Very exciting game last night, the good guys really put on a show for us in the mile high. So let’s start from the beginning to what started and finished as an up and down game…scratch that, the first 3 quarters of this game in my eyes are irrelevant, what we all want to talk about is a young man who is not afraid of the big moment and shines the brightest when the heat is on (that’s not a shot at a former cavalier). I am speaking about the Rookie of the Year, Kyrie Irving, who had another great 4^th quarter performance last night which he now routinely has on a night to night basis. Let’s go over some quick numbers first.

Top Performers:  Antawn Jamison did his usual big point production of, 33pts, and 9 rebounds…but is it just me or does it seem like he is not impacting the game as his stats would suggest. Every now and then he has some meaningful buckets but I always seem to forget how he got his 25 or 30 at the end of the game.

Alonzo gee had another solid night with 19pts, 4stls, 3asts, and 7 rebounds. He always contributes to the game in more way than one and that did not change in Denver as he added a huge two hand dunk to cut the Denver lead to 1 point late…in somewhat of a bizarre circumstance, as Gallinari was hanging on the rim and Gee still dunked it on top of his head.

Finally and obviously Mr. Irving who ended the game with 18pts, 3stls, 8asts, and 5 rebounds, he had his usual nasty layups and crossovers, that keep you glued to the TV but his 4^th quarter performance is what got the Cavs over the hump last night.

The Cavs had been neck and neck just about with the nuggets for most of the game and started the 4^th quarter up 2 points.

The Nuggets then took the lead after some free throws by Miller and Andersen. Tristan and Casspi traded some baskets with Miller and Harrington and the nuggets are up 1 at this point. Alright a couple of irrelevant plays happened in between and we finally get to the 7:21 mark when Kyrie subs in for booby, and he pretty much battles the rest of the night with Ty Lawson.

For the next 3 minutes the game is either tied or 1 team goes up one then down 2 then up 1 again…etc

With about 2 minutes in some change to go, Kyrie drives to the hoop and makes what looks to be a falling and 1 layup  to tie the game at 90 a piece, and finishes the play with a netted free throw to put the Cavs up 1 point.

Lawson then makes a reverse layup and a free throw to put the nuggets up 1. A couple plays later Kyrie speeds to the basket avoiding defenders to tie the game again with an, and 1 layup and converts on the free throw to put the Cavs back up by 1

Lawson answers with a speedster layup of his own to put the Nuggets up 1. Kyrie then forces a steal on Lawson drives down and assists Gee for that dunk I spoke of earlier to put the good guys back on top by 1.  Kyrie then trades baskets with Nene and Nene adds one more to put Denver up by one.

Now with 15 tix left on the clock Kyrie takes the rock the length of the court and you could tell he would not be denied and finishes with dagger layup to put the Cavs on top once and for all to kill Denver’s dreams and escape with win at the Pepsi center.

In the first half the Cavs struggled mightily to produce points in the paint and rebound the rock. The rebound and points in the paint numbers are a direct result of the outcome of the first half. Utah outscored the Cavs 30 to 18 for points in the paint and out-rebounded the Cavs 31 to 18, the numbers are basically identical. Adding to their poor first half play, they shot a miserable 34% from the floor not converting on many “give me” buckets in the paint after Utah’s defense broke down. These factors contributed to a 56-41 halftime deficit for the Cavaliers. Hayward and Jamison lead the Cavs and Utah in scoring with 11 a piece.

In the second half the Cavs tried to make a game out of this, but they really had no answers for the inside scoring of Utah’s Milsap and Jefferson as well as Hayward with the perimeter attack. Kyrie woke up this quarter though. After being held in check the first half with only 1 point. This quarter he stared to come on and scored 13 third quarter points, to help the Cavs out score Utah in this quarter but it still was not enough as they were still down 13 going into the 4^th.

Irving would continue his scoring onslaught in the 4^th period knocking in 8 fourth quarter points. I really felt that he was making a big difference by his ability to get in the lane and create, it was beginning to cause problems defensively for Utah as Irving would get deep in the lane force Milsap or Jefferson to help and he would just work them with a nice cross-over or some hesitation moves and finish at the basket, one time in particular when he made a nice hesitation move to get by the first defender, then he euro stepped Jefferson and finished with a sweet one handed reverse layup. It was just a little too late however as the Cavs could only cut the lead to about 5 with 49 seconds left but Utah answered with 4 consecutive Jefferson and Hayward free throws to end the game with Utah up 9, for a final score of 100 to 109.

Team Leaders:

Utah: Al Jefferson 25pts , 13rebs, and 7 assists

Cavs: Antawn Jamison 22pts, 6asts, and 4 rebouds

BY THE NUMBERS: Antawn Jamison lead all scorers with 32 points on 50% shooting making 11 of his 22 field goal attempts. He also added 10 rebounds to end the Night with a Double-Double. He got a lot of help from rookie point guard Kyrie Irving who chipped in with 25pts, 2stls, 8asts, and 5rebs. To lead the Cavaliers to a victory.

The Pistons also got a big contribution from their rookie point guard Brandon Knight, with an impressive 24pts to lead Detroit in scoring and their second year big man Greg Monroe also made an impact on the game,and nearly checked in a triple-double wih 19pts 11rebs and 7ast.

THE GRIND: Kyrie Irving and Alonzo Gee combined to score 30pts in the deciding 4th quarter to help bring the Cavs back from and 17pt deficit and take down the in division rival Detroit Pistons. With Kyrie navigating through the lane many trips down and knocking down his jumpers and Alonzo aggressively attacking the rim all quarter.

THE GAME CHANGER: At the 09:11 mark in the 4th quarter Kyrie sink-ed a 25 foot trey ball to cut the lead to 4 and appropriately threw up the 6 shooter hand gesture as the Pistons are forced to call a time out.

WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING: Kyrie Irving and Brandon Knight battling at the point guard positon. The 2 rooks really went at it all night, but Kyrie put an,  in and out move on Brandon in the 4th that gave him all the momentum and was as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT: The Cavaliers have been finding themselves in a whole leading to the deciding 4th quarter, and have been relying heavy on the rookie Kyrie Irving to dig them out. They really need to play a better first 3 quarters of basketball to give the rook a break. I also noticed that they have spells where they totally ignore one side of the floor…swing the ball around the clock let everybody touch it before forcing up a bad shot.

THOUGHTS: The Cavs had their second consecutive comeback win tonight. They have spurts where they play extremely well and confident, but then there are times like tonight where they miss assignments and fall behind. However with the Rookie Kyrie Irving ever improving the Cavs are a tough out every night, regardless of miss steps early in the game.

NOTABLE: Cavs call up Manny Harris from the D-League

NEXT: Today vs. the New Orleans hornets at home at 7 PM

Not 2 minutes into the game tonight and Anderson Varejao had already recorded his first dunk, 25 seconds later and he added another dunk all over Dirk’s head this time to start a Cavalier 6-0 run. The Q is going nuts and you begin to think the Cavs may easily walk away with a win over the Mavericks. Dallas would regroup from the 6-0 lead by the Cavs to start the game by shooting their way back to steal the quarter and take a 9 point convincing lead, but this did not deter the Cavs.

Cavalier rookie, Kyrie Irving, led with a great performance and finished his 11th career 20 point game with 20pts of course, 2stls, and 4 rebounds. Anderson Varejao also added his normal overall stat stuffing performance with 17pts, 17rebs and 3ast.

Kyrie Irving Splitting Maverick Defenders

A relatively close game throughout, with the biggest lead being set by Dallas at 15 after a 6-0 run with 9 minutes left in the second quarter, but other than that the game stayed competitive. Each team making runs, only to be matched by the other but the Cavs would make one final run to top them all.

With roughly 4 minutes to go the ever improving Alonzo Gee made a fierce drive to the basket and finished with a dunk to cut the Dallas lead down to 2 points. After trading baskets Kyrie Irving made one of his nifty hesitation hop, skip drives to the basket and finished an effortless right hand reverse layup to put the Cavs up 1 with 2:35 tics left. Anderson Varejao would then answer that with a 6 foot floater in the lane to put the Cavaliers up 3, but Jason Terry would answer by knocking down two free throws to cut the lead back to 1. Only to be answered by the layup king himself, Kyrie Irving who responded with another reverse right hand layup almost exactly like first which put the Cavs up 3 to seal the deal and jump the Mavericks for once and for all.

A career night for Anderson Varejao did not end in a victory for the Cavaliers last night unfortunately. Anderson finished with 20pts, 20rebs, 2ast and 1 blocked shot last night as he was a constant motor for the Cavs all night and one of the few reason’s they had a chance late.

The Cavaliers played a less than stellar first half last night. The defense just looked to be completely scattered and panicked in the first half and Boston seemed to be getting just about whatever they wanted. To make matters worse they were also struggling to score. Scoring only 15pts in the 2nd quarter and ending the half with Andy leading all scorers with 14pts, with the Cavs down 51-39.

In the third quarter the Celtic’s Ray Allen came alive scoring 12pts 4/4 from the field 2/2 from beyond the arc, after being held scoreless in the first half. Things are looking very grim for the Cavs, at one point the lead was up to 22. Again the only bright spot was Mr. Varejao who ended the 3rd quarter, with 18pts and 15rebs, grabbing 8 boards in the 3rd alone. This did not lead to any extra scoring though; the Cavs struggled mightily to do so in the third and trailed 76-58 going into the 4th.

Now here is where the fun begins the 4th quarter. Just when you think the game is over the Cavs come storming back. I joked that they all most have taken 5 hour energy’s along with a Red Bull at the end of the third because this was an entirely different team on the floor. They tightened up the defensive pressure, just a wee bit and made every shot difficult for the Celtics.
With about 7:56 left on the clock the Cavs really started to make their run, with a long Jumper by Sessions at the top of the key, to cut the lead to 12, followed up with a runner by Irving to cut it to 10. Then a huge 3 ball by GEEEEE! To cut the lead down to 7pts…at this point the game is looking eerily similar to the game played on Sunday. To the point where I pause the game (gotta love DVR) and bring up the info to make sure.

The Cavs continued to chip away at the lead and after a nifty left hand layup by Kyrie, who finished the quarter with 13pts, 21 in the game, the lead has been narrowed all the way down to 2pts now. After a Turnaround jumper by KG the lead went back up to 4. The Cavaliers missed a series of jump shots after that, and to top it off 2 Paul pierce free throws sealed the deal for the Celtics. If the Cavs had played the entire game with the effort they played with in the 4th quarter, this is a walk away win for the Cavaliers.

Six of the 10 players that the Cavs played tonight hit three balls and the struggling Knicks had no answers for the outside heat brought on by the Cavaliers.

The Cavs played a very balanced game in all facets of the game. They played 5 starters and 5 bench guys and everyone who touched the floor scored. Out of the starters 4 of the 5 ended the game in double figures. Defensively everyone followed through with their assignments and kept their bodies between the ball and the basket.

The play of Andy Varejao on both ends of floor is what kept the Cavaliers going with his crazed efforts on the boards he lived up to his nickname… “The Wild Thing” I mean this guy was all over the place, all night. Andy ended the game with 10pts 16rebs 2blks 4stls and 4ast, killin’ the stat sheets!

Early in the game the Cavs had the pick and pop game going with Kyrie and Jamison, who started the 3 point movement, finishing 3 for 4 from beyond the arc and led the Cavs in scoring with 15pts. The Knicks kept it a game though with valid efforts to score in the paint ending the half with 44 points in the paint which was more points than they had the entire second half. Amare and Tyson basically had a dunk fest. Which gave them a 9 point lead but the Cavs buckled down on defending the paint and closed the 9 point gap to tie the game going into half time at 45.

Kyrie Irving started the second half “jivin” he had it going early after knocking down 2 freebies, followed that up by knocking down the go ahead 3 and finishing off the his brief one man run with good look to Varejao for a soft 10 foot jump shot. Continuing their solid defense to close the first half the Cavs maintained this in the second, causing the Knicks to: Take bad shots, miss easy shots and turnover the rock.

With about 4 minutes left in the third quarter Omri Casspi had one shining moment with a strong drive and had a left hand jam “he threw the hammer down” as Austin Carr would say, but he comes down 2 plays later and fouls Fields on a bail out 3. Fields makes 2 of 3 to cut the lead to 3 and it starts to look like the Knicks may turn it up but, Sessions hits a trey ball that lead to back to back jump shots by Samuels and the lead went back up to 5 to close the third.

In the 4th quarter it was pretty much all Cavs, who got big contributions from Gee off the bench who scored all of his 7 pts in the 4th as the Knicks had missed jump shot after missed jump shot after turnover and it started to boil over into frustration with 5:03 remaining when Tyson Chandler through a bow to Andy V out of frustration and was T’d up.

This is shortly followed by a slashing one hand dunk by Varejao; a steal by Varejao, which lead to a Jamison, put back layup. With the cap off play being a 2 handed stylish tomahawk dunk by Gee which was almost as stylish as the fanatic uni’s they were wearing. This is the perfect way to end the game and a 4 game losing streak.