Point Blank – January 20
Can the Cavaliers become “Desperados”?...In Miami, it was more “Heartache Tonight” than “The Heat is On”…Tonight, Shaka Smart is “The New Kid in Town” (RIP Glenn Frey)…
The anticipation on Monday was for something along the lines of the Ali/Frazier trilogy – the Warriors and Cavaliers would punch and counterpunch for four quarters, heavyweights trading blows as a prelude to a possible June rematch. Instead it was a quick knockout, and that brings a potential plot twist into play that may run counter to some of the perceptions I am reading about across the Sports Mediaverse. Despite losing by a humbling 132-98 count, it wasn’t as though the key Cleveland cogs were overly humiliated – they couldn’t have been because they weren’t out there that long. LeBron James was the only one that reached 30 minutes, and it was only 22:36 for Kyrie Irving and 21:14 for Kevin Love.
Instead of suffering the attrition of a grueling defeat, might the quick knock-out serve a different purpose long-term? Could a team with a lot of talent, but one still lacking in chemistry and intensity, use the motivation from that debacle to become “Desperados” ? Yes, it is going to be Glenn Frey Day. And we can begin with an elegant late-career version of that classic, performed in December of 2013, with the USC Orchestra & Chorus (I wish a better video angle was available, but this is all there is) -
You can play with all sorts of numbers from Monday. Stephen Curry out-scored the James/Love/Irving triangle by himself. When the deficit grew to 43 points, it was the most that one of LeBron’s teams had ever trailed by. But while that makes for a lot of interesting trivia, the end result may not be nearly as dark. Golden State simply came out with guns blazing, knocking down the first five shots for a quick 12-2 lead, and in making nine triples in the first quarter, the game was effectively over.
Consider how fascinating the halftime charts were. Cleveland had one more FG attempt, two fewer FT attempts, one fewer rebound and one more turnover. It would appear to have been a relatively even floor game. Yet Golden State led 70-44. The Warriors had a +27 from their long-range shooting.
So now to the next stage. Would another close loss, like the one the Cavaliers suffered in Oakland on Christmas day (89-83), or at San Antonio on Thursday (99-95), actually have been more damaging, leading them to believe that they are just a bounce or two away, instead of needing to dig much more deeply? We can start with LeBron, who in a sly way almost seemed to relish the opportunity to set a tone that the rout provided – “We’re not there yet. We’ve got some inexperienced guys that haven’t played enough meaningful basketball games where they can fall back on. When it gets a little tough sometimes, it’s not like they can kind of fall back on previous experiences to try and help them get through it.”
One of those inexperienced guys was Irving, who had a disastrous one-on-one with Curry. Does he lose confidence, or come out fighting? Given his talent level, and the leadership from James on down, perhaps so - “We have the grit and we have the players to do so. I know a lot of us will take this personally and we know when we come into practice tomorrow and going forward we saw a couple things we need to address internally especially with what we need to expect from one another game to game.”
Will it be “Desperado” mode at Brooklyn tonight, the Cavaliers coming out with more passion and aggression? That would not be a surprise; hearing the word “grit” from Irving matters. They should be physically fresh, having had Saturday and Sunday off, and not expending much energy at all on Monday. Given the lack of intensity that is the protocol for the Nets, who are a dismal 1-8 SU and ATS over their last nine games, the only win coming over the Knicks when Carmelo Anthony did not play, the door is open for a statement to be made. I will be putting some #507 Cleveland First Half (7:35 Eastern) into pocket, anticipating the proper early focus. There is less interest in the full game, with a home clash vs. the Clippers tomorrow night possibly leaving the back-door open late. There is a fear that they might "Take it Easy" with a late lead, so as a warning this tribute, from Bruce Springsteen and a terrific crowd at the United Center in Chicago last night, is pertinent -
But there should be no letting up by the Cavs prior to intermission.
About Last Night…
It could have been easy to play around with a version of “The Heat is On” here, noting that the opposite is taking place with Erik Spoelstra’s crew, but a more pertinent offering came up. Back in November of 2013, Frey did a shout-out to Pat Riley during an Eagles gig at American Airlines Arena before then asking - "Now they never play ‘The Heat is On’ during any of these basketball games here, do they?” The irony is that last night they actually did, during the game’s first time out. Yet what Frey and the Eagles went on to play in that 2013 show was more appropriate for what Heat fans had to sit through over the remainder of Tuesday’s game -
The issues for the Heat were noted in the Monday column a case of bad basketball being magnified by an awful stretch of travel that makes corrections difficult. They are in the midst of a cycle of 18 straight court changes, which made last night’s first outing on their own floor in nearly two weeks more like another stop on an extended tour than truly being at home. It showed.
Miami played an abysmal floor game in losing 91-79 to Milwaukee, trailing by as many as 22 points, and finishing with more turnovers than assists. That included an ugly 3:1 the wrong way from Tyler Johnson, who is having to fill in at the point with Goran Dragic and Beno Udrih sidelined. Meanwhile Dwayne Wade, playing through an injured shoulder, only had two points in 21:10, and he and Chris Bosh also had more turnovers than assists. But as bad as things were on the court, the post-game may have been even worse.
On Monday the focus was on the key cogs not pulling any punches about how dire the situation was, despite their still sitting 23-18 in the standings. Last night the words were just as harsh. From Wade - “We just have to figure out a way to play together more and not shoot as many hero shots and move the ball around and move it to guys when they can do something with it.” And from Chris Bosh – “No matter what happens I guess we obviously have to kind of work on our mental toughness because we’re kind of weak in that area.”
?The veterans realize just how bad things are right now, and there is not likely an immediate fix available. As for taking advantage, tonight is not the easiest of settings because the Wizards bring problems of their own – they will be without Otto Porter, Kris Humphries and Drew Gooden again, and put up little fight in Monday’s 108-98 home loss to Portland, trailing by as many as 22 points. But if Udrih sits out again for the Heat, who have failed to reach 80 in the two games Johnson has started at PG, perhaps a small flyer on the Miami Team Total Under can fit.
In the Sights, This Week Shaka Smart truly becomes “The New Kid in Town”…
And from New Zealand in 1995…
The Big 12 is the best conference in the nation this season, and it is not even close. That would seemingly make it a difficult time for Shaka Smart to take over at Texas, especially as he tries to implement a system that does fit well the players on hand. He prefers a team that is smaller but quicker, that gets out and extends the defense all over the court, creating havoc. Instead Smart inherited a roster of bigger plays brought in to play a different style. That will naturally mean a difficult transition, yet there the Longhorns are through five Big 12 games at 3-2, and holding their own, right? Not quite - the scheduling draw haa been kind to Smart and the Longhorns, and I believe it sets up a crash tonight, when they take on #528 West Virginia (7:00 Eastern).
Here is the gist – the Big 12 has three teams that are prime Final Four contenders, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers. Texas has not played any of them yet. The Longhorns have also only had two conference road games, and they happened to be the two easiest trips in the league this season, to Texas Tech and TCU. Guess what? They lost both of them anyway, which is ominous given what they will face in Morgantown tonight, and then at Lawrence on Saturday.
West Virginia will be more than ready, having been toughened up by facing Kansas and Oklahoma in the past two games, out-scoring them by nine points over those 80 floor minutes. No team presses a higher percentage of the time than the Mountaineers, and no one presses better – with 10 different players averaging 15 minutes or more per game fatigue is a non-factor, and a combination of those defensive tactics, plus the physical talent of the team to execute them for the full 40 minutes, has led to the remarkable count of 352 turnovers forced vs. only 159 assists allowed. To be better than 2:1 in that category is rare. Texas does not have the depth to be able to hold up in this kind of challenge, especially having lost the boards by -19 in Big 12 play, despite opening against the conference lower echelon (in games like this they will really show how much this miss Cameron Ridley), and there should be a couple of explosive runs by the Mountaineers to break it open, with plenty of -11.5 available in the marketplace.
The complete Point Blank Archive
U.S. Election 2016: The Perils of Polls
@PregamePhd (a work in progress, feedback appreciated)