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The Cleveland Cavaliers came into Tuesday nights game undefeated against the Western Conference, and the Cavs looked to stretch that Western Conference win streak to 6 against the Memphis Grizzlies (13 in a row counting last season). Early on, LeBron and Mo led the Cavaliers to an 11 point half time lead; however the dreaded 3rd quarter Memphis blues grabbed a hold of Cleveland. The Memphis young guns gained confidence and used Cavalier turnovers to send this game into overtime, and in the extra period, the Cavs came up short. Cleveland was handed their first loss to a Western Conference foe this year.
1st Quarter Block Party- In the 1st quarter, Cleveland's defense was making life in the paint difficult for Memphis. Shaq alone had 3 blocked shots in the 1st. The Cavaliers had 5 blocked shots total in the 1st quarter.
- Hold the Mayo- LeBron had a blocked shot of his own and it was one of the chase down variety. O.J. Mayo is the newest victim on LeBron's chasedown list. Mayo gathered a long defensive rebound and got out in transition. Mayo went to lay in a coast to coat bucket but LBJ came from behind and sent Mayo's shot off the glass.
Boobie On Fire - Daniel "Boobie" Gibson continues to shoot the ball well from long and short range. In the first quarter alone, Gibson was 4 for 4 from the floor for 10 points including 2 for 2 from 3 -point range.Gibson continues to use his pump fakes to get his defenders in the air a clear path to the rim. Unfortunately tonight, Cleveland went away from sharing the ball in the 2nd half and Gibson only got 2 shots in the 2nd half.
Going at Gasol - It was apparent that the Cavs plan was get the ball down to Shaq and get Marc Gasol into foul trouble. The Cavs were successful with this strategy as Gasol picked up his 3rd foul with 5 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter and had to sit the rest of the half. O'Neal finished with 8 1st half points.
Bron and Mo Lead the Way in the 1st Half - James and Williams both put up impressive stat lines to close out the 1st half and had the Cavs up by 11points at the break. LBJ finished the half with an outstanding 22 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Williams figured to be on his way to a triple-double with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. The Cavalier offense was running like a well oiled machine scoring 59 points in the 1st half, and they were led by #23 and #2.
Halftime Stats and Thoughts - In the 1st half, Cleveland led most of the statistical categories and none was more evident than field goal percentage. Cleveland was shooting 49% from the floor on 22 of 45 shooting. The Cavaliers held the Grizzlies to just 38% from the floor on 18 of 48 shooting. Cleveland also held the rebounding advantage 25 to 19 and 9 to 8 on the offensive end. Despite the 11-point lead, the Cavs turned the ball over 7 times to Memphis's 5 turnovers. Cleveland was doing most everything right in the 1st half with the only exception being taking care of the ball and boxing out. The Cavalier Bench also outscored the Memphis bench 17 to 5 in the 1st half.
Attacking Gasol Early - Cleveland went right back at Gasol to start the 3rd quarter, and with 4 and half minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Gasol got his 5th foul and was forced to the bench for most of the rest of regulation. Mo Williams force fed the ball to Shaq early in the 3rd to keep the pressure on Gasol; however, I feel that Shaq could have taken more advantage of those scoring opportunities with Gasol playing to avoid fouls.
3rd Quarter Melt Down - Like many games in the recent past, the Cavaliers failed to extend a lead in the 3rd quarter and even relinquished most of it. The Cavaliers were outscored 28 to 19 in the 3rd quarter and turned the ball over 6 times. Cleveland was also out rebound 11 to 4 in the 3rd quarter and gave up 5 offensive boards. Those numbers alone have the makings of a bad quarter, but when you throw in a 39% field goal percentage to the Grizzlies 60% you know the Cavs had gotten themselves into a dog fight. For some reason, the Cavaliers can barely ever extend a half time lead against lesser opponents. I do not want to say its lack of effort or thinking the other team is going to roll over, but I am finding it difficult to find another reason. This trend was annoying and heartbreaking in the playoffs against Orlando, but when you do this against teams like Washington and Memphis, it's just disgusting.
4th Quarter Miscues - Early in the 4th, the Cavs held on to the lead like a little girl with sweaty hands in a tug-o-war contest . The Cavs started the 4th out with 2 turnovers credited to Mo Williams. The passes were from Mo to LBJ, and yes, they were lazy passes, but LBJ failed to come to the ball. both passes hit James in the hands and he failed to secure them. The Cavs continued to not value their possessions and turned the ball over 6 times in the 4th quarter; those 6 turnovers included a shot clock violation and a 3-seconds call.
Failure to Launch - After a Rudy Gay layup with 18 seconds left, Cleveland and Memphis were tied at 100. The Cavs had the last shot and everyone knows who was taking it. The only problem was, LeBron tried to get cute with it, and he lost the handle on the ball. LBJ dribbled the clock down tried a driving spin move but forgot the ball. James regained possesion but had to throw up a shot that never had a chance.
Overtime Old Habits Surface- The Cavs scored 9 points in overtime and all 9 points were from LeBron James. Watching overtime was like watching the Cavaliers in previous years when they had no other scoring options. LeBron Took 5 of the 7 shots and dribbled the clock out on most possessions before taking a long jumper. The offense became stagnant and Memphis just had to worry about keeping LBJ outside the 3-point line. It essentially became 1 on 5 for the Cavalier offense and Memphis was not letting LBJ win this one himself. Mike Conley had Shaq in cement boots with an in-n-out cross over move and scooped in the dagger. LeBron's last second 3-point came up short and the young Memphis Grizzlies handed Cleveland their 6th loss of the season.
 goes to: Mo Williams. Mo Williams finished with a very impressive state line of 20 points, 8 Assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals. Mo also had 2 very big plays in the 4th quarter to allow the Cavs to take this game into overtime. Mo had a big 3 point play on a driving layup to put he Cavs up 1 point. Then, Mo hit a deep 3 to put the Cavs up 94 to 92 with 4:24 left. Mo also 5 turnovers, but he always tried to keep the offense moving and was a major part of the Cavaliers staying in this game.
Team Grade: F: Not including Boston, the Cavaliers have now lost 5 of their 6 games to teams with less than a .500 winning percentage. The 5 losses have come to teams with a combined 42 - 60 record (.410 wining percentage). The Cavaliers owned a 16 point lead at one time in the 1st half, but came out sluggish and sloppy in the 2nd half. Cleveland turned the ball over a total of 20 times in this game and that led to 21 points for the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies also shot 32 free throw to Cleveland's 24; this tells me that Memphis was the aggressors. The Cavs also gave up 50 points in the paint to a team that had their most dominant big man in foul trouble all night and gave up 17 offensive rebounds. Cleveland was destroyed by O.J. Mayo and Zach Randolph. Mayo and Randolph combined for 60 points (Mayo 28 and Randolph 32). Mayo and Randolph average 36.5 points together. LeBron ended up taking 11 3-point shots when he has 3 of the top 11 3-point shooters in the league on his team, and he is not one of them. Cleveland failed to play with a sense of urgency early in the 2nd half. If the Cavs take care of business early in the 3rd, this young team would roll over and the Cavs would have gotten some rest for their tough game in Houston tomorrow night.
The Cavaliers get a chance to redeem this loss tomorrow night in Houston.
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Which brings me to tonight, I view this one as a schedule loss. The Cavaliers always struggle in Houston; it's been a house of horrors for LBJ shooting wise as well. It's a back-to-back off an OT game, and Houston's had three days off.
The Cavaliers only win if they can use Shaq to destroy Houston's microscopic front line and put a halt to their turnover woes, slowing the Rocket transition.
Back to last night, Shaq should NOT have been in on the last play. He is a nightmare in pick n roll, they should went small with Mo, Delonte, AP, LBJ, JJ. Also, keeping Boobie out of the game late really hurt their offensive chances. This guy is freaking SCORCHING right now!
Let's hope we can rebound tonight.
Burn on!