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Holy Kyrie!! I hope he's not listed with a bad back for the next game. Absolutely carried everyone in this one! That 3-pointer at the end was epic! One point off the franchise record of 56.

Don't look now, but it looks like the Cavs are building something special.

I am really sad I missed this one. I was actually at the game when Iverson put up 52. Would have been nice to see.

Just in time to rip our hearts out in the playoffs..

yeah right now they aren't built for playoffs...you won't win many games like we have the last 2. I know its a broken record but dellevedova is the most worthless player in the league..we HAVE to get a backup pg..its not even an option. He has no nba skills.. We have to get better help around lebron and kyrie. Love is a disappointment. Right now the trade looks bad, wiggins would be alot better here than love, I'm a fan of Love, but man, he just don't fit here. I don't think its possible for him to look any more disinterested out there.. I seriously think about sitting for a week or so and see if its injury or something. One thing I saw tonight that bothered me was TT and Mosgov destroyed by kaman and aldridge, a-train i get, he's a top 10 player...but mosgov getting pushed around by freaking kaman..come on. Right now we are better with Mosgov, i still don't see 2 pick value in him..he has horrible hands. I do think they need to run the offense through him more. Let him get some touches. He goes most of the game without even getting a look on offense..Thats just not efficient basketball.

Kyrie went video game on them, its funny me and my brother said man kyrie ain't hitting anything tonight. then he went off..lol, need to say that more often.

Looks like lebron will be out friday too, I'd almost just shut him down until next week, we have t-wolves on saturday. I think we can handle kings and twolves without lebron.

Jesus Christ you're the most pessimistic poster on this site and that's saying something.

Seriously? Our starting PG goes for 55, so it must be the backup's fault that it was a close game? The coaches had him in the lineup for the final few possessions (At the 2 no less) and Kyrie specifically gave him some props in the post-game press conference. He must be doing SOMETHING right. I have no idea why you've pegged him as your scapegoat of the team. Meanwhile K-Love went a glorious 3-15 tonight and probably couldn't hit Lake Erie from a dock right now. Pretty much everyone else was cold as ice as well. He plays gritty defense, gets some assists and rebounds. He's not supposed to be 6th man of the year.


Love is the far biggest concern right now for me. I don't know what's happened to him. He looks like he has no confidence in his shot or he doesn't even want to be out there. I'm hoping it's some sort of injury too.


Kaman had 7 points in 30 minutes. I'm not sure he "destroyed" him. Aldrige was just having a Kyrie'esqe night. Everything was falling for him, and a lot of them were difficult shots.


You do realize that every player on the team 1 through 12 can't be a full-fledged all-star right? He's never going to be Dwight Howard, but he prevents guards from driving the lane uncontested. He's exactly what we've been missing all season long, and he's got some offensive chops as well. I doubt you're going to find 2-players in the last third of next years draft that will give us more than what Moz is giving us right now.



I agree with you. I just don't know that there's enough ball to go around at the moment. Kyrie and Lebron want to get theirs. JR is turning into the human launchpad. Poor Kevin Love is conducting his masonry clinic.



That was definitely something to watch!


Well, the Kings did kill us last time Lebron was out of the lineup ...

That's not even being pessimistic..

I don't really know what you expect from an NBA team, especially one that's been put together this quickly, and is already playing this well together..

In a 7 game series.. I don't see anyone in the East that'll match up with us for 4 games..

The Hawks are really talented team, that plays well as a group..

But they aren't tested. Who do they have that's going to take them to the next level? Kyle Korver?

What a game!

Man, I only got to see the 1st half of the game, but Kyrie was just killing it out there tonight. It seemed like he could just throw up anything, and it would find the bottom somehow ..... and there was one shot a few minuets before the half that really demonstrated that, where he threw the ball up, off balance and falling away, at this incredible arc, and it didn't even touch the rim.

Love is a concern. We need to figure out a way to get him more involved back under the basket again. He has a good outside shot, but I think that he needs some of those shots down low to get his blood going when he is having a tough shooting night. Right now he is almost exclusively a jump shooter. That really is not his game. I think that he is trying to fit in, but he needs to have some plays run where he gets the ball in the post.

I want to go back to Kyrie for a minute. He has really turned it on defensively. People will talk about his great offensive games lately, but he has really become a solid defensive player. Maybe he never becomes a great defender, but he is becoming very good.

Back to Love, again .... I think that this is Blatt's next challenge. Love is a very talented player, and we have parked him on the 3 point line way too often. We have to move him down closer to the basket and run some plays for him. I bet once he gets a few plays down there that really get his blood pumping, his stroke will return. However, I think that he is a player who has to be effective in order to be effective. (if that makes sense) However, let's look at Love this year compared to Love last year. His points are down, as is to be expected coming to a team with 2 big time scorers. He is on pace to take about 80% as many shots as he took last year. He took 650 shots last year, and shot 45.7%, in 77 games. This year, so far in 44 games, he has attempted 248 FG. He is shooting 43%. From the 3 point line, he shot 37.6% last year. This year he is shooting 33.3%. He is off, but he is not horribly off from his norm. He is down in rebounds, also to be expected, from 12.5 per game to 10.3 per game. His assists are also down, and I think that this is partially related to his rebounding. He throws exceptional outlet passes off of defensive rebounds. When his rebounds are down, then his assists will also be down. His steals and blocks per game are identical to last year.

Last year, Love played 36.3 minutes/game. This year he is playing 35.3 minutes/game. That is close.

I think that a lot of people expected that Love's shooting would improve with the exceptional talent around him, and that has not yet been the case. However, I do think that Love is the player who has had the mos difficult transition to playing with 2 other superstars. He is a very talented man though, and has a great deal of pride, so I expect that he is going to continue to work hard. However, he is not really having a bad year. He has some bad games, but so do most players. No one noticed his bad games last year, because he played on an awful team last year. In 3 of his last 6 games, (following missing a game with his back) including tonight's game, Love has had 3 games where he has gone for 16/12, 19/13, and 19/13. Love can be a streaky shooter. One of his "off" games was the Charlotte game, where we won 129-90. He didn't have to do a ton in that game. The other 2 games were the Detroit game, and he struggled in that game, He did so again tonight. He has great games, really good games, and games where he struggles. I think that he may be less consistent than last year, but not by much.

Anyway, I hope that Blatt is able to create more shots for Love down low. so he can heat up earlier in games by making a few easy shots. I think that will help him a great deal. However, Love is not having some awful season. He just has not exploded like Lebron and Kyrie have thus far.

They are deep as heck. And they play team ball like the Spurs on both offense and defense. They also have Al Horford and Paul Millsap. No one on the Cavs can guard either of those guys (maybe LeBron can guard Millsap).

Kyle Korver is a legit star in the league right now. It sounds weird to say, but he is. He changes the game so much because of his shooting ability.

It's very rare when a team without a top 5 player wins the championship. It's similar to needing a QB in the NFL.

Hawks seem like a regular season team without a true star. I think it will be difficult for them once the playoffs get here.

The Spurs won last year and should have won the year before with a top five player. The Hawks are molded after the Spurs. They are really, really good.

I would argue that recently the Spurs, Mavericks, and Celtics all have won without a top five player (Dirk and Duncan were top five players at certain points in their careers, but not when they won the title.)

The Spurs are really a special case because of Pop and the unique way they've built that franchise over the years. And although Duncan was not a top 5 player when they won last year, you can't discount all those times he was and what he brought to the table because of that. The Hawks may play like the Spurs, but they are nowhere near that caliber of team and organization. And they certainly aren't battle tested.

Dirk played like a top 5 player in those Finals. Actually in the entire playoffs.

I'll give you the Celtics. I'm not saying it's impossible, but over the last 25 years or so, it's pretty rare.

The Hawks are special. The are the Spurs east. Budenholzer was the architect of the Spurs offense and has the Hawks playing exactly the same.

I agree that the Hawks aren't "battle tested," but they will make it to at least the conference finals (unless someone essential to their success is injured.

Read this article -- http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-150128-Hawks/why-atlanta-hawks-good -- the Hawks are here to stay.

I am not saying this to disparage the Cavs. I think that they are the second best team in the east (even if the finish behind the Raptors and/or the Wizards). I do think that if Noah and Rose can somehow get right that the Bulls are the best team in the east, but I don't think that is likely at this point.

The playoffs will be very exciting this year.

For all the crap Ferry got while he was here..

We see what he's done with a team when allowed to use cap room and not having to make dumb moves to "win now" or "fix the team"

Getting rid of Joe Johnson's contract may have been the best move a GM has made in the past 10 years..

I agree man, this 8 game losing streak has exposed everything that you just said as the truth

For the Spurs, it depends on how you feel about Tony Parker. Dirk also played at an all time great level.

I agree Dirk was at his peak at that time and was top 5, top 10 at worst

You and I both know that trading for bigs is always going to be a sellers market. Doubly so when the buyer is desperate for a big due to injury like we were.

franchise record in a win though

that 3 pointer to win the game was simply monstrous!

I think the best part was that you knew it was going in as soon as he took it. I don't remember seeing a game winning shot like that before (from the Cavs anyway).

j/c

Yeah..it was hilarious

I speak the truth...when you have 2 players do over 50% of the scoring you will not win in the playoffs..sorry, tons of teams that play awesome in the regular season exit in first round. But its more fun to act like i don't know what I'm talking about even though I actually played the game past high school.

My point remains, the last two games were good to win, but that will not lead to many wins. Come playoffs when good teams shut one option down and then you have 8 guys that give you 8 points or less...won't win much

And its funny kingodawg only comments to try to take jabs at me all the time,...he has zero knowledge in basketball. Just another internet tough guy...coward. And Ytown is his hype man....i'll just agree with what he says. bust out the finger guns..gmab

back to the topic, my point stands...delli sucks...theres noone that should refute that..if you do, well, I don't know what to say to that. There is obviously wrong with Love. Whether its injury or not liking the system. He disappears as the game goes along. Bottom line is someone needs to help lebron and kyrie. I don't care where it comes from.. I'd like to see mosgov get more touches to see if he actually has an offensive game, he's shown flashes but he's also shown Thompson offensive ability. My bet is he's in between and alot depends on what Blatt wants him to do.

I think up until the last two games we were playing exception team ball...the last two games that has all disappeared. I think we played like 6 games with all the starters getting atleast 10 points. That needs to happen more. If I'm blatt and you got guys not able to score, then you need to empty your bench and try to find someone that can get you buckets. It is, and always has been, about the buckets.

It was funny because he just kind of lulled the defender to sleep, and then hit it like a FT. The funny thing was kyrie wasn't even breathing hard after the game..he's so effortless. If he'd get a little stronger in the upper body, man he'd be unstoppable. There isn't anyone in the NBA that finishes better at the rim, and with either hand.. There was a story that Lebron was trying to mimic irving in practice with some of those circus shots around the rim, and couldn't do it..kind a shows you he has a unique skill set.

Anyone catch the locker room video after the game where kyrie got doused, noone will be able to say the locker room doesn't get along.

I agree, I even said that..hell even griffin said that. doesn't mean he's worth it..I'll never think that, but if we win I'm ok with it. I do think he's still feeling everything out, I'm hoping thats the case anyways. But playing for Blatt before I would think the process is sped up. They need to run him in more pick and pop, he seems to have that range...that would unclog the lane on offense

There are plenty that refute that ... especially since he was on the floor in the final minutes last night. I think the problem is that he isn't a ball-dominant PG that stuffs a stat sheet. He can't provide instant offense for the bench, so therefore he sucks in your estimation. If we had other guys on the bench that could score, you probably might not really care that much about Delly. But when Marion is jacking up ugly shots, Mike Miller can't hit anything, TT is getting rejected at the rim, and everyone else is bouncing the ball off their leg or throwing passes 10 feet over teammates heads, then you come back to the PG as the reason why we can't generate any offense (and maybe you have a bit of a point). But that's just not his game. He does a lot of little things that don't necessarily show up in a box score. He has a great assist to turnover ratio, he hits 3 pointers at a 40% clip, he's one of the better rebounding guards in the league, and up until this win streak, he was the only guy on the team playing perimeter defense. Last night, in the last six seconds, it was Delly that was fighting through a screen to close out and contest Lillard's game-tying attempt. He ended up missing by a foot.

I think you're just expecting way too much of a backup point guard. I think Marion and Mike Miller have been much worse than Delly. Unfortunately, with a salary cap and three max players, we can't exactly stuff our bench with starter level guys. I do agree with you that we might want to get a PG that can generate some offense when we need it, but Delly is hardly the worst guy on the roster, and DEFINITELY not the biggest reason we struggle at times.

Let's look at how the Cavaliers are currently constructed, and how they compare to past NBA champions. (top 6 players, offensively, and season averages)

Player: PPG
Lebron: 26.4
Kyrie: 22.1
Love: 17.1
Smith: 14
Mozgov: 9.8
Thompson: 9.6

Now, let's look at some past champions .....

2010-11: Mavericks.
Dirk: 23
Terry: 15.8
Butler: 15
Marion: 12.5
Chandler: 10.1
Barea: 9.5

2011-12:
Lebron: 27.1
Wade: 22.1
Bosh: 18
Chalmers: 9.8
Cole: 6.8
Miller: 6.1

2012-13:
Lebron: 26.8
Wade: 21.2
Bosh: 16.6
Allen: 10.9
Chalmers: 8.6
Barrier: 6.6

2013-14:
Parker: 16.7
Duncan: 15.1
Leonard: 12.8
Ginobli: 12.3
Berlinelli: 11.4
Mills: 10.2

Now, I am not sure what your point is about "2 players having 50% of the points" is ..... but if you look at the Cavaliers, compared to the past 4 NBA champions, they can go 6 deep very effectively. Just because the top 2 are absolutely fantastic scorers does not mean that somehow the rest are scrubs. 2 and 3 seasons ago, Bosh scored, on championship teams, 18 and 16.6 PPG. Kevin Love is scoring 17.1 PPG this year .... pretty much the middle of those 2 years. Smith is currently our 4th leading scorer at 14 PPG. That is comparable to other championship teams for their 4th scorer, and is actually ahead of those teams. (and Andy was also at 9.8 PPG before he got hurt)

This team, on many nights, spreads the ball around nicely. On other nights, the superstars take over. This is quite normal on a team with multiple superstars.

Let's look at Kevin Love, for a minute. So far this year he has gone for 30 once. He has gone for 20-29 15 times. He has gone for 10-19 22 times. He has gone for 9 or less 7 times. (and 3 of those have been this year. I believe that he may be nursing an injury, and we know that he missed a game because of his back earlier this year) People seem to have this idea that Love has done nothing this year. He has not yet fit into the team 100% yet .... but I believe that he will get there. Despite this, he has had a lot of very, very good games. He averages 17.1/10.3. Are these numbers down from previous years? Yep. Is that to be expected when he plays on a team with far more talent than he has in the past, from shooting to rebounding? Of course.

Also, I wonder where you got this "Kyrie and Lebron score 50%+ of our points". We score 101.7 PPG, and are improving. Lebron and Kyrie are at 48.5 PPG .... which is, of course, just under 50%. lol Anyway, the team has improved offensively since the 2 trades, and the return of Lebron to the lineup. We have gone for 109, 126, 108, 106, 129, 108, 103, and 99 points. Offensively we have improved a great deal. More exciting, we have held our last 6 opponents to less than 98 points on defense. Kyrie has embraced, finally, his role on defense, and that may be as exciting as anything we do on offense.

Anyway, we have an 8 game winning streak. We have won most of those by a decent margin. Enjoy it! Don't worry about some late 1st round picks that are likely to become a Delly level player, if they really work out well. Don't sweat the fact that Lebron and Kyrie score a large percentage of our points. That is normal with superstars. That is why they are superstars.

Enjoy this 8 game winning streak. We face the Kings, T'Wolves, and Sixers in the next 3 games, so we stand a very good chance of running the win streak to 11. Enjoy it. It's OK to be rational, and to evaluate a team on a logical basis, but man, you can suck all of the joy out of the game if you go to extremes. You can over-think things to the point where even winning it all wasn't good enough, because they "didn't do it the right way, and it can't possibly last".

Relax and enjoy this.

I also wanted to add one other thing. When you get into the playoffs, the bench gets a whole lot shorter. Blatt is unlikely to throw Joe Harris or Brendon Haywood into the game at a key moment. However, this team has very good depth. We have depth players like Miller and Jones, who have come off the bench for big moments for championship teams. Shumpert is a lockdown defender, as is Marion, and Smith is an excellent running mate for Lebron, and is under-rated as a defender. We have a nice trio at PF/C with Mozgov, Love, and Thompson. Delly is a very good defender, even though you seem to hate him because he's not on par with Kyrie. (and who is?)

This team has legitimate depth with their top 11 players. This is in addition to their "big 3", and excellent situations at C and SG. (and who would have thought we would be able to say that when the year began?)

This team has excellent depth, and exceptional starting talent. Their bench will be a huge strength (barring injury, of course ... and knocking on wood) when we hit the playoffs. We have veterans who know how to take, and make big shots in pressure situations. We lack a great backup PG. However, we have a useful backup in Delly, and we also have Lebron who can handle the ball in a point forward role. We can work around that backup PG spot.

Enjoy this team. They have real championship potential, and when is the last time you could say that about a Cleveland team?

Here's the video:
http://instagram.com/p/ybIS-hQDB5/

Ferry got rid of Johnson's contract and got picks back.

I agreed with you.

Zero knowledge of basketball??

Does working with a D1 college basketball team count?? Does working with guys who have played in the pros count?

we did see 1 1/2 seasons of Mo Williams traded for 9 seasons of Kyrie Irving though.

thats so awesome. those guys just love each other man. we got a good squad.

That was complete luck. No one thought the Clippers pick would be #1.

the Clippers sure didn't, at least.

how many picks are traded w/o any protection though? you cannot pin that purely on luck to convince them to do it even if the odds were against it happening.

I don't know if I can give anyone credit for pilfering the Clippers at that point in history.

But yes, that would also qualify as a great trade.