Recap: Cavs 111, Mavericks 104 (Or, Love & Happiness)

This trip to Texas seems to be a trend breaker for the Cavaliers as Cleveland won their first game that wasn’t nationally televised. This game was a lot closer than it should have been but considering their habit has been to lose these games, it was nice for them to come out of this one with the win. Luckily, when Cleveland went to Kevin Love, he responded in a big way, dishing out healthy doses of happiness for all to see. Between Love and contributions from Cleveland’s own splash brothers (JR and Korver), the Cavs were able to move to 6-7 while the Mavericks drop to a paltry 2-11.

Cleveland played a shade more defense than usual and forced Dallas into shooting just over 31% from three. Seeing as they have allowed teams to shoot remarkably well from distance, we’ll consider this a drastic improvement. Sure, the Mavericks spent a heck of a lot of time in a brick house, but the Cavs needed a game where their opponent didn’t hit every single open shot.

This game started out fairly slow as the first quarter was filled with brick after brick after brick. The poor shots weren’t limited to either team but the Mavericks were missing early and often. Dallas took ten threes in the quarter but only managed to make three of them. Most of these early misses were of the wide open variety. It was a good thing too, because the only people on the Cavs that could hit were Kevin Love and JR Smith who put in two threes a piece.

Crowder started off poorly, going 0-4 in the quarter and not really close on any of his shots. He struggled to impact the game on the other end of the court as well. Dallas upstart Dennis Smith Jr did not suffer from that same malady as he continued to show why he was an underrated guard in this year’s rookie class. In addition to a deep three, the rookie had a sweet drive and finish, showing off a soft touch around the rim. Cavs 29, Mavs 23

The second quarter got ugly as the Cavs were outscored by 9 and only managed to put up 20 points. Unfortunately, as is their way, Cleveland went away from Love in the second quarter. Despite having the clear advantage in the post, Love sat out his customary first half of the quarter and Cleveland was content to launch from deep, mostly unsuccessfully. On the other side of the court, the Mavs continuously penetrated and managed to finish most of the time. Old habits die hard and the pick and roll proved to be an issue still. Barea, Ferrell, and Smith Jr had almost no issues turning the corner and waltzing to the rim. They finished the quarter down three. Mavs 52, Cavs 49

Cleveland needed to come out strong in the third and they succeeded as they went to their happy place, Kevin Love. The big man was magnificent in the quarter as he went to work to the tune of 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting. Love was a monster in the post, pulling down offensive rebounds and putting them right back up, including a rare put back dunk.

Love wasn’t just scoring, he was passing well, defending well, and rebounding. Dallas clearly did not have an answer for Kevin and he knew it. It seemed like every time KLove touched the ball, something good was happening. He single-handedly carried the Cavs in the third as they managed put up a 34 point quarter.

The third also featured some of Cleveland’s best defense of the season as they held the Mavericks to only 22 points in the quarter. It was refreshing to see Green stay in front of whoever he was guarding. The Cavs were active and engaged and came out ahead. Cavs 83, Mavs 74

In the fourth quarter Cleveland yet again went away from Love and the Mavs managed to scrape their way back into the game. Things tightened up in the fourth when they should have been blown open. Wesley Matthews woke up a bit and hit two big threes that hurt Cleveland’s momentum. Fortunately, Korver had a big quarter, taking the joy out of Love’s game and putting it into his jumper. La Flama Blanca went 3 for 4 from beyond the arc and finished a tough layup inside that would have been an and-1 if not for a rare miss at the line.

As the game clock wound down LeBron looked to capitalize on their advantage in the post but was largely unsuccessful. It was times like these that one would expect Cleveland to go back to KLove but despite a monster third, he didn’t score a single point in the fourth. Still, they managed to hold on and get a much needed win. Cavs 111, Mavs 104

Some Thoughts:

1. LeBron had a difficult time getting going with Wesley Matthews physical play. James didn’t score 30 points for a change, only tallying 19. He did manage to pull down 10 rebounds and a monster block on Dennis Smith Jr in the fourth. But he coughed it up six times and insisted on finishing the game in the post when Kevin was clearly having the more effective game. Maybe he felt that ankle more than he’d hoped tonight.

2. DWade continues his poor stretch of play in Texas as he didn’t score a single point and missed some ugly deep twos. However, the ball didn’t seem to stick to him too much, so that’s a plus.

3. Jeff Green continues to surprise as he had another effective night tonight. He finished with 9 points but stayed in front of his man and got 3 steals. If he continues to play within himself and put effort into his play, many of us might be pulling our collective feet from our collective mouths. Mine included.

4. JR and Iman Shumpert continued to play well despite expectations. JR seems to have fully recovered with his third straight good game. He scored 17 and was 4-9 from three. Shump didn’t try to do too much and had some good steals and cuts to the basket. He had an excellent cut off a better Kevin Love pass in the third.

He needs to continue to improve as the Cavs need all they can get from their guard spots.

5. Dennis Smith Jr looks like one of the best rookies so far. He is lightning quick and can make some athletic finishes around the rim. His long range shot looks good and he’s tough to handle from anywhere on the court. It’s a pleasure to watch him play, I wish him all the best.

The Cavs start back up against the Knicks on Monday. Let’s hope it doesn’t have the same ending as their last meeting with New York. Go Cavs!