Recap: Cavs 80, Magic 93
2012-03-23
The Magic are a pretty good team. The Cavaliers are not. As logic would dictate, the Cavs lost this game handedly.
–Not a ton to break down in this one. The Cavs were just outplayed by a better basketball team. They were outshot 47% to 38%. They lost the rebounding battle by five boards. Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson each had seven assists; the Cavs had 10 assists total. The only time this was a basketball game was a brief stretch in the third quarter when the Cavs cut it to single digits. Other than that five-minute spell, the Magic dominated.
–Classic 8-for-18 performance from Antawn Jamison. He also had nine rebounds. I wouldn’t normally excoriate Jamison for a lackadaisical defensive performance (it’s whatever at this point), but on a night when Tristan Thompson started at center against Dwight Howard, Jamison did nothing to help the rookie. He didn’t rotate on drives; he didn’t help the helper when Thompson tried to protect the rim; and he didn’t close out on the Magic shooters. It was… frustrating, to say the least.
–Kyrie Irving was just okay. The Magic swarmed him on D, and he had trouble finishing around the rim because Dwight Howard is the best shot blocker of his generation. 13 points, six assists, and only one turnover. Ho-hum.
–A few things about TT: he tried really hard. I don’t mean for that comment to sound condescending. Faced with the challenge of starting out of position against the best center in the NBA, he could have easily decided, “Okay, I’ll just keep my head down, take my beating, and hope I don’t get embarrassed.” He seemed to embrace the challenge, posting 15 points, 11 rebounds, and a pair of blocks. He also turned the ball over three times, and, make no mistake, Howard beat him up a little. But Thompson never stopped. On a couple of occasions, he bricked a post shot, grabbed his own rebound, and converted the put-back. When he was caught out of position, he wrapped Howard up, and sent him to the line. It wasn’t always pretty, but TT didn’t play poorly by any stretch. He was decent, and he never got discouraged. I’m proud of him, in a way.
The Cavs travel home to face Phoenix on Sunday. Until then, friends.
Also, i don’t think we have to worry about TT’s improvement being a “Hicksonian mirage.” By all accounts, he is fairly intelligent and has an excellent work ethic. Hickson, on the other hand….Hickson seemed kind of dumb. He has had problems with 2 different coaches now, as well. And Hickson seemed to get discouraged and/or frustrated very easily when things weren’t going his way, while Thompson seems to be very persistent and “coachable.” Hickson would drift out and start relying on jump shots, which wouldn’t be such a bad idea if he wasn’t a god-awful shooter. Thompson gets blocked in… Read more »
Geez….working towards an MA in English, and you wrote that they lost “handedly,” as opposed to handily. I sincerely hope that was a typo, or your professors will not be pleased.
Glad to see you write this! So many times anayst are quick to criticize when the team loses. He played hard and didn’t back down. He’s only going to get better!
The fact that TT’s FT shooting is improving is a major step for both him and the Cavs. With the Cavs having one of the worst FT shooting teams in the league it is an area that they need to improve to become a more competitive team. TT’s FT shooting has improved dramatically since he started to develop a consistent routine at the line. If you watch him closely you can almost see the bad misses coming when he rushes or alters that routine. It is starting to look like he can become at least an acceptable FT shooter. While… Read more »
Cavs have the Suns at home.
TT has stepped it up since taking over the starting C spot. His FT shooting seems to be improving, as well. Hopefully, this isn’t a Hicksonian mirage and he can continue to develop some skills that will translate back to his natural PF position.
Kyrie always has relatively poor games when going up against quality rim defenders like Dwight, so this wasn’t surprising.
One thing I have to point out, though: Luke Walton had the best +/- on the team with a +3. CATCH THE FEVER!!!!
That was a pretty tough situation for TT to be put in. As you said, he took it in stride and played pretty well all things considered. His FT shooting is leaps and bounds better than at the start of the season, which is a great sign, If he can master that little hook shot coming across the lane from both directions, his offensive game will become so much more efficient. That shot is nearly unblockable, and he already has a pretty good touch on it.