The CavsHQ Postgame Quick Hits from tonight’s 18-point pounding of the New York Knicks.

The Good:

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

1.  The Cavaliers came out firing on all cylinders, scoring 34 points in the first quarter, 67 points in the first half, and outscoring the Knicks by 29 points before the break (67-38).  After a day in which LeBron faced questions from every able-bodied sports reporter in the tri-state area, the Cavaliers called it a night early, smashing the Knicks completely and thoroughly.  LeBron finished with 26 points, Delonte West had 16, Wally Szczerbiak had 15, Ilgauskas and Varejao had 11 apeice, and J.J. Hickson had his first double-digit scoring night with 10 points.  The Cavaliers shot 53% from the field, and they committed only 9 turnovers, the second straight game in which they held the turnovers under 10. 

2.  And it wasn’t all offense last night.  The Cavaliers held the Knicks to just 41% from the field - a number greatly inflated by the 35 garbage points the Knicks scored in the fourth quarter after the game was decided.  The Cavs also outrebounded the Knicks 48-43, and caused 17 New York turnovers leading to 30 Cavalier points.  Add in 9 steals and 8 blocks, and you can see how the Cavaliers defense took advantage of the fact that the Knicks have a bunch of new players who have no idea what they are doing on either side of the ball.

3.  Thanks to the big lead, fans got a chance to see all those bench players they have been clamoring for, as Hickson, Darnell Jackson and Tarence Kinsey each received plenty of garbage minutes tonight.  It was the first regular season appearance for Jackson, who was solid with 4 points and 2 rebounds in his debut.  And Kinsey hit a 3-pointer from the corner for his one basket of the night.  Those three young players have not yet been called upon to give the Cavaliers useful minutes this season, but it’s nice to see them get a few game minutes to get their feet wet.

The Bad:

1.  Knicks fans.  I’m sorry, you’ve been duped into paying good money to watch a terrible, terrible team for the next two seasons just for the hope that LeBron will come to New York.  And you don’t even have a mascot to distract you for a few minutes each game.

2.  Sorry Daniel Gibson, you’re still on the minus side despite your 10 points tonight.  Gibson shot just 4-for-11, including 2-for-8 from 3-point range, keeping his shooting percentages (36.5% FG, 30% 3pt).  Gibson’s shot is still missing, though he did manage to dish off 7 assists tonight, one short of his career high. 

3.  Watching Nate Robinson pull a groin muscle.  Nobody wants to see that, even if he’s playing for the Knicks.

The Questions:

1.  Can a big win like this cause some problems?  It could, as teams that have such an easy time offensively one night sometimes have a tough time adjusting to a more formidable defensive team the next night.  The Cavalier also settled for a very large number of 3-point shots (33), something that will kill them when they play quality opponents.  

Fortunately the Cavaliers are facing two terrible teams in the Oklahoma City Thunder (1-13 and playing in Cleveland on a back-to-back) and the Golden State Warriors (5-9 and just pummeled by the Washington Wizards) over the next three days.  The Thunder and the Warriors are nearly as bad defensively as the Knicks, and should be easy pickings for this talented Cavalier team, even if the Cavs do become a little lazy (but watch out for that Bucks team on Saturday). 

2.  Did the Knicks make their moves while planning on keeping David Lee (12 points and 13 rebounds tonight)?  Lee gets a lot of love because of his hard-nosed attitude and the fact that there hasn’t been a single likable New York Knick since…um…has there ever been a likeable New York Knick?  Regardless, Lee is a restricted free agent at the end of the season, and rumblings around the league had the Knicks simply releasing Lee to get his salary off the books at the end of the year.

But with the salary space that the Knicks have opened up, they can keep Lee and still have plenty of cap space left over to try to lure LeBron in 2010.  Keeping Lee would be a good PR move for the Knicks, and is one of the underappreciated elements of the recent trades.

Then again, with the Knicks trading their best players for pennies on the dollar, maybe they just haven’t gotten around to dealing Lee.  Clearly the front office believes the fans will pay to watch garbage anyway, I can’t imagine that varying degrees of garbage will make much difference.

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

3.  Did you see Jay-Z last night?  Who knew that the HOVA was one goofy pair of glasses away from looking like Steve Urkel?  I’m no fashionista (though we have one of those here on Ohio.com), but I wasn’t feeling the style last night.  Then again, he’s got Beyonce on his arm, so there’s probably no need to nitpick.   But I do wonder what he thinks of LeBron’s new “big apple” kicks.

Go Cavs.  Can’t wait to do this all over again tomorrow night.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 11:37 pm and is filed under Postgame Quick Hits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.