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Photo: David Liam Kyle/NBAE
LeBron James has put together some solid performances on birthdays past, but the Cavaliers had never won, dropping three games. Tonight, however, The King made his 25th birthday a memorable one, needing a couple gifts from a shot clock malfunction and Anderson Varejao's first career three pointer to make his 48 point, 10 rebound, 6 assist effort a winning one, beating the much-impoved Hawks on back-to-back nights.
My, how the tables have turned!: The Hawks' backcourt, which struggled mightily last night, came out with a lot of firepower in the early going. Both Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby made their presence known early, and they led a much more concentrated Hawk charge to take a seven point lead after one as Johnson and Bibby combined for 17 of the team's 30 points. The Hawks, who shot 44% the night before, came out firing at a 57% clip in the first with strong play from their backcourt plus Marvin Williams.
Calling in the goon: Veteran big man Jason Collins has made a career out of coming in and bothering big men, big men like Shaquille O'Neal. While Collins didn't play last night, he found his way into coach Mike Woodson's rotation tonight at The Q. In 11 minutes, the Hawks were +12 with him on the floor while he grabbed 2 rebounds, picked up one foul, and successfully bothered Shaq. For instance, while O'Neal did draw a foul on Collins at one point in a 1-on-1 scenario, O'Neal dropped the ball on him and got a technical foul. This is a classic example of a guy who has nothing to lose using that to bother a superstar. Who cares if Collins picks up six fouls in six minutes? If he can draw 2 or 3 fouls on Shaq in that stretch, he's done his job. O'Neal notched 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists in 20 minutes. He scored 4 points with Collins in the game.
Lack of focus: What was far more disappointing than the Hawks' hot shooting was the lack of resistance on the Cavaliers' part in the paint. The Hawks attacked the paint in the first half, and the Cavaliers were night and day in their defensive effort from the night before. It honestly looked like the Cavs thought they had this game simply because they won last night on Atlanta's floor. Because of that attitude, the Cavs gave up a gruesome 64 points in the first half. On offense, it was The LeBron Show and not much else. LeBron had 23 first half points, but no one else was in double digits. The Cavs consequently trailed by 12 at the break.
Hawks come out soaring, Cavs clip their wings: I'm sure the Cavaliers got chewed out at halftime, but it didn't take effect immediately. The Hawks came out still flying high from the first 24 minutes and extended the lead to a game-high 17 points in the blink of an eye. Just when things looked insurmountable, the Cavaliers started cutting into the Atlanta lead. Before you knew it, the Cavaliers had it down to just two with 4:35 to go in the third after a 22-7 run in just over five and a half minutes. They used a LeBron scoring binge of 10 points and an increased effort on the defensive end of the floor. As has been hammered home by me and countless others before me, the Cavaliers start and end on the defensive end on the floor, and tonight was no different.
Fourth quarter frenzy: The final quarter was filled with wild momentum shifts, even wilder plays, a couple of questionable calls, and one shot clock snafu. Some plays, like Anthony Parker's flip behind-his-head bucket are almost indescribable. The fourth quarter was essentially the Cavaliers fighting like hell to get over the hump and take over the lead, the Hawks finding a way with a lucky shot or a timely bucket to hold onto the lead, and the Cavaliers needing to make a key play once again to keep the game tight. The Cavaliers finally took the lead for the first time all game with 4:41 remaining, but the Hawks took it right back on a Joe Johnson layup. The lead actually changed four times from the first time the Cavaliers had the advantage.
Shot clock snafu: This fantastic Cavalier comeback is not without controversy, however. With under two minutes to play, Mo Williams quickly pushed the ball upcourt and tried to draw a foul attacking the rim. His shot failed to hit the rim, and Atlanta quickly went the other way. The problem for ATL was that the shot clock never reset when Atlanta took possession, so they were hurried into their possession and Josh Smith lost the ball in the key without ever getting a shot up. The Cavaliers got the ball back and scored on an offensive putback by Andy to give them the 100-99 lead with 1:31 to go. There's no denying that the defensive stop by the Cavs and the Varejao bucket were a huge momentum swing, but it didn't necessarily look like the Hawks even knew the shot clock was running down prematurely. Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said the team will file a protest, and if successful, it would cause the game to be replayed from the moment the error occurred. These are very rare though and only one such case has successfully been overturned in the last 25 years. Oddly enough, it involved Shaq and an incorrect disqualification for having just five fouls, not six.
Shoot it, Andy?: The Cavaliers had the ball with 41 seconds left tied at 101. The Cavaliers wasted time out top with the typical Mo to LeBron to Mo and back to LeBron exchange. The Hawk defensive pressure was there, and Mo Williams nearly turned it over. The shot clocked ticked down and Anderson Varejao hung around the three point arc on the wing, wide open. As Mo saw this, he kicked it to Andy who tiptoed the arc, lunged forward, and with his whole body in a jerking motion, fired a three ball that was pure as could be. It was originally ruled a two, but upon review, it was clear that there was at least a millimeter between Andy's sneaker and the three point line. If you look at the replay, Varejao actually looks down to check and make sure he is behind the arc. That is definitely odd considering the Cavaliers didn't necessarily need a 3 in that case. It was Andy's first career trey in 19 attempts, and it gave the Cavaliers the lead for good with 17 seconds left. A defensive stop thanks to a missed Bibby trifecta and two Jamario Moon free throws iced the game.
Deja vu all over again: After giving up 64 first half points, I told J.V. via text that it would take another 35-40 point second half defensive effort to give the Cavaliers a chance to win. The Cavaliers fell right in that target range, surrenderring just 37 second half points and forcing Atlanta to shoot just 38 percent after shooting 57 percent in the first half. Their 16 points given up in the fourth echoed last night's statement performance of just 10 points including a nearly nine minute shutout to start the fourth. The defense was the only reason that LeBron's fantastic 12 point fourth and Andy's heroic 9 point performance were possible. Leading that charge were Varejao, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker, and LeBron, the typical fourth quarter stoppers.
 goes to: LeBron James and Anderson Varejao. These two longtime Cavaliers led the way at both ends in the fourth quarter. They have the best 2-man +/- statistic among all other Cavalier duos, and they may be the two that know the Cavalier defensive motto best inside and out. They've been through all the late-game situations before, and they don't get too high or low. LeBron's performance could have been his best overall performance in Quicken Loans Arena. He shot 15-of-23 for his 48 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, handing out 6 assists, and had 2 steals and 2 blocks in 43 minutes. Varejao had 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 9 of those came in the fourth quarter. Andy also had 9 rebounds and 3 blocks in 33 minutes.
Team Grade: B+
The Cavaliers had a pretty terrible first half, but you knew that Atlanta was going to explode offensively. After all, they average over 106 points per game, one of the best scoring teams in the league. However, their gutsy comeback from 17 down took pretty much the entire second half to overcome, but they shot 47%, had 24 assists on 36 field goals, and got to the line 38 times to make it happen. The Cavs also had 9 blocks and just 7 turnovers, including just 1 in the third and fourth quarters each.
The Cavaliers have two days off to celebrate the New Year before taking on the three win New Jersey Nets in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon. With all of these wins against top opponents lately, the Cavs must beware of taking New Jersey lightly, as the Cavaliers were nearly foiled by them last time at home.
All for one. One for all.
Kirk
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