CLEVELAND: Thirteen thoughts for Channing Frye's 13 points in Thursday’s 107-87 win over the Brooklyn Nets…
1. Kyrie Irving capped a turbulent few days by putting the rest of the league on notice. The Warriors are marching toward history, but Irving firmly believes the Cavs are marching toward a title.
2. “I feel like we’re the team to beat,” Irving said. “It’s open season until we get into the playoffs. I have a lot more confidence than I think anyone realizes in our team and what’s going on in our locker room.”
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3. What exactly is going on in that locker room will make a great 30 for 30 one day. Sometimes it feels as if this whole thing will be blown up at the end of the season even though the talent indicates they’ve got a fighting chance. The Cavs matched last season’s victory total of 53 with the win over the Nets, but there is much more to be done.
4. “Everything surrounding our team is just crazy to think that we’re still in first place and we’re still the team to beat,” Irving said. “Regardless of what anybody else says, what we need and what we don’t need and what we need to get better at.”
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5. The Cavs have been maddeningly inconsistent much of this season, although they did to the Nets exactly what they should have, particularly with Brook Lopez resting. What he is resting up for, no one is quite certain. But the Cavs held the Nets to 37 percent shooting. It was 31 percent in the first half before the Cavs’ collective ADD kicked in, and as Tyronn Lue said, “we just took a step backwards, started messing around with the game, taking shortcuts. They missed some shots, we got lucky, but the first half was way better than the second half.”
6. Irving’s week has certainly been eventful and spilled out all over social media. There probably isn’t much of a need to rehash the events of the last few days between Irving, his ex-girlfriend Kehlani and her old/new boyfriend, a rapper whose name I refuse to type as I try to salvage a thread of professionalism in all of this.
7. That’s part of the reason no one asked Irving about the events after Tuesday’s loss to the Houston Rockets. We wanted to give Irving a chance to address the situation himself first, and once he did late Wednesday night on social media, he addressed it with reporters following the win over the Nets.
8. “I’ve been through a ton of adversity in my life. There’s nothing anyone can say that I can’t get through,” Irving said of his last few days. “I’ve been through enough already in my short 24 years that most people can say for their whole entire lives.”
9. One point of concern lately is the play of Matthew Dellavedova. Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff admitted they changed their defense in the second half and wanted Delly to beat them off the bounce rather than facilitating. Dellavedova is at his best when he’s throwing lobs and making catch-and-shoot 3s, which is why he is so effective in this system.
10. Dellavedova trying to create for himself is not nearly as effective. In fact, the more he dribbles, the faster his 3-point percentage drops. He’s shooting 46 percent from 3 when he doesn’t dribble and 14 percent from 3 when he takes between three and six dribbles. The same is true elsewhere. Dellavedova is shooting 47 percent from 3 on catch-and-shoots, but only 32 percent on pull-up 3-pointers.
11. I asked Lue before the game if he thought defenses were figuring Dellavedova out, backing off of him and forcing him to beat teams by creating.
12. “I hope so. I hope they drop back,” Lue said. “He’s an over 40 percent 3-point shooter and Delly can make those shots,” Lue said. “He’s proven to make those shots. Made big shots in the Finals for us. If teams are going to give him that, I’m comfortable with that.”
13. The Cavs play at Atlanta on Friday. LeBron James moved past Dominique Wilkins tonight, he can pass Oscar Robertson and move into 11th place on the all-time scoring list against the Hawks. James enters the game 21 points shy of Robertson. Talk to you tomorrow from Philips Arena.