Cavaliers End 2014 with Massive Uncertainty and Other NBA Wednesday Takeaways
You’d be hard-pressed to find an NBA team more eager to bid hasty adieu to auld lang syne than the Cleveland Cavaliers—full circle as their 2014 has come, from utter dysfunction to prodigal hope and painfully, awkwardly back again.
David Blatt just has to hope he’s not part of the New Year’s housecleaning.
With LeBron James (knee), Kevin Love (back) and Shawn Marion (ankle) all sidelined with injuries, the Cavs coughed up a year-end horror show in a 96-80 drubbing at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena.
The loss—Cleveland’s third straight—dropped Blatt and Co. to 18-14, a mere game-and-a-half ahead of the surprisingly plucky Bucks. Bob Finnegan of The News-Herald highlighted Irving's point total and the team's overall shooting percentage from the field in noting the Cavs' lost:
More fundamentally, it brought to a calamitous close one of the most drama-filled storylines of the year. From star-studded contenders to conference also-rans in the span of a few weeks, the Cavaliers enter 2015 awash in what-ifs.
Foremost among them: the long-term status of Blatt, now under fire after ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein reported a growing rift between the Cavs and their first-year coach.
For his part, James—whom some see as having distanced himself from Blatt—didn’t rush to his skipper’s side, per his comments (via ESPN's Dave McMenamin):
Peyton Manning has probably given doorstops a more heartfelt endorsement than this.
Coupled with speculation as to what was or wasn’t said during a pregame dap session between James and former teammate Dwyane Wade, you have all the makings for a full-blown basketball soap opera.
Few would doubt the sincerity of James’ decision to rest his ailing knee—when you’re the best basketball player on the planet, precaution takes on a different meaning altogether.
All the same, you can’t say it looked good to see James (and Love, for that matter) donning street clothes, the team’s chemistry and camaraderie crumbling from within. LeBron is the undisputed leader of the team, after all.
Truth be told, there are plenty—including For the Win’s Mike Foss—who maintain that the Cavs’ last, best chance of righting their wayward ship lies not in giving Blatt less power (to say nothing of outright firing him), so much as giving the 30-year-old James an even bigger stake in the leadership claim:
"Would anyone contest that the Cleveland Cavaliers are LeBron’s team more than Blatt’s? This is James’ team and it should be run his way. Not because he’s needy or arrogant, and not because the team is in crisis or Blatt is incompetent.
But because he is the best player in the NBA – someone with 11 more years experience in the league than his coach, and the one guy on the roster with two championships to his name. Lean on him, die by him. It’s not like the original plan was to play through Dion Waiters.
"
With games against the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors marking the first 10 days of the new year, Cleveland’s path to stability isn’t exactly bathed in primroses. All the while, the critical clarion calls are only bound to get louder—the necessary curse in what just a few months ago began as a beatific basketball blessing.
The Cavaliers are talented and experienced enough to render their recent rancor to the dustbin of history.
If only it were as easy as singing a song about times long past.
Around the Association
This Is an Unfortunately Familiar Boogie
Earlier this season, DeMarcus Cousins' dominant play and relatively civil demeanor forced all of us to concede he'd matured. Some of the pouting lingered, and there were still precious few disadvantageous whistles that didn't elicit at least a frown.
But Boogie was crushing the competition and staying in line while he did it. Everybody, even his detractors, was happy to see that.
Unfortunately, it seems Cousins is regressing to the mean—behaviorally.
And when Marcus Smart tried to box him out in the fourth quarter of the Sacramento Kings' 106-84 road loss to the Boston Celtics Wednesday, DMC got, well...just plain mean.
That led to speculation about the source of Cousins' (renewed) discontent. It's a conversation Grantland's Zach Lowe joined in on:
Cousins had just a single technical all year before getting two more against Boston, and one incident shouldn't outweigh the bulk of the evidence that he's working on controlling himself. The real trouble, though, is that Cousins' devolving demeanor has lately coincided with the return of some of his worst on-court habits.
ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton noted the Kings' decision to play 4-on-5 defense was due to Cousins:
Here's hoping a new year brings a return of the new Cousins—if that makes any sense. We've all had our fill of the old one, and it's better for the Kings, their fans and Cousins himself if this incident was just a blip and not the beginning of an all-too-familiar pattern.
Harden Staying Hot
The Houston Rockets took care of the Charlotte Hornets at home, cruising to a 102-83 win that helped ease the sting of their modest two-game slide. James Harden retained full-scorch status, tallying 36 points, seven rebounds and six assists on 12-of-19 shooting. He knocked down eight of 11 from long distance.
Over his last five games, Harden is averaging 34.6 points on 56.3 percent shooting.
He heads into the new year on a roll like nobody else.
Indy Goes Deep
In the five games leading up to their meeting with the Miami Heat, the Indiana Pacers' bench averaged 47.4 points per game, per HoopsStats.com, the second-highest figure in the league during that span. A beneath-the-radar stat, sure, but one that made what happened in Indy's 106-95 win foreseeable.
The Pacers reserves piled up a whopping 52 points, led by C.J. Miles' 25, which he amassed mainly on the strength of 5-of-10 shooting from long range. Afterward, Miles was feeling good, according to his comments (via Candace Buckner of IndyStar.com):
George Hill led the starters with 20 points on 14 shots, and his return to the starting lineup has shifted more scoring punch to the bench (C.J. Watson scored 11 points in 21 minutes). Not only that but the Pacers have also won three of five games Hill has played this year.
Even with a healthy point guard and highly productive bench, the Pacers aren't the surefire playoff lock they were a year ago—which is probably why they relished this win against a similarly diminished rival. That sentiment was echoed in coach Frank Vogel's comments (via the team's official Twitter account):
The Pacers will head into 2015 just two games out of playoff position, trending in the right direction. If they make up enough ground for an improbable return to the postseason, it'll be their depth that does the trick. And if that playoff visit were to come at the expense of the Heat, who currently hold the No. 8 seed, what a satisfying trip it'd be.
Mike Woodson Is the Winner
Carmelo Anthony and the rest of the New York Knicks were happy to see former head coach Mike Woodson, now an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers, on Wednesday, according to Al Iannazzone of Newsday:
Woodson returned the embraces of his old players, sure in the knowledge that losing his gig in New York turned out better for him than anyone. And if he felt any pangs of regret before the game, watching the Knicks stumble dejectedly through a 99-78 drubbing took care of them in a hurry.
New York's effort was abysmal, marked by 38.1 percent shooting from the field and a 50-40 deficit on the boards. Slow rotations afforded L.A. the freedom to fire away from deep—where it shot 44.1 percent on a whopping 34 attempts—and move the ball with impunity.
Blake Griffin took advantage of open passing lanes more than anyone, piling up a career-high 11 assists to go along with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Anthony led the Knicks with 19 points but evinced the kind of easy irritability, as The Wall Street Journal's Chris Herring pointed out, you'd expect from a player fighting through knee soreness with no help on a 5-29 team:
The Knicks have lost 19 of 20 games for the first time in franchise history. Grantland's new3rk provided an interesting description of the Knicks' situation:
Woodson, now working on the opposite coast and free from the suffocating criticism that (sometimes rightly) plagued him a year ago, will probably spend New Year's resolving to wake up every morning and thank his lucky stars.
The Spurs Will Spur Forever
The San Antonio Spurs needed a fluke tip-in at the fourth-quarter buzzer (guided by some combination of Tim Duncan and Omer Asik's hands) to reach overtime. Once there, the crusty, crafty old vets did what they always do: out-execute, outthink and outlast the opposition.
With scores on their final six possessions of the extra period, the Spurs edged out the Pellies by a final margin of 95-93. In a microcosm of how the Spurs leveraged smarts against springs, Anthony Davis made a brilliantly athletic play, faking a handoff and driving to the bucket for a tough finish with 36 seconds left in OT, putting New Orleans up by one.
On the ensuing possession, Manu Ginobili, who led all scorers with 26 points, lost Austin Rivers on a simple back cut and hit an uncontested layup on a sweet delivery from Duncan. A cosmetic free throw from Timmy on the next possession put the Spurs up by two for good.
It's not in vogue to laud the Spurs right now, as they're off to the worst start of the Duncan era: a totally respectable (if they weren't the Spurs) 20-14.
With so much experience, so much unselfishness and so many players on the roster willing to operate within the league's most effective system, it's hard to be critical of San Antonio. And it's even harder to count it out, regardless of its current No. 7 spot in the West and its ho-hum start to the year.
We've pronounced the Spurs dead plenty of times in recent seasons, only to watch them reanimate and make great exaggerators of us all. Let's not make the same mistake again.
KD Tags in, Russ Tags Out
Kevin Durant rejoined the Oklahoma City Thunder's starting lineup for the first time since Dec. 18, a six-game absence that yielded just three wins—disappointing after the seven-game winning streak coinciding with his comeback from a broken foot.
Right ankle mended, KD started the game and drilled his first three shots, handing out three assists, grabbing two boards and blocking a shot—all within the game's first six minutes. It was like he'd been awakened from suspended animation, fully functional and just as dangerous as he was in scoring 30 points by halftime against the Golden State Warriors.
Anthony Slate of The Oklahoman provided KD's remarkable stats for the last 25 minutes of the game:
Just as Durant returned, though, Russell Westbrook exited. He earned a technical foul in a tie-up with Suns center Alex Len, then a second one for flexing and shouting at some combination of the crowd and Phoenix's bench.
It was a testy affair all around, with six total technical fouls whistled.
Amid the finable violations, there were lots of buckets, though. And the Thunder scored more of them, leading to a 137-134 overtime win. Durant finished with 44 points.
Assuming Westbrook doesn't get the heave-ho too many more times this season, the Thunder look ready to charge up the standings and into playoff position.
With the reigning MVP back, OKC's new year really will be a fresh start marked by consistently successful trips to the gym. Unlike mine and yours.
Special thanks to Jim Cavan for the Cavaliers writeup.
