Recap: Cavaliers 107, Suns 90 (Or, of Z and D)

Quicken Loans Arena on April 19, 2008 in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland won the game 93-86. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.” width=”239″ height=”333″ />

Overview: As Zydrunas Ilgauskas broke the record for the most games ever played by a Cavalier, the Cavs beat the Suns behind one of their best defensive efforts of the year, holding the Suns to just 29 points in the first half.

Cavs-Related Bullets:

-Congratulations to Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Seeing his entrance blow the roof off the building and the crowd chant “Z” for as long as they did was a great moment. More fitting tributes than mine have and will be written, but it was great to see all the work Z’s done in Cleveland get recognized. He’s earned it.

–And wouldn’t you know it, Z actually played pretty darn well tonight. A team-high 14 points from inside and outside, with the Q going crazy after each one. It’s not every day you’ll see a crowd not really react to a spectacular double-clutch reverse layup attempt by LeBron, then explode when big Z tips in the miss. The DNP-CD situation still appears less than peachy keen overall, but on the court this was a great night for Z and Cavalier basketball.

–Defense. It wins games. And tonight, the Cavaliers got back to winning with it. No Cav scored more than 14 points, but they dominated the game by shutting down the league’s best offense. Here’s what I saw as the defensive keys:

-The Cavaliers have a lot of size defensively, and the Suns, despite the fact they play fast, do not have a lot of players who actually are fast. (Especially with Barbosa out.) Switching the Nash pick-and-rolls was able to keep him from getting all the way to the rim, and the Suns weren’t getting great penetration from anywhere else. The Cavs were able to wall off the paint and force the Suns to settle for quick catch-and-shoot threes off one or two passes with a defender closing out, and those shots were not falling for the Suns in the first half. The Suns unraveling at the end of a road trip had a lot to do with how horrible they looked offensively, but Mike Brown’s gotta be happy about the return to form defensively.

-Maybe LeBron’s worst scoring game of the year, only accounting for 12 points, needing 15 shots to get them, and not going to the line once. But he was still making an impact, especially with his passing in the first half, and finished with 10 assists, 8 rebounds, and a game-high +19.

-Offensively, the story was balance. 10 players with 8 or more points, and nobody with more than 14. That’s a lot of balance right there.

-JJ Hickson only needed 7 shots to get his 13 points, and was feasting on the Suns’ comically porous interior defense all night long.

-Shaq was also getting good work in down low, punishing his former team in the paint and on the boards for 12 points and 9 rebounds in only 21 minutes. Man, he does just look unfair against undersized frontcourts sometimes.

-Delonte West. 6 assists in only 24 minutes, 2 steals, and a block, with that crazy energy level all the time. It’ll be interesting to see when he feels comfortable shooting from the outside again.

-Anderson with a strange line: 3 blocks, 3 steals, 5 offensive rebounds, and a 4-12 shooting night. That’s a lot of good and bad activity.

Bullets of Randomness:

-Mo Williams and LeBron James are very good at shooting threes off the dribble, but Steve Nash is clearly the master.

-Man, Amare Stoudemire will just embarrass himself on the defensive end two or three times a game. If he would just look like he was trying on a few of those plays, his defensive reputation might not be so toxic.

-Channing Frye can shoot the basketball. It definitely would’ve been nice to add him this off-season, which apparently Ferry wanted to do.

-I thought Steve Nash’s -15 was the game low, but Robin Lopez had a -16. In six minutes. Yipes.