Recap: Cavs 103, Bobcats 90 (Or, the time the Cavs won the most winnable game)
2012-04-10
MVP: Lester Hudson was the feel-good story of the game for the Cavaliers. The little-known player out of Tennessee-Martin contributed 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists on Tuesday night, and was huge in the 4th quarter.
LVP: Byron Mullens somehow managed to play 22 minutes and go scoreless while matched up against Antawn Jamison, which I didn’t even know was possible. The once-promising Mullens was 0-3 from the field on the night, and didn’t manage to shoot a single free throw.
X Factor: With Anthony Parker back in the lineup, the Cavaliers were on fire from behind the arc. Parker swished four of his six 3-point attempts on the night, and the Cavaliers went 11-17 from deep in the game. When you consider that the Bobcats only shot 3-11 on 3s, the Cavs’ impressive marksmanship from 3 looks that much more important.
Turning Point: The Cavs were down by a point after the 1st possession of the 4th quarter, but took control of the game with a quick 10-0 fueled by a pair of three-pointers by Luke Walton and Omri Casspi. Yes, you know your team is no longer playing meaningful basketball when Luke Walton is hitting key shots in the 4th quarter.
That was…interesting: The Bobcats’ bigs didn’t score much, and the team couldn’t find the rim from deep, but Gerald Henderson and Kemba Walker both did a good job of getting into the teeth of the Cavalier defense and punishing them inside — both players lived in the paint, and combined to score 41 points on just 27 shots from the field. There’s not much the Bobcats have done well this season, but two of their young players were able to get to the rim with some consistency on Tuesday.
My heart is as warmed as the next guy’s over Hudson’s strong play, but he is doing it against Euroleague caliber play right now. Perhaps he can be a spark-plug bench guy, ya know, one of Simmons’ “irrational confidence guys”, but more likely he is destined to go back overseas where he can get enough shots to be effective. I think best case scenario is that he can be a Gary Neal type player. Similar in age and style with Neal’s shot being stronger and Lester is a bit better penetrating. He is certainly better than Harris, but then, I… Read more »
I think that a line up with TT, Lester and Gee all coming off the bench sounds pretty nice. Obviously we still need to find a true center so Andy can move to PF, a starting caliber SF and Lester needs to keep up his game to show he is worth a roster spot. With our draft picks and cap room, hopefully things can start coming together as soon as next year.
I don’t think there’s a large enough sample size to totally judge him yet, but I agree with Scuzz that he’s definitely earned the chance to at least play out the rest of the season and Summer League. But Matt is also right in that he’s 27 years old and has had his good games against bad defenses. I think he’ll far somewhere between Manny Harris (a “what did they ever see in him” player) or Alonzo Gee (a “wow, that was a pretty good pickup” player).
Since the Cavs have won 2 of 3 games, wouldn’t a picture like this be appropriate?
http://static.flickr.com/40/87294206_bd3e168a5e.jpg
D-League Star. Big Stats Bad team guy. Even with his exceptional play as the all-star on a bad team against bad defenses he’s still shooting sub 40% from the field at 27 years old.
He’s definitely earned the chance to finish out the year with the Cavs, and a summer league stint to boot. He’ll be facing some quality opponents who are vying for playoff seeding in Orlando, San Antonio, and Memphis. How he plays then will give us a much better idea of his ability.
My guess; at best, he’s a decent replacement for Sessions. If nothing else, he’s been fun to watch.
What do people think of Lester Hudson right now?
Future hall of famer, that will keep averaging 25, 5 & 5 for the next 5 years?
Glorified D-League all-star, that put up those numbers against the two worst defenses in the league and a Toronto team that played without the players that are 2nd, 4th, 7th and 10th for them in total minutes this year?
Something in between?
The Bobcats might seriously be the worst NBA team evah. Cavs win puts them back in the 6th worst spot, but that should settle out to 4th worst in the next two weeks.