Kyrie Irving was the best player on the floor tonight, playing his most complete game to date this season, as the Cavaliers improve to 19-6 by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers at home. Here’s how things went.
1. The Cavs started off slowly on both ends, allowing LA to get good looks and press the tempo. Giving up 31 in the first is never a great plan, but they came out much more lively and aggressive in the second.
2. Cavs ran their stuff quickly and early in the clock, fueled by a solid transition game. They got shots they wanted, but we’re unable to hit them early on. Things normalized a bit, and the movement, and results, were dynamic.
3. Julius Randle is really good. He’s in great shape, too. It’s odd how LA doesn’t run specific plays designed for him, but he initiates an inordinate amount of offense by bringing the ball up for a man his size. He is a rare player that seems to play a million miles per hour constantly, but never feels out of control. He’s a handful, and becoming a guy I really like. If he develops a consistent 18-20 footer, look out, NBA.
4. The Cavs are good enough against LA to allow games to he decided on spurts and runs. That won’t do against most good teams. They need to focus on being the aggressor instead of being so reactive.
5. We haven’t seen it a lot, but the Cavs have this nifty little play where Bron handles out top, Kyrie gets his man into the high post with his back to the rim, then runs a crafty okie doke cut behind the defender to the rim. They ran it four times in the first half, and scored on two, and a third went for a Kyrie assist to RJ in the corner for a triple. Pretty exotic motion, and I hope they hammer teams like Atlanta who gamble a ton on defense.
6. A tied career high 12 assists for Irving was a catalyst for the ball moving around, basically constantly. He is so much better at the playmaking aspect of his role this season. He felt like Chris Paul tonight. Assist numbers are usually overrated, but in this case, they set the tone for the entire offense. The Cavs had 30 assists overall, on 45 made shots. That efficiency has to be terrifying for the rest of the league.
7. Quiet night for LeBron tonight until the fourth, and Cleveland didn’t need him to be more than he was until then. Kevin Love was great, Kyrie was a complete player, and LeBron ended up posting 26 points, seven rebounds, and shooting 9/18 from the floor.
8. Another late quarter run in the third kept LA in the game. Walton really gets the most out of his guys, and it’s actually fun to watch them. Cleveland answered early in the fourth, but wasn’t able to truly pull away until…
9. LeBron really turned up in the fourth, and started dominating. His open court three with a little more than two minutes left felt like a dagger, and put them back up eight as part of an 11-4 run to end the game.
10. It was a pretty solid all around win tonight, but as usual, the big three made the difference. Kyrie added in 21 points and 6 rebounds to accompany his 12 assists, and Kevin Love tossed up a typical Love Line of 27/17/4 on 55% from the field. I know that Golden State has really good threesome out there in the bay, but I’m not sure that, on a night to night basis, they’re better than the Big Three that the Cavaliers run out every game.
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