The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers last night, 107 – 100. Cavs Vs Sixers was far more exciting than many expected as the young Philly team made things tough early and late while the Championship-bound Cavs dominated when they needed to.
Last night was also the night that LeBron James became the youngest player to 25,000 points, passing Kobe Bryant. Omar covered that here.
The Cavs moved to 3 – 1 on the season, good for third in the Eastern Conference. (Sorry that is both pointless and fun to point out.)
On to 3 Things We Learned from Cavs Vs Sixers:
1. LeBron Still Has Hops
Last year we all were worried about LeBron’s inability to do the amazing athletic things that we were used to in his first go around with the Cavs. He seemed to have lost the lift and explosion in all aspects of his game. His dunks weren’t that impressive. He was pushed off his spots in the post, didn’t get great lift on his jump shots and had the ball ripped out of his hands while dribbling.
No so this year, even after getting a shot in his back during preseason. LeBron has picked his spots but his ability to get up is not in question. Not only in the above dunk but his last 4 points of the game came off alley-oop dunks. Pretty appropriate that the athlete of all athletes scores his milestone points on a dunk.
It is just good to see those hops back in #23.
2. Anderson Varejao Will Have Tough Nights
While we have written about how much better The Wild Thing looked during the preseason, last night was not a good night for Andy. Thankfully Head Coach David Blatt saw that Varejao was going to struggle against the Sixers and only played him 4 minutes. The quickness of Nerlens Noel and the overall ability of Jahlil Okafor were bound to be too much for Andy.
That doesn’t mean Andy won’t be useful but the Cavs have the depth to use him only when needed. Last night, Blatt used James Jones as the Cavs second big man off the bench. His ability to stretch the floor was a great fit to the tune of 12 points on four deep balls.
Having options and versatility was the secret to the Golden State Warriors taking apart the Cavs in the NBA Finals. When fully healthy, the Cavs will have similar options. Sometimes Andy will be a great fit. Sometimes, like last night, he won’t. That is all okay.
3. The Cavs Have a Switch
A big concern with most great teams is their belief that they can “flip the switch.” A great team believes that at any time, they can put out more effort and dominate a game. The good from that is the belief in their own talent. The bad is that teams that “know” they have a switch tend to take some games lightly with the belief they can change things whenever they want.
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Last night, the Sixers had a 15 point lead but then the Cavs flipped their switch and at one point were up to 21. The starters sat, the Sixers backups took back the game some leading to the 7 point victory.
Having the ability to takeover a game at any point is nice. Waiting till you are down 15 to a team you should dominate is a big concern.
The Cavs have a chance to be a historically good team both in the Regular Season and in the Playoffs. Hopefully they don’t rely on “the switch” too often.
What did you learn from last night’s Cavs Vs Sixers game?