Written by Demetri Inembolidis

---

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.

On the Nets side of things, it is a peculiar decision by Avery Johnson to play Deron Williams at the shooting guard position.  Williams looked a little lost and was not playing to his strengths.  He should have the ball in his hands and be initiating the offense.  This is a guy who averaged 12.8 assists last season and he is only at 5.6 this year.  That is a 56% decrease in production.  Only so much of that can be contributed to the injury of Brook Lopez.  Avery Johnson has one of the best point guards in the entire NBA and he chooses to play Sundiata Gaines instead.  If the losses continue to pile up for the Nets, it seems that starting Deron Williams at point guard would be an obvious roster move to make.  

The Good: Antawn Jamison performed like the player that Cavs fans expected him to be when Danny Ferry traded for him in February of 2010.  He is a streaky shooter.  His shooting can be a big factor in the team winning or losing games.  Against the Nets, it clearly helped.  

The Bad:  If Samardo Samuels wants to continue proving that his conditioning is not an issue, he needs to play better.  When a guy plays 16 minutes, he is expected to score more than 3 points and grab 3 rebounds.  Additionally, his 5 fouls (3 of which were offensive) do not help in convincing Byron Scott that he is in good playing shape.

The Ugly: The Nets three point defense was atrocious.  They continually left guys open beyond the arc and they paid for it.  The Cavs outscored the Nets by 27 points just on three point shots alone.