At least for one night, the Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland can feel good about basketball again. The Cavs knocked off the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics 95-87, who by the way, defeated a Miami Heat team, featuring a superstar who left this summer.
This edition of the wine and gold played with passion and intensity. They ran plays, they played tough defense, and they won. And according to some NBA experts, it will be one of the few victories they will achieve all season.
And they won without Mo Williams, one of their starters. Despite all of his failings in the playoffs the past two seasons, Williams is still one of the team’s best players.
Nor did Antawn Jamison have a great game. The veteran came off the bench to play just 20 minutes, although he did hit a couple of buckets in the fourth quarter, when the wine and gold outscored Boston 27-14 to gain the win.
J.J. Hickson showed how much he improved over the off-season, scoring 21 points on 8 of 11 shooting and he also grabbed 6 rebounds. Anderson Varajao had 8 points and 10 rebounds.
Daniel Gibson shook off a rough start, missing his first eight shots, winding up with 16 points and 8 assists, and played in crunch time. Can you imagine him getting that opportunity last season if he started that cold?
And Ryan Hollins pitched in with 10 points and four boards. Hollins needs to be a contributor because he’s one of the few guys in Cleveland jersey who has some size.
Scott’s crew played decent defense, although he would probably prefer to see a opponent’s shooting percentage lower than Boston’s 47.2% as the season goes on.
Offensively, it was a balanced attack with six players in double figures, and the shots distributed fairly evenly with newcomer Ramon Sessions (15) and Gibson (14) getting the most looks. It was a blueprint as to how the Cavaliers have to play minus a superstar.
Yes, Boston was played the second game of a back-to-back set, having defeated the Heat the night before, but that’s scheduling in the NBA. The Cavs still had to play well, and they did.
No one gives you anything in the league. You have to earn victories. It is important for the wine and gold to get off to a good start, if only to give the players the confidence that they can win without LeBron James.
This team does have some good players, and some of them, particularly guys like Hickson, Gibson, and Hollins need to know they can play and win at this level.
The atmosphere at “The Q” was that of a playoff game. It seemed everyone, the players, the fans, and especially owner Dan Gilbert wanted to show people that basketball isn’t dead in Cleveland it’s just different. It was a feel good win for the city.
As for questions on if James’ #23 will ever hang from the rafters, Gilbert was non-committal saying his former employee is only 25 years old and such talk is way too premature.
Let us speak for him. It won’t be there…ever!
There will be one more banner hoisted this season. A picture of a microphone and the name Joe Tait should be put up there on the season’s last home game.
For one day, Cleveland sports fans are smiling. Thanks to the Cavs.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 