Running Thoughts - Cavs v. Wizards
Posted December 25th, 2008 by Michael Curry
Running thoughts from tonight’s game against the Washington Wizards:
- Slow start for the Cavaliers, as Washington gets up big early. Antawn Jamison already has 9 points. For the Cavaliers, Delonte West has been the beneficiary of all the attention paid to LeBron and Z, and has 9 points of his own on three 3-pointers. The Cavaliers look a little slow tonight, but one of the easiest ways to wake them up is for the Wizards to get off to a fast start.
- But there are limits. At the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers trail 22-25. The biggest problem at the moment is the Cavalier defense, which is not hounding the ball with the level of intensity that we have seen most of this season.
- Mo Williams with 5 quick points and the Cavs are back on top 32-30. Mo Williams is a rarity in the NBA, a player who is most effective shooting off the dribble.
- The designated shooters are shooting so well right now (6-12 from 3 tonight) that it’s almost impossible to guard the Cavaliers. Make that 7-13, as Mo just hit on to stretch the Cavalier lead to 40-34. Cavs are moving the ball well now, and have 10 assists on 14 baskets at the moment.
- Anderson Varejao has done a great job on the boards so far tonight with 7 rebounds in the first half. The Wizards have nothing resembling a rebounder on the team right now, so the Cavaliers should end up with a major rebounding advantage by the end of the night.
- LeBron has not been aggressive here in the first half. Fortunately, Delonte West, Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao are coming to play, and are the difference in the game right now.
- At the half, the Cavs lead 49-47, as the Wizards made some tough shots late in the quarter to keep it close. Good game so far, but the crowd is quite and tired, and they’re waiting for LeBron to show off a bit. That alley-oop was exciting, but so far it’s been a pretty pedestrian first half. Here’s hoping for a few more fireworks in the second half.
- The Wizards keep hanging around, moving the ball well on the interior. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers are getting easy buckets when they execute, but too often they are standing around looking at each other. The game is being played at the Wizards’ pace, and instead of playing in 5-8 minute bursts, the Cavs are playing in long, lackidasical stretches. Again, the intensity just isn’t there. Cavs up 65-63.
- Way way way too much dribbling on the offensive end for the Cavs, and they’ve let the Wizards take a six point lead with less than a minute left in the third quarter. The Wizards are not good, they are taking the shots the Cavaliers want them to take (for the most part), the Cavs just aren’t taking care of business right now. There’s still plenty of time for them to do that in the fourth quarter, but a fourth quarter should be unnecessary against the Wizards. The performance this far is unacceptable, and that’s on Mike Brown, LeBron and everyone involved. It goes without saying that a loss tonight would not only be disappointing, it would be shocking. The Wizards are not good. But at the end of three, the Wizards lead by 3 points.
- Ok, the Wizards are now up by 8 points, 76-68, and I’m not happy. Get the ball to the hoop! This Wizards team has Santa Claus guarding that rim, but the Cavs have been content to shoot over the top. LeBron is the chief offender, but it’s the whole team. Right now this is a will game, and the Cavs don’t have it at the moment. All that barking, all that hopping around on the bench, where is that tonight?
- MIke James is now 8-for-11. Really? But that’s what happens when you let a bad team hang around. The Wizards might be one more Mike James 3-pointer from winning this game. Was Vegas taking odds on that tonight?
- We’re under 5 minutes remaining, the Cavs are down 2 points. This is obviously still a very winnable game. But the Wizards are getting two and three shots every time down right now. Ben Wallace, the 5 offensive rebounds are nice, but how about more than one defensive rebound? The Wizards have not been the better team tonight, they have been the more hungry team, and that has made the difference.
- I apologize for the snarky comments about Dominic McGuire, he has done as good a job as anyone keeping LeBron from going where he wants to go.
- How about we get the ball out of Mike James’ hands? Is this that hard? He’s looking like Mo Williams last year, when he was killing the Cavs. Mo Williams, go over that screen, not under.
- LeBron with the basket and the foul after Jamison throws it away. But he misses the free throw! 3-of-7 from the line for LeBron tonight. He’ll get three more now after the foul on the 3-pointer. He needs to slow down…and he does, hitting all three of those. Still, running out of time…
- Three free throws by LeBron and a huuuuuuge three by Mo Williams and the Cavs have cut the lead to one as we head to the last minute of the game. This is excruciating.
- Also, I’m going to make a guess here, but I think Mike James might get a shot on this possession…
- My guess was wrong, apparently Antawn Jamison doesn’t want this win if he doesn’t hit the winning shot. He’s botched two straight possessions, and the Cavs somehow still have life, after being down 7 points with 2 minutes left.
- Delonte West with an awful, awful shot, but Varejao jumps over Jamison to get the rebound and picks up the foul, fouling out Jamison (which might be bad for the Cavs). Now Andy heads to the line with the Cavs down 1 with 26.6 left to play. Got the first…and the second! Cavs lead by 1. But the Cavs have played their worst tonight with a one-point lead. Just need one stop…
- Caron Butler vs. everyone…OFFENSIVE FOUL!!!
- Time to test that Mo Williams free throw shooting…Marv Albert is certainly doing his part to jinx it.
- Got the first…and the second! Cavs with a 3 point lead with 7.8 left to play. Blogging combined with pacing going on right now…
- Mike James misses the only 3-pointer that matters, and Delonte West is heading to the line to seal it. And short-arms the first one, but knocks down the second and that’s the game. Cavs win, 93-89.
- Wow. No way in the world the Cavs should have won that game. But tonight, instead of coming up short (like in Atlanta), Mo Williams hit the big three the Cavs needed, the Wizards seized up instead of hitting tough shots, and the Cavs come away victorious. For all of the conspiracy theorists, I don’t think the Wizards got a single favorable call in the last 3 minutes, meanwhile Jamison drew two iffy calls and LeBron apparently got fouled on a three pointer for the first time I can remember. Still, a win is a win, and at the end of the season they don’t ask how close they were. But this one was way, way, way too close.
Go Cavs.
December 26th, 2008 at 6:43 am
That’s the worst I’ve seen the Cavs play since the first couple games, though I haven’t seen as many games as usual this year.
Maybe it was a Christmas tryptophan sleepwalk, or maybe they were listening to all the praise being heaped on the team by announcers during the Lakers/Celts game. Poor interior defense, poor shot selection, poor effort in spots. I think they’ll come right out of it as Coach Brown doesn’t get enough credit for how well he keeps the Cavs focused.