Despite my negativity, the Cavaliers put their 6-game losing streak to an end on Wednesday night against the Denver Nuggets. Kyrie Irving stepped up big time down the stretch and literally dragged the Cavs to a 100-99 win.
Cavs Leaders: Points: Jamison, 33; Rebounds: Jamison, 9; Assists: Irving, 8
Quick Thoughts:
As you may know, I wasn’t too confident that the Cavs would get a win anytime soon. I guess I should have known better, after all, we still have Kyrie on this team. It’s remarkable how poised he is in clutch situations. He wants the ball in his hands and just goes to work like he’s done it a million times before. He streaked up the court with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, cruised past his man and hung in the air to avoid Nene’s shot contest. He banked in a layup with just 4 seconds left on the clock to notch the third game-winner of his career. Think about that for a second: he has three game winning shots in the NBA and he turns 20 in a couple of weeks. We’ve got ourselves a special player.
Alonzo Gee continues to impress me. This may have been his most complete game to date. He finished second on the team with 19 points and absolutely demoralized Chris Anderson on a vicious dunk. It may have been my favorite dunk of his so far this year. He’s certainly a viable NBA player and has simply gotten better since being inserting into the starting lineup.
My "key matchup" of Tristan Thompson vs. Kenneth Faried didn’t quite live up to the hype that I created. It was pretty lame, actually. Neither guy played that many minutes or compiled many stats. Despite quiet outings by both guys, they both have productive NBA careers ahead of them.
Ryan Hollins is still terrible. He managed to screw up a possession in which he had the ball at the rim with nobody near him – TWICE. He has got to lead the league in dunk attempts blocked. He’s so bad. Ajdfhasdkfhasd.
It’s really pretty impressive that the Cavs were able to assemble a group of centers as incompetent as Samardo Samuels, Semih Erden, and Hollins. With Anderson Varejao out, I have no idea who we should start at center. I vote for nobody. We’re probably better off just starting four players and taking our chances.
Fear The Sword’s Player Of The Game:
Antawn Jamison
Expecting a certain 19-year old rookie to be here? Not so fast, Fear The Sworders! While I recognize that Kyrie’s ridiculous performance in the fourth quarter was, well, ridiculous (he scored or assisted on Cleveland’s final 12 points), Antawn was the only reason that we were even in this game. He played his ass off and scored incredibly efficiently, specifically in the first half. He had 26 points in the first half and finished 33 points on 21 shots. There’s no way that Chris Grant hasn’t received any calls about Jamison’s services. He’s still got some in the tank and has the ability to put up some impressive scoring nights. If for only night, I loved Antawn Jamison again. I really do wish him the best and kind of hope he gets the chance to play for a contender again before his career is over.