Cavaliers Officially Back Among East Elite and Other Thursday NBA Takeaways
Not one month ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers looked like colossal failures. They sat under .500, had lost six in a row, couldn't play defense and were fading fast, watching as championship hopes devolved into erroneous excitement.
In the time since that ill-fated free fall, the Cavaliers have undergone transformative change, both on paper and on the court. Now they're back to where they started this season, when their aesthetic appeal trumped everything, including opponents: the Eastern Conference's contender circle.
If there were ever a time to believe the Cavaliers have arrived and aren't going anywhere, it's now, after 12 straight victories, following a convincing 105-94 win over the Los Angeles Clippers at Quicken Loans Arena.
The final score doesn't do the Cavaliers' Thursday night exploits justice. The Clippers led just once, when it was 2-0. It was all Cavaliers everything from then on. Their lead ballooned to 32 points, and the starters didn't log a single minute in the fourth quarter.
The Cavaliers dominated almost every facet of the game. They shot 50 percent from the floor through the first three quarters, relentlessly attacked the paint, drew fouls and limited the Clippers' transition opportunities.
LeBron James was absolutely fantastic, racking up 23 points, nine assists, three rebounds and one steal in under 28 minutes of action.
Kevin Love was also spectacular—which is to say, alive—busting out of his weeks-long rut by pumping in 24 points on 6-of-14 shooting and a 10-of-12 showing from the foul line. The last time he reached the 24-point plateau, James' headband wasn't window-pane wide, bell-bottoms were in vogue and dinosaurs roamed the earth (Jan. 11).
In the event you're wondering if Love's one-game about-face will stick, Cavaliers coach David Blatt would like you to stop. Per Fox Sports Ohio's Sam Amico:
There's nothing wrong with the Cavaliers defense, either. Not anymore. It ranked 26th in points allowed per 100 possessions prior to this winning streak. It ranks inside the top 10 through the last 12 victories.
The Clippers acted as the ultimate test. They were the NBA's best offensive team coming in, scoring a league-leading 110.6 points per 100 possessions.
But the Cavaliers made them look like a hot mess. The Clippers couldn't steal, buy or even rent a basket through the first three quarters—especially from beyond the arc (3-of-17), where they were smothered by help defense, traps and outstretched arms.
Afterward, James could only offer (backhanded) praise for Cleveland's defensive effort, via The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram's Rick Noland:
I mean, you know things are good when Northeast Ohio Media Group's Joe Vardon notes that Iman Shumpert broke out the kazoo jaw harp:
Still, this isn't about one matchup, one performance, one wholly dominant victory. It's about these last few weeks, and the Cavaliers' last 12 games.
Only the Warriors are outscoring opponents by more points per 100 possessions during that time. No offense—not the Clippers, not the Warriors—has been better since Jan. 15. The Cavaliers are clicking on every cylinder imaginable, and things are even better when James, Love and Kyrie Irving are sharing the floor, per Conrad Kaczmarek:
What Eastern Conference squad are they supposed to fear now, with James healthy and team chemistry at an all-time high? The still-surging Atlanta Hawks pose an obvious roadblock, but the list ends there.
Suddenly it's Cleveland and Atlanta, and then everyone else.
The win over the Clippers leaves the Cavaliers tied with the Washington Wizards for third place in the East at 31-20 (with the Cavs getting the tiebreaker by virtue of leading their division). They're now just 2.5 games behind the second-place Toronto Raptors. Nothing except the No. 1 seed is out of reach for them.
These are the Cavaliers we've been waiting for, the ones we expected to see—the ones who, despite a sluggish start, are now toeing that fine line between conference contender and conference favorite.
Around the Association
Nothing Magical About These Wizards
It's easy to make the case that the Wizards have underachieved this season, because it's true.
Despite leading by as many as 11 points, the Wizards fell to the Charlotte Hornets 94-87, setting a new high for season lows:
The Wizards shot just 41.7 percent against the Hornets' suffocating defense, unraveling completely in the fourth quarter. They buried just 26.3 percent of their looks overall in the game's final installment and couldn't score around the rim or inside the paint:
Losing Bradley Beal to a toe injury early on didn't help matters, but the Wizards are enduring a special kind of downward spiral. They're now just 9-11 since Jan. 1 and 7-10 against Eastern Conference playoff teams.
This does not look like a squad that's ready for title contention.
Shoot, the Wizards don't even look like they'll survive February.
The Buzz in Charlotte Is Real
All the Hornets do is win...this side of Jan. 3:
Overrun with lame ducks, the Eastern Conference has been begging for a dark-horse playoff contender. The Hornets are answering that call.
Reducing the Wizards offense to a sniveling, crumpling heap of stagnancy is just a taste of their recent run. They have the league's best defense over their last 15 games, and it's not even close. The offense hasn't been great, but it's surviving on measured doses of Al Jefferson and a whole lot of Gerald Henderson.
This is all happening without Kemba Walker or any sort of guarantee that Lance Stephenson will resemble an actual basketball player when he takes the floor. So, wow.
Just four of the Hornets' last 12 victories have come against playoff teams, but there's little else to nitpick. A season once thought lost to serial underachieving is now back on track. Charlotte's buzz is both loud and real.
Doc Rivers Is Sorry for His Clippers
Words cannot describe how disappointed Doc Rivers was in his Clippers on Thursday.
Actually, it appears two of them can.
"I'm sorry."
Good on Rivers for atoning for Los Angeles' performance. It was bad. The Clippers defense was bad, their offense was bad. They, as a team, were just bad. NBA writer Aaron Bruski puts it this way:
A third-quarter foul-off perfectly encapsulated the apparent listlessness with which they played. The refs whistled the Clippers for multiple technicals in a span of minutes, and Matt Barnes was ejected after receiving his second.
All told, the Clippers finished with five technicals and a flagrant foul. And for that, in addition to the lopsided loss, Rivers would like to apologize—provided you're a pubescent basketball fan sitting courtside and sporting Clippers garb.
LaMarcus Aldridge Makes History
LaMarcus Aldridge went for 19 points and 13 rebounds in the Portland Trail Blazers' 108-87 victory over the Phoenix Suns. It was his 25th double-double of the season and 220th of his career.
That, as The Columbian's Erik Gundersen points out, is a significant milestone:
Left thumbs are overrated, am I right?
Sacramento Keeps Sliding
Make it 10 losses in 11 games for the Sacramento Kings following their 101-78 performance versus the Dallas Mavericks. They haven't won back-to-back games since Nov. 25 and are now 6-18 since firing Mike Malone.
But DeMarcus Cousins doesn't want to hear it, per Cowbell Kingdom's James Ham:
He offered this as well, via The Sacramento Bee's Jason Jones:
Man, Cousins really is all grown up. Too bad the 17-31 Kings cannot say the same.
At least we'll always have Omri Casspi, doing Hall of Fame things, even in 101-78 shellackings:
Quote of the Night
Remember that foul party the Clippers threw in their loss to the Cavaliers?
Well, Paul—who was whistled for one of Los Angeles' many technicals—isn't about to apologize for it. In fact, it seems like he's fishing for an apology of his own, per Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding:
Someone alert Rivers immediately. Maybe he can profusely apologize to Adam Silver and save Paul a hefty fine.
*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com unless otherwise cited.
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