Cavaliers Get Statement Win
The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday to get one of their biggest wins of the season.
A lot has happened in two weeks since the Cleveland Cavaliers faced the San Antonio Spurs in Texas.
David Blatt was fired, Tristan Thompson was named the starting center for the second time, Kevin Love has seemed to return to his Minnesota Timberwolves form, and the Cavaliers have averaged 115 points in their last four games due to the up-tempo offense of new coach Tyronn Lue. Out of breath yet?
It seems that the Spurs might be. After winning 99-95 against the Cavaliers on Jan. 14, they lost by 14 on Saturday, 117-103.
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The game was never close. The Cavaliers dominated in every aspect. They shot 54.9 percent from the field and 39.1 from three-point range. However, the biggest story was the production of Love. In his last five games, he’s averaged 19.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He has also shot .394 from three-point range.
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Some people around the NBA are still not happy about the firing of Blatt, but it has been evident that the change has helped the team–and nobody has benefited more from it thus far than Love.
The absence of Tim Duncan for the Spurs could of been the reason Love scored 21 points and amassed 11 rebounds, but the change in offense has made all of the difference and has made Love comfortable to play his game.
LeBron James also had a vintage performance on Saturday. After scoring his 26,000th career point on Friday against the Detroit Pistons, he came out with energy that I haven’t seen since 2010.
He attacked the basket and didn’t settle for low percentage shots, and he had a big chase-down block on Manu Ginobili in the third quarter. James played the entire game with a playoff-like intensity and wasn’t going to let the Cavaliers have a letdown. Patty Mills found that out first-hand after failing to steal the ball from James in the fourth quarter.
Like Love, he has also benefited from the new offense of Lue.
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He even mentioned during the post-game interviews how Lue has been on them about continuing to push the pace. James only had two points in the entire first quarter, but the rest of the team played great on the way to the win. Kyrie Irving was also a factor.
He’s still trying to get used to the pace of live action, but he has played well in his last two games. He has averaged 24.5 points per game in them and is starting to show signs of his elite skills. Irving made a play on Jonathon Simmons in the third quarter that still has Simmons looking for his shoes.
It was just an overall great performance from the big three and it shows how dominant they can be when everybody is playing up to their levels. Most teams don’t believe in “statement” wins during the season, but this was a big one for the Cavaliers.
After losing to the Spurs the first time, and then losing to the Golden State Warriors by 34 on Martin Luther King Day, they were in need to prove to the NBA that they could contend with the top teams in the West. They failed to do that against the Warriors, but they have split the season series with the Spurs.
The next time they would meet this season would be in the NBA Finals. Could the up-tempo offense be the blueprint to defeat the Spurs with or without Duncan playing? The Warriors won by 30 points last Monday with their fast paced system which could potentially make it the key.
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Either way, Cavalier fans will be in for a show if the offense maintains its focus and continues to show that they are the best in the Eastern Conference.