|
Photo: Tony Gutierrez/AP
There was no doubt that it was going to happen sooner rather than later. The Cavalier win streak was stopped at five tonight after the Mavericks, who were without superstar Dirk Nowitzki, showed their depth and offensive shotmaking prowess by making the Cavaliers pay for the same mistakes they got away with against lesser opponents during the streak. The Cavaliers now find themselves out west and in a heap of trouble with three very tough games left before they hit the home floor once again next Sunday night. Here's a look at some of what went wrong.
No Dirk, but no Moon either: Dirk Nowitzki missed this game due to a laceration on his right elbow suffered on Friday night when he knocked out five of Carl Landry's chiclets, leaving parts of two of them in his elbow. As for Jamario, he was M.I.A. because of a left abdominal strain.
Are you kiddin' me, FSN?: A huge thumbs down to FSN Ohio for their programming decision to air the Florida State-Georgia Tech men's basketball game before the Cavaliers game, trumping Cavaliers Live and the start of the game itself when it went to overtime. In the future, programmers should know that we care about our Cavaliers here in Ohio way more than national coverage of a men's college basketball game.
Centers sit early: Shaq succeeded once again in getting the opposing team's center into early foul trouble. Erick Dampier picked up his second foul, drawn by Shaq, at the 6:13 mark. Unfortunately, Drew Gooden drew a second foul on O'Neal just eight seconds later, and Anderson Varejao was forced into early action. Shaq struggled mightily all evening since he made just 1-of-7 shots for 5 points and 8 rebounds in 18 minutes. Shaq has been struggling lately to get over the 20 minute played mark because in all honesty, the Cavaliers' best crunchtime lineup is without Shaq right now. Combine that and the fact that Andy plays heavy minutes and Z and Andy play so well together, and you can see why O'Neal is getting squeezed a bit. His performance certainly isn't helping things though.
When it rains, it Drizzles: An old friend helped in the demise of the Cavs tonight, forward/center Drew Gooden. Gooden, who donned the wine and gold for 3 1/2 seasons and was a key part of the Eastern Conference Champion team in 2006-2007, led the charge of the Maverick bench. Gooden dropped in 12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, 10 of those points coming in the first half. The other two Mavs reserves, Jason Terry and Josh Howard, were fantastic as well. Terry scored 19 points, 11 in the second half, on 7-of-12 shooting adding 4 assists. Howard poured on 14 points to bring the Dallas bench total to 45 points, outscoring the Cavalier bench by four. These could very well be the two best and deepest benches in the league. In fact, Tim Thomas started for Dirk Nowitzki and led the team in scoring with 22 points and contributed 7 boards as well. So, the Mavs have three starter caliber players in Howard, Terry, and Gooden on the bench as well as a solid bench contributor in Thomas. The Cavalier bench does have Varejao, Moon, West, and Ilgauskas, who started games last year, but the only one capable of dropping 25 points is Delonte. All three of the Maverick bench players could drop 25 points on a given night.
The new fourth quarter playmaker: In the last two games, it's been Delonte West, not LeBron James or Mo Williams, who has been the only one taking any initiative in attacking the basket and running some sort of offensive play late in the game. West scored seven in the fourth quarter Friday night, and he followed that up with 10 fourth quarter points tonight on his way to 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. It's great to see West playing so well and being a big part of the team effort, but LeBron had just 2 fourth quarter points tonight and Mo chipped in a whopping zero fourth quarter points. Anderson Varejao did score 9 of his 13 in the final quarter, but it was not enough to lead the Cavs to victory.
Runnin' LeBron ragged in the fourth: Despite just two fourth quarter points, LeBron did not sit in the fourth quarter, a true rarity in non-playoff games in the last few seasons. LBJ logged 43 minutes as a result, and the Cavaliers will likely pay for it tomorrow night in Phoenix. I applaud Mike Brown for giving it a try though for once. So many times, I've been furious when Brown would keep James pinned to the bench as either leads dwindled or defecits increased. LeBron is still young and I don't really think a few extra minutes will really affect him that much.
Crying foul: Forgive me for sounding like a broken record, but I thought the officials tonight were particularly unfair. A few calls that stick out in my mind are the Shaq charge where he did nothing but turn toward the basket and put up a shot, the Varejao foul where Terry extended his knee out in front of him and into Varejao's groin, and the LeBron charge to end the third quarter. The foul count was actually 20-17 in favor of the Cavaliers, but it sure didn't seem like that as the Cavaliers couldn't buy a call when they really needed one. Maybe I'm just a little bitter after the loss, but I just keep wondering when we are going to get some of the crews we got during the 66-win gravy train last year.
 goes to: Delonte West, for his second straight A effort in the fourth quarter, with 10 points in the final 12 minutes. His total numbers were 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Team Grade: C-
I'm being a little generous here because the Mavericks played near error-free basketball without their star. This team is deep, and it may very well be the second best team in the West. The Mavs turned it over just six times and shot 48 percent. They also had 25 assists on 38 field goals and made 19-of-20 free throw attempts. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers gave up 102 points as their defense was far less than solid, and they turned it over 12 times. The Cavaliers only made five treys on the evening, and they got only two points from Mo Williams and LeBron James combined in the fourth quarter. That all adds up to a Cavalier loss. It's a bad way to start the roadtrip, but the Mavs may have benefited by being without Nowitzki and using this as a team effort win.
The Cavaliers head to the next stop on the four game swing, Phoenix, to take on the undefeated at home Suns tomorrow night. If they want to knock off PHX, they'll need more defensive effort and offensive execution.
All for one. One for all.
Kirk
|
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 