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Photo: Andrew Glockner
With 6.7 seconds left on the clock, Clipper basketball, with the Cavs up just one, it crept into my head.
"Not again! Not in back-to-back games...."
Fortunately for most everyone reading this, a buzzer beater didn't sink the Cavs for the second straight game. Instead, the Cavaliers put up a wall on Baron Davis, who had sunk the Celtics with a buzzer-beater earlier this season. Baron took the contested jumper over Anderson Varejao instead of passing it to one of his two ridiculously scorching teammates, and the Cavaliers won their first game in the second half of the season.
Clips hurting: The Clippers were without two starters, center Chris Kaman and small forward Al Thornton. Kaman is averaging 20.4 points per game and 9.4 rebounds in what should yet might not be an All-Star appearance. Thornton is another solid contributor, chipping in over 11 points per game. Rasual Butler and DeAndre Jordan started for Los Angeles in their place. The Cavaliers continue to be without Jamario Moon.
Buzzer-beater hangover: After a heart-wrenching loss like Thursday night in Utah, a team can often suffer from a hangover effect that lasts a game or two afterward. The Cavalier showed right from the tip that it would be the case tonight as well. Los Angles surged to a 10-0 start as the Cavaliers looked absolutely dreadful shooting the ball, missing their first six shots, and the Clippers poured in bushels of early buckets thanks to hot jump shooting and little defensive resistance on Cleveland's part.
Delonte starts the show: The Cavaliers really had nothing going for them until Delonte West came on the scene. As is so often the case, Delonte gave the Cavaliers a great boost off the bench, rattling off 10 points in about a five and a half minute period. Anderson Varejao was the other one who gave the Cavaliers a consistent first-half effort (surprise, surprise). Shaq had a couple of nice early buckets, but Mo Williams hit just 3-of-10 shots to start the game, and LeBron was passive at first, then picked up a second personal foul in the first quarter that casued him to sit for an eight minute stretch. Thanks in part to Delonte, the Cavaliers were +2 in that stretch sans LBJ.
Right this way: More frustrating than the offensive inefficiency was the lack of defensive effort. Make no mistake, the Cavaliers fell victim to catching the Clippers on the wrong night. No matter how bad a team's defense is, teams just don't shoot 60 percent in a game more than once a year, if that. That doesn't forgive the easy looks that the Clippers got though. It was easily the Cavaliers' least inspired if not overall worst defensive performance through three quarters.
Turnover turmoil springs up: The Cavaliers did a pretty solid job with taking care of the basketball tonight, but they had one disheartening stretch in the third where the turnovers piled up. In fact, five of them popped up in that quarter, and it helped the Clippers hold off the Cavs until very late in the third quarter. The Cavs used a 10-2 run to finish the third and cut the hole to just five points. Some of the credit for that should go to Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Big Z used fantastic helpside defense on Baron Davis to stop him on three straight offensive possessions.
Breaking the dam: The wine and gold chipped and chipped and chipped away at the Clippers' lead's foundation, and they finally broke through at the 2:49 mark on a Delonte West putback tipin that gave them the lead for good. It started with defense, though, as they held the Clips to just three points in the final 4:25 and zero points in the final two minutes, stopping Los Angeles on three possessions in the final moments of the game.
Last play reversal: Can we catch a break? That was my G-rated reaction to the call by Brian Forte to call the loose ball tussle a no-foul and out of bounds off of Mo Williams, setting the stage for a Clips' game winner. For some reason, the Clippers inbounded the ball into Baron and with Baron Davis it stayed. He had Rasual Butler in the corner, the Rasual Butler who had been destroying the Cavaliers all game for a tying-career-high 33 points, shooting 12-of-18. He also had Eric Gordon on the floor, the same Eric Gordon who torched the Cavaliers for 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting and 27 earlier this year, consistently slicing the Cavalier defense to bits. Instead the Baron took it on his own, using a Craig Smith screen on LeBron James to get around the top of the key. Luckily for the Cavs, they have more than a little experience defending in tight ball games, so Anderson Varejao switched, picked up Davis, and forced him sideways and into settling for a 21-foot contested fallaway jumper. Delonte snatched the rebound, and the time expired on the Clippers. The law of averages worked out, and the Cavaliers weren't sent away on game-winners in back-to-back games.
 goes to: Delonte West. This was a close call, because I was not about to give out multiple awards for this ghastly contest. West gets the slight nod over Varejao and LBJ. His 10 points in the late first and early second kept the Cavaliers afloat, and his putback layin gave the team the lead for good. Delonte finished with 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists in 28 minutes.
Team Grade: C-
This puppy had "F" written all over it, but the gutsy final quarter gave them enough to pull this one out. For going 7-3 out west in the two road trips this season, the Cavaliers have to be pretty satisifed. They were right in all three of the losses as well. Sure, they lost to the Dirk-less Mavs, Melo-less Nuggets, and a Deron and AK-47-less Jazz at the end of the game, but beating the Lakers, Suns, and Blazers is nothing to sell short. Factoring in road fatigue, the Cavaliers winning this one with Los Angeles shooting 60 percent is unbelievable. The Cavaliers shot 48 percent on the road, avoided getting outrebounded after trailing in that category after three quarters, and they turned it over only 12 times while giving up just 4 offensive rebounds.
The Cavaliers are done out west. Now, they are in great shape to make up games in the second half of the season, which continues against the Raptors on Tuesday night in the Q. In the Q... boy, that's nice to hear.
All for one. One for all.
Kirk
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