The Cleveland Cavaliers rebounded from a tough loss in Miami with a comprehensive 124-91 victory over the Denver Nuggets
The Cavs began this game with an explosive first quarter, and let 32-13 at one point on the back of a 17-point first quarter from LeBron James. With Kevin Love missing the game due to illness, James was in attack mode early. However, after building their lead, the Cavs had a cold stretch offensively in the second quarter while James sat, as Denver stormed back into the game and led 43-41 at one point. However, from there on it was all Cleveland, as the Cavaliers romped to a 33 point victory.
Here’s three things we learned from the Cavs’ 50th win of the season:
1. Ball Movement = Success
Like I’ve said before in these pieces, this isn’t necessarily something we learned, but you have to hope the Cavaliers themselves took something out of tonight’s ball movement. The Cavs whipped the ball around or a season-high 38 assists on 48 made field-goals, easily their best output of the season. LeBron led the way for the Cavs with 11 assists, and was helped by Matthew Dellavedova (7), JR Smith (5) and Iman Shumpert (4).
The Cavaliers have an outstanding record when passing for over 20 assists in a game this season. They have passed the mark in 51 games, and have an impressive record of 41-10 in these contests. The number gets even more impressive the higher you go. In 23 games where the Cavs have passed for 25 assists or more, they have an astounding 22-1 record.
With the post-season around the corner, the Cavs will want to continue to work on their ball movement and not settle for mediocre shots as a result of excessive isolation plays.
2. Channing Frye‘s Impressive Streak Continues
Since arriving in Cleveland effectively replacing former fan favourite Anderson Varejao, Channing Frye has been nothing short of outstanding. Stepping into a starting role for the injured Kevin Love, Frye was excellent once again.
In Frye’s 14 games as a Cavalier, he is averaging just 8.3 points and 3.7 rebounds, not exactly outstanding numbers. But Frye’s eye-popping shooting percentages tell the true story. Frye has shot 53.8% from the field and an impressive 49.2% from three-point range since the trade.
Frye’s numbers have been even more ridiculous in the month of March, where he has shot 61.4% from the field and 55.8% from long distance.
Against the Nuggets, Frye was excellent, scoring 14 points on an efficient 5 for 9 shooting. He also made three of his seven three-point attempts.
Despite many fans suggesting that he should start for Kevin Love, this will not happen. However, Frye’s play has been a pleasant surprise for the Cavaliers, and he should have a vital role as a part of the Cavs bench units in the post-season.
3. LeBron’s Still Really, Really Good
It was an extremely weird day in Cleveland today. The day started off with reports on Twitter about LeBron having unfollowed the Cavaliers on Twitter and Instagram, causing an expected firestorm as only LeBron can. Naturally, people spoke about LeBron once again deserting the Cavaliers and heading to the warm confines of Miami.
However, on the court, LeBron proved why he is worth all the drama. While James has had higher scoring outputs of the season, today was by far his most polished game of the season.
As aforementioned, James attacked the Nuggets from the tip and made 12 of his 19 field goals en-route to 33 points. Compared to previous seasons, LeBron has averaged less free-throws per game. However, today he was rewarded for his aggression with 11 free-throws and James shot them well, knocking down eight.
Of course James’ game was not restricted to his scoring. Once again, James was outstanding on the boards, grabbing 11 rebounds and passed the ball superbly for 11 assists. Probably most importantly, James played just 33 minutes and was a mind-boggling +38 in that time period.
As LeBron locks in closer to the playoffs, expect to see performances such as today fairly regularly.
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It must be said that this was an impressive victory for the Cavaliers. While people may baulk at the quality of opposition, Denver is exactly the kind of team that the Cavs have played down to all season. Off the back of the disaster in Miami, it was vital for the Cavs to bounce back straight away. However, as we’ve seen in the past, after an impressive victory, the Cavs have become known to follow them with letdown games.
Cleveland’s next opponent is the pesky Milwaukee Bucks, who have enjoyed a mini-resurgence of late and the Cavaliers will have their hands full if they are not locked in from the tip.