Cleveland Sports Forum

Bust

Did you have someone else you wanted the Cavs to draft or are you just playing the grumpy New Englander again ?

Give it some time. Bennett is 19 years old coming off of shoulder surgery.

Couldn't care less about pro basketball.

Just sayin' he looks like a bust to me.

I'm more displeased with Brown's inconsistency than with Bennett's.

Thompson with 8 rebounds in first 6 minutes. What's the Cavs record? I remember Rick Roberson had a big number ages ago, but that was probably surpassed since. Like Walter Wesley's 50 points; LeBron topped that, didn't he? Free, too?

I'll be darned: Roberson still holds the record:

Game 25 Rick Roberson @ Houston March 4, 1972
Half 16 Elmore Smith vs. Washington (1st H) February 2, 1978
16 Zydrunas Ilgauskas @ Utah (1st H) January 12, 1998


TT now has 9 in 8 minutes. Better keep at it.

Finished with 21 rebounds and 17 points. Also he is shooting 75% of his free throws since switching from his left hand to his right hand.

That was a good victory. I especially liked the fact that Irving didn't really do much in the 4th quarter; the team worked together well.

I wouldnt pay Irving max money-ball hog

He wasn't against the Nuggets.

kenm wrote:I wouldnt pay Irving max money-ball hog

Not surprising. All Dolanites hate to spend money !

Kyrie scored zero points in the Cavs loss tonight!

Had to post this. Huuuge win last night.

Cleveland Cavaliers and fan favorite Kyrie Irving outlast L.A. Clippers 88-82

CLEVELAND, Ohio – In Cleveland, sports fans have long proven that they are not very quick to forget. A certain free agent departure in 2010 is evidence of that.

But when it comes to their own, when it comes to the most dazzling Cavaliers player who now takes the court nightly, memories, apparently, are short.

One night after failing to score a single point for the first time in his NBA career, Kyrie Irving received an in-game message of support from a fan, and faced down the player he most looks up to in the league, Chris Paul.

The final result was one fan taken into custody after rushing on the court, tapping Irving on the shoulder and displaying a shirt that read, "Kyrie Don't Leave" -- and a Cavaliers 88-82 victory over the L.A. Clippers at The Q.

Irving had 20 points on 6-for-15 shooting while also dishing out six assists and maintaining his composure after the fan strolled onto the court with about three minutes remaining in the second quarter.

The fan calmly tapped Irving on the shoulder as the point guard was back-peddling down the court to play defense. Paul dribbled the ball to midcourt before facing the fan, picking up the ball and staring him down. Referee Gary Zielinski quickly stepped toward the fan, and security swarmed him to escort him off the court.

"He just said 'Kyrie, don't leave.'" Irving said. "Just a prideful Cleveland fan. I love them."

The fan, a minor, was taken into custody by Cleveland police, and charges are pending, Cavaliers PR said. He is the second fan to rush onto the court at The Q in the last two seasons. In March, a fan wearing a shirt that read "We Miss You, Come Back 2014" ran up to LeBron James during the Cavaliers-Miami Heat game.

It was just part of a bizarre night of basketball that also included a tangled fight between Anderson Varejao and Clippers forward Blake Griffin with two minutes remaining in the game, one that resulted in a technical foul for Griffin and another technical for Jarrett Jack as he entered the fray.

In between the absurdity, the Cavaliers found a way to victory by way of dominating big men and frantic defense that held the Clippers to 32 percent shooting.
The Cavaliers held the Clippers to 32 percent shooting, and found a way to ignore a fan who rushed onto the court to tell Irving not to leave.

Tristan Thompson scored 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting and had 13 rebounds, while Andrew Bynum had 18 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes. Varejao collected 17 rebounds, a season-high.

In all, the Cavaliers outrebounded the Clippers 60-45,

"Our bigs have been leading us, outrebounding teams and just defending our butts off out there," Irving said.

It's what the Cavaliers have needed to help them win three of their last four games, while Irving has struggled through his worst start in his three NBA seasons. His 39.4 percent shooting is his lowest in three seasons, and his 3.25 turnovers per game are his highest.

But even after his 0-for-9 performance against Atlanta, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown reiterated his confidence in the All-Star point guard.

"I don't care if he goes 0-for-30, I want him to keep being aggressive," Brown said. "If he misses five in a row and he feels like he can get a great look on his next one, take it and I'll back him. I'll support him. I just don't want him to lose his aggressiveness on that end of the floor because we need him to score and that's what he can do. He can score and he can make plays for his teammates. So I want him to keep being aggressive. Have a short memory."

Irving scored his first shot of the night on a backdoor layup, and proceeded to have a steady influence offensively. His 360-dribble move around Willie Green for a layup in the first half was highlight-worthy, as was his driving layup past every Clippers defender that gave the Cavaliers an 82-72 edge.

"We look back on the Atlanta game and we have to be disappointed in ourselves," Irving said. "But we came here and competed at home, and it started with me. Just coming out and getting minutes and competing. Everybody followed suit and everybody played their role tonight and got it done."

And for that, Cleveland loves Irving.

Andrew Bynum wants more minutes, Cavaliers still want to limit him: Cleveland Cavaliers Insider

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The 27 minutes Andrew Bynum logged Friday in Atlanta was the second-highest game total of the season.

And he wanted more.

Bynum twice tried to wave off substitutions against the Hawks when he was in such a rhythm that he scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds, but coach Mike Brown waved off Bynum's attempt to stay in the game.

"That's great; He wants to stay in the game," Brown said. "(But) I played him too long during those stretches anyway. I like his competitive fire and his want to stay in the game and all that, but he needed to come out."

The 7-footer has been under a strict minutes restriction as he has been eased back into the game following knee surgery that kept him out the entire 2012-13 season. But since he began starting about a month ago, played his first back-to-back set two weeks ago, and had his best game as a Cavalier last week while totaling 30 minutes last week against Chicago, he's been more eager to stay on the court.

It's becoming more difficult for Brown to stick to the minutes restriction, he admitted.

"Sometimes, especially when he's rolling," Brown said. "I thought the group we had on the floor in the third quarter when we were starting to come back, that group was playing well together. They were figuring out ways to get him the ball without just coming down and making it stagnant and going directly to him after clearing everybody out with the slow developing action. And I thought he picked it up defensively. I didn't want to take him out, but I ran him nine or 10 straight minutes -- which is about as long as I probably should at the time."

Bynum's steady improvement – he's now averaging 8.7 points and 5.0 rebounds in 18.5 minutes – hasn't been surprising to the Cavaliers.

"I would be surprised if I didn't see how hard he worked," Brown said. George Sibel and the rest of our performance team has done a remarkable job with him. I don't care how good of job they do as a group, if he doesn't buy in and if he doesn't do the work it ain't going to happen. I've seen first-hand how hard he's worked. It doesn't surprise me that he's at the point where he is right now knowing he still has a pretty high ceiling."

Kyrie and CP3: The gold-standard of point guards in recent years has been the Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul, and he's the player Brown has told Kyrie Irving to pattern his game after most.

According to Clippers coach Doc Rivers, Irving is doing a fairly good job – despite his early-season struggles.

"Kyrie is a great shooter," Rivers said. "I saw him at Duke and I knew he was a good shooter, but I never thought he was a great shooter. He is a great shooter. And he has, unfortunately for him, he's trying to figure out new players, a new system --almost every year for that matter -- for him with all the new players. I think that's very difficult for a young point guard."

Even so, Rivers said Irving and Paul are the two point guards in the NBA now who come closest to resembling his personal gold-standard for guard ball-handling abilities: former Detroit Pistons' Isiah Thomas.

"Those are the only two guys who can do the things that they do with the ball that remind you of Isiah Thomas," Rivers said.

No more mask: Irving has begun playing without the face mask that was to protect his broken nose, three weeks after first donning it. Originally, Irving predicted he'd wear the mask for about two weeks.

The Raptors have agreed to trade Rudy Gay to the Kings for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Chuck Hayes and Patrick Patterson, according to Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray join Gay on their way to Sacramento. All three have been pulled from Toronto's lineup on Sunday and will not debut for the Kings in Monday's game vs. the Mavericks, but they could be in the lineup on Wednesday. Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has been itching to deal Gay, who is under-performing this year and has a massive $19.3 million player option for next season, and he's finally found a taker. Salmons only has $1 million guaranteed for 2014-15 and Chuck Hayes is owed $6.0 million, but the deal represents a huge financial savings for Toronto.

Source: Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter Dec 8 - 7:08 PM