Cavs Vs Pelicans: 3 Things We Learned

The Cleveland Cavaliers snapped their losing streak with a 99-84 victory over the stumbling New Orleans Pelicans.

Just 24 hours removed from their dramatic loss to the Boston Celtics at the buzzer, no such theatrics were necessary on Saturday Night, as the Cavs took care of the struggling Pelicans.

The win pushed Cleveland to 36-14, while New Orleans has now lost four straight and fell to a record of 18-32. The win was the Cavs sixth under new head coach Tyronn Lue, while the Pelicans haven’t been able to find their mojo with Alvin Gentry at the helm.

The Cavaliers grabbed the victory despite missing the services of Kevin Love and Matthew Dellavedova, as both players are currently nursing injuries. Love suffered a left quad contusion against the Celtics, while Dellavedova is dealing with a left hamstring issue, which has forced him to miss three games. Both players are still considered day-to-day.

Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 29 points, shooting 11-of-21 from the field and 3-of-9 from beyond the arc. Irving also added four rebounds, three assists and two steals. LeBron James finally broke his streak of missed three-pointers, hitting his first long-distance bomb since a January 25^th win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. James finished with 27 points, eight assists and three rebounds.

J.R. Smith was the Cavs leader in plus/minus on the night, as he was a +20 in 33 minutes of action. Smith contributed 20 points and hit six three-pointers, as he is in an excellent offensive rhythm over the past few games.

For the Pelicans, Cleveland State alma mater Norris Cole was terrific on the day CSU retired his jersey. Cole finished with 26 points, shooting 10-of-19 from the field, while Anthony Davis had 24 points and 11 rebounds.

Here are three things we learned from the Cavs victory.

Too Many Three’s

A point of emphasis for Lue has been for the Cavaliers to push the pace, create easy offense and move the ball around. That wasn’t exactly the case against the Pelicans. The Cavs shot just 43.3% from the field and they racked up 21 assists on 39 made field goals but a positive is the isolation heavy basketball that plagued Cleveland in their previous two losses wasn’t seen as much.

Cleveland shot way too many three-point attempts against the Pelicans though, as they attempted 41 triples, making 14 of them. Nearly half of the Cavaliers field goal attempts were from beyond the arc, which is simply way too many.

Now, it is tough to say that the Cavs settled too much for the three-point shot. Majority of the three’s taken were actually pretty good looks, as Lue said after the game, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “That was how the flow of the game went. If we can push it up and we can get our shooters open looks early in the shot clock, we want to take those shots.”

Good looks or not though, 41 three’s is too much for a team that averages 27.7 per game and isn’t filled with great three-point shooters.

The third quarter was where the Cavaliers really went bombs away, as they attempted 16 threes. For comparison, the Pelicans shot 23 three-pointers for the entire game.

The Pelicans do not offer much resistance in the paint. In fact, the Cavaliers were getting into the lane with relative ease on Saturday Night when they pushed the tempo and got into early offense, NOLA had no answer, which made the 41 three-point attempts a little puzzling.

A by-product of shooting so many outside jumpers is the lack of easy offense at the basket and this was evident by the Cavaliers shooting just seven free throws on the night, after attempting 35 of them against the Celtics. To be fair to the Cavs though, the team did hit all seven of those freebies- even if James and Irving were the only two players to take them.

Wild Thing Delivers

It has been a frustrating year for Anderson Varejao. The beloved Cavalier veteran has been out of the rotation for the entire season and has had to deal with not knowing whether he would play or not every single night.

With Love missing against the Pelicans though and Timofey Mozgov struggling in his first five minutes on the court, Varejao had his chance to deliver and boy did he ever.

The stat-line isn’t massive- two points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals in 27 minutes of action- but the stat-line is never an indicator of Varejao’s contributions. The Cavs had been lacking energy and intensity as of late and Varejao’s game is predicated on those elements and he brought them to the court against New Orleans.

Varejao was hustling for loose balls, crashing the boards, had a respectable defensive showing against Davis and even had himself a chase-down block on the night.

Varejao’s presence made a huge difference for the Cavs on the night and Lue realized that and judging by his comments postgame, don’t be surprised to see more of Varejao in the weeks to come, per Fedor.

"“It was very important,” Lue said of Varejao’s play. “All season, we called his number, he’s been ready to play. Came in gave us some great energy. Thought he did a great job on Anthony Davis, just being a pest and just bothering him a lot, rebounding the basketball. He was just great for us tonight. We need Andy. The way he played tonight, I got to step up and be able find him some minutes somewhere.”"

With Mozgov struggling and the Cavs lacking energy at certain stages of games, playing Varejao 10-15 minutes a night would be a positive for Cleveland and quite frankly, it is a decision that should have been made a long time ago.

Kyrie Finding His Rhythm

Irving has been inconsistent since his return from knee-surgery in late December but if the last few games are anything to judge by, he is finally finding some reliance in his shot.

Lue has had a simple message for Irving over the past couple of weeks and that has been to be aggressive on offense and re-find that form and scoring ability that made him one of the NBA’s toughest players to guard. Irving has taken that message and ran with it, as he has scored 20 points in five of his last six games.

Since Lue took over two weeks ago, Irving is averaging 21.6 points per game, shooting exactly 50% from the field and 90.6% from the free-throw line. Irving is also averaging 17.3 field goal attempts per game in that span, a sign of his aggressiveness on offense. Although, Irving is yet to find his three-point stroke, hitting just 19.4% of his long-distance attempts in the past two weeks. Irving is a great shooter, so it’s only a matter of time until his three-point stroke returns.

More from King James Gospel

• 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
• The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
• 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
• 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
• This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead

Irving can sometimes dribble too much on offense and slow the pace of the game down. When Irving goes into his isolation mindset, the ball stops moving and the Cavs offense grinds down to a sudden halt. This wasn’t the case against the Pelicans though, as Irving was able to find that fine line of being aggressive and not forcing the issue, something he talked about after the contest, per Fedor.

"“I think it’s been going fairly well,” Irving said of being aggressive. “Just me as a competitor and as the point guard of the team I think there’s a mental block sometimes where I want to play in between. I come off pick-and-rolls and he wants me to just attack every single time. I’m coming off just trying to make plays and finding that in-between game and finding that rhythm between us two, as point guard and Coach.”"

Everyone knows how important Irving is to this Cavalier team and if he isn’t being a positive on offense, Cleveland’s championship hopes takes a nosedive. Although, when he is playing like he has been of late, the Cavs become a much more dangerous unit.