Do you recall... 

NBA commissioner David Stern's announcement, from The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey:

"With the first pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Presidents select...Kyrie Irving." 

Or how about the lyrics to that catchy tune:

"C'mon Jays, Gotta make it happen!" 

Or announcer Joe Tait's familiar in-game call:

"...out of bounds ...and the ball will go BACK... to the Foresters." 

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The Cavs exploded for 115 points and won for the second straight game, pushing their record to 3-2. The last time the Cavs were about .500 was last season, when they held a 4-3 record through 7 games. Hopefully this time around they can keep their heads above water a little bit longer.

Note: When I looked up that statistic, I expected 2010’s opening night win over Boston to be the last time they were over .500. I guess that makes last year’s team overachievers?

The Charlotte Bobcats rolled into The Q tonight and let’s just say that Hanes® pitch man Michael Jordan has his work cut out for him. Paul Silas’ Bobcats look like a lock to earn lots of ping pong balls come June, and I’m saying this after just five games.

Charlotte doesn’t do anything well except get out on the fast break. After the Cats had an early run, the Cavs took complete control. The Bobcats led by 7 after a quarter, but they shot over 62% to do it. Once they came down to Earth, the Cavs’ jumpers heated up and fueled two 30-point quarters that put them ahead for good.

Cleveland’s defense wasn’t particularly good, but Charlotte’s was awful. Byron Scott has his guys defending the perimeter. I remain very interested to see how this smallish Cavs team fares against a polished post presence, and their upcoming road trip will pit them against the likes of LaMarcus Aldridge, Al Jefferson, and Pau Gasol. 

Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson continue to impress. Thompson delivered 16 points and 9 boards, both career highs. Kyrie Irving had a career high 20 points and tied his best with 6 assists. Just as importantly, Irving was 8-of-10 from the field with no turnovers. That kind of efficiency is rare for such a young player and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.

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In their game against the New Jersey Nets, 16 was the Cavs’ lucky number.  They hit on 16 three pointers and won by a total of 16 points.  It was one of those games where it felt like the Cavs were never going to miss a shot.  To put it into perspective, they made 10 of 12 three pointers in the second half.  That is the kind of offensive output that will put any basketball team into a position to win.

After the game, Byron Scott said “I’m still not convinced totally that we’re a 3-point shooting team, but I think we have some guys that are capable of knocking down some 3s on a consistent basis when we do it in the flow of the game.”

The Cavs may not be a team that will find success shooting the three ball, but it worked effectively against the Nets.  When a team shoots a lot of three-pointers, they sometimes win or lose because of it.  They clearly had a lot of success with it against New Jersey.  

Kyrie Irving had another solid performance.  He had 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and even 2 blocks.  Once again, he looked more comfortable in the offense.  He got the best of the Nets rookie MarShon Brooks, who was held scoreless in almost 12 minutes of playing time.  

Tristan Thompson was effective once again.  In only a little over 16 minutes of play, he had 3 blocked shots.  Byron Scott is only playing him about 19 minutes per game so far this season and he is making the most of it.  With the way he has been performing in when he is on the court, it is going to be exciting to see how he develops when he earns a larger role.

The Cavs bench bounced back from the game against the Pacers and was solid once again.  They scored 47 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, notched 12 assists and blocked 5 shots.  When Ramon Sessions plays well against teams that are not playoff-bound, the Cavs are going to be in a good position to win.  

Antawn Jamison was a real difference-maker.  He increased his three point shooting from 10% to 30.8% after making all 3 of his attempts.  Jamison even decided to play some defense and had 3 steals and 2 blocks to go along with his 23 points.

Free throw shooting continues to be a major issue for the Cavs because they are only making 69% of them.  Against the Nets, they shot 54% from the line.  It didn’t matter versus New Jersey because the game was a blow out, but the Cavs are going to lose plenty of close games if this trend continues.  

The entire Cavs team played fierce defense.  They contained the Nets to 38% shooting by forcing them into tough shots.  The ball movement was not great for the Nets and they finished the night with 16 assists.  Considering the fact that Anthony Parker drew the defensive assignment of guarding Deron Williams for much of the game, it is a real testament to the defense that he did not score a lot of points.  It was also nice to see the Cavs contain Kris Humphries, who had 23 rebounds in a single game against the Cavs last year.

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Nearly 20 years later, we sometimes wonder if it ever really happened. Was it a shared dream—a nightmare? A myth wrapped in a repressed memory? If you Google it, you’ll find nothing; no evidence of what they did. But in our darkest hours, their voices still haunt us, and we know the truth: Jim Gray and Quinn Buckner announced Cleveland Cavalier games together. And though we survived their unholy alliance, our scars may never heal.

Prologue: What's to Say of Buckner & Gray?

Perhaps this is the entirely wrong time to be bringing this up.  After all, 2011 saw the final farewells of two of Cleveland sports broadcasting’s most beloved and iconic voices—Mike Hegan and the great Joe Tait (I should probably clarify that they’re just retired, not dead. You could probably still call them up and talk to them if you were really jonesing to hear those “beloved and iconic” voices one more time). So no one could blame the local fanbase for feeling a little uneasy about the current transitional state of its radio and TV crews, or for being less than enthusiastic about recalling the catastrophes that can happen when suspicious outsiders are brought in to work at a regional network.

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