The Wine and Gold Rush

The Cavs Shaded the Suns . . . Or, Eclipsed Them (Can You Hurt a Sun?)

Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but apparently the Cleveland Cavaliers can turn "it" on and off.  Like a faucet, a light switch, or DVD closed captioning.

On one hand, it's nice to know that when the Cavs are playing like they were over the last two weeks that they still have another gear or two to up-shift to . . . and there's definitely nothing wrong with that.  It's a long season, and there are going to be lapses and "experimental" periods every now and then.

So Monday's game in Phoenix . . . a big win over the explosive Suns (on the back-end of an away/away back-to-back) . . . was a huge sigh of relief for a lot of concerned diehard Cavs fans.  It wasn't just a win, it was a complete reversal of all the too-relaxed, unfocused and uncreative play over the past eight games.

It is a relief, because there was always a chance that there could have been serious fundamental problems that would take more than just effort to resolve.  Still, it's a little strange that the Cavs took that long to address an effort-based problem.

It lingered.

There's falling out of sync . . . there's slipping off track . . . and there's full-scale derailment (complete with boxcars doing log-rolls down the side of some grassy hill).  The Cavs were somewhere between the second and the third one . . . maybe the derailment without the dramatic, grassy hill roll.

The Zombie Cavs *Are* Mortal

On Sunday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers proved what we already knew:

If the Cavs continue to play not good basketball (even with their talent) . . . against a talented team (one that isn't one of the not good teams) . . . they're going to lose.

The Cavaliers began their four-game Western Conference road trip with a bumbling 102-95 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.  And unfortunately, the forecast is predicting more losses.

Since we're all well aware of what the Cavs' problems are . . . (and if you're not, read up, son) . . . there's no need to re-hash everything as it pertained to this particular loss. 

Plus, nothing about the game is really worth revisiting. 

It's sort of like attending a cousin's wedding.  It may have been mildly enjoyable in the moment.  But no matter what happened . . . before, after and during the moment when your cousin made The Big Mistake . . . no one is going to want to hear the details the next day, and you aren't going to want to tell them.

(Although after your cousin's wedding you probably weren't overcome with frustration toward the Cleveland Cavaliers.  The analogy sort of dies short of that.)

So with that in mind, let's just skip to the W&GR Awards:

The Cleveland Cavaliers Are Still In Their "A Win Is a Win" Mode

So has anyone figured out what's going on right now?

Wednesday night's game I watched at 3:00 A.M. on TiVo from the West Coast.  Friday night's game I watched from Section 223 at The Q.  And the Cavs style of play right now . . . if you want to call it that . . . is just as bewildering regardless of the vantage point.

The Cavs are on a five-game winning streak.

You have to appreciate that . . . if you can convince yourself that it's true.

Since their flat losses in Memphis and in Houston, the Cavs have beat five teams.  Three of them (Portland, Oklahoma City, and Milwaukee) will be lucky to get into the playoffs.  And the other two (New Jersey and Philadelphia) will be lucky to win 15 games.

And the Cavs will be lucky to get out of the first round of the playoffs if they continue to play the loose, uneven, unfocused games that they've been playing over the past few weeks.

There isn't a specific M.O.; it changes a little each game. 

It's an unpleasant surprise that we all get to figure out as we're watching the games.  How are the Cavs going to take this game . . . and make it look like both an imminent blowout and an imminent loss in the same quarter?  Or even, if it's possible, in back-to-back possessions.

The usual suspects, at least recently, have been:  Turnovers, a demonstrative lack of possession-to-possession continuity on defense, offensive creativity, and a lack of ball movement early in the shot clock, late in the game.  That's the naughty list.

The nice list, over the past five games or so, have been:  Team and individual defensive intensity on a possession-by-possession basis, defense on opponents' big men, bench productivity, fast break offense, and ball movement, early in the game, through Mo Williams and LeBron James.

In other words:  The Cavs are doing just enough scoring (usually early) and just enough defense (usually late) to win games against par to sub-par to sub-sub-par teams . . . but there is no margin for error. 

We strayed into the margin against Memphis and Houston . . . and just managed to stay on the grid in the last five games.

That's the problem. 

Otherwise, I'd be perfectly willing to accept this five-game winning streak regardless of how many 15-point leads, and 14-2 runs they give up in the fourth quarter.

Cavs Intensity Update: Still Coasting . . . Despite a Flagrant 2 Foul on Jamario

Well, what did you expect?

The Cavs haven't been able to truly destroy a bad team all season . . . and recently, they've even had trouble beating them, period.  So, yeah.  Actually getting the win is nice.

The Cavaliers (18-7) beat a sorry, sub-NBA New Jersey Nets (2-23) team by a score of 99-89.  No destruction, no dominance, no prolonged show of simple superiority, and no intensity.

Oh, and no fight.  Not even when Devin Harris committed a Flagrant 2 foul on Jamario Moon.

It happened late in the fourth quarter when the game, arguably, was still in doubt.  Shaq stole the ball from Harris, and passed it ahead to Jamario for a fast-break dunk.  But Harris made it back in time to rip Jamario out of the air by throwing his arm at Jamario's head.

LeBron immediately cornered Harris to share his thoughts on the foul, and Shaq wasn't far behind . . . doing some physical crowd control.  The call stood on review, and Harris was ejected from the game.

A huge wake-up call, right? 

Maybe for a moment . . . at least, it was for me sitting at home in my living room . . . but then the Cavs hit the snooze.  Again.  And finished the game casually trading baskets with the Nets.

Immediately after the flagrant foul, the Cavs . . . including Jamario . . . were back to their usual game-faces, which are mostly just like their regular faces, that they have when they go to the grocery store.

And that coolness even continued after the game, when both teams responded to questions about the foul dismissively . . . as if they were annoyed that anyone thought it was worth bringing up.  (In a game where there was literally nothing else to talk about.)

W&GR Cavs Stat Check [12/15]

The Cleveland Cavaliers (17-7) are 24 games into the 82 game schedule, which means it's time for our inaugural 29.3% of the Way Through the Regular Season Stat Check.

We thought this would be a good time to take a moment and dig up some stats . . . to share a few interesting facts and oddities that you may not have realized, while watching the individual games. 

Here we go:

#1.)  The Cavs have three of the NBA's top 20 three-point shooters.  Anthony Parker leads the league with 50% (40-of-80) shooting . . . Daniel Gibson is fifth, shooting 48.6% (34-of-70) from beyond the arc . . . and Mo Williams comes in at #17 at 44.2% (57-of-129).

However, of the NBA's top 50 three-point shooters, AP comes in dead last in shooting percentage on two-point shots.  He only connects on 34.3% of his shots inside the arc.

#2.)  As a team, the Cavaliers rank 2nd among the NBA's 30 teams in three-point shooting.  They hit 42.2% from long-range, which is behind Phoenix (42.7%) but ahead of San Antonio (39.2%).

#3.)  When teams play the Cavaliers, they do not share Cleveland's success from outside.  The Cavs are allowing their opponents to shoot just 33.1% on 3s.  That's eighth in the NBA.

#4.)  The Cavaliers free throw shooting ranks 24th in the league.  Not surprisingly, Mo Williams leads the team with 92.3% from the stripe . . . followed by Delonte West (87%) and Jamario Moon (84.6%).  LeBron is fifth on the team at 78.3%.

Shaq is shooting 45.1% at the line.  That's the lowest percentage on the team, obviously . . . and thankfully.  Next worst is Anderson Varejao at 61.5%.

Mo Williams Shows Off Some Crazy-Well-Timed Half-Court Offense

Last week, Mike Brown canceled a team practice because he'd lost a bet, essentially.

He told the team that if someone could make a half-court shot on their first attempt, he'd drop that day's scheduled practice.  Two players ended up making their shots:  Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Practice was canceled . . . and the next night, the Cavs promptly lost a game they should have won in Memphis. 

When "Cleveland Plain Dealer" beat writer Brian Windhorst reported the story, he noted that coaches occasionally do this to mix things up on the road. 

(You know, so it isn't like Mike Brown is always pulling this kind of stuff . . . like shutting down workouts if Daniel Gibson can make a two-pointer, or excusing players from a film session if anyone can produce a light bulb from out of their gym bags, etc.)

Obviously, in retrospect it might have been nice to have spent a little more time preparing for the Memphis  . . . but while that day didn't help them against the Grizzlies, it may have helped them against the Thunder.

On Sunday night, the Cavs came back from behind to out rumble the Thunder (sorry) 102-89.

There were several moments in the second half that were important in helping the Cavs overcome another defensively challenged, too-casually-played game.  A lot of those came from LeBron James, who single-handedly kept the Thunder from running away with the game in the second and third quarters.

But the biggest was Mo's 48-foot dagger with four minutes left to go in the game.

Andy and Mo Feel Sick . . . Play Sick

Well, that was close.

Before Friday night's game against the Portland Trailblazers, it was unclear whether Anderson Varejao and Mo Williams would feel up to playing;  both were dealing with some kind of stomach bug.

This would have been significant because the Cavs were already going to be without Daniel Gibson, who hurt a finger in Houston last week.  And the Cavs were also on a two-game losing streak . . . and hadn't lost three games in a row since March of 2008.

In the end, both Andy and Mo were cool to play, and they both responded with huge games. 

(There are no details on the severity of their "stomach" issues . . . not that you'd really want to hear them anyway.  But if it was something they ate, like, say some particularly potent Indian food . . . perhaps the Cavs have just figured out what they should do for their pregame meal.)

Anderson, Mo and Shaq . . . who had a disaster of a game in Houston last week . . . all came through with double-doubles.

Mo had 14 points (on 5-of-11 shooting) and 10 assists.  I had been looking forward to his first 10+ assists game, and it didn't disappoint.  Mo's long shot wasn't falling (he was 0-for-5 from beyond the arc) but his scoring always seems to come around when the offense is flowing through him.

It both keeps Mo involved . . . so he doesn't stash himself in the corner and just let LeBron James run the offense. 

If he's constantly pushing past the defense toward the basket, or finding his teammates shots . . . it should open up more space between him and the defense.

Houston . . . We Have a Losing Streak

You know it's not a good sign if it's a game where Mike Brown gets himself thrown out.

The Cleveland Cavaliers' 95-85 loss in Houston on Wednesday night proved one thing:  The Cavs kick-off losing streaks with a team effort.

For the second straight night, the Cavs lost a very winnable game on the road against an average, but  feisty opponent. 

[On Tuesday, they lost in overtime to Memphis.]

In these games, their team defense couldn't get into a real groove . . . their individual defense seemed less fundamental and more reactionary . . . and everything about their offense struggled severely.  Despite the fact that both opponents play with athleticism and energy disguised as a defense.

Like their back-to-back losses to start the season, nobody is looking good.  Nobody.  And this time, that includes LeBron James.  He may have put up decent numbers, but these were his worst two consecutive games in a while. 

Against Memphis, LeBron didn't seem focused . . . and against Houston he lost his composure. 

In both games, he spent a lot of time complaining to the refs about foul calls.  Personally, I think he gets the short end much more often than he gets "superstar calls" . . . but I also don't think it helps to freak out over no-calls or offensive fouls, every single drive through the lane.

No matter how big of a LeBron fan you are, you have to admit that he spends a lot of time pleading his case to the officials.  Does this sort of politicking help him on future calls?  Maybe.  But either way, it'd probably have a bigger impact if he picked his battles.

Some might say all this fires LeBron up.  And it does sometimes . . . just about anything can.  But in these two games, at least, all the complaining seems to have taken him out of his game.  That would be fine if he changed his game to drive to the hoop on every possession . . . but it usually doesn't work that way.

Shoot It, Boobie! Shoot It! (Oh Sorry, I Didn't Realize You Were on the Bench.)

The Cleveland Cavaliers were either over-thinking or under-thinking in their 111-109 overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night.  But one thing's certain:  They weren't thinking.

Straight, at least.

If you've been watching the games this year, there's a good chance you'd be able to guess what happened . . . because it hasn't exactly been an uncommon Achilles' heel.  But to make it a little more fun for the kids, I'll frame it as a multiple choice question.

What went wrong with the Cavaliers in Memphis?

A.)  The defense was inconsistent.

B.)  The offense looked like it was still being designed and adapted by Coach John Kuester . . . even though he was not in Memphis, and is no longer a coach for the Cavaliers.

C.)  LeBron re-implemented his "holds-it, holds-it, holds-it play" into the offense . . . and not just in situations when he's preparing to take the last shot in a quarter.  [You know this, it's the play where LeBron stands still and dribbles for 20 seconds . . . and then makes some kind of one-on-five play.]

D.)  The bench scored less points than LeBron.

E.)  All of the above.

If you've been through the sixth grade, you know that if there's an "All of the above" option . . . it's most likely the right choice.  And it is here.

Turnovers should also be on that list.  The Cavs had 21 in all, and 13 in the second half.  LeBron and Mo Williams both had five apiece, J.J. Hickson had three, and three others had two.

That'd be easier to swallow against a young team like Memphis if the turnovers came on clever pass attempts that didn't connect or by aggressively pushing the ball up the court.  But they didn't.

Instead, a lot of them (especially in the second half) were made trying to get Shaq the ball inside . . . or on lazy, telegraphed passes on the perimeter.

This Delonte West Situation Is Going to Require Some Problem-Solving

So far, the "uncertainty surrounding Delonte West" has been a wild, blindfolded rollercoaster ride.

And there's no real sign that it's coming to an end anytime soon.  (Which is great news for everyone that loves the Cavs and the idea of endless thrill rides . . . and bad news for everyone who loves the Cavs but has a weak stomach riding in the backseat of a Ford Focus.)

On the face, I'd position myself in the first group, because I love rides.  But in reality, where rollercoasters are not endless, and the "uncertainty surrounding LeBron James' future" would have any Cavs fan throwing up in the back of a Ford Focus . . . I realize that this Delonte situation requires some careful problem-solving.

At least for now, it would seem that the Cavs are on the right path.  They've had Delonte with the team for over three weeks straight now . . . since he missed the team flight to Florida last month.

The team is assessing him and his day-to-day emotional health internally.  When there's a blip on the "Delonte Is Off" radar, Mike Brown will either hold him out of the game . . . or be quick to yank him if he appears sluggish, unfocused or agitated on the court.

Normally that kind of stop-and-go approach would kill a player's momentum or a team's chemistry, but judging from the beta tests, it actually might work for Delonte and the Cavs.

With Delonte, the Cavs' rotation is 10-deep right now, and if everyone's healthy . . . that creates a minutes crunch.  Being forced to go without Delonte definitely weakens the team, but as long as the roster is intact it doesn't compromise the rotation.

If Delonte's not available, or deemed not able to play significant minutes, Coach can do things like bumping Daniel Gibson and Jamario Moon from 15 minutes to 22-25.  So, it isn't like losing Delonte means that we'll have to give 20 minutes to Danny Green or Jawad Williams.

As for Delonte himself, he seems completely unfazed by his previous status with the team.  And by "previous," I mean five minutes ago.  Whether this is true or not, I wouldn't be able to tell you.  But consider this: