If you had to watch Sunday evening's Cleveland Cavaliers' game against the Los Angeles Clippers on your DVR as I did . . . chances are, it also took you almost an hour to get through the first quarter.
It was the best first period I've ever witnessed, and it could very well go down as the best first quarter in Cavs history . . . and maybe even NBA history, at least offensively.
Simply put, there were 11 "Goosey" sightings in The Q . . . and believe it or not (even if you saw it) all that goosenecking happened in the first quarter.
Yeah, the Cavs finished the first quarter shooting 11-for-13 from beyond the arc.
(That tied an NBA record for most 3s in a quarter.)
The bombardment of threes didn't even get started until there were eight minutes left in the quarter.
In the first four minutes, all the Cavs' points came in the paint . . . so the Clippers decided to double-team Shaquille O'Neal, who has been playing at an extremely high level ever since Mo Williams went down with a sprained shoulder.
The first long distance shot came when Shaq was doubled, and passed the ball out to a wide-open Anthony Parker. The Cavs hit their next six threes, to start 7-of-7, over the next three minutes and fifteen seconds. (And they did this without Mo and Delonte West.)
When it was all said and done, they outscored the Clippers 46-20 in the first quarter. Their 46 points tied a team record for most points scored in a quarter. They shot 16-of-21 overall in the first, meaning that they were "just" 5-of-8 on 2-pointers.
It was simply amazing.
Here's the full blow-by-blow of the Cavs' unbelievable first quarter . . .
[Below, you'll see each of the Cavs' shots. The bold lines are makes, and the italicized lines are comments. And for your reference, I kept a running tally of the score and the time left in the quarter so you could get a feel for how fast it all went down.]
Here we go:
J.J. Hickson free throw miss, 11:20
J.J. Hickson free throw, 1-0 Cavs, 11:20 (1 pt.)
Daniel Gibson miss, 10:45
LeBron James lay-up, 3-0 Cavs, 10:21 (2 pts.)
A LeBron drive from just inside the arc.
Shaquille O'Neal lay-up, 5-3 Cavs, 9:46 (2 pts.) LeBron Ast. (1)
LeBron lobs the ball inside to Shaq.
J.J. Hickson miss, 9:15
LeBron James lay-up, 7-5 Cavs, 8:53 (4 pts.) Boobie Ast. (1)
Boobie tosses the ball in to LeBron under the basket.
LeBron James break-away reverse slam, 9-5 Cavs, 8:31 (6 pts.) Shaq Ast. (1)
After a rebound, Shaq throws a 3/4 court, touchdown pass to a streaking LeBron.
Anthony Parker ***THREE***, 12-7 Cavs, 8:00 (3 pts.) Shaq Ast. (2)
Shaq doubled; passes out to a wide-open AP.
Daniel Gibson ***THREE***, 15-9 Cavs, 7:29 (3 pts.) Shaq Ast. (3)
Shaq doubled; passes out to a wide-open Boobie
J.J. Hickson miss, 7:04 [blocked]
LeBron James ***THREE***, 18-9 Cavs, 6:58 (9 pts.) LeBron Ast. (1)
LeBron chases the blocked ball to the corner, makes a ridiculous turnaround, fade-away three.
Daniel Gibson ***THREE***, 21-9 Cavs, 6:34 (6 pts.) LeBron Ast. (2)
LeBron throws a backhanded, cross-court pass to Boobie in transition.
LeBron James ***THREE***, 24-11 Cavs, 5:45 (12 pts.)
Shaq doubled; passes out to LeBron, who dances . . . nails the shot.
LeBron James ***THREE***, 27-11 Cavs, 5:26 (15 pts.)
A LeBron pull-up three in transition.
LeBron James ***THREE***, 30-11 Cavs, 4:45 (18 pts.) J.J. Ast. (1)
Shaq, to Hickson, out to LeBron, for a straight-away triple, two steps behind the arc.
LeBron James three miss, 4:13
Heat-check. And it just missed.
Jamario Moon miss, 3:45
LeBron James free throw, 31-15 Cavs, 3:25 (19 pts.)
LeBron James free throw, 32-15 Cavs, 3:25 (20 pts.)
After grabbing a rebound, LeBron went coast-to-coast and was fouled on the drive.
Jawad Williams ***THREE***, 35-15 Cavs, 2:25 (3 pts.) LeBron Ast. (3)
LeBron two-handed cross-court pass to Jawad.
Jamario Moon ***THREE***, 38-15 Cavs, 1:45 (3 pts.) Jawad Ast. (1)
Around the horn. LeBron to Jawad to Moon in the corner.
Jamario Moon slam dunk, 40-15 Cavs, 1:23 (5 pts.) Z Ast. (1)
After a rebound, Z heaves an outlet pass to a flying Jamario for the slam.
Jamario Moon ***THREE***, 43-17 Cavs, 0:45 (8 pts.) Jawad Ast. (2)
Around the horn, again. LeBron to Jawad to Moon in the corner.
LeBron James ***THREE***, 46-20 Cavs, 0:03 (23 pts.)
LeBron shoots straight-away 3 from way outside the arc, maybe 35 feet.
The Cavs ended up winning the game 114-89.
The Clippers played the Cavs fairly close throughout the final three quarters . . . and even outscored them 28-16 in the third . . . but Cleveland's defense stepped it up in the third and made sure an insane comeback wasn't in the works. The Clippers only got as close as 11 down after the first.
The Cavs finished shooting 16-of-27 (59.3%) from beyond the arc.
The Wine and Gold Rush Awards:
[We'll be giving these out after each game.]
Most Valuable Player: LeBron James.
LeBron finished with 32 points (on 10-of-20 shooting and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc). He also had 11 assists, three rebounds, and a steal. 23 of his points came in the first quarter.
He kept a fairly low profile in the second and third quarters . . . before helping the Cavs close things out strong early in the fourth.
Least Valuable Player: None.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas only shot 1-for-5, but that one shot was a 3-pointer in the second. It was a sweet shot. He just missed out on all the first quarter Goosey action. Z also had five rebounds and two assists, including that nice outlet pass to Jamario for the slam. So, Z was valuable in this game.
No Cav who played more than four minutes had a plus/minus score of less than +6. Nice!
"The Diff Award" (for the difference maker, even in defeat): Shaquille O'Neal.
It was the attention Shaq demanded in the paint that initially got the Cavs going from outside . . . and it was his continued presence that kept the Cavs humming along despite the Clippers' run.
Shaq finished with 16 points (on 7-of-12 shooting with 12 rebounds, three assists (all in the first few minutes) and a block.
Boobie also had another nice game. He finished with 14 points (on 5-of-10 shooting). He shot 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, and added six assists and two rebounds. He and Shaq tied for a team-best +18 in plus/minus.
Three other players scored in double-digits: Jawad Williams (12), Jamario Moon (12) and Anderson Varejao (11).
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