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The Cavaliers at one point were being outscored 26-4 in the 4th quarter. I was too busy thinking about what I had seen in the first two to care. The Cavaliers got off to a strong start, leading by 12 at halftime, but in the second half a group that was missing starter Jarrett Jack (capped at 10 minutes, 5 points and 5 assists), Anderson Varejao (Capped at 20 minutes, 4 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block), and tonight's DNP lineup of Dion Waiters, Sergey Karasev, Tyler Zeller, and CJ Miles were unable to stop the Wizards from doing anything they wanted. The weapon of the choice was the three pointer, of which they hit approximately 100 in the second half. That wasn't what caught my eye, though.
From the opening tip Tristan Thompson was again a man possessed. From long jumpers, to dribble drives, post rollouts, to dominating the glass, Tristan Thompson is destroying what we thought he could be. For the second straight night, he has shown a viable NBA jumper. He has played strong defense. He has attacked rebounds with desperation, and won most of his rebounding battles. Tristan had a double double in his first 9 minutes and had cleared 10 rebounds in the first quarter alone. He finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 assists. I'm going to leave it at that, because we have some awesome content on Tristan coming, but Tristan has earned your praise and excitement, Cavs fans.
Cool Stuff
-Jarrett Jack at Point Guard, Kyrie Irving at shooting guard -- With every other shooting guard on the shelf, Mike Brown unleashed Kyrie and Jack together for the first time, and it was very nice. Jack controlled the ball, and Irving repeatedly abused John Wall and Bradley Beal off of it. Jack played all 10 of his minutes in the first quarter, and looked very good working against Beal and Wall as well.
-Kyrie Irving vs. John Wall -- Look I know it was preseason game, but Wall finished 1-7 with 3 points, 4 assists, and 4 turnovers. After an offseason of comparing the two, Kyrie responded with a simple ".....nah" and I am not willing to discuss it unless something big happens in the future.
-Owning the Paint -- The number got skewed due to the second half collapse of the players at the end of the bench, but the group of Tristan, Andy, Bennett, and Sims once again showed that the Cavs are as talented as anyone on the glass, and scoring inside. The trio of Andy, Tristan, and Kyrie again hooked up on some crazy passes for a few neat plays, and at halftime the Cavaliers led in paint scoring and rebounding by a healthy margin.
Don't Taze Me, Bro
-After espousing the merits of Matthew Dellevadova on the pod last night, he turned in a complete stinker tonight. I wont dwell on this because there is literally not one positive thing to be said about his performance. He will have better days, and will make the roster, but good golly.
-EarlClarkandAnthonyBennettPleaseStopTakingSoManyBadShots.com -- Seriously guys it's time to chill. I'm gonna assume we're still feeling it out, and you're playing good hustling defense, but I'm getting concerned.
The Cavs twitter experience will be online shortly until then take comfort in the silver linings with me. Only a few more days till we can boo Kevin Garnett and all is again right in the world.