Cavs/Warriors - The Good, The Bad, & The Summary

Written by John Hnat

Did you turn your TV off at halftime of the Cavs/Warriors game last night? I did. Good thing for the rest of us that John Hnat did not. The Cavs climbed back in a game they had no business climbing back into and finished this West Coast trip on a very positive note.

THE SUMMARY

If I hadn’t been assigned to write this recap, I would have turned off the TV at halftime.

And I would have missed one hell of a game.

Coming back from as many as 19 points down, the Cavs beat the Golden State (“Don’t Call Us Oakland!”) Warriors, 106-104, in overtime. The Cavs held the game close through much of the first half, and were trailing by only two points (42-40) with XXX minutes remaining in the second quarter. Not Oakland then went on a 20-4 run to close the half, taking a 62-44 lead into the locker room.

Perhaps realizing that the five hour flight home would be a lot more fun if it came after a win, the Cavs slashed the Not Oakland lead to two points, at 70-68, midway through the third quarter. Not Oak .. eh, Golden State (I’m already tired of the joke) pushed the lead back out to double digits, and seemed to have the game in hand with an 87-75 lead in the fourth quarter. Led by unlikely heroes in Sasha Pavlovic and David Wesley, the Cavs fought back, and finally regained the lead on a LeBron James three pointer at 90-89. The two teams swapped the lead several times in the waning minutes of regulation. The Cavs had two chances to win it, but Pavlovic and James each missed long jumpers, and the game went into overtime.

The Cavs burst out to a five point lead in overtime on a Wesley three pointer and a LeBron lay-in, and maintained that five point lead into the final seconds of overtime. But that would have been too easy. Instead, after a Sarunas Jasikevicius three pointer cut the lead to 108-106 with eight seconds remaining, LeBron had the resulting inbounds pass swatted off his foot, giving the ball back to the Warriors. LeBron redeemed himself by knocking the ball away from Golden State’s Matt Barnes, but Wesley Dudleyed a pair of free throws, giving Golden State one last try. Stephen Jackson’s three-point attempt at the buzzer drew enough rim to cause the heart to skip a beat, but not enough net to send the Warriors fans home happy.

James led all scorers (note: I do have that phrase hot-keyed on my laptop), and Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao both notched double-doubles (Z with 14 points and 11 rebounds in only 25 minutes, and Varejao with 12 points and 12 boards). In his first game with the Warriors since the big trade with Indiana, Stephen Jackson led the way with 29 points. Monta Ellis added 16, and Al Harrington scored 14.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE GAME:

True Grit: I admit it. I had this game chalked up as another loss. Somewhere in the saved drafts of this column is a version, written somewhere around halftime, that chewed the Cavs for blowing four games in a row to end their road trip, and that was about ready to call for wholesale changes in the player personnel, the coaching staff, the front office, and the Quicken Loans Arena hot dog vendors (who technically had nothing to do with the recent rough patch, but I wasn’t terribly impressed with the dog I had the last time at The Q, so I decided to throw them in as well).

And then the Cavs made me eat those electronic words. They played a much tougher defensive game in the second half (limiting Golden State to only 36 points), and that defense led to a lot of easy baskets at the offensive end. The entire team seemed to understand that coming home with a four-game monkey on their shoulders would not be fun, and they were determined to not have that happen. Anderson Varejao did his usual Tasmanian-Devil-as-power-forward impression, keeping many balls alive and giving the team several second chances. The passing became crisper.

It would have been easy (easier than professionals would care to admit) to pack it in after falling behind by 19 points. The Cavs did not.

Can’t Believe I’m Typing These Words: Wesley was one of the main reasons the Cavs won. Yes, he clanged a couple of ill-advised three-pointers. Yes, he bricked the pair of woulda-clinched-the-game free throws with 2.4 seconds left in overtime. But he gave the Cavs the spark they needed down the stretch; and for the first time this season, he helped the team get a win.

Wesley was put into the game as a desperation move, after Damon Jones threw the ball away on two consecutive possessions. (Note: The game log gives one of those turnovers to Ilgauskas. That’s why game logs are not perfect.) Wesley had a couple of huge steals in the final minutes of regulation; he hit a three-pointer to open the extra session; he found LeBron with a nice pass the next time the Cavs had the ball; and he pulled down six rebounds during his fifteen minutes on the court. Last time I wrote about Wesley, I suggested that he was already retired. He did not look like a retired player tonight. He showed energy, and desire, and hustle … and he deserves to be praised for it.

One Time A Month: No, not THAT. Get your mind out of the gutter. I’m talking about Sasha Pavlovic’s teaser game, the one time a month that he looks like he’s ready for a larger role on this team. Sasha had 13 points, drained a couple of three-pointers as well as a couple of strong drives, grabbed six rebounds, had one heck of a nice assist on a dish to Varejao for a dunk to tie the game at 96 apiece, and did not once have the brain cramps that too often define his game.

Is That A Coaching Adjustment I See?: Coach Mike Brown is, well, consistent. He will trot the same starting five out there every game, as long as they’re reasonably healthy; and he’ll send them back out to start the second half without fail. Until tonight. With Drew Gooden struggling again, and after Varejao had provided so much energy in the first half, Coach Brown started Andy at the outset of the second half. One of the fairer criticisms of Brown, in my mind, has been his inflexibility / his aim to stay “consistent” with his rotation even if some of those players are consistently sucking. Tonight, Coach Brown saw that Gooden did not have it, and Varejao did … and he went along with it.

Is This What Life Would Be Like With A Real Point Guard?: Eric Snow had 12 points, 11 assists, and looked like a real point guard, driving into the lane on many occasions. He also hit several outside jumpers (including three of them during the Cavs’ impressive third quarter run). Give him credit for a solid performance, and for picking up his game after a lackluster first half. He seems to play his best when he stops worrying about not turning the ball over, and plays the game more aggressively.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THE GAME:

See Those Guys In The White Jerseys? Don’t Throw It To Them: The Cavs turned the ball over 27 times. Twenty-seven. That’s just five short of the team’s all-time record, and when you consider some of the truly wretched teams that Cleveland has fielded over the years, that is saying something. Bad passes … strips by a weak-side defender … dribbling the ball off a leg … you name the type of turnover, and chances are the Cavs did it at least once.

Bear, Sports Page, Forested Terrain: More free throw woes for the Cavs, as they hit only 14 of their 28 attempts from the line. You all know this song by now; I’m not going to sing the same verse. I’ll just mention that they made yet another game waaaay too close with their pathetic free throw shooting; and that on four separate occasions, Cavs players missed both free throws from the line (once each for LeBron, Ilgauskas, Gooden, and Wesley).

You Can’t Go Home Again … And You May Not Want To Anyway: The game was supposed to be a homecoming of sorts for Drew Gooden, who hails from the Bay Area and reportedly had several dozen family members and friends riding the free ticket gravy train for the game. Drew finished with two points, four rebounds, 14 minutes of playing time, and Coach Brown’s shoe caught between his ass cheeks. After a series of strong performances earlier this month, Gooden looked like he had turned the corner. After this past week (which also “featured” a two-point, two-rebound game against Portland and a five-point game against Denver) … well, let’s just say that this particular building has an unusually high number of corners to it. He can’t blame me this time, as it’s been a while since I’ve suggested him as an All-Star candidate. Gooden looked lost on the court tonight; his usually reliable jumper wasn’t falling, and his usually unreliable defense was, well, unreliable.

The Nightly FSO Missed Play: Yes, it’s becoming a regular feature: the nightly “what play did Fox Sports Ohio miss?” lament. This time, it was a fast break and dunk by Golden State’s Mickael Pietrus; FSO decided that it was more important to show a reply of Gooden falling on his ass and turning the ball over.

By The Way, That Half-Empty Glass Has A Chip In It: Yes, we should be glad that the Cavaliers won, and showed so much character in the way that they earned their victory. But is a game against a sub-.500 opponent, who was playing without two of its best players (Baron Davis and Jason Richardson), and who reshuffled its roster deck a few days ago, really one that should be that difficult to win?

WHAT LIES AHEAD:

With the road trip finally behind them, the Cavs return home to The Q on Monday evening to face the reeling Orlando Magic, losers of their last five.

Posted by John Hnat Jan 20, 2007 7:00 PM

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