Cavs Rout Listless Knicks, 119-101
L.A. Lakers versus anyone has been the most popular pick for NBA TV's "Fan Night" each Tuesday but this week LeBron James' much hyped appearance in Madison Square Garden took center stage. James turned in a very solid performance (26 points, four rebounds, one assist in 30 minutes) as the Cavs used their superior size and defensive intensity to dominate the Knicks, 119-101. If this was New York's audition to prove to James that he should leave Cleveland for the Knicks in 2010 then the Knicks have a lot of work to do, assuming that James' first priority is to win a championship; the Knicks have neither championship level talent nor--more importantly--do they play a championship level style of basketball focused on defense and rebounding. The Knicks will score a lot of points this year and they may stay close enough to .500 to at least contend for a playoff berth but the difference between them and the Cavaliers could not be more stark. Check out the game recap that I wrote for CavsNews (6/17/15 edit: the link to CavsNews.com no longer works, so I have posted the original article below):
Some people
considered Tuesday night’s Cleveland-New York game to be a chance for the
Knicks to showcase why LeBron James should sign with them in two years but it
rapidly turned into a good demonstration of why the NBA’s leading scorer should
think long and hard before leaving his current team; the Cavaliers led by as
many as 34 points en route to a 119-101 victory and they controlled the game so
thoroughly that James did not even play in the fourth quarter. James finished
with 26 points, four rebounds and one assist in 30 minutes. Six other Cavs
scored in double figures, including Delonte West (16 points), Wally Szczerbiak
(15 points) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (11 points, 10 rebounds), who was the early
focal point of the offense as Cleveland pounded the ball inside against the
smaller Knicks. Quentin Richardson led New
York with 22 points, while Chris Duhon added 14
points and six assists. Two of the Knicks’ three newly acquired veterans
played: Tim Thomas came off of the bench to contribute 16 points, six rebounds
and four assists and Al Harrington had 13 points and nine rebounds but shot
just 5-16 from the field and looked very rusty, which is not surprising
considering that his playing time in Golden State had been slashed this year
due to a conflict with Coach Don Nelson.
Garbage time
skewed the final team numbers a bit but Cleveland
shot .527 from the field, won the rebounding battle 48-43, enjoyed a 50-28
points in the paint advantage and held the Knicks to .414 field goal shooting. Those
statistics are the direct result of Cleveland being the bigger, more physical
and more defensive-minded team. Many people have understandably praised how
deep and versatile the Lakers are this year but the Cavs also have a deep and
versatile roster, though for some reason the national media acts as if the team
is wholly dependent on James. The truth is that to be a good defensive team you
have to have all five players on the court working together “on a string”; the Cavs
demonstrated that kind of effort throughout this game, while the Knicks rarely
exerted much energy at that end of the court. New York Coach Mike D’Antoni has
definitely brought his free flowing offensive philosophy with him from Phoenix
but the Knicks do not have enough talent to execute it as effectively as the
Suns did—and their defense, at least on this night, is even worse than Phoenix’
was during his tenure. The larger issue here is that even if/when the Knicks
upgrade their talent level it has been demonstrated that in the NBA defense
wins championships; you can win with a variety of different offensive styles
but you have to have a commitment to playing solid defense on a nightly basis.
The Cavs
smartly attacked the Knicks in the paint early in the game, repeatedly posting
up Ilgauskas on the left block against Wilson Chandler. Ilgauskas scored seven
points in the first quarter and set the tone for the rest of the game.
Meanwhile, James’ sporadic outside shot looked good early on as he drained back
to back three pointers; he finished 3-7 from three point range, tying his
second best three point shooting performance of the season (he had made just 11
of 43 three pointers—25.6%--in the 13 previous games). Color commentator Walt
Frazier said, “Those shots illuminate how strong he is, barely flicking his
wrists.” Indeed, both of those shots were set shots but when James went for
three in a row he missed and Frazier noted, “That time he jumped and it threw
him off.”
The Cavs led
34-22 by the end of the first quarter and then they blew the game wide open in
the first two minutes of the second quarter, extending the margin to 42-22 with
James on the bench. After a Daniel Gibson runner made the score 48-24, the New York fans began
booing. When James returned to action the Cavs led 55-31 and he immediately hit
a turnaround, fadeaway jumper from the left baseline. On the next possession,
James looked like he was playing “Around the World,” attempting exactly the
same shot from the right baseline but failing to connect. One of the intriguing
things about James is that his shot selection is questionable at times and yet
he shoots a good field goal percentage, largely because he scores so many easy
shots in the paint; if he either attempted fewer three pointers or shot a
better percentage from that distance and then eschewed fadeaway shots for
strong post moves he could increase his shooting percentage to well over .500,
which would be a remarkable figure for a small forward in this era.
James had one
dunk in this game; it looked like he would have an opportunity to catch a fast
break lob from West late in the second quarter but when defender Harrington
kept retreating West took the ball to the hoop himself and threw down a two
handed slam, causing Frazier to exclaim, “West was 6-3, 180 pounds of fury that
time.” Coach D’Antoni received a technical foul after that dunk as he
complained about the two Ben Wallace blocked shots that created the transition
opportunity for Cleveland.
After the replay was shown, Frazier acknowledged that both blocks were clean.
James missed the technical free throw but he shot 9-11 from the free throw line
overall, improving his career-high percentage to .784, a most welcome
development for someone who draws as many fouls as he does.
Getting back
to the issue of shot selection, during the Cavs’ second to last possession of
the first half James dribbled the shot clock all the way down before firing up
a three pointer that glanced off of the side of the rim. That is a bad shot not
only because he missed and because he is not a good three point shooter but
also because there was absolutely no ball or player movement; those are the
kinds of possessions that can be costly against a good team but against the
Knicks it did not matter: Ilgauskas rebounded the miss, scored, drew a foul and
made the free throw to put Cleveland up 67-36. The Knicks added a David Lee
layup right before halftime.
James opened
the second half on a strong note, ripping the ball away from Chandler, going coast to coast, drawing a
foul and making both free throws. Play by play announcer Mike Breen talked
about how much James has improved defensively since he came into the league.
Frazier added, “Most people feel that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the
league and I’m sure that James wants that honor. He’s getting there.” Mo
Williams ended New York’s
run by making a jumper and the Cavs began to pull away again as the Knicks
showed little effort defensively and took poor shots on offense. By the end of
the third quarter Cleveland
led 95-66. New York
pulled to within 104-88 after a four point play by Thomas at the 4:13 mark of
the fourth quarter but the Cavs soon pushed the margin back over 20 and then
cruised to victory.
NBA TV
broadcast this game as part of its “Fan Night” promotion, the weekly
opportunity that the network provides to fans to vote for which game they would
most like to see. The Lakers versus anyone has been the most popular choice
this season, but NBA TV personalities Ahmad Rashad, Gary Payton and Chris
Webber lobbied heavily last week for the Cleveland-New York game, citing James’ 50 point performance last
season in Madison
Square Garden.
By halftime, Rashad, Payton and Webber openly expressed their regret about the
lopsided nature of the game. Payton looked right into the camera and said, “I’m
sorry fans. My bad.” Knicks fans may have been discouraged, national fans may
have been bored and James watchers may have wanted to see more highlights but
for the Cavs this was a solid road win as they begin a stretch of four games in
five nights.
Labels: Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, New York Knicks
posted by David Friedman @ 11:32 AM
1 Comments:
By far the best part of Tuesday night or any NBA night of the week is Ahmad, Gary and CWebb. Payton is absolute comedy. They are better than Inside the NBA.
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