Photo: Jon Fobes/Cleveland.com

It wasn't pretty and it certainly wasn't easy, but the Cavaliers found a way to break their longest losing streak in the past two seasons with their home crowd behind them. With six guys in double figure scoring and running more diverse offense, they overcame their defensive woes and Marcus Thornton's game of his life to stop the skid at three games heading into a heavyweight bout on Thursday night.

Rotation tidbits: Tonight was a preview of what we are likely to see for the rest of the season: Mike Brown narrowing down his rotation and finding what will work. On this occasion, that meant no Daniel Gibson, Jawad Williams, J.J. Hickson, or Leon Powe. Granted, it was Powe's first game deemed medically ready to play and J.J. was suffering from the stomach flu, but it was a sign that the 10-11 man rotation that Brown has used at times is coming to an end. The new starting of five of Mo, AP, LeBron, Antawn Jamison, and Shaq, Delonte, Andy, and Jamario Moon; 8 guys; that's it. I see that getting stretched to nine eventually, either when Z returns or as J.J. or Jawad Williams is pressed into service. There's still a lot to work out, however, including some of the moves Brown made tonight. For instance, he played Jamison with LeBron for the entire first quarter, then both had to sit at the start of the second rather than having 'Tawn to fill-in scoring with LBJ resting. Furthermore, Coach Brown played his two centers, Varejao and Shaq, together quite a bit. If memory serves me correctly, the team had reservations about Andy and Shaq playing alongside each other when they WEREN'T the only two centers on the team; that's why J.J. made his way into the starting lineups. After playing both Parker and Shaq heavy minutes in the first half, he did even it out a bit in the 2nd half. With that being said, Jamario Moon had just 9 minutes, while Shaq had 31, LeBron had 44, and Antawn had 37 minutes respectively. They need to make this a full eight man rotation or give both Jawad and Jamario 9 minutes. I don't want to see Shaq ramped up to 30 minutes consistently until just before the playoffs. It's fine in the Boston, Orlando, Denver, and Lakers games, but not against lesser competition. We need the Diesel for the long haul.

"I think I'm going to like this.": My first look at the new Cavalier starting lineup gave me a genuine feeling of excitement. With four 20-point scoring threats out there at once, the Cavalier offense has the ability to be amazingly diversified. In fact, the Cavaliers took a lead without LeBron taking a single shot for the first seven minutes of the game. The first look was a sweet corner jumper by Jamison that was pure, followed up by several WIDE open looks from Anthony Parker and Shaq abusing Emeka Okafor. Speaking of AP, you thought he had wide open looks before, they are only going to be more frequent with Jamison spreading the defense even more. Delonte West and Anderson Varejao both came in and brought some offense as well, placing seven Cavaliers in the scorebook in the first. All of that led to 57% Cavalier shooting in the first and a 12 point lead.

40 point disaster second aka "Who the hell is Marcus Thornton?": The Cavalier got hit by a swarm of Hornets in the second quarter. Actually, it was just one Hornet who stung them over and over and over again. That pesky Hornet was rookie Marcus Thornton. Thornton matched a Q record for points in a quarter (also matched by LeBron earlier this season) with 23 points in a quarter, and he was simply a one-man wrecking crew. The former LSU Tiger is averaging 11 points per game in about 21 minutes this season, so you know he can score it. That's about all the 6-4 guard can do, but when you score like the young man did tonight, what else do you have to do? The Cavaliers put multiple defenders on Thornton to try and cool him off, but it was to no avail. Marcus Thornton finished with a career-high 37 points on a whopping 15-for-22 shooting. He wasn't the only matchup nightmare, however. Rookie Darren Collison gives New Orleans much of what they are missing without All-Star point Chris Paul in the lineup. Collison absolutely abused Mo Williams and Delonte West by getting to the rack and scoring or distributing in both halfcourt and in transition. Collison had 22 points and 10 assists of his own as Mo Williams continues to struggle with the quicker points in the league. To say the Cavalier defense was uninspired, lazy, unintelligent, ill-advised, and non-existent in that quarter just doesn't do it justice. The only word I can think of is "yuck!"

Highlight of the night: My favorite moment of the evening was a fastbreak situation where James found Antawn for the dunk. To be honest, it could have been all the blocked shots that Jamison has endured in his short time with the Cavaliers, but whatever got into 'Tawn on this one, I loved it! He threw this dunk down HARD and right on top of Hornet forward David West. That might have been what set West off later in the game when he and Varejao got double technicals for shoving each other on a rebound. I guess that will happen when another guy's shorts are dangling over top of your head. By the way, kudos to Jon Fobes for an absolutely fantastic photo of the 'Tawn slam (pictured above).

Feeding Shaq keeps things moving: The Hornets, like many teams, zoned up the Cavaliers after a while. And like most games, the Cavaliers played right into their hands by taking contested jumpshots. That is, until the Cavs got the ball into Shaq who was a foul-drawing machine. Not only was he a foul-drawing machine tonight, but he was a scoring machine, notching a 20 point effort on 9-of-13 shooting with 7 rebounds. Pumping the ball into Shaq, especially against teams who need to use a double team, is so effective at racking up fouls and helping the Cavaliers reach the line more often. The Cavaliers reached the bonus with five and a half minutes left, and it was crucial for them in creating a lead.

Closing time: The Cavalier backcourt, who looked awful lost at times during this game, found their way late in this one. A string of three plays by the Cavalier guards gave the blue and orange the lead for good and helped them finish strong. I'm speaking of course, of the Mo Williams three ball, Delonte West blocked shot, and Delonte West three pointer that gave the Cavaliers a six-point advantage at 95-89 with 3:40 remaining. Mo was just 1-of-8 when he fired that three, but we've seen before that Mo isn't afraid to take that shot, even on an off night. Delonte had some mental lapses, but the penetration and hustle plays he can give you are just so valuable. When he's knocking down outside shots, he's that much tougher. One more note on the finish was a play where LeBron found Jamison underneath the hoop for a score after he looked trapped. Jamison's fearless play in crunch time will prove to be just as valuable as anything else he brings. He is used to being a go-to guy in Washington, so he shouldn't be afraid of the moment either.

goes to: Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq kept the offense from stalling, and his 20 point, 7 rebound effort was his second straight 20 point game. Shaq is now averaging 17 points per game in 4 games since the All-Star break, signs that the Diesel is amping it up.

Team Grade: B-

Aside from that dreadful fourth quarter where the Hornets scored 40 points and shot 71%, the Cavalier defense held the Hornets to 55 points and 41% from the floor. They also had 29 assists and just 8 turnovers. Six Cavaliers were in double figure scoring, and the wine and gold shot 49% themselves. This type of effort, however, will not get it done against the league's elite. For what was in front of them on this night, ending the losing streak, the Cavaliers did enough to win and move on.

Move on they will to Boston on Thursday night for a marquee matchup with the Celtics. The Cavs lost the season opener to the Celts in the Q when they were in complete disarray and had no comfort level, sort of similar to where they are currently. Word is that Paul Pierce may not play with a thumb injury, so that would be huge for the Cavs. Either way, it will be a knockout, dragdown affair.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

Comments (1)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment