Before I get too far in to this, let me say that there are a couple of articles out there that get into far more detail on the subject of Kevin Love than I ever could wish to, but I do want to add my two cents worth at some point.
The first article is by Thomas Pestak and does an outstanding job of detailing how well Kevin Love has actually fit in with the Cavs overall. You can read it here.
The second is by Russ Bengtson and is an actual interview with Love that covers a number of topics, starting with how happy he is. You can read that one here and it's pretty outstanding as well.
Now then, on to what I actually wanted to write about the Cavs last game and the Kevin Love media parade yesterday.
On Sunday, the Cavs played against the Milwaukee Bucks in what could be a future playoff matchup depending on where the Bucks finish (then again, with the bottom of the East an absolute mess, who knows what team will actually finish opposite the Cavs). It was an odd start time and the Cavs got off to a really slow start against the Bucks, who seemed overly energized.
The Cavs seemed slow and almost disinterested on most defensive possessions, and eventually fell behind by as many as 11 points in the third quarter before LeBron James decided enough was enough. They woke up on both ends of the floor, turning that 11 point deficit into a 2 point lead at the end of the third, highlighted by two dunks by James and a basket at the buzzer by Iman Shumpert.
They continued the onslaught in the fourth as JR Smith hit a trio of triples, James hit a three, Smith hit James with an exceptional alley-oop, and the suddenly overwhelmed Bucks completely folded. The Cavs ended up winning by a score of 108-90, which was not anywhere close to indicative of how well the Bucks played for 2 and 1/2 quarters.
David Blatt rode a lineup of Matthew Dellavedova, Smith, Shumpert, James, and Tristan Thompson through the entire fourth quarter, which meant that Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and Timofey Mozgov never saw the floor in that quarter. Oddly enough, Love was the only person people seemed to wonder about (again, more on this later and in the previously mentioned articles above). Simply put the five on the court were blitzing the Bucks and there was never a need to bring anyone back in as the game quickly got out of hand.
It made the Cavs 27-7 since January 15th and left their overall record at 46-26 and firmly in control of the second spot in the Eastern Conference.
Cavalier Caveats
- This was the rare game where Delly came in and made a huge difference defensively for the Cavs. For the most part, Irving's defense has been much better, but in this game he was having issues, as was Mozgov. Delly, along with Shumpert, Smith, James, and Thompson, took complete control of this game and made it a laugher in a matter of minutes.
- Of course, someone always has to ask Blatt about his rotations, but in this game it was pretty simple why Irving and Love stayed put on the bench. The group that was out there was dominating the Bucks. Why make a change just because?
- One area of concern is that the Cavs are starting to allow more dribble penetration again, something that they had been cutting off relatively well after the trade for Mozgov. Obviously, the vast improvement on defense was going to ebb and flow some, but you'd like to see them shore up some of the issues they've been having lately on that end.
- Offensively, this team is unbeatable when they move the ball and get the ball up the floor quickly, which is why I find it aggravating when they slowly walk the ball up and dribble off the shot clock until it's down to 7 seconds. Iso ball needs to go and it needs to stay away. As we've seen against better defensive teams, it doesn't typically end well for the Cavs, even if hero ball has saved them a few times.
- Much continues to be made about Kevin Love and his level of happiness with the team, his future, and his role on the floor. As I mentioned earlier, the two links provided provide excellent articles discussing Love and I'm not going to get too involved in it because it's simply overbearing and stupid.
I just can't stand the fact that ESPN and others HAVE to have some kind of narrative to talk about with this team. Yes, Love sometimes looks lost on offense, but I don't necessarily think that he's as lost as some of us want to think.
Love himself has talked about how he's trying to get in the post more, but from what I've seen, he's getting mauled down there and isn't exactly getting a lot of fouls called, which makes going in the post a lost cause. The Cavs as a team have been on the receiving end of some interesting calls and non-calls, but then again, officiating across all levels and sports has been getting worse over the years.
The fact is, when you have a team with James and Irving on it, Love being in the post actually allows an extra defender to be in the vicinity of the paint, thus cutting off some of the driving lanes that those two could take. Love and Smith being outside the 3 point line gives them that room to operate better. Sure, they should run more plays for Love in the post, but they don't and for what it's worth, Love isn't complaining much.
Another issue to keep in mind is that it has appeared that Love's back has been an issue for much of the season. Couple that with the large number of blowouts the Cavs have had, there's no reason to drag him back into a large number of the games they've had.
The thing that I've learned, and obviously Love has learned this as well, is that the media microscope is on the Cavs this year and anything that's said and done are being scrutinized to death.
Is it fair? No.
Comments about who should win MVP are getting blown out of proportion, as is the speculation about whether Love and James are friends. It's ridiculous really. But it's what happens when James is on your team and you have a rising star in Irving as well.
Don't expect it to stop either.
After all, we still have the playoffs to deal with.
Thanks for reading everyone!
At the beginning of November 2014, I wrote this little piece about the Cleveland Cavaliers and their struggles through the first 3 games. Yes, I was that proactive about it because I had seen so many disturbing things, but things I believed could be fixed.
I also added a bit about the Browns, but we know that season ultimately turned out and while the Thursday Night game with Cincinnati may have been the highlight of the season, it was ultimately the last time the team looked great on the field last year.
Much like my post about awaiting the arrival of Kylie Brooke that went up recently, I'm going to select some items that I wrote about and see how things have played out since this post. As of now, the Cavs are 44-26 and in the 2nd seed, so they've recovered pretty well.
In fact, the low point for this team came well after I wrote this when they fell to 19-20 and seemed completely in disarray.
Here now are my thoughts on what I wrote, followed by some thoughts on the team as it currently stands. As in the previous post like this, statements from the original post will be in italics, while updated thoughts will be in bold.
How many of you thought it was going to be easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers?
Go on, raise your hands. Plenty of you were out there before the season started.
LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and the rest were just going to seamlessly blend under the guidance of David Blatt and become the greatest team in the history of the NBA. They were going to win more than 70 games and walk to the first championship in Cleveland since 1964. Every game was going to be a party and they were going to win by more than 20 every night.
If only it were that easy.
Three games in and the Cavs are far from a finished product. Blatt has no idea yet who to play together and when, and the overall effort from select players has been questionable at times. James looks like he's either irritated with the team, or in considerable discomfort from his back being worse than we're being led to believe.
Most everyone who watched James KNEW something was amiss with him from a health standpoint. He was either slowing down (or losing his hops as some tried to say), or he was bothered by some sort of injury that we weren't being informed of fully. Well, he ended up sitting for a couple weeks at one point in the season and the LeBron we've seen since his return is pretty much what we had expected.
The effort from other players was a different story. It took a while for many on this team to buy into Blatt and it took a while for Blatt to find a group of players he could rely on to fill out his rotation.
An opening night loss to the New York Knicks was followed up by a gritty overtime win against the Chicago Bulls. Then last night, after playing even with the Portland Trailblazers through the first quarter, the Cavs were completely blasted the rest of the way, losing 101-82. James was clearly disappointed in the effort put forth by some of his teammates, and probably himself as he didn't appear completely engaged.
The Cavs had several more of these games as the weeks went by. They'd get off to fast starts, then the bench would come in and the lead would get obliterated. It simply took time, and few key moves, for Blatt to find a system that worked for him and his players.
What does it all mean?
According to Twitter, it means that this team is destined to fail, James is going back to Miami next year, Blatt will be fired by mid-season, and Dion Waiters will be traded in the next two weeks as he clearly can't exist on this team.
There's something funny to me about this paragraph. I mean, all of it was said in jest, but I had NO idea that Waiters would just continue to struggle on this team and would actually end up traded. Turns out Waiters not fitting in was what may have saved this season. The LeBron back to Miami conversation really came to a boil on Christmas Day when the Cavs faced the Heat in Miami and LeBron seemed way too happy to see his former teammate Dwayne Wade. Turns out they are just really that close as friends.
As for Blatt, his confidence as an NBA coach never wavered, and may have actually become stronger once players started buying in and accepting what he was preaching. Some ESPN people still think LeBron is going to force the Cavs to fire Blatt, but you know how accurate ESPN is when it comes to James, right?
It's easy to overreact though. It's easy to watch the game and see all the things that are wrong with this team. It's easy to forget that many of them are playing together on an NBA team for the first time.
In other words, it's not going to look great right away.
It's a bit of a cop-out, but the best example is to look at the Miami Heat from 2010-2011 when James first joined that team. It was a disjointed effort through the first 17 games as the Heat were 9-8 and many wondered if this "superteam" was a bad idea. Then they ripped off 10 straight wins and 20 out of 21 to silence the critics.
While the Cavs did rip off an 8 game winning streak at one point, the worst struggles were still to come actually.
Will the Cavs do the same? I doubt it. This team has multiple players (Love, Irving, and Waiters) that are deficient defensively, and while you can hope for some improvement, Irving and Waiters in particular showed some of their bad habits last night. Waiters in particular seemed lazy on the defensive side and while Irving has shown some effort, it seems when his man starts to score on him, he shrinks defensively. Damion Lillard had struggled from the floor his first few games, but last night couldn't miss and often Irving failed to even attempt to close out on the shot.
Love and Irving have both improved their defense just by showing better effort. Irving in particular went through a stretch where opposing point guards played pretty poorly against the Cavs. I'm trying to think of what made such a big difference though...
All you need to know about Waiters before he was shipped to OKC was Joe Harris was playing the fourth quarter of games early on while Waiters sat on the bench. Ultimately, the trades that brought Timofey Mozgov, JR Smith, and Iman Shumpert saved the season and certainly improved the Cavs defensively.
Mozgov being in the middle has made it easier for Irving to decide how to defend his opponent, often forcing them right at Mozgov while simultaneously eliminating the ability of said player to outlet to Mozgov's cover. Teams have adjusted some since, but the trade for Mozgov was huge. Literally and figuratively.
The team overall is still occasionally lazy, but Smith has been a far better defender than we were led to believe and Shumpert has done what he does best: get in the passing lane, keep his man in front of him, and contest everything.
Yet they may only need to make small strides defensively if the gel on offense. Right now, players still aren't sure where they need to be on the floor. More than once, we've seen a pass made to a player that's either vacated the spot, or failed to move to where the pass was intended. These type of errors will disappear as they become comfortable with one another.
Defensive rotations have improved significantly since this point in the season. There are far fewer moments trying to figure out who blew their assignment.
The more disappointing thing from last night was that the ball movement screeched to a halt once the team faced adversity. It turned into 2013 all over again with Irving and Waiters taking turns dribbling the ball into oblivion, then hoisting a last second shot. Compounding things was the fact that they both shot the ball poorly. Waiters overall is only shooting 30% on the young season, and while there's still the likely possibility that he'll get it turned around, he clearly is out of whack.
Waiters was the one that worried me, as well as most everyone else. He has the potential to be a borderline all-star, or completely flame out depending on how he fits in, or doesn't fit in. The point that can't be overstated is he needs to show more consistent effort on the defensive end. I truly believe he could be a top 10 defender if he tries, but more often than not, he fails to do so.
On offense, he needs to find where he fits in on this team. He seems undecided whether he's going to pull up and shoot the jumper, or drive to the rim. On the few drives he's made, he seems more concerned with drawing contact than actually trying to make the shot. He's not getting the calls, he's getting frustrated (as is James on his drives), and then fails to get back defensively.
Maybe he does need to come off the bench. I don't know, and he doesn't seem to know either. This is just one of the pieces that Blatt has to figure out going forward.
Oh Dion. There was so much promise, so much potential for you, so many opportunities to show what you could do. Waiters just could never consistently provide the Cavs with any offense or defense. Even now in OKC, his effort level is wildly inconsistent and he can't hit the open jumper.
Many thought trading him and receiving JR Smith was equivalent to getting an older Waiters. But Smith has completely bought into this team and the coaching staff, something I never thought I'd say about him. He's taken mostly smart shots, passed when necessary, has rebounded exceptionally well, and has played very solid defense.
Blatt also needs to figure out a consistent bench rotation. This is another trial and error thing that the team is going to struggle with initially. Remember, most of these guys haven't played with each other. It's going to take time. Blatt not only has to find the right mix of guys on the floor, but they have to figure each other out as well.
Then, once you think you're starting to figure things out, you lose Anderson Varejao for the year and a bunch of trades are made while your best player is resting his sore knee and back for a few weeks.
Yeah, Blatt has made rookie mistakes, but he's had a lot thrown at him in his first year as an NBA coach. Overall, I think he's done a very nice job of staying the course, mixing new players in, and making adjustments in the game.
I also really enjoy how he goes back at the media, who more and more anymore, act like they know everything. I particularly enjoy when members of the media start whining about how Blatt fires back at them.
You could make the argument that's what training camp and the preseason is for, but the reality is that until you're playing the games, you'll have no idea how it's going to go. Teams are very vanilla in preseason, so how you were defended then is vastly different from how you'll be defended come the regular season.
The important thing to constantly remember is that it's going to take time. If after 30-40 games they still haven't come together at all, I'd be concerned then. Right now? I'm looking to see how the team responds to adversity, not just in the game, but from one game to the next. Tonight I'm going to want to see how they respond to last night's game when they play the Utah Jazz.
After 40 games, they were 20-20 and found their groove at that point in the season. The new players fit in perfectly, James came back healthy and full of energy, and Irving unleashed holy hell on opponents on more than one occasion. While it hasn't always been pretty, they've been more consistent on both ends of the floor.
I don't think they'll ever be a defensive juggernaut, but I do think by the end of the season, they will have figured it out and will be a lot of fun to watch.
It just takes a little bit of patience.
But we all know how much patience people have.
We saw it most of the first half of the season. Many fans took to social media with #fireblatt and declared that James was leaving, Love was going to go to the Lakers or Knicks, and Irving was probably only trying to play for his own numbers.
ESPN was particularly brutal towards the Cavs. Chris Broussard and company insinuated that James was playing poorly so that the Cavs would fire Blatt. Much was made of Irving having 30+ points against but no assists in a game in Utah early in the season. Of course, they failed to note the number of misses shots off of passes by Irving, but ESPN more and more has its own agenda to look after, one that doesn't always revolve around facts.
Some fans even speculated that the Cavs should consider trading Love away since there was no way he was going to return next year to play on this team.
It was insane, it was absurd, and it was all based out of panic.
Since a loss in Phoenix in James' return to the lineup, the Cavs are 25-6, which is the best record in that span. Their average margin of victory is over 10 points a game. While defensively they've slipped of late, the effort and results have been much, much better. Offensively, they still have hero ball moments, but the ball movement has improved and more players are involved than early on.
Last night the Cavs had 32 assists against the Nets after having just 17 against the Miami Heat in a loss that concluded an otherwise successful 4 game road trip.
There were a few of us rational fans who said have patience with this team, but it's hard for Cleveland sports fans to have any. It's been so long since we've had a championship that we don't want to wait for a process, we want instant results.
It was even worse with James coming back to the Cavs. Teamed up with Irving and Love, it was going to be our own super team.
All the negativity early on aside, this team has been scary good for the last couple of months. Irving has continued to improve within the offense, Love has slowly found his way into being more involved (and not just jacking up 3 point shots), and the new additions have been more than any of us thought they'd be.
Now the key for the Cavs is to hold on to that second spot, stay healthy, and see how far they can go in the playoffs. While I'd like to believe that Irving will be fine, you just simply don't know until each individual player is facing those bright lights.
What I do know is this team seems to be extremely close, which bodes well for the future.
Cavalier Caveats
- I won't pretend that I watched last night's game, because I didn't. I was busy playing with the girls and just checked Twitter every now and then to see how the game was progressing (btw, you can always tell how the team is doing by how frequently people are tweeting; the complaints come much faster than the compliments). It became pretty clear that after a slow start, the Cavs woke up and pretty much dismantled the Nets.
- One thing that people seem to really enjoy doing is try to figure out Kevin Love's body language. It seems every day someone has some new theory as to what his body language is saying. Most every media member outside of Cleveland firmly believes that Love is not returning, and the Knicks and Lakers typically are mentioned as top destinations. It's borderline insanity that so many people spend so much time trying to figure out what a player is going to do next, but it's become too much when it comes to K-Love. While he has said repeatedly that he's here for the long-term, until he signs a new deal with the Cavs, the rumors will persist.
- The Knicks and Lakers just don't make sense though. Why would Love, after getting his first taste of playoff basketball, go to either of those franchises? The Lakers are hoping to hit it big in the lottery and get one more year out of Kobe, while the Knicks are just a mess overall. If Love wants to win, going to either of those teams makes little sense. Yet all we hear is that's where he's going to go.
- Kyrie Irving is finally starting to get some national respect after torching the Spurs single-handedly, then followed that up with a efficient performance against the Magic. Irving has quietly become more efficient with his shots, better with his passes, and much improved on defense. In fact, he's looked better defensively than Matthew Dellavedova, something we didn't say last year ever. Irving just seems to know when to pick his spots and Blatt has given him ample opportunities to go out and attack the opposing defense as he sees fit.
- Speaking of Delly, I love the guy, but the more I watch him this year, the more I think he's a guy who looks better as the team around him gets worse. Last year you'd see him come in and be the solid defender that Irving wasn't and occasionally make a shot or two. This year, his defense seems to revolve around fouling players as they run by him. He has been particularly exposed when Irving has missed games with injury. Again, I love what Delly brings, but his value has definitely decreased.
- Tristan Thompson may not wow you with numbers, but he never stops. He still resembles a baby giraffe attempting to walk for the first time at times, but he is one of the best offensive rebounders and can handle defensive switches onto smaller players, which is primarily why he's in the game late instead of Mozgov.
- LeBron James is still good people. Enjoy and appreciate what you get to watch from him night in and night. But also enjoy that he has perhaps his best running mate in Irving. Dwayne Wade was still good when James joined the Heat, but was definitely on the downswing. Irving is only 22. The next few years could be crazy fun with the two of them running around out there.
- I'm going to try and do these things more frequently, but I make no promises. Thanks for reading.
How many of you thought it was going to be easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers?
LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, and the rest were just going to seamlessly blend under the guidance of David Blatt and become the greatest team in the history of the NBA. They were going to win more than 70 games and walk to the first championship in Cleveland since 1964. Every game was going to be a party and they were going to win by more than 20 every night.
If only it were that easy.
Three games in and the Cavs are far from a finished product. Blatt has no idea yet who to play together and when, and the overall effort from select players has been questionable at times. James looks like he's either irritated with the team, or in considerable discomfort from his back being worse than we're being led to believe.
An opening night loss to the New York Knicks was followed up by a gritty overtime win against the Chicago Bulls. Then last night, after playing even with the Portland Trailblazers through the first quarter, the Cavs were completely blasted the rest of the way, losing 101-82. James was clearly disappointed in the effort put forth by some of his teammates, and probably himself as he didn't appear completely engaged.
What does it all mean?
According to Twitter, it means that this team is destined to fail, James is going back to Miami next year, Blatt will be fired by mid-season, and Dion Waiters will be traded in the next two weeks as he clearly can't exist on this team.
It's easy to overreact though. It's easy to watch the game and see all the things that are wrong with this team. It's easy to forget that many of them are playing together on an NBA team for the first time.
In other words, it's not going to look great right away.
It's a bit of a cop-out, but the best example is to look at the Miami Heat from 2010-2011 when James first joined that team. It was a disjointed effort through the first 17 games as the Heat were 9-8 and many wondered if this "superteam" was a bad idea. Then they ripped off 10 straight wins and 20 out of 21 to silence the critics.
Will the Cavs do the same? I doubt it. This team has multiple players (Love, Irving, and Waiters) that are deficient defensively, and while you can hope for some improvement, Irving and Waiters in particular showed some of their bad habits last night. Waiters in particular seemed lazy on the defensive side and while Irving has shown some effort, it seems when his man starts to score on him, he shrinks defensively. Damion Lillard had struggled from the floor his first few games, but last night couldn't miss and often Irving failed to even attempt to close out on the shot.
Yet they may only need to make small strides defensively if the gel on offense. Right now, players still aren't sure where they need to be on the floor. More than once, we've seen a pass made to a player that's either vacated the spot, or failed to move to where the pass was intended. These type of errors will disappear as they become comfortable with one another.
The more disappointing thing from last night was that the ball movement screeched to a halt once the team faced adversity. It turned into 2013 all over again with Irving and Waiters taking turns dribbling the ball into oblivion, then hoisting a last second shot. Compounding things was the fact that they both shot the ball poorly. Waiters overall is only shooting 30% on the young season, and while there's still the likely possibility that he'll get it turned around, he clearly is out of whack.
Waiters was the one that worried me, as well as most everyone else. He has the potential to be a borderline all-star, or completely flame out depending on how he fits in, or doesn't fit in. The point that can't be overstated is he needs to show more consistent effort on the defensive end. I truly believe he could be a top 10 defender if he tries, but more often than not, he fails to do so.
On offense, he needs to find where he fits in on this team. He seems undecided whether he's going to pull up and shoot the jumper, or drive to the rim. On the few drives he's made, he seems more concerned with drawing contact than actually trying to make the shot. He's not getting the calls, he's getting frustrated (as is James on his drives), and then fails to get back defensively.
Maybe he does need to come off the bench. I don't know, and he doesn't seem to know either. This is just one of the pieces that Blatt has to figure out going forward.
Blatt also needs to figure out a consistent bench rotation. This is another trial and error thing that the team is going to struggle with initially. Remember, most of these guys haven't played with each other. It's going to take time. Blatt not only has to find the right mix of guys on the floor, but they have to figure each other out as well.
You could make the argument that's what training camp and the preseason is for, but the reality is that until you're playing the games, you'll have no idea how it's going to go. Teams are very vanilla in preseason, so how you were defended then is vastly different from how you'll be defended come the regular season.
The important thing to constantly remember is that it's going to take time. If after 30-40 games they still haven't come together at all, I'd be concerned then. Right now? I'm looking to see how the team responds to adversity, not just in the game, but from one game to the next. Tonight I'm going to want to see how they respond to last night's game when they play the Utah Jazz.
I don't think they'll ever be a defensive juggernaut, but I do think by the end of the season, they will have figured it out and will be a lot of fun to watch.
It just takes a little bit of patience.
Brownie Bites
The Browns have been a fascinating team to follow this year. They probably have no business being 5-3, but yet that's where they're at going into tomorrow night's massive match-up with the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football. This game has divisional implications for both teams. Both teams are trying to keep pace with the suddenly surging Pittsburgh Steelers and the team that loses faces a dramatically more difficult path to the playoffs.
The Bengals, like the Browns, have been Jeckyll and Hyde type of team. They've looked great offensively at times, then at other times they've looked bad. They looked great on defense early on, but haven't been as good of late. They have the advantage of being at home and facing a Browns team that has really struggled on offense of late.
I don't know what's going to happen with this game. Brian Hoyer has looked awful at times, yet when it comes down to crunch time, he's gotten the job done more often than he hasn't. He's 7-3 as a starter in games he's finished, yet he could easily be 5-5 or worse. But what-ifs aren't really valid points in an argument and the fact is, the team has won with him at quarterback.
It's been very disheartening to listen to certain local talk show hosts (Chuck Booms of 92.3 The Fan comes to mind) push and push for Johnny Manziel to start, and Booms argument that Hoyer has been terrible is slightly misguided at best. I find it odd that a guy who has largely been supportive of the local teams and players is so against the local product as quarterback, but Booms has had a strange love affair with Manziel from the start.
The problem with Hoyer is he has made some bad throws, making it harder to defend him at times. You could argue that more than few throws, if on point, would've led to easy touchdowns and you'd be correct. Yet some of those throws aren't as easy as the detractors want you to believe. The throw to Ben Tate against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a prime example of that. Hoyer had to wait for the route to develop, then had to make the throw right before being blasted by a defender. Could the throw have been better? Yes, but it certainly wasn't as easy as some have made it out to be.
You'd think from the critics that he had all day to set his feet and throw the ball and it just sailed on him. The disheartening thing is the talk makes it sound like the Browns have lost the last two weeks. Yes, the games have been ugly, but the bottom line is Hoyer has made enough plays to get the job done.
Do I think his performance warrants bringing him back next season? At this point, no. But it does allow Manziel time to learn as much as possible so that when it is his time, he's prepared. At the same time, if Hoyer suddenly catches fire and finishes the season strong, that changes the whole dynamic of the upcoming offseason.
It's just sad that because some want to see Manziel play, they'll find anything on Hoyer to rip. He has a new center in front of him that was shoved to the ground on three different occasions, leading to negative plays. The run game has been non-existent for three straight weeks. Jordan Cameron has been out due to a concussion (that was improperly blamed on Hoyer by some). Oh, and some guy by the name of Josh Gordon has not played at all this season due to his bogus suspension.
Yet Hoyer still has the team 5-3. Nitpick all you want, you can't argue with the overall result. Hoyer's play, while not always pretty, has been inspiring and he's continuing to soldier on despite the lack of a running game.
Lost in all the hoopla over Manziel vs. Hoyer is the defense playing much better the last few weeks. Granted, you have to consider the level of competition, but it's been nice to see the defensive backs make some plays and while the defense is still prone to getting gashed in the run game, they've been able to stem the tide when they need to.
Joe Haden has raised his level of play of late and you can't understate the importance of Donte Whitner and Tashaun Gipson in the back end. Buster Skrine has had his ups and downs and Justin Gilbert has still struggled some, but the unit overall has been better and should continue to get better.
Which leads us back to the game tomorrow night. It's a big one and if the Browns find a way to win, the fans will start thinking a division title is possible. If they lose, the cries for Manziel might get louder.
Hang on fans, it's going to get wild.
As is often the case with me, it's been a while since I've written in here.
Sure, I've had a lot of thoughts about the Indians, Cavs, and Browns, but time has often been the biggest issue. Most of my free time has been spent playing with kids and doing work on my YouTube Channel, so it's taken a backseat, but I felt after watching a riveting display of football yesterday it was time to resume.
I'll try to get something on the Indians in the future, but there isn't much to say other than I feel like this year was a missed opportunity by the Tribe to really make a good push. The issues were many, and yet they still hung around until the last week of the season. Not great, but not horrible either.
Cavalier Caveats
I'll start with the Cavs since their most recent preseason game was a highly anticipated match-up against the Miami Heat from Brazil. It was LeBron James facing his new former team for the first time and it followed some interesting remarks from Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh that the media tried way too hard to make a story line.
This of course has been a dominant issue with the national media, who still can't seem to grasp that James is a Cavalier again. Remember, last time I wrote he hadn't decided his future and I was okay with the team either way.
I won't get too deep in how I think this team has been constructed, but it's been put together smartly by David Griffin and David Blatt seems like a good choice thus far to coach these players. Kevin Love committing beyond this season will be huge, but the Cavs did a nice job and I'm really interested to see how Kyrie Irving, Dion Waiters, and Kevin Love play with James.
Early preseason results have been promising offensively, as was expected. Obviously, this team is a liability defensively, especially with Love, but it may not matter when they can't be stopped at all on the other end.
The game from Rio was pretty fascinating as the starters pretty much had their way with the Heat, building up a 15 point halftime lead without James doing a lot of scoring. What he did though was provide 8 assists and allowed Love, Waiters, and Anderson Varejao to do the scoring. Tristan Thompson also had a nice game, showing that the Cavs are not going to struggle with offense and rebounding.
The game went to overtime, primarily because the reserves to the reserves let up and the Heat reserves tied the game, but the Cavs pulled it off in overtime 122-119.
The main thing I continue to take away from this team is the ball is going to move. No one stood and dribbled until AJ Price came in and started dribbling around the court. Everyone was involved offensively and the Cavs went to Varejao early and often to establish a post-up game. Varejao didn't disappoint his home crowd, dropping in hook shot after hook shot to the delight of the crowd.
Defensively, there are holes, but unless Love and Irving suddenly stop being turnstiles, there isn't much you can do there. The Heat were able to penetrate with ease in the first quarter, but that seemed to be corrected in the second quarter, when the Cavs took control.
What is clear about this team is that it isn't going to be James and/or Irving dribbling for 15 seconds before using a pick to try and make something happen. The ball is going to swing from side to side, inside back out, and fast breaks are going to be especially fun. I'm most interested to see how Waiters fits into all of this. He's been very good the first two preseason games and is showing interest on the defensive end of the floor, which is going to be huge.
I still don't know who's going to start, but it's going to be a fun year.
Brownie Bits
That was fun yesterday, wasn't it?
It didn't seem like it was going to start off well as the Pittsburgh Steelers marched right down the field, primarily running the ball, but the drive stalled and they settled for a field goal. Then the Browns went three and out again and once again the Steelers were marching down the field. Then luck turned to the Browns and the Steelers botched a field goal attempt.
A few plays later, the Browns were in the end zone and leading 7-3 thanks to a big play from Jordan Cameron from Brian Hoyer and a nice run from Isiah Crowell. The Browns held the Steelers on the next possession and once again the Browns struck with a big play, this time a 51-yard touchdown pass from Hoyer to Cameron on 3rd and 1. It was a perfect throw following a nice play-fake from Hoyer that completely fooled the Steelers defensive backs.
Little did we know at the time the route was on and the Browns went on to win 31-10, scoring at will in the second and third quarters before the Steelers finally got a late touchdown with under 4 minutes remaining in the game. At that point, the outcome was not in doubt and the fans were celebrating in the stands, shooing away the yellow towels that usually inundate the stadium in the third and fourth quarters.
The first thing I'm going to take from that game is the Browns continued commitment to the run, but also ability to be aggressive when the opportunity knocks. Ben Tate didn't have a great game rushing, but he and Crowell kept the Steelers thinking about the run enough for Hoyer to hit his receivers down the field. Hoyer only completed 8 passes, but 7 went beyond 10 yards and kept the crowd ignited. Crowell busted a couple of larger runs, but came down with a case of the yips with some fumbling issues.
The defense, while not entirely stout, did what it had to do to keep the Steelers flustered on offense and avoided the big play, something that had bit them a few times. Buster Skrine in particular had a nice game, bouncing back from last week's disaster.
Special teams have completely cleaned up their act. There haven't been any big returns, but the tackling has been sure and the field goal issues have largely disappeared. They don't kick a lot of them though since Hoyer likes to score touchdowns as opposed to field goals.
The big downside is the injury bug hitting this team hard. Alex Mack was lost for the season most likely with a broken leg when he was caught under a pile of players. Armony Bryant is also done for the year with a torn ACL, further hampering a defensive line that was already missing several players.
They were still gashed pretty badly in the run game, but the defense held together at the right moments and were aided by the Steelers surprising decision to all but abandon the run game once the deficit grew. This is in contrast to the Browns, who have shown that they will run whether down by 3 or 23.
All in all, it's hard to complain and hard to find reasons for first round pick Johnny Manziel to even sniff the field at this stage. Hoyer has shown this is his team and he's not going to just give it up.
The next three games will be far bigger tests to me though. All three should be very winnable, albeit not entirely easy. First up is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were a blocked kick away from their first win. You also have games against a suddenly competitive Oakland Raiders team along with a seemingly demoralized Tampa Bay Buccaneers team. How they approach those games will show us how far they've truly come.
Yes, it's possible that the Browns will be 6-2 once they hit a big showdown with the Cincinnati Bengals, but they first need to focus on next week's game and carry this performance over.
Oh, and they might want to get healthy too.
