I hope that everyone had a tremendous Christmas weekend, capped off by a game with playoff feel and intensity. The Cavaliers, winners of five in a row, finished the week unblemished and appear to be fixing the things that have proven to be obstacles, as much as they can in December. Let’s take a look at how last week went down, look ahead at this week’s action, and take a look at a couple of extras as we prepare to ring in the new year.
The Games
The week started off with another home-and-home style back-to-back against the pesky Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks give the Cavs a hard time in terms of their length and simply being a match up nightmare, as they are for most teams. That length alone makes them competitive against a Cavalier team that, on paper, should run the young Bucks out of the building every single time. Late game execution in Tuesday’s game forced overtime before the Cavaliers imposed their will to get the win. The defense was better along the baseline in both contests, and they were able to stave off some of the backdoor attacks at the rim that Milwaukee used to take the first game this season.
Jabari Parker is absolutely the real deal, and he does a little bit of everything. He was a monster when playing downhill, and showed his improved touch from midrange in both games, causing problems for Cavalier bigs and wings alike when they had to help out. There’s a lot of talk about how good Giannis is in transition, but don’t let that take away from what Parker can do in those same opportunities. He’s really good, getting better, and I’m still not sure he understands how to be an NBA player yet. That’s a little terrifying, and the Bucks showed that, should the Cavaliers meet them in the playoffs, they won’t be an easy out.
It won’t be very often this season that the Cavaliers can shoot 23% from three and still have a 44 point lead at one point, and leave the building with a 20 point victory. Unless, of course, they’re playing the Nets. In that case, as we saw on Friday, those scenarios are absolutely in play. Look, I don’t want to pile on the Nets here, and the Cavs are arguably the best team on the planet, but Brooklyn simply does not have it. They looked confused on offense, taking forever to get into their stuff, sometimes abandoning it all together, and had no clue where to be on defense, or when to get there. A fair amount of that was a result of the Cavaliers simply playing really well, and some of it was a function of the Nets making things easy for them. A lot of bad teams around the league execute well, and maximize effort. That did not appear to be the case, as the Cavs battered the Nets up and down the floor for 48 minutes, resulting in a 119-99 final score that really didn’t tell the whole story.
What a Christmas gift that was, right? Things started off with an NBA Finals type of atmosphere and intensity that is so rare to find in December. Neither team looked great to start, missing shots and appearing disjointed early on on the defensive end. Draymond Green went Full Draymond within the first several minutes, and nearly got himself chucked (more on this later) and in early foul trouble. Despite early struggles from both teams, things were, for the most part, very close. The Cavalier defense, once it locked down and started to really play Cavalier Basketball, was terrific. Holding that Golden State team to 30% from deep, and forcing them into 20 turnovers is nothing short of a large scale victory, and they needed every bit of it. Cleveland got shots that they wanted, they were open, but they simply were not falling. The three headed monster charged with filling JR Smith’s role was incredibly ineffective for the majority of the game, and for the first time, we really saw what things look like without JR’s free-wheeling, hesitation free, and fluid offensive mentality. The floor simply doesn’t spread as well, the defense isn’t the same, and things stagnate because nobody on the roster moves without the ball like JR does.
Kevin Durant was Kevin Durant, and against any other team, I would have considered it a treat to watch that 36 point performance. He is far and away the best player on that roster, and I love seeing what he can really be when he isn’t held down by a ball dominating lead guard or an offense that sticks and stops instead of moving on a string at all times. Watching him reclaim his spot as the second best player on earth has been a ton of fun so far.
Kyrie Irving is simply the best fourth quarter player that I’ve ever seen, once you remove Michael Jordan from the equation. No matter what happens in the first 36 minutes, he flips a switch for the final 12, and things just feel different when he has the ball in the fourth. He moves with so much more purpose, and everything seems to find a new level of polish. That shot he made to put the Cavs up for good was as well defended as any shot you’ll ever see, and equally as difficult, even under less duress. That play was, simply, a microcosm of what Kyrie has made a career of; being better offensively when he’s at his best than the best defender is at his best. Yes, it is only December. Yes, being down 14 and coming back to win in the fourth is not something you ever want to have to do. However, the fight that this team showed, the will they imposed, and the flat out “We are not losing this game” mentality from Kyrie was important to see.
This Week
Cleveland has the second of a back to back tonight, taking on the Detroit Pistons in their building. Detroit is an absolute enigma. It isn’t very often that I watch a team and genuinely cannot tell if they’re good or not, particularly at this stage of the season. Most teams, by the point, are exactly what they’re going to be for the remainder, and that has to be frustrating for Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy. They’ll come into the game at 14-18, losers of five in a row, and still seeking an identity. Lineup shuffling is one thing, but if there isn’t a change in general basketball philosophy to accompany it, struggles will continue as rhythm and continuity continue to suffer as a result of things being altered on the fly. One thing about Detroit is that their versatile, nearly positionless groups allow them to play a variety of defenses from zone, to switching everything, to man to man, to staying home, and that switchability has carried them to allowing 98.1 PPG, good for fourth best in The Association. The anchor is, of course, Andre Drummond, who allows more aggressive showing and gambling simply by being enormous and a threat to alter or block shots at the rim. The problem is that their offense is firmly in the bottom five of the league (27th overall at post), scoring just 98.4 PPG. Trying to get Reggie Jackson assimilated into the lineup, has been harder than projected, and has caused some things to go awry, leaving me to wonder if the team wouldn’t be better served to flip him for some depth and shooting to allow Ish Smith and KCP to handle play making duties while Tobias Harris does Tobias Harris Things (16 PPG) to facilitate elbow offense and display his versatile offensive game.
A Thursday home game against Boston gives the Cavs their first look at a healthy Celtics club this season. Horford is back, Crowder is playing pretty well, and things are trending in the right direction. It seems like we’ve been waiting for a while now for the Celtics to put it all together and figure things out. I have never seen this team as a top four team in the East, or a real threat to derail or challenge the Torontos and Clevelands of the world for the right to play in the NBA Finals. That said, Horford has improved their pick and roll defense, and his ability to recover from help quickly makes things easier for everyone else. They still find themselves over aggressive on pick and rolls, and lackadaisical against bigs trailing the play, allowing teams open threes from stretch bigs, or free runners at the rim. Isaiah Thomas continues to grow as not only a scorer, but a play maker, and Kyrie will have a tough task keeping Thomas in check. I think Isaiah is a bit overrated in a lot of respects, but still a good player, who can fill up buckets quickly in a variety of ways. I think the Cavs will be better served staying home on screens against him and forcing him to string out away from the rim. He simply isn’t tall enough to make the same plays 30 feet from the rim that he is so dangerous making 20 feet from the rim.
A 17-13 Charlotte team is the next task. This game features one fo the premier point guard match ups available to us with Kemba and Kyrie facing off for the second time. Nic Batum has long been one of my favorite players, and comes in playing really good basketball for a Charlotte team that appears to be hitting a stride, finding a true identity, and giving teams a lot of trouble in the half court. The defense is improving, despite not really having a guy at the rim that strikes fear in the hearts of rim runners. This is the second, and largest, test for Kyrie this week. When his defense is good, it is simply great. When it isn’t so good…well…things derail quickly. Keeping Kemba out of the paint as much as possible is important. While he has improved as a play making guard, your best chance to slow him down is to force him into that role, and keep Nic Batum from being the primary play maker in the half court. He facilitates a large amount of offense, is really good at it, and doesn’t mind letting the game come to him. Forcing him to be the primary scoring option instead of Kemba is huge.
Trends
I want to put something to bed right now. Yes, the Cavaliers got what amounted to an extra time out during the review. However, so did GSW. Both teams had a chance to regroup, and did so really well. Kyrie was just better. And yes, that was a foul on Jefferson, accidentally stepping on the foot of Durant during the last play. However, the officiating was equally poor, and both teams got breaks. Perhaps none larger than Draymond Green getting away with things that no other player would have been able to. He should have been chucked, wasn’t, and Golden State was allowed to remain at full strength. The whole, “ending in controversy” angle should die. It was a great game between two great teams, and a wonderful gift to receive on Christmas. Let it go at that.
DeAndre Liggins is good at a few things. He’s a really high level individual defender. He moves the ball in the half court. He fills lanes perfectly in transition. He rarely turns it over. That said, he simply must be more decisive on the offensive end. The Cavaliers are not deep enough right now to be playing four-on-five when they have the ball, and too often, his reluctance to shoot or attack leaves the Wine And Gold doing just that. I don’t expect him to be JR, but I do expect him to at least keep defenses honest with the occasional jaunt to the iron, corner three, or offensive rebound for a put back. When he is on the floor with Jefferson for long stretches, the offense stagnates, and if RJ isn’t shooting well, there’s nothing to keep defenses from packing the paint and daring guys to take long threes. That cannot continue, and Ty Lue knows that. More importantly, so does David Griffin, and with trade season upon us, Liggins is in danger of losing minutes to a new acquisition that isn’t so afraid to be a factor offensively.
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