Recap: Cleveland 106, Washington 99 (Or, Sleepwalking To Victory)

The Cleveland Cavaliers followed up their Saturday night victory with a 106-99 win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday. The win pushes them to 3-3 for the season on second nights of back to backs. For most of the game, it was evident that the Cavs were playing on tired legs. Right out of the gate, 6th Man of the Year candidate, Dwayne Wade was out to rest his sore body. Fortunately, Cleveland was able to sleepwalk to victory.

The truly amazing part of this game is that despite being in the middle of a REM cycle, LeBron Raymone James still managed to come away with his third straight triple-double, notching 20 points, 15 assists, and 12 rebounds. The King is only 17 shy of Wilt Chamberlain for the 5th spot on the all-time triple-double list. His dominance started right away as Cleveland’s first points came off of one of the deadliest weapons in his arsenal this season, the turnaround jumper. His efficiency with that shot has made it and him completely unguardable.

Initially, the Cavs seemed to be responding well to the Back-to-Back Blues as they played some tough defense to start the game. Rotations were a wonder to see. On a particular play in the first quarter, Washington was slinging the ball around the court only to be met by a newly rotated Cavalier at every stop. The final pass saw Calderon hustling to get a hand in the face of a shooter. Though his limited athleticism kept him from a truly great closeout, his effort forced a miss and the defensive rotations paid off.

It was evident that both teams cared about this game as an offensive foul in the first quickly turned into a shove from JR Smith, knocking Kelly Oubre to the ground. Oubre then showed everyone that he was indeed a professional athlete as he completed three push-ups while JR let him know how he felt. The exchange earned Cleveland’s local pipe-fitter a technical foul. You can see it all below.

The Cavaliers were able to control the pace for most of the first quarter, which included a strange sequence which resulted in Korver making two separate technical free throws. One tech to Washington’s bench, and one to Wizard’s head coach Scott Brooks. Cleveland was able to keep the Wiz Kids at arm’s length and finished the quarter ahead 27-23.

The second quarter is where things got dicey for Cleveland. The Cavs fell asleep time after time as the Wizards connected on five of eight from three point range. Including two back to back from Mike Scott from nearly the exact same spot each time. The only thing that kept Cleveland in the game was the fact that this team shoots three pointers so well they can do it in their sleep. Cleveland answered every three with one of their own, and raised the Wizards two makes. The Cavs finished the quarter 7-11 from deep.

Despite the barrage from beyond the arc, the Cavs seemed to be unable to get out from under their covers in transition as Washington beat Cleveland down the court for multiple transition buckets. The offense stagnated as the Cavs settled for jumpers and shots off of the first pass. In the half-court defensive sets, Wall and Beal negotiated easy buckets for themselves as well as their teammates, mostly around the rim. Cleveland clearly kept hitting the snooze button and allowed Washington to tie the game up, scoring 37 points in the second quarter. The two teams went into the half tied at 60.

LeBron and company started out the third quarter the same way they finished the second, tired and slow. And while the Cavs were able to keep the pace slow, the Wizards were still able to get far too many easy buckets, often via penetration leading to open layups. Luckily for Cleveland, Kevin Love showed up to play. Love, who finished the game with 25 points and nine rebounds, shot lights out in the third en route to a 3-4 quarter from three. A few careless turnovers by the Cavs kept Washington neck and neck though as they finished the third tied, 83-83.

As I’m beginning to think is Cleveland’s plan, the team decided to wake up from their cat naps and reengaged in the fourth quarter. The team picked up their defensive effort and were able to hold the Wizards to just 16 points in the quarter. LeBron drained a deep three and the Cavs began to score more in transition. First, Korver finished a tough shot at the rim, kissing it high off the glass over Beal. That was shortly followed up by what can only be described as another remarkable pass by James. Before the game, Scott Brooks said that LeBron was making passes that no one in the game has ever made. This might be one of those passes. Below you can see as James collected a rebound underneath the hoop and immediately flicked an absolute laser up the court to a sprinting Jeff Green. Green finished the play off with a spectacular and-1 dunk in transition. It was truly a sight to behold.

At that point, Cleveland took things into their own hands, raising their level of play for the rest of the game. LeBron kept astounding the home crowd, to their dismay, as he came up with another big block on a Jon Wall drive. Had JR hit the three immediately following, it would have been a death blow with four and a half to go in the game. Instead, the blow came from a combination of plays in quick succession. The first play being the one below. LeBron showed everyone that he was the only player awake on the court as he threw Mike Scott’s sheets in the washer for a spin cycle, collecting the bucket and the foul for a three point play.

Immediately following, Markieff Morris mistakenly rolled the ball on the inbound pass. JR Smith noticed the move and promptly dove to steal the ball, calling a timeout and retaining possession. The entire Cavaliers bench rose to meet Smith on the court for the effort. From that point on, the game was never in question. Cleveland finished Washington off 106-99.

Some Notes:

1) Kevin Love is still incredibly underrated. He isn’t being discussed nearly enough for how good he’s playing. Love is averaging 19 and 10 but is bringing his lunch pail to work every day, doing everything he can on the court to help the Cavs win. His most underrated skill? Drawing fouls. I don’t know if there is a big man in the league who is better at creating contact between him and his defender, or often the person he is guarding. This is putting teams in a bind early and often. It’s changing the outcome of the game without anyone even noticing.

2) Cedi Osman is starting to contribute on a regular basis. The minutes Lue gives him now are going to be invaluable come May and June. Kudos to Coach Lue for actually playing Osman in meaningful minutes. It will undoubtedly pay off.

3) Tristan Thompson is still playing on a minutes restriction, but in limited time, he’s already developed some chemistry with many of the Cavaliers, including newcomer Jose Calderon. The two of them have a chemistry that echoes that of the relationship on the court he and previous Cavalier Matthew Dellavedova shared. While Jose doesn’t have the same defensive chops as Delly did, the two are both great in the pick and roll and rarely make mistakes. The lobs are coming and its good to see.

4) One of my least favorite players in the league right now is Marcin Gortat. I don’t know if it’s his dumb mohawk or if I’m just being irrational. But when he has a bad game, I enjoy it. I especially enjoyed it as “The Polish Hammer” attempted a dunk in the second quarter but fortunately, as Gortat tried to drop his hammer, he forgot to drop it in the hoop. The attempt resulted in a stuff by that defensive stalwart known as the rim. Huzzah!

The Cavs face off against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday in Milwaukee. Hopefully they can ride their current level of play to another win. Go Cavs!