What We Learned: Cavs vs Suns
The Cavs were able to win an ugly one against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night. There was nothing pretty about the way this one ended. At the end of the day all that matters is the Cavs were able to escape with a win. Here’s what we learned.
• Kyrie Irving can score less than 10 points in a game. This was a rough game for him. He finished with 8 points on 3 of 11 shooting. Kyrie wasn’t able to get into a rhythm all game. We saw how much of an influence an off night has on the offense. The team as a whole only finished with 89 points and 41% shooting. I believe that’s largely due to Irving’s off night.
• LeBron is now tied for the lead in most assists in Cavs’ history. LBJ is going to have every franchise record by the time his career is over. James didn’t have a good game shooting tonight (17 points on 6-16 shooting), but he still found other ways to help the offense. He finished with 8 assists and got everyone else involved. You have to like how he can still affect the game, even when he doesn’t have his best stuff with him.
• Cleveland’s defense came back to life. After a tough game for the defense on Friday, the Cavs were able to turn it around on Saturday. They held the Suns to only 79 points on 36% shooting. They were also able to lock down the paint by only allowing 24 points in the paint. The Cavs showed us that their off defensive night in Atlanta wasn’t the norm.
• Tristan Thompson is still a monster on the offensive glass. TT finished with 8 offensive boards and 12 rebounds overall. He also added 15 points on 6-9 shooting. He again showed us the tremendous ability he has. Games like tonight show us why the Cavs need to do what they can to lock him up long term. If he had nights like this on a regular basis, he might actually be worth the money we offered him at the beginning of the season.
• The Cavs can be held to under 10 points in a quarter, and win. Cleveland was held to only 9 points in the 4th quarter. That’s not something we’d like to see very often.
• Timofey Mozgov is a machine. Big T finished with 19 points on Saturday night and was clearly the Cavs’ most dominant offensive player. Mozgov was also a +25 for Cleveland. He picked up the slack for the struggling Big 3 on Saturday night. Mozgov is continuing to show us why adding him to the roster has made Cleveland a championship team.
Player of the Game: Timofey Mozgov (19/1/4)
The Cavs have a couple nights off and will be back in action Tuesday against Dallas. It’s good to be back on the winning side of things again.
Jackson Flickinger
pic credit Cleveland.com
