Recap: Cavs 90, Pelicans 82 (Or, the acceptable, the ugly, and the Kay Felder)

Overview: 

The short-handed Cavaliers managed to outlast the New Orleans Pelicans in an ugly game, outscoring them 23-13 in the final quarter of a 90-82 win. The Pelicans shot just 36.4% from the floor, while the Cavaliers shot 37.8% from the floor and made a grand total of six of their 31 three-point attempts.

The Breakdown:

That right there was not pretty. (Update: apparently a lot of team members, including LeBron, were hit with the flu bug that’s been going around the NBA, which makes a LOT of sense.) The Cavaliers’ first-half strategy all season long has revolved around getting Kevin Love going and using LeBron James as the primary playmaker to set his teammates up with open drive-and-kick threes. With Love way off his game (apparently he was suffering from an illness, which has been making its way around the NBA over the past week or so), Jordan McCrae and DeAndre Liggins starting in place of Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith, and Iman Shumpert’s shooting regressing to the mean, the strategy did not work out.

For the first three quarters, LeBron played the type of game that’s been driving me a bit mad all season. He gets into the paint on a drive or has an opportunity to bully somebody in the post, but passes up a contested look in the paint to kick it out to a teammate from beyond the arc. It’s pretty when it works, but when the team is shooting like it was tonight, LeBron should have recognized that he needed to put his stamp on the game and take control as a scorer. What makes matters even worse is that LeBron had some struggles inside when he did try to go inside — he missed a few layups that are normally automatic for him, and when New Orleans did successfully dare him to post up, he was too content to settle for that left-block fadeaway, which he went (by my count) 0-3 for on the night.

LeBron also cooled down from 3 tonight, missing all four of his attempts, although all of them were pull-ups from above the break on the left side, which is the 3-point shot LeBron is much more comfortable taking than he really should be. I don’t know if LeBron is overpassing because he feels a duty to get teammates involved, if his recent FT struggles have him more timid around the basket, or if his post game has simply eroded from where it has been the last few years, but this is beginning to concern me.

Also, the rest of the Cavs’ starters, as well as Shump, were in the Twilight Zone tonight. Love finished 5-19 and missed all seven of his threes, Liggins and Agent Orange each finished 1-5 from the field, and Shump’s only basket on his seven field goal attempts came on a tip dunk. To make matters worse, no spacing and the NBA’s leading shot blocker means Tristan Thompson isn’t going to help much offensively — he got off two shots on the night, and was a team-low -17 in 28 minutes.

Fortunately, the Cavs showed up defensively, and did everything right on that end. They turned Anthony Davis into a volume shooter by keeping their rotations sharp and always having a body in front of him in the half-court — Davis was either getting easy buckets in transition/semi-transition or was being forced into a tough jumper or floater. No easy looks for him in post-up or ISO situations, and he wasn’t a factor at all in the pick-and-roll. The Cavs managed to turn the Pelicans into a jump-shooting team, and only the sweet-shooting Buddy Hield, who had perhaps his best game as a pro, was really able to punish them for it. Very good effort from everyone on that end, and while McCrae and Liggins struggled offensively, their length definitely kept NOLA off-balance on that end of the floor. There’s just no real justification for starting two players that offensively limited as your backcourt.

Now, onto the two main reasons the Cavs won this game: LeBron stepping up in the fourth quarter and the contributions the Cavs got from their bench. LeBron went into bully-ball mode and had 10 of his 26 in the final frame, getting to the line six times, making all six of those free throws, putting in a layup, and even draining a mid-range jumper for good measure. His points came at crucial times, he was playing with aggression and energy, and he seemed to exorcise a few of his free-throw demons in the fourth. (I just jinxed it, didn’t I?) Good, gritty, close-out performance from LeBron James.

And now, the bench mob. Channing Frye, who does not miss, was able to salvage the Cavs’ drive-and-kick offense by coming in off the bench, getting some open threes, and not missing them. It’s what he does, and it’s lovely.

Richard Jefferson is a hairless, ageless wonder-human whose diet we should all be following. He hit the 1,000th 3 of his career, pulled down 12 rebounds to give him his first double-double as a Cavalier, and was making timely plays from everywhere on the court. LeBron is still deferring to him a bit much, and the timing on his 3-point stroke still looks off, but what a glue guy game — thank the lord he didn’t retire.

James Jones came in off the bench, drained the first three he took because of course he did, and even though it didn’t show up in the box score, HE BLOCKED A GODDANG DUNK. #3TimeChamp #FreeJJ

Last, but not least, there was Kay Felder. One second, I need to prepare myself for this.

Alright, I’m ready to go. I BEEN TELLING Y’ALL. I HAVE BEEN TELLING Y’ALL THIS DUDE WAS THE TRUTH.

When he came in in the second quarter, Felder was going a million miles an hour, and while it’s clear that he can get into the paint essentially at will, especially if he’s able to get a switch onto a big, he’s still got to put some work in on finding a lower degree of difficulty on his finishes. The righty floaters and skyscraping reverse layups are very cool when they go in, but those can’t be the foundation of your game around the rim — you’ve gotta slow it down a bit, use your body to seal the defenders and, for what it’s worth, not be afraid to look for contact and get to the line. One of the few nice things about being 5’9 in the NBA is that you can force a lot of whistles when you properly bounce yourself off a rotating big man at the rim.

In the fourth quarter, Felder made the adjustment to pass up on difficult layups for easy pull-up jumpers, and it worked nicely, and the baskets were, to say the least, timely. Being able to get an open 15-footer whenever you want it isn’t the most efficient play long-term, but it sure does help when things tighten up in late-game situations — just ask a Mr. Irving.

I was obviously happy with Felder’s shot-making, but still feel like he’s got to improve the aforementioned finishing at the basket and get comfortable with the catch-and-shoot 3 from NBA distance to be an effective scorer at this level — you’re only going to get so far in this league when your point total is right at (FGM x 2).

What really impresses me about Felder is that he has real point guard instincts. Remember, this dude led the nation in assists last year, and while he wasn’t racking up assists, he always knows what to do with the ball when he gets it, which is such a valuable skill. Kay’s fast, and he can shoot, but his most promising skill right now is how he combines that with his decisiveness. It’s the little plays, like when he got the outlet on a potential fast-break, immediately recognized LeBron streaking out for the potential bucket, and fed it to him for what turned out to be a highlight-reel slam, or when he caught it at the three-point line and already knew that Channing Frye was open for three on the swing pass. And how about the give-and-go he ran with Frye in the fourth to set him up for the layup? Just beautiful basketball. Felder may look like a “microwave scorer” at first glance. but he’s got the brain of a true point guard in there.

To get to the next level, he just has to get the game to slow down for him once he makes his initial decision — right now, he either makes the quick pass, probes on the perimeter to set up a good pass, or decides to attack, and when he does the latter, he’s either going all the way to the rim or pulling up for that step-back. When he can start finding passes off of his penetration and using his drives to create angles, he’s going to be a special player — imagine what could happen if LeBron starts to trust his decision-making enough to let him be the primary playmaker when he’s on the ball and get LeBron some shots on the move, like Kyrie has been doing during his renaissance. He’s got the talent, it’s just a matter of understanding the game a bit more, knowing how teammates will move off of your moves, and knowing when and why to go at full speed for the hoop or slow down a bit and look for the cutter or the kick-out. But oh, what a game for Felder this was. I’m so excited to see him continue to grow — the confidence is certainly already there.