Recaps: Cleveland 595, Association 499 (or, Mercy is for Next Week)

What a difference eight days makes. After a January that saw the Cavs fail to win two in a row, and a lot of teeth gnashing about John Blair Bickerstaff, the Cavs shifted into Bachman Turner Overdrive and took care of business. Starting with a convincing victory over the Grizz, the Cavs absolutely wrecked some lousy teams full of injured and resting players, and have been averaging margins of victory of +19.5 over a five game win streak. They’re freaking bloodying noses and sweeping legs on their way through the all Valley Karate Tournament portion of the NBA season.

Now you’d be tempted to say “well, yeah, Nate, the Cavs are supposed to beat these teams that are sitting the likes of Zion Williamson, Bradley Beal, and Jaren Jackson Junior,” but anyone who’s followed the Cavs over the last season and a half knows they have had a tendency to lose focus against opponents’ B teams. I’m happy to report that Cleveland showed now mercy against the injured Daniel LaRussos of the the association.

Starting with a solid win against Memphis, the Cavs throttled the Pacers, Wizards, and Pistons before whooping New Orleans, Friday night – their first win in Nola since Isaac Okoro was nine years old (13 years). Taking the lead after about two minutes in and never looking back, the Pels’ game was rarely in doubt after a Cavalanche in the early second put Cleveland up 20. The Cavs led by as much as 25 in the third, and 23 before Willie Green waved the white flag with a few minutes left in the fourth, and the Cavs mailed in garbage time. Evan Mobley played one of his best games in a Cavs uni with 28/13/2, five stocks, and a +18 line on the night. Mitchell looked fully returned to form: slicing and dicing his way into the lane to finish with a 30/5/3 line. Darius Garland battled foul trouble early and played just 23 minutes, finishing with 11/2/7, but was effective when not being okey-doked by an officiating crew trying to keep the game closer than it was.

The Cavs’ big men duo just annihilated Jonas Valanciunas and Trey Murphy III. The former was too slow to stay with either of Frobley, and the latter was too small.  A two post offense in the half court that featured Allen and Mobley interchanging at the block and the free throw line lead to devastating results, with both guys driving on big V or posting up the Pels. And when Allen wasn’t scoring, he was grabbing six offensive rebounds, finishing with 20/11/4 and two big swats. I was a bit baffled why our old pal Larry Nance Jr. didn’t play more, as he had more success, nor Jaxson Hayes who is apparently out of the regular rotation in the Big Easy, but gave Cleveland fits last year. Can’t say I’m complaining.

Rounding it out, the #CarisLevertAgenda was vindicated with a nice game for the guy we’re calling “The Chef,” as calls of “Let Caris Cook” rang throughout the CtB live thread. Caris, relieved to not have been traded Thursday, responded  off the bench subbing for Garland in the first half, and filling in during the second to finish with 13/6/9 and two steals. His shot looked a lot better than Wednesday too. Dean and Cedi chipped in nine, but their presence on the garbage time letdown ruined their plus minus.

The defense was on point till very late. Cleveland held Stark County’s C.J. McCollum to 4-14 from the field. CJ and Jonas V. were both -24. The only real threat to do much damage for the Pels was Brandon Ingram who put up 25/3/8. Cleveland did a nice job of limiting Brandon.

The game was indicative of the win streak for the Cavs where several interesting trends have developed. First, the Cavs are getting a lot of dunks. They finished with a 70 to 58 points in the paint advantage (garbage time skewed this – at one point it was 60 to 40) and a 25 to 10 second chance point advantage. Take a look at the Cavs’ stats against the association during the streak.

Stats.NBA.com

Weirdly the Cavs are killing everyone in field goal percentage, and are taking the least amount of free throws. This means a lot of dunks and runouts. They’re also killing it in steals and blocks which feeds into the field goal percentage. I am glad the Cavs are cleaning up against bad teams, and that Cleveland is becoming a team that folks look to rest their guys against because they know the possibilities of a win are lower (and also because it’s about to be tank season). The wine and gold are also defending the three much better: as (I think Jason) noted, the Cavs are chasing the three with whoever is closest instead of guys under the basket having to run out 20+ feet to contest cause “that’s they’re man.” It’s working wonders as teams aren’t getting nearly as many open looks as they had been. J.B. finally figured out that you can’t let teams get hot early from deep. It’s better to give up a couple dunks early than let guys get in the groove outside. With that knowledge in their pocket, Cleveland can clean up against these squads limping to the all-star break, and integrating new players before and after the break. It’s a good time to bank some wins, and Cleveland’s doing it with a massive +19 point differential over that stretch.

Mostly healthy Cavs wrecking some shit-ass opponents of late. https://t.co/zCyM2lzyc4

— HoopsDogg (@oldseaminer) February 10, 2023

With Chicago being the only other team that stood pat at the trade deadline, Saturday night will be a good test, as will the Philly game, Wednesday. Monday, the Cavs take on the reeling Spurs who are are on the Wemby express. The only thing that gives me pause is weary legs on the back end of a tough road trip. Punctuated by only 22 hours between tip-offs, the Pelicans/Bulls road back-to-back is going to be rough. We can all be thankful for limited minutes and late rest in a Nola blowout, and a night off for Ricky Rubio (load/ACL recovery management).

If the Cavs can keep it rolling, a lossless five-games-in-seven-nights trip stretch would be quite an accomplishment. I for one, was really thrilled the Cavs didn’t let the pursuit of the perfect be the enemy of the good, as they opted not to touch their roster at the trade deadline. If there wasn’t a move out there for a backup 4/5 or a real knock-down shooter who could make a difference on D, then I’m glad they didn’t chase the jump shooting traffic cones of the world like Luke Kennard and Doug McDermott. The thing that frustrated all of us with the tough losses this year is that we know how good this team can be when the the five lions on the court form the legendary basketball super robot known as Voltron. The consistent rotation and relative health should pay dividends for a while while the rest of the Association figures it out.

Caris LeVert Shot Chart: Basketball Reference

As Chris Francis often notes, the NBA Playoffs are about having the ability to score when teams take away your strengths. Guys on the second unit who can shoot from three and get their own shot are rare, and Caris’ assist abilities are quite underrated. Yes, he is absolute butt from the mid-range right now, but he’s shooting a career high 37% from deep and 63% at the rim. You know who else was butt earlier this year? Isaac Okoro who resembled a pair of flappy cheeks at the beginning of the season. The Cavs’ narrowed Ice’s role, and he’s been great operating almost exclusively from the corners as a shooter and driver, a connector at the wing, and in transition. Count me in the group who think that a consistent role and a focus on what Caris can do well off the bench is going to do wonders for flattening Caris’ standard deviation. The coaching staff either help him figure out how to convert floaters and pull-ups or take them out of his game. They figured it out with Garland, they can do it with Caris. Oh, and news flash the Cavs weren’t going to get anyone else who could shoot 37% from deep, play and guard three positions, and who wants to be in Cleveland by trading Dylan Windler, and Caris’ contract for a Pegacorn that poops ice cream.

It will be interesting to monitor the Kevin Love situation going forward. I appreciate the professionalism with which he’s handled his demotion. He has to know that he’s got to get his shot right before he can get back on the court. I’m still annoyed with the Org. over the way they handled his hand injury. It points to the litany of injury mismanagement over the last few seasons, but I’d be surprised if Kev doesn’t get another crack at the rotation this year. Kev’s got to know that his role probably isn’t going to be much better anywhere else. Conversely, the Org. probably owes it to Kev to give him a buyout if he asks to ride off into the Lake Oswego sunset (let’s be honest, Portland would be a great fit for K-Love) or chase his tinseltown dreams with fellow NBA Champion Cavaliers on either team in L.A.

But I hope Kev sticks around, because the Cavs didn’t trade him. They know what they have is special and Kev’s a huge part of this. This is probably my second favorite Cavs team of all time, and the team that’s number one is arguably the greatest team in the history of North American pro sports. So, enjoy the ride Mr. Love, cause teammates like this don’t come around often.