The Cavs pushed the pace for almost the entire game. All of the team was looking for quick
passes off the rebounds and started to run the court immediately. The other thing that sticks out is how
hard Irving and Waiters tried to drive the ball inside. This led to a lot of easy points for
the big men, Varejao and Thompson both got a lot of easy drop off pass buckets;
we ended with 42 points in the paint.
I also saw a lot of open jump shots, which I don’t mind as
long they stay open jumpers and not contested (GEE read this). Anderson Varejao and all of the frontcourt
players also made not so weary of the jumpers. Varejao was a beast on the offensive boards; Thompson and
Zeller totaled the backboard too on the offense. This is where having a young high effort team is really
going to pay off for us. Waiters
and Irving’s ability to and want to run back and stop the ball on defense let’s
our bigs push for the offensive boards.
This gets us a lot of garbage points and extra possessions (Thompson had
12 points with ten feet of the hoop).
Our bigs’ energy lets them crash the boards because they run back on
defense, rather doing a grandma style trot like most bigs.
Finally, Irving and Waiters made clutch shots. It seemed like whenever the Cavs were
losing momentum one of them would make a shot, usually a three to slow it down
on Washington. I liked what I saw
from Waiters. He must have found a
time machine since Syracuse because he matured several years. I didn’t see dumb shots from him
constantly. Both of them
made a lot of hockey assists too. Time and time again, they got it to Varejao
(9 Assists) who had the ability to transfer it down low to Zeller and Thompson.
And the best player of the night, the winner of my FUCK
TRUCK DRIVER of the night award is Varejao. He had 12 offensive boards. That’s one more than his defensive rebounds. He also acted as a great finder for
Irving and Waiters. When Varejao
got the pass, he looked for the open man and found him. It was beautiful.
The Bad
The defense tended to over commit on the help defense. Sometimes it worked out and gave us a
turnover that led to a fast break, but a lot of times it led to an open
shooter. I think over time they’ll
figure how much they need to help each other and who can leave their man. Our big men need to help out a
little more so our guards aren’t getting so far from their men.
Zeller needs to get more confident. He looked almost afraid to leave his
man and help out defenders. He
moved well on offense at times with backdoor cuts, but he sometimes stood
around 18 feet for a bit before trying to cut or move. He also needs to make sure he’s running
up the floor every time, since he is in such good shape and can. He’ll adjust the more he plays, and I
think he is going to be a good six man for us in the coming year.
Irving needs to remember to keep trying to drive when the
clock is running down. He dribbled
away a lot when the clock was low, which made him have to take some late shots
he shouldn’t have.
It also got a tad annoying in the 3rd and start
of the 4th quarter when Gibson and Gee kept chucking up jump shots
when we clearly needed some stops and easy buckets. The more games they play they’ll realize they suck at shooting. Hopefully. Miles might need to realize this too, but I’m going to give
him a chance. I really want him to
come out and score when Waiters and Irving leave the floor.
The Gee
Every time Gee touched the ball, I got pissed at him. He kept taking terrible jumpers when
the Cavs quit scoring. He got
blocked in the fourth for simply refusing to pass during our drought, and he
even had that stupid foul on a three-point play in the third quarter. If you want to foul on the three Gee,
you best make your man pee. Gee
earned this nickname from me: Alonzo Geet the fuck off the floor.
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