Recap: Cleveland 100, Charlotte 99 (Or, Black Friday Deals)

The day after Thanksgiving in this country has been firmly claimed by the retail industry, branding the day Black Friday. Cleveland finished this year’s with a black out win at Quicken Loans Arena. LeBron and his compatriots checked out at the end of the evening just barely in the black, 100-99 over the Charlotte Hornets after a tough fought contest.

One need not travel to Crocker Park to witness all the deals on display tonight. Though the Cavaliers struggled to rebound and went through a few dry spells that were hard to watch, LeBron turned out to be the big ticket shopper for tonight’s game, racking up his second triple double of the season. With 27 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists, LeBron was again transcendent. His prowess on the court proved to be too much for the Hornets to handle as they failed to come away with the big deals Friday.

The 1st Quarter started off strong with LeBron’s first assist of the night to a cutting Kevin Love (11 pts, 12 rebs, 1 block) who followed the bucket up with a deep three pointer for five quick points. James immediately hit another cutting JR Smith for his second assist of the night. The King was dishing out dimes like they were Kohl’s coupons to celebrate all of the Black Friday deals. He initially looked on pace to match or pass his career high collection of dimes, though he finished with “just” 13.

Unfortunately, the Cavs season long issues on the defensive end were prevalent at the start. The Cavs had almost no defensive presence inside the paint and it showed. As Charlotte pounded the ball inside, things opened up for them on the perimeter. The Hornets were regularly forcing the Cavaliers to make multiple rotations on the perimeter, earning them five three pointers in the quarter. Cleveland hung tough and forced the Hornets to take and miss a lot of mid range shots and the quarter ended 28-27, Charlotte.

Cleveland started off well in the 2nd Quarter with six straight points before the Hornets starting claiming all the Buy-One-Get-One deals as Cleveland continued to struggle on the boards and Charlotte cashed in on season’s worth of second chance points. Michael Carter-Williams started things off with a three off of a second chance opportunity. The trend would continue all night long as Cleveland would go on to lose the rebounding battle 55-43, giving up 15 offensive rebounds.

Luckily for the Cavaliers, the second unit showed up yet again, at one point pushing the lead to six. Jeff Green contributed all six of his points in the second with a couple of nice finishes inside and a mid range make. The wine and gold also received contributions from Korver, Wade, and a nice running hook from Channing Frye inside. Kemba Walker and company were able to keep the Cavaliers at arms length as Dwight Howard feasted on the low, low prices in the low post finishing the half 57-54 for the Hornets.

LeBron started the scoring off in the 3rd Quarter with a three pointer to tie the game. Fred and AC mentioned it quite a bit this game, but this is the best LeBron’s shot has looked perhaps in his entire career. The course correction on shot is likely due to the 2-for-1 deal Cleveland got on player/shooting coach Kyle Korver. Under his tutelage, James has made his shot a real threat this season. In addition to splashing threes as La Flama Blanca, Mr. Korver also helped Bron to a 3-4 from three quarter. Those deep bombs include this deal of the century all the way from Tower City.

Cleveland played defense in spurts for the quarter, and started to make some shots, finally outscoring the Hornets. J.R. Smith was aggressive, and got his J flowing, as he canned three treys in the third and finished the night as the Cavs’ second leading scorer with 16.

Unfortunately, offensive rebounds led to many more second chances and wasted defensive efforts. At one point, Marvin Williams topped his season high in points with back to back threes off of second chance opportunities. The Cavs need to figure out how to get some more defensive rebounding in Thompson’s absence because teams are making things much more difficult on the already struggling defense. Despite the trouble, Cleveland retook the lead, 83-82. 

The 4th Quarter started off slowly as the Cavs could only score six points in the first six minutes, allowing Charlotte to retake the lead. Cleveland continuously took three point shot after three point shot and missed all of them for the quarter. Fortunately, the Hornets went cold from both three and the free throw line as Dwight Howard was carrying the load, as Kemba Walker and Micheal Kidd-Gilchrist both missed a pair. That’s right, you read correctly, Dwight Howard carried the Hornets from the free throw line. When the Cavs started to foul the big man, he responded,  going 5-6 from the stripe. You know you are in for a rough night when Dwight Howard is making all of his freebies.

LeBron decided to put an end to the downtown brick fest and took the ball straight to the hoop, converting some hard interior finishes. When no one was making shots off of his passes, he took things into his own hands, repeatedly forcing things inside to get points and trips to the free throw line for the struggling Kevin Love.

Defensively, Cleveland got on the loudspeaker and announced the store was closing. An MKG dunk after stealing a very lazy perimeter pass by LeBron was the only field goal Charlotte was allowed in the final 6:36. The Cavs’ security sent Howard to the line rather than allow layups and dunks and aggressively blitzed Kemba Walker in the pick and roll.

The Cavaliers forced tough shots which Charlotte missed but the Hornets were able to build a five point lead at the line with 3:33 to go. LeBron fought back with an and-1 runner and a finger roll after beating Dwight off the dribble to tie it at 99 before a single free throw from J.R. after a loose ball foul pushed Cleveland ahead.

No one scored on the final 48 seconds. A Kemba three missed badly, a James 29-footer hit back iron, Jeremy Lamb missed a well-contested three, and after another Charlotte o-board the King blocked a Kemba Walker desperation heave.

Cleveland finished their Black Friday extravaganza with a 100-99 victory.

Door Busters:

1 – The Cavaliers are starting to develop a lethal cutting game as players are beginning to earn some points with great slashes to the basket. Including this one which led to an open corner three for JR.

2 – LeBron’s passing has always been what makes him a truly transcendent player. Check out this “only LeBron can do” pass to a cutting JR Smith. Seriously, nobody else can make that accurate of a pass with that much velocity with only the flick of a wrist. Enjoy it folks.

3 – The Cavs, despite their early defensive issues and their problems rebounding, are having some nice moments on defense. Check out the final sequence as Cleveland forced the Hornets to take two tough shots, even after giving up the offensive rebound.

The Cleveland Cavaliers came away with their seventh straight victory tonight to improve to 12-7. They face off against the next generation in Philadelphia on Monday. As always, Go Cavs!