Post mortem:
The Cavaliers hit triple digits for the fifth time in six games and ‘’hold’’ the Nuggets to just under 100.
And they did it with defense, the way Mike Brown likes his team to play. A little perspective – the Nuggets scored just 38 points in the second half and a white-hot Chauncey Billups was put on ice for much of that time. He scored 18 in the first half and finished with 26.
The Cavs have won games much like this one this season when LeBron James took over. He scored just 22 and proved instrumental in the win, but while he rested on the bench in the fourth quarter, point guard Mo Williams took over the game, scoring 8 points in the quarter. He had help, of course, throughout the second half as Daniel ‘’Boobie’’ Gibson found his shot. Toward the end of the third quarter going into the fourth, he scored 9 consecutive points.
Quotable:
Coach Mike Brown on the first half:
The first half was a rat race. Capital R-A-T R-A-C-E. Rat race. It’s tough because it’s early in the season, but our guys regrouped, refocused and came out and played the right way on the both sides of the floor. I have to feel proud of them for that.
Daniel Gibson on hitting 7-of-11 and getting his stroke back:
‘’I felt like it was just a matter of time (before getting his stroke back),’’ he said. ‘’This year I’ve gotten shots in bulk as opposed to previous years where they were a minimum, so I had to make sure I concentrated and knocked them down.’’
At the half:
Neither team seems to be interested in playing any form of defense. The Cavaliers have given up 26 points in the paint, the Nuggets 32. The Cavs shot 61 percent from the floor. The Nuggets close to 60. The buckets are coming too fast and too easily. Mo Williams leads the Cavs with 16 points; Chauncey Billups returns to haunt the Cavs with 18.
Game: Cavs (7-2) vs. Denver Nuggets (4-4)
TV: TNT
WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM)
Starters: Cavs: LeBron James (F); Ben Wallace (F); Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C); Delonte West (G); Mo Williams (G). Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony (F); Kenyon Martin (F); Nene (C); Dahntay Jones (G); Chauncey Billups (G).
Officials: Joe Crawford, Bennie Adams, Derrick Collins
Streaking: The Cavaliers own a five game willing streak. Denver has won three-in-a-row and they are undefeated in their last five meetings with the Cavaliers.
Three things to watch:
1) Chauncey Billups vs. Mo Williams. Two point guards running up tempo offenses should make hoops fans salivate and some of Billups’ numbers are actually up since arriving in Denver from Detroit. He averages 15.7 points per game, although his assists are down.
2) To say that Daniel Gibson had a rough outing against the Bucks would be generous. Gibson is 5-of-20 in the past three games and 3-of-14 on 3-point attempts while it’s too early to call it a slump, if he doesn’t pop out of it tonight, Coach Mike Brown will have to look to get more out of the rest of his bench.
Assorted updates throughout the evening
3) LeBron vs. Melo – This was supposed to be a big time rivalry when they both entered the NBA Draft at the same time. Problem is they’ve only seen one another twice a year since. Kind of hard to build a rivalry that way and James knows it. Still, it should prove fun to watch these two go at it.
Quotable:
From the coach’s office:
Mike Brown on Chauncey Billups’ move to Denver:
He brings a lot of stability in terms of running that team. They still want to get out and run. Their fast break numbers have gone up since he’s been there, but it’s just a little bit more controlled…Chauncey’s more of a set-up guy than a guy who’s going to go get his own. (But) he’s shown he can get his own in big numbers.
Denver coach, George Karl, on Chauncey Billups:
We’ve won three games, so you can’t complain. What’s exciting for all of us is that there’s a window of improvement that’s definitively there…Our defense is probably ahead of our offense and we have good offensive players who, in time, will get better.
Billups on his experiences in Cleveland:
They were a big-time rival of ours when we were in Detroit. We played them twice in the playoffs since I’d been there. We beat them once and they beat us once. But just a lot of great battles in this building.
On playing here in a different uniform:
It’s weird. It will probably get a little weird later when the game starts.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Andy should have gotten a T for flopping on that interaction with Kenyon Martin. If I was Joey Crawford, I’d let him have it next time I officiated a Cavs game.
matt – andy flopped? are you talking about the “pick” martin set when he got ejected with his second T? how was that a flop? that was an illegal pick martin set (again). he did it twice in a row. if you drop your shoulder and push out as the opponent approaches, thats a foul, which is exactly what martin did twice. the first to Mo Williams and martin got a technical. generally, that kind of move shouldn’t be a technical foul but given that it was the exact same type of move that matt barnes did to rafer alston that set off the little scuffle the night before in the houston/phoenix game, im sure the refs were on high alert.
sideshow bob did overreact a little when martin leaned into him. but martin deserved his ejection.
terje – agreed. a flop to me is exaggerating the contact when there is no foul in order to try and manufacture a foul. in that case, there was no question martin dropped his shoulder and issued an illegal pick.
The NBA does not distinguish between a flop without a related foul versus a flop without a related a foul. Nor should they. A flop is a flop is a flop. There’s really no set definition, they said they were going to call technical fouls for “the most egregious type of flops.” Whatever that means. That was clearly a flop. Varejao should have gotten a technical.
I typed that first sentence incorrectly, but you get the idea.
alan – they dont distinguish because they dont have to. if there was a foul, then there is no flop since there was a foul. if there’s no foul, yet a guy acts like there is, there is a flop. andy was clearly fouled by martin’s illegal pick – hence no flop.
A flop is a flop. A flop is an exaggeration. It doesn’t matter if there was a foul. At what point does it actually become a “flop?” If Varejao had continued his South American flying trapeze act and ended up landing in the third row and crushing a crying baby after that Martin pick, would you then still say because it was an illegal pick, then it wasn’t a “flop?” Who cares if if was a foul on Martin or not. They said they would be calling a technical for that brand of Portuguese Vlade Divac baloney. They should have called it.
lol…ok alan. ill grant you if andy had ended up landing in the third row and crushing a crying baby after that Martin pick, then i can live with a flop being called.
by the way, andy didnt even leave his feet on that martin pick. how is that a flop? he was moving and martin’s illegal pick knocked varejao backwards a step or two and off balance. frankly, that seems pretty reasonable when a guy who’s 6 foot 9, 240 lbs drops his shoulder and thrusts it into your chest. even if varejao did “flop” (which he didnt there), by your own admission “the most egregious type of flops” are to be called technicals per the NBA. you really think andy stumbling back a step or two qualifies as “a most egregious type of flop??”
in fact, the more i think about it, saying martin set an illegal pick isnt really accurate since he was on defense. andy had actually just passed the ball to lbj and was in the process to set his feet in order to set his own pick. in that situation, the last thing andy would be looking to do is flop to draw a foul. thats something to typically do on defense, not on offense. martin just simply dropped his shoulder and rammed it into varajao for no reason – clearly a foul (but flagrant 2 is excessive, in my opinion). that was no flop – not even close.
Varejao’s tired Hollywood act was one of the primary reasons the NBA finally said enough is enough. They need to make an example of that Flopmeister and call a T long before Ferry gets rid of him at the trade deadline. Yesterday’s game was a perfect opportunity. He’s not the Hulk, but he’s not made of dandelions and straw, ether. Flop.
agreed varejao flops. what happened last night when martin got his second technical was not a flop. not even close. you dont “flop” and then try to catch your balance. you flop and fall over in order to give the exaggeration full effect. that particular incident goes against every logical explanation and definition of a flop. not a flop. im not saying he’s the hulk, but when a guy like martin drops his shoulder and barrels it into your chest when youre not expecting it, youre going to stumble backwards a step or two and try to catch your balance, which is exactly what andy did. even lbj would have likely lost his balance and stumbled after that. not a flop.
bill, Varejao has a flop and a half a flop for every occasion. He does drama. He does comedy. He’s an actor. He’s a singer. Balance, no balance, fall on ass, fall sideways on half an ass, fall and recover before ass hits ground, whatever. At this point, the wigged Brazilian Nicole Kidman is crying wolf. The credibility is long gone. Call a T. And James would have lost his balance only if he did a little Karl Malone-type flopping himself.
Alan t why such venom towards verejao?u a pisstains fan?
alan – that wasnt a flop. your ridiculous hyperbole won’t change that. if that was anyone else, this wouldnt even be discussed. youre making a mountain out of a molehill.
alan – why is this so hard to figure out? its doesnt take much to knock someone off balance when that person isn’t expecting the blow coming and the other person is 6 foot 9, 240 lbs and drops his shoulder and thrusts it into the other guy’s chest. im done wasting my time on this argument. that was not a flop, and even if so, not even close to one worthy of a technical. the cavs won and thats what we should be talking about – not whether or not andy may or may not have flopped by taking an extra step backwards by an obviously cheap and dirty play by kenyon martin at a fairly meaningless point of a game the cavs had already won. and by the way, most of your moronic exaggerations, metaphors and analogies are MUCH worse than any of andy’s flops.