featured-image

Ohio Lottery Winning Time: Deep at The Q

When the Cavaliers went into ‘next-man-up’ mode in last year’s postseason, they were scrambling for their survival. This year, it’s been a way of life.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. And every lineup Coach Blatt has had to come up with is working – with the Cavs taking their eighth straight home game, third straight win, improving to an Eastern Conference-best 11-3 while beating an Orlando team for the 11th straight time by an average of over 14 points per. (Exhale.)

The numbers are numbing. The Wine and Gold have now won 28 of their last 29 at The Q, including 33 straight when they top the century mark. On Monday night, with four of their top rotation guys in street clothes, the highest-scoring team in the Eastern Conference (104.9 ppg) went off for 117 points.

“When people come into our building, they understand what type of game they’re gonna be involved in,” said LeBron James, who dished out a season-high 13 helpers in the win. “It’s going to be very physical, with everybody playing at a high level. Our fans are unbelievable, and they give us that extra push that we need on a night-to-night basis.”

LeBron, who took a scary spill midway through the first quarter, made another mark in the NBA’s history books – passing Norm Nixon for 25th on the NBA’s all-time assist list and joining Oscar Robertson as one of only two players in league history in the Top 25 in both scoring and assists.

In Monday’s win, LeBron and Matthew Dellavedova – who himself is fighting through a sore ankle – combined for 22 of Cleveland’s 34 assists. In all, the Cavaliers – averaging 25.1 apg as a team – handed out 34 helpers on 43 made field goals – to go with just 10 turnovers.

“Everybody has things that they’re dealing with, but obviously we’re a little undermanned right now,” said Delly, who added 15 points on 4-for-6 shooting. “Anyway that (reserves, stepping in as starters) can contribute helps. I’m just trying to do what I can.”

Matthew Dellavedova

Dick Synder

Matthew Dellavedova

Kyrie Irving is getting closer to his return and should see the floor before the New Year and Iman Shumpert has been rehabbing on overdrive. Mo Williams should return this week and Timofey Mozgov’s injury has allowed Anderson Varejao to re-insert himself into the rotation.

“We’re trying to be the best that we can be right now, given that we’re not at full strength and that we had a bit of a disjointed preparation period due to many injuries and difficulties that we had preseason,” said Coach Blatt. “I think it’s important for us to build and for us to get healthy and incorporate back into the team many of the guys that haven’t been able to play. At the same time, to win basketball games and play well and I think that’s what we’ve been doing, by and large.”

Varejao, the Cavs’ starting center before rupturing his Achilles’ last December, is one of those guys Blatt is incorporating – after seeing scant minutes until Timo’s injury forced him back into the rotation. All he did in relief of Mozgov was go 4-for-4 in the second half of last Thursday’s win over Milwaukee, seven points and three rebounds against Atlanta and eight more boards off the bench on Monday.

”Andy has really stepped up and played great the last couple games,” praised Kevin Love. “T-Thomp coming into the starting lineup – that’s something that he did last year when I went down, Champ (James Jones) has come in there and really played well in the minutes he was out there. So, other guys have to step up in Timo’s absence and we hope he gets back sooner rather than later.”

Love was a one-man wrecking crew in the second quarter of Monday’s win – netting 20 of Cleveland’s 30 points, including 17 straight – as part of his season-high 34-point outburst. Through eight games at The Q this season, the three-time All-Star is averaging 21.5 points and 12.6 boards per.

The Cavaliers keep finding new ways – and new people to find new ways – to win ballgames. Last weekend, the Wine and Gold needed LeBron’s late heroics. He wrapped up the weekend averaging 13.3 points in the fourth quarter of three contests. On Monday night, the Cavs crushed Orlando by two touchdowns with LeBron tied with Delly – behind Love and J.R. Smith – as the squad’s third-leading scorer.

”For me, leading scorer of the team is not my concern,” said James, following the win. “Obviously, our health is our No. 1 concern and us, having four guys out right now – it’s ‘next-man-up.’ That’s what we need to go by, that’s what we will go by and everyone has contributed to being a great player for themselves first – doing their job, doing it at a high level – and it all trickles down through the team.

“For me, all I care about is winning,” smiled the game’s greatest player. “I’ve got enough stats.”