Tonight’s home victory against the Bucks was a classic glass half-full / glass half-empty situation (c) Austin Carr.
If you want to look at it positively, you can focus on the fact that the Cavs came out on top of the team with the best record in the league since the All-Star break. They managed to do it despite missing both Shaq and Andy, both of whom were missed even more than usual because of Andrew Bogut’s presence at the opposing 5. The Cavs also managed to do exactly what they failed to do in San Antonio last Friday: out-execute a tough, defense-minded playoff team in the final minutes. Even Mo Williams was a bright spot tonight. He shot 50% FG (6 of 12), 40% 3P (2 of 5), chipped in 6 AST, 3 STL, and iced the game with 4 clutch free throws (he was 7 of 8 FT overall).
If you wanted to look at it negatively, there were certainly some areas of concern. The most blatant reason the game came down to the final few possessions was the Cavs’ horrendous free throw shooting. As a team, they went 29 of 45, or a tepid 64.4%. They were also sub-par from distance, going 25% 3P (4 of 16). Despite ending up with 26 team assists—which would generally suggest fluid ball movement—the offense also went through extended periods of stagnation, especially in the second half. One on one play seemed to dominate to an uncharacteristic extent. And despite holding the Bucks to an acceptable 45.6% FG, there were some glaring defensive lapses. Dribble penetration set the Bucks up for success early, and a few non-existent rotations in the 4th quarter must’ve nearly sent Coldstone into a coma.
Probably the greatest snapshot of this game was the 4th quarter sequence where the Cavs ran a play to get Mo a 3 pointer that he drilled for the lead…followed mere seconds later by a complete defensive breakdown that gave Ersan Ilyasova the most open 3 pointer of the night.
All that said, I’m going to slant my own personal perception of the game into the positive because A) the Cavs still ultimately won, and B) Jamario Moon got something resembling significant playing time (10:21). While he wasn’t great in any basic statistical category—1 PT, 1 REB, 1 AST, and nothing else—he was a factor on defense. He and JJ were the duo that shut down John Salmons’s path to the baseline and forced him to fumble the ball out of bounds off his own knee with 13.3 seconds remaining. Bonus points to him for getting both of his tattoos completely redone, too.
Cavs get the Hawks (fresh off mauling the Lakers at Phillips Arena tonight) on Friday. Should be another pseudo-playoff preview. We’ll see if the Cavs can maintain their success against a team that will ultimately end up getting more than 9 FTAs for the game.
-T
