A Lake (Laker) Dries When Miles Are (Is) On Fire

 

The Cavs pulled out a win against the Lakers with Kyrie Irving returning.  Actually, they flat out won the game.  I’m going to just point out some things I noticed during the game.

-The Cavs made their second possessions and forced turnovers count.  We turned all of our chances into points.  The Lakers were not so lucky.

-Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller played good defense against Dwight Howard.  I want to see them play the same style against all centers: hands up when the guy gets the ball and just holding their space.  Tyler Zeller was also very active in help defense.  He stepped in several times to get a block or alter a shot. 

-Anderson Varejao and Zeller shot the twenty footer perfectly.  They made Howard come out just enough that he couldn’t protect the paint.

-Alonzo Gee played strong defense on Kobe Byrant and made Kobe take some tough shots.

-The backcourt helped out when our guys had Howard slowed down low by coming in and snaking the ball away.  

-CJ Miles can play some basketball; he made two shots in a row right at the start of the game and just kept making his shots.  He even drove the ball in a few times to get some easy buckets.

-Kyrie Irving cared about defense.  When his man blew by him, he chased him down instead of just watching him go by.  Now that’s skill and progression from this young man who seemed to want to video tape his guy when he drove by him in early November. 

-The pick and roll/pick and pop game works great for Irving and Zeller.  Zeller’s ability to really shoot the ball opens up the floor and creates great spacing. 

-We avoided our crazy long scoring routs this game in a way.  Usually, the Cavs foul a ton and give up lots of easy points while scoring once in a while.  Well, this third quarter was different.  We were blowing it by fouling and giving up easy shots as usual, but we made them turnover the ball or we sank a three right when things were getting out of hand.  It was like that game where you drip your spit over someone and pull it back up right before it falls.  There's some splatter and there are harsh feelings during the process but no one gets hurt.

-The entire game the Cavs team pushed up the tempo on the Lakers and got tons of transition points. 

-The fourth quarter was a pretty even battle.  It seemed like whenever we needed a basket CJ Miles or Kyrie would be able to get it.   The Lakers were trying to shoot themselves back to a lead with threes instead of gradually wearing the Cavs down under the rim.  They shot 7-27 from the three line.  It was a bad idea in hindsight. 

The Fuck Truck award goes to CJ Miles.  He shot 5-10 from the three line, 10-18, and started the game off with two devastating threes that had to have killed off some morale on that Lakers team.  He was also driving the ball and getting what he wanted when he wanted it.  Every time he touched the ball, it got set on fire and started evaportating the Lakers.  Until, the end of the game when he made two free throws.  The last one just absorbed the water and left an ashy dirt pile behind that was crazy moist but couldn’t keep the whole lake filled.  At least you're moist Kobe?