Cold Blooded

The Cavs played the Clippers perfectly last night.  I said early in the year we would win games by getting hustle stats.  That’s been happening;  we had 18 offensive rebounds and caused 25 turnovers.  Our big men are becoming phenomenal together. 

Anderson Varejao seems to always be in the right place at the right time, whether it’s on defense where he is disrupting a passing lane by stepping over or on offense by getting a board or some garbage points.  Tyler Zeller ran the floor all night and was rewarded with a lot of easy baskets off of assists under the hoop and some tip in points.

Tristan Thompson struggled offensively.  He was trying to do more than he is capable of at this point, which means he tried to make baskets rather than get tip ins and garbage drop offs.  He can’t maneuver on the floor.  It was hard to see him get blocked so much, but I think this is going motivate him to keep playing defense and staying aggressive so he gets some easy points. Thompson is great on defense, so the next step for him is going to be learning some offensive moves.

The Cavs rotation defense was a lot better this game mainly because they realized they are young enough and physically gifted enough to play man to man.  They just let the big men switch when it got down into the paint.  Speaking of this switching, Zeller is getting a lot better at preempting the picks to cause plays to collapse.  This led to a few turnovers for the Cavs.  The lack of blocks is a result of not having rim protectors, but it also the result of our bigs keeping the ball from even going up down low by getting steals. 

Once again, Alonzo Gee earned the GEET the fuck off the floor titled at the start of the game.  He had an offensive three in the key on the Cavs first possession of the game.  In the first play of the third, he tried to drive into their big men losing the ball to a Blake Griffin Block.

The Fuck Truck Driver of the night award goes to two players: Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters.  In the first quarter Kyrie had 16 points, which is incredible.  I loved how after the Clippers went on a 7-0 start Kyrie drove to the basket and earned the +1 to curb their momentum.  Then still down by seven later in the quarter Kyrie makes two threes in a row to catch us up.  It’s a blessing to have a player that can score like Kyrie, since it keeps the other team from getting momentum and running us out of the arena.  Kyrie also killed the Clippers momentum at the end of the game by hitting the three with 28 seconds on the clock.  It’s a mystery why they sagged off of him so much on that possession.

Dion Waiters was definitely the main driver of the Fuck Truck tonight.  In the third, the Clippers went on a quick 7-0 run, but Waiters stepped up and made a three.  Then he stepped up and made another three;  then all of sudden he has 12 points in a five minute span.  It was absolutely insulting to the Clippers.  I loved how aggressive Waiters was.  He stepped up in the fourth to make two threes in a row again after the Clippers tied the game.  His ability to score off the pass and dribble is going to be huge for the Cavs.  I really feel like any time a team runs on us we are going to be able to stop them with Kyrie or Waiters;  both of them aren’t afraid. 

Waiters did take a lot of shots and some of them like the dribble up air ball three late in the fourth (and some he made) were ill advised.  However, I don’t care. It reminded me of how he played at Syracuse (he actually scored though) where he was a top talent on the floor and could take whatever shots he wanted.  In the NBA this isn’t always the best thing, but for the Cavs any shots he takes away from Gee and CJ Miles are going to be a blessing.  He is getting better with his shot selection and has proved he can shoot and score even when contested.

One last positive thing about last night was the rotation.  Byron Scott is slowly figuring out how to ease the second line onto the floor.  I liked how to start the fourth he left Waiters out with the second line to give them some scoring.