Game #8 Bulls 96 Cavaliers 81

I don’t know if was the Cleveland offense or Chicago defense last night but Cleveland had 2 more under 20 point quarters last night. For only the 2nd time this season the opposing team got up more shots than Cleveland. Cleveland is now 0-5 on the road early in the season something that has to change if Cleveland wants to make a playoff run.

Starters

Kyrie Irving

Irving had another bad shooting night scoring 16 points on 19 shots. Also Irving had a season low 4 assists.

Dion Waiters

Waiters scored 13 points on 13 shots last night. Cleveland needs more consistency from their backcourt.

Andrew Bynum

Bynum got his first start he had 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. This is just a glimpse of what he can do if he can reasonably healthy.

Alonzo Gee

Gee played better defense in this game. Anything on offense from him will be a bonus.

Tristan Thompson

Thompson got another double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Thompson is a player to watch this season.

Bench

Anderson Varejao

In 29 minutes off the bench Andy had 5 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Jarrett  Jack

Not a good night for Jack after playing well against the 76ers.

C.J. Miles

Miles scored 9 points in an okay game. Miles needs to be consistent and not streaky

Anthony Bennett

DNP

Tyler Zeller

Right now you would have question Zeller’s future with Cleveland.

Henry Sims

Sims is getting cameo minutes.

Matthew Dellavedova

Again cameo minutes.

Sergey Karasev

Not active

Earl Clark

DNP

A Couple Thoughts About This Game

• Mike Brown needs to be selective with the three guard lineup
• Bynum looked decent in his first start
• Irving’s shooting woes are hurting Cleveland on offense

Next: @ Minnesota Wednesday

Game #7 Cavaliers 127 Philadelphia 125 2OT

The third time was the charm for Kyrie Irving Saturday night against the 76ers. Irving missed layup at the end of regulation and a short jumper at the end of the first overtime. Uncle Drew got to the hoop with a left-handed layup in the 2nd overtime for a game winner. Cleveland now stands 3-4 with all three wins coming at home.

Starters

Kyrie Irving

Irving went off with 39 points, 12 assists, and 5 rebounds. Oh by the way he got his 6th game winning shot in his career.

Dion Waiters

Waiters had 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 dimes for nice backcourt production.

Anderson Varejao

Anderson had 13 points and 10 rebounds along his nightly hustle.

Alonzo Gee

As expected Gee took over for Earl Clark and Evan Turner went to work scoring 31 points. Not a good first start for Gee replacing Clark.

Tristan Thompson

Thompson had a good offensive game 19 points and 10 rebounds on the night. Thad Young gave him fits scoring 29 points against him.

Bench

Jarrett Jack

Jack had 20 points and 5 dimes off the bench. This what we need from Jack nightly.

C.J. Miles

Miles was off Saturday going 2-8 from the field on the night.

Andrew Bynum

Not active no back to back games.

Anthony Bennett

Bennett got 9 minutes but he didn’t do much.

Tyler Zeller

I wonder if Zeller has any trade value.

Henry Sims

Sims played 13 minutes getting 4 points and 5 rebounds.

Matthew Dellavedova

Dellavedova got 2 dimes in 6 minutes.

Sergey Karasev

DNP

Earl Clark

DNP

Next: @ Chicago tonight

Game #6 Philadelphia 94 Cavaliers 79

After scoring 28 points in the first quarter Cleveland could only manage 51 points over the next three quarters. In the 24 quarters Cleveland has played this season the have scored under 20 points in 10 quarters. When you combine a suspect offensive concept with bad shooting that’s what you get.  That’s part of the reason they are 2-4 team early in the season.

Starters

Kyrie Irving

Irving’s early season shooting woes continued tonight with a dreadful 4-17 from the field. Kyrie finished with 10 points and 9 assists on the night.

Dion Waiters

Waiters scored 18 points on 19 shots taken and he also grabbed 6 rebounds. Waiters needs to be more efficient on offense.

Anderson Varejao

Varejao has been up and down to start the season and tonight he was down scoring 2 points and grabbing 4 rebounds. The effort is always there with Andy but the production isn’t always there.

Earl Clark

The experiment of playing Clark at SF could be coming to an end soon. Clark was supposed to be a defensive stopper at the SF spot but has been anything but that.

Tristan Thompson

Thompson scored 13 points on 15 shots and grabbed 16 boards. That’s good production for a 4th or 5th option on offense.

Bench

Jarrett Jack

Jack is looking like a shot first lead guard who needs to get the second unit more involved. He 13 points on 10 shots and dished 3 dimes..

C.J. Miles

Miles continued his hot shooting scoring 13 points on 7 shots to go along with 3 assists. Miles needs to keep this offensive roll going because Cleveland is going to need him.

Alonzo Gee

Gee probably should get more minutes since he is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender.

Andrew Bynum

Not sure what is going to happen with Bynum who 4 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block in 17 minutes.

Anthony Bennett

If things couldn’t get worse for the overall #1 pick he injured his shoulder tonight.

Tyler Zeller

Zeller can’t get any minutes right now.

Henry Sims

Inactive

Matthew Dellavedova

DNP

Sergey Karasev

Karasev saw his first action of the season.

Next: Philadelphia Saturday @ The Q

Game #5 Bucks 109 Cavaliers 104

Cleveland made a good comeback in the 4th quarter to take a one point lead only to have Carron Butler get a putback basket to give Milwaukee the lead for good. Cleveland had a chance to get the lead back but Kyrie Irving dribbled the ball off foot out of bounds. Cleveland hasn’t won a road game in the early part of the season as of yet.

Starters

Kyrie Irving

Kyrie had 29 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists last night. This was Irving best game so far early in the season even though he came up empty in the last minute of the game. He had a turnover and a missed three pointer.

Dion Waiters

Waiters had his best game of the season also. He had 21 points and 3 rebounds for the game. Dion needs to produce like this every game.

Anderson Varejao

Andy had 12 points and 8 rebounds to lead the Cavalier frontcourt. You can’t measure Varejao’s performance solely on stats.

Earl Clark

Four games into season Clark is getting closer to starting the game on the bench instead of on the court.

Tristan Thompson

Thompson had 5 points and 7 rebounds in 35 minutes. Thompson is not getting shots he did at the beginning of the season so his offensive production down.

Bench

Jarrett Jack

Jack hasn’t played well of late and he seems to be looking for offense instead getting other people involved.

C.J. Miles

Miles comes off the putting up shots. For the most part he is making most of those shots which is good for Cleveland. I need to see if he can do this the rest of the season.

Alonzo Gee

Gee is getting the minutes at the SF position because he is playing better than Earl Clark.

Andrew Bynum

Bynum is work in progress at this point. Hopefully Bynum will get healthy to give Cleveland at least 25 minutes a night later in the season.

Anthony Bennett

Bennett finally get his first field goal as pro and didn’t much else after that.

Tyler Zeller

Zeller is not going to get much run when Bynum active and playing.

Henry Sims

Inactive

Matthew Dellavedova

DNP

Sergey Karasev

DNP

Next: @ Philadelphia Friday

Andrew Bynum Signing With Cleveland Fantasy Or Reality

It has been reported that Andrew Bynum met with the Cleveland Cavaliers front office today. Not sure what to make of this meeting. Bynum sat out all last year with knee problems which put the Philadelphia 76ers in rebuild mode. Bynum is one the best centers in the league when he is healthy. Cleveland needs to dictate the terms of any deal cut with Bynum. Anything with Bynum should be short-term maybe 1 year with team option for a second. You probably should have built-in incentives for games played. If Bynum is deemed healthy he makes Cleveland a playoff team right away that’s why Bynum and his people are in town. He has already said he is not working out for anybody. Then his agent David Lee said Bynum would be ready for training camp. Regardless Andrew is going to have to prove his self on the court no matter what he has done before. Cleveland might be a smart move if Bynum wants to get another big payday. I don’t see Bynum signing with Cleveland but I could be wrong. Let’s see if this fantasy can become a reality over the next couple days.

Chris Grant Your Now On The Clock

With Byron Scott about to lose his job after the last game of the season Wednesday. Chris Grant should be next under the microscope. The Cavaliers GM needs to upgrade the talent level of this roster sooner rather than later. The three ways to get talent are the draft, free agency and trades. Grant has been a believer of building the team through the draft. In 2010 when Grant became the GM Danny Ferry the previous GM had traded away all Cleveland’s picks for the 2010 draft. Since then Grant has done a great job acquiring draft picks. Grant has drafted Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters in the last two years. There aren’t a lot of NBA ready players coming out of the draft these days so the building process may take longer until these players develop. I don’t think you can just do it just through the draft it’s going to take a couple of trades and some selective free agent acquisitions.

With all that said Cleveland has 4 picks in this year’s draft and tons of cap space. Grant needs to get enough talent in here this summer to make this roster a low-level playoff team. Milwaukee is the #8 seed in the Eastern Conference with a losing record 37-44. That tells you how many good teams are in the Eastern Conference and how weak it is. Trades and free agency will be far more important than the draft. These two areas should give you immediate help right away if you get the right players, while you don’t know what you will get in the draft besides a high pick.

With Byron Scott all but history in Cleveland Chris Grant is now in the spotlight. His summer task has become two-fold find a new coach and upgrade the talent to a playoff level team. If Grant doesn’t get better talent in here it won’t matter who the coach is. One last thing forget about Lebron coming back that shouldn’t be the plan. Time to earn your money Chris Grant

Congrats Dion nice job.

The State Of Kyrie Irving’s Health

Kyrie Irving is going to miss his 13^th game of the season tonight due to a hyperextended knee. This latest injury has kept him out of the last 3 games. In the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal for the Cavaliers right now. Hopefully this careful approach with their young stud will prove to be the right way to handle Irving’s injury. If he is still sitting this time next week the level of concern will rise for the Cavaliers.

There no question about the talent of Kyrie he will be one of the top players in the NBA as early as next season. If Cleveland is going to challenge for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference next season Irving has to be on the court and not on the bench in street clothes.

At the end day Kyrie Irving has to be healthy for the Cleveland Cavaliers for the franchise to become relevant again. He is the type of talent who can do that with some help. The future is bright for Cleveland with some good health for Uncle Drew.

Game #45 Cavaliers 99 Raptors 98

Memo to ESPN,ABC, and TNT your missing the birth of a star in the NBA his name is Kyrie Irving if you don’t know who he is, but I’m sure you do. Irving hit a three-pointer a couple steps inside the halfcourt line to send his team to a season high 3 wins in a row last night in Toronto. Cleveland’s record now goes to 13-32 on the year.

Star Watch

Irving scored 12 of his 32 points in the 4th quarter to seal the deal for Cleveland. This youngster is wise beyond his years on the court. Kyrie is positioning himself to become the next superstar in the NBA. For all we have seen in so far his passing and playmaking have not been on display as much. Watch out when Cleveland gets somebody make shots via Irving’s passes.

Starter Watch

Dion Waiters got into foul trouble early and never got going. He scored 6 points on 3/10 shooting. Dion is still shooting way too many jumpers which is part of the problem. Alonzo Gee had a solid game and played good defense also. I like the flexiabilty Gee gives you on defense with his ability to guard the 1,2, or 3 spots. Tyler Zeller grabbed a team high 12 rebounds last night. Zeller is having problems scoring and holding on to the ball. Right now he is thinking way too much in my opinion. Tristan Thompson had another good game with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. I like the progress Thompson has made this season.

Bench Watch

Most of the season Cleveland has had one of the worst benches inn the league. Over the last two games Marreese Speights and Wayne Ellington have changed that. Speights had 17 points and 5 rebounds. Ellington had 12 points including 3 triples on the night.

What They Said

”I think (Irving) caught Alan off guard a little bit because he was so far out and hit a tough shot,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.

And One

Cleveland is on national TV one time this year Febraury 20 on ESPN. Irving will be national TV because of the All-Star on February 17. I understand the NBA doesn’t want bad teams on national TV. Irving is one of the leagues budding stars so let’s see what happens over the next couple seasons for Cleveland as far as national TV appearrances.

Up Next

Tuesday Golden State @ The Q

 

Game #44 Cleveland 113 Milwaukee 108

Down 20 in the 3rd quarter Cleveland came back to win this game last night. The main reason was the play of the bench which has been missing in action most of the season. The other reason for the win Kyrie Irving who closed the deal in the 4th quarter. For the second time this season Cleveland has won 2 games in a row. Cleveland now has a record of 12-32.

Star Watch

Irving scored 35 points on 17 shots including a perfect 9/9 from the free throw line. Irving only had 2 assists last night not sure what to make of that. Kyrie’s assist total should be higher plain and simple.

Starter Watch

Tristan Thompson scored 18 points and had 3 blocks on the evening. Thompson continues to play well with extended minutes. Gee and Zeller didn’t contribute a whole lot last night. Dion Waiters scored 16 points and had 4 assists. Waiters played well and at least he was attacking the rim.

Bench Watch

The Cavalier bench outscored the Bucks bench 36-20. This was probably the best game of the season for the bench. Marreese Speights had 10 points and 6 rebounds in 18 minutes. Shaun Livingston had 12 points and 3 assists in 16 minutes.

What They Said

“This is a good fit for me. It’s a young team. The whole city welcomed me when I came here, and I’m happy to be on a team where fans welcome teamwork.”
— Cavaliers center Marreese Speights

Up Next

@ Toronto tonight