Recap: Wizards 110, Cavaliers 103 (Or, What’s Cooler Than Being Cool?)

The Cavaliers could not pull this one out as they fell to the Washington Wizards 110 to 103. And if you didn’t know the answer to the question above, as Outkast says, the Cavaliers were “Ice cold!” The team, organization, and fans may have been a little too excited about coming back from the All-Star break and it showed with brick after brick, despite an excellent first quarter. The Cavs then went ice cold from the field and with no John Wall, the fluid offense of the Wizards exposed a Cleveland defense that’s still learning to play together.

Regardless of the outcome, the Cavaliers started off hot in the first quarter. Cleveland was aggressive and consistently attacking as soon as they got down the court. JR came out firing, making 4 of 7 shots in the first quarter, for 9 points. LeBron also managed to help set the tempo as he continuously barreled his way into the paint, picking up two early and-1 opportunities. Including this nearly coast-to-coast strong-man finish:

Cleveland’s pace and constant pressure was obviously running Washington out of the building as they looked like they were stuck in a whirlwind. By the time they got down the court and into their half court sets, LeBron and company were looking to push back, and quickly. The only time the pace slowed was when the ball touched Tristan Thompson’s hands. Seriously, the ball basically deflates the moment it hits those suckers. He has no mid-range shot and he doesn’t have the natural basketball IQ to anticipate what he needs to do at the top of the key. This often resulted in clunky plays that halt any effective high pick and roll action that you can run with Love and Nance. Tristan can only finish plays and it hurts the offense. Fortunately, Cleveland’s attack fueled their defense as they held a good Washington offense to 22 first quarter points. They ended the quarter up 9, 31-22.

The beginning of the second quarter was the Jordan Clarkson show. With no LeBron in the game, Clarkson looked to control whatever offensive production the Cavs were getting. For the first five minutes of the quarter the only interruption in Clarkson-centric plays was the beautiful dump off by Jeff Green to Larry Nance Jr. for the monster jam seen below. Unfortunately, Clarkson was his usual mercurial self as glittering and-1 floater and made jump shots contrasted with bricked threes and too-excited turnovers.

By the time Clarkson checked out more than half way through the quarter, the Cavs had only managed to score ten points and were fortunate that the Wizards were so cold from outside. He’s had these kind of tendencies in the past, it’s part of the equation when you give the combo guard minutes. Unfortunately, that was the last time Cleveland held any appreciable lead as cold shooting followed poor rotations featuring quite a few defensive breakdowns. The persistent ball movement by Washington exposed a defense that still wasn’t comfortable working together. The Cavs looked the part of a freshly reconstructed roster which is to be expected from time to time in the next couple weeks as the players get to know one another. By half time, a 9 point lead had withered away to a 3 point deficit. Wizards up 57-54.

LeBron was still able to do this in the quarter, though:

As usually happens, the Cavs started the third quarter with their starting unit, meaning Cedi finally got to return to action despite being needed more in the first half. I assume Lue wanted to save the Jedi’s remaining 8 minutes for the third quarter when Cleveland notoriously suffers from a very regular malaise. Unfortunately, Osman’s energy wasn’t enough to propel the Cavs forward as he and the rest of the Cavaliers couldn’t stop any Wizard action whatsoever.

Despite making 5 three pointers in the quarter, it often felt like the Cavs were shooting round, orange ice cubes, often settling for jumpers and missing wide open ones. The aggression and drive game had all but vanished and the Cavs carried their deficit from half time to end the third quarter down by a score of 82-79.

The wheels fell off the wagon in the fourth quarter as Cleveland reminded us all that it’s still winter and were truly cold shooting the ball. Despite starting off with a Jeff Green and-1 opportunity and a Korver three, the team iced over rather quickly. Even Korver missed on a wide open three, a rarity for the all-timer. When Cleveland was down by 8, LeBron started to push the aggression button again and was having success on the inside. Unfortunately, by then, the Wiz Kids had heated up and were no longer missing those open jumpers from earlier.

James did his best to recover what they had lost as he entered the final frame with 18 points only to go on to score 14 more and end the night with 32 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals. He even managed to cut the lead to only 3. Unfortunately, they immediately gave up an easy layup on the other end and the game was all but over. Cavs drop the game 110-103.

Some Notes:

1. Kudos to JR Smith for getting his mojo back. Apparently DWade really did steal his best friend and good luck charm because the Pipe Fitter has been scorching lately and finished the night with 15 points on 6-12 shoot, 3-8 from distance. It’s good to have Smith back as his production has been sorely missed.

2. How great is it to hear them call Nance into the game? The crowd loves him and deservedly so. He plays hard and provides plenty of highlight reel material. Check out this monster slam. It will be exciting to watch him wear 22 again next week.

3. Ty Lue’s rotations will always be a point of contention with me. Tristan needs to get far fewer minutes. Less than or equal to Nance at the very least. Osman needs to return to playing more minutes. They should probably come from Green’s minutes at this point. Green couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn tonight from behind the arc.

4. On the plus side, the Nets lost to the Hornets. It’s never a bad thing watching your future draft pick get better and better when it isn’t at your team’s expense.

Cleveland is going to have some hiccups occasionally as they integrate their new pieces. Even after an excellent start. This is to be expected and we shouldn’t lose the hope and momentum we had for this team before the break. I’ll chalk this up to growing pains and a poor shooting night. At least they didn’t look so dejected like they did pre-trade. It will be telling how they bounce back from their first loss since LeBron found out about the moves. Cavs face off against the Grizzlies for the second night of a back to back on Friday. Go Cavs!