out six dimes. Two of them went to Kyrie buckets, one each on J.R. and KLove triples, and two lobs to an active Tristan Thompson. He only took two shots of his own (missing both), and his only points of the quarter were two free throws. Yet, with Kyrie collecting buckets like discount Apple watches… there was simply no need. As impressive as Kyrie’s three point display was, however, this drive where he crossed up Dirk Nowitzki like a bavarian pretzel was perhaps the highlight…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzscrx2vWFo

Though Dallas isn’t exactly an offensive juggernaut these days, the Cavs still held them to just 16 points (lowest of any first quarter opponent this year), on 7-23 shooting. Kyrie even blocked a Dirk jumper. It was already looking like a bit of an endlessly long and exhausting night for Dallas.

Three Day Sale

Okay, it wasn’t over three games… but it’s still technically over three days with Thanksgiving in the middle of Kevin Love’s two shooting displays. Not to mention, it’s probably worth putting that “3” in lights given how prolific Kev has been from downtown. After hitting 8-12 from distance on Wednesday, he knocked down 7-9 more against the Mavericks. That’s an incredible 15-21 (71.4%) combined for the two games… after only making 18 total through the previous 12. Despite a slow start (by his standards) in this game, where he went just 1-3 from three in the first quarter, Love came out firing again in the second and third. He hit three straight triples in each of the middle periods, regaining his red-hot touch from deep, and helping the Cavs to cement their insurmountable lead. He even hit this one from Curry range (Steph… not Seth, as I mistakenly forgot to specify in the Live Thread)…

https://vine.co/v/5F1PAEeQ5Hi

Love’s three point shooting has certainly taken an uptick over the past few games, and he credited that to a conscious attempt at reducing his hesitation moves prior to shooting.

“I think it’s make or miss, but also shooting my shots that are there and not hesitating on them,” Love said. “I’ve been catching them in rhythm and shooting. So many guys close out to me so hard, but having my size I’m able to get the ball off quick if I just catch and shoot.”

In addition, Kevin also amassed his usual double digit rebounds (10 for the game), but his passing is what resulted in some of his more stellar highlights… like this skip pass to Kyrie in the first quarter… or this touchdown pass to LeBron in the third…

Kevin Love to LeBron James = TOUCHDOWN! #DefendTheLand pic.twitter.com/qSn6dV3ewV

— NBA (@NBA) November 26, 2016

The sheer confidence level that KLove has displayed during this current stretch has created another important dimension for the Cavs as a team, as he’s already shown how much more assertive he can be in the post when his outside shot isn’t falling. However, it would also be great to see this 3-Day Sale get held over for the foreseeable future. Coach Lue seemed to think it could in his post-game comments.

“Early, he hesitated, shot faked, side stepped and your percentages go down on any shooter,” Lue said. “Just take your shot in rhythm and that’s what he’s been doing the last couple of games. I think we’re going to see this for a while.”

Keep It 1000

This was LeBron’s 1000th regular season of his career, but you wouldn’t know it by the things he did on the court. Yes, he’s been even more about sharing the ball lately, as he dished out 11 more dimes against Dallas after 13 against the Blazers, but he can still score in bunches when he feels like it. After he got his three point gunners their fill of shots early, and also made sure that TT got to throw down some goodies of his own, LeBron reminded the Mavs not to forget about him (which they unfortunately did on this uncontested three in the third). He hit another one for good measure after that just to drive the point home. When he wasn’t joining in on the three point parade, he was doing things which just seem unfair on so many levels…

Like this behind the back, fast break, and one layup…

…or, this perfect pass to a cutting Kyrie…

…or, this amazing no look bounce pass in full stride to TT for the flush…

Maybe Bron gets access to more cheat codes now that he’s 1K into his career? Regardless, even without the sharpshooting of Channing Frye (not with the team due to the passing of his father) at his disposal on the second unit group, LBJ still orchestrated everything beautifully to build a considerable lead into a sizable one. He didn’t wind up with the triple-double that he notched the previous game, but he still had 19 points, 11 assists and five boards in just 29 minutes. Sadly, he wasn’t able to knock down his 1000th three pointer in his 1000th game (his 2-5 effort got him to 999)… which was probably the only slight disappointment to be found in this game for LeBron.

90% Off

Things seemed to start well for J.R. when he split his first two treys, and it looked like he might join the long distance bombing in earnest. However, that would be the only bucket that would go down for Swish on the evening. He wound up just 1-10 from deep (that’s right… 90% off is only 10% on), and 1-11 from the field. J.R. did wind up playing some good defense though, and racked up three steals in the process. His replacement, Iman Shumpert, had a fairly quiet game, but did make one smooth three… and also played some inspired defense in his 11 minutes, earning a +16 for the game.

Throwing It Down

Meanwhile, Tristan Thompson threw down another double double (11 points and 12 boards), while catching a variety of well-placed lobs and bounce passes on the run from LeBron. He dominated the glass and provided some stingy rim protection… albeit against an underwhelming Mavericks offense. Still, TT brought the fire and intensity that he’s been channelling over the past few weeks, and reiterated that it’s all about maintaining a defensive mindset no matter who they’re up against…

What has the @cavs so focused on the defensive side of the ball? @RealTristan13 joined @FSOAllieOop at the end of the half.#CavsMavs pic.twitter.com/YpfBzDAw8X

— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) November 26, 2016

Bargain Hunting Time

With the game well in hand (probably even a little later than expected), Ty Lue emptied the bench and rolled out the odds and ends for the final quarter plus. It was a chance to get a decent look at the combination of youth and experience that populates the back of the rotation. Even Kay Felder got a chance to not just dress, but also contribute, and he did take advantage with a couple of buckets, some nifty passing and a block. His backcourt mate, Jordan McRae, didn’t fare quite as well (even though this is potentially a showcase of his talent for a trade). Although, the two youngsters teamed up for one particularly rousing highlight towards the end…

Air @JordyMac52! ✈️#CavsMavs | #DefendTheLand https://t.co/wnMr1ZsaOt

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) November 26, 2016

Of the vets, Birdman Andersen wound up getting a season high 19 minutes with Frye not in the rotation, and though he had four points and six boards, he looked a bit slow of foot. RJ made some solid contributions early, and was spared garbage time for the most part. Mike Dunleavy wasn’t as fortunate (having experience some continued shooting woes in the first half), although he did finally knock one down deep in the Q. And, then there was James Freaking Jones… who calmly knocked down all three of his trips for nine points in just six minutes.

That final JFJ three pointer helped the Cavs set an NBA record by becoming the first team to have back-to-back regular-season games with 20 3-pointers, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The Cavs have also now hit 10 or more threes in 14 consecutive games, and have made at least seven trips in 54 straight games dating to last season, another NBA record.

Overall, the Cavs shot 50.6% from the field and 46.5% from downtown against the Mavs, while holding Dallas to 40.7% (just 22.9% from deep).

Final Thought

As great as this win was, to keep it in perspective, Dallas is not a very good team. Not only are they at the bottom of the NBA record-wise, but they are also dead last offensively… scoring a paltry 91.5 points per game. On some level I feel bad for Dirk Nowitzki… probably more so than I did for Kobe toiling away his NBA twilight on a team seemingly destined for a top three pick in the 2017 Lottery. While I respect his loyalty to Dallas, he could probably still make a difference on a playoff team. Not sure what Mark Cuban can do with this mess of a team post the DeAndre Jordan bailout and Chandler Parsons project. He likely needs to tear it down to the studs and start over… which could potentially lead to a big fire sale of any remaining assets (most likely still excluding Dirk). All that being said, it was still great to see the Cavs bring a defensive intensity from the beginning of the game until it was well in the bag. They came into this Black Friday looking to get optimal value, and they succeeded in walking away with an overwhelmingly decisive win. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing how all of these gifts pay off come Christmas Day against the Warriors.

Now, if only I could finish my Black Friday shopping wish list off with one of these…

GO CAVS!