The Cavaliers got used to it last year, but once again, every opponent they face will treat Cleveland like there’s a target on their back.
After opening the NBA season in front of a sold-out United Center that included President Obama, the Wine and Gold help the Grizzlies christen the Grindhouse in 2015-16. Memphis’ fans better hope their squad performs better than they did back in late March, when the Cavaliers came to town and beat up Dave Joerger’s squad by 22 points.
In that contest every Cavalier starter notched double-figures, led by Kyrie Irving’s 26.
Speaking of Cleveland’s All-Star point guard, the Cavaliers will still be without Kyrie for the near future. In his place, Mo Williams has done a solid job manning the point through the preseason and it carried over into the opener on Tuesday night.
In 37 minutes against Chicago, Mo finished with 19 points, going 7-for-15 from the floor and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc while leading Cleveland with seven assists. He and Matthew Dellavedova – who added six points, four boards and four helpers off the bench – also combined to hold Derrick Rose and Aaron Brooks to a combined 11-31 shooting.
It doesn’t get any easier for Cleveland’s PG duo on Wednesday, taking on one of the best in the West – former Buckeye, Mike Conley.
If there were any questions of how Cleveland’s power forward tandem would acquit themselves in the season opener, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson answered those questions immediately.
Against Chicago, both Love and Thompson had strong outings. Love barely missed a double-double, finishing with 18 points – including eight in the game’s final 90 seconds – to go with eight boards, four assists and a pair of blocks. Thompson led both teams with 12 rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench.
They’ll see one of the best bigs in the business in 14-year veteran Zach Randolph on Wednesday night. Even at 34 years old, Randolph averaged 16.1 points and 10.5 boards last season -although the Cavs held him in check. In his lone game against the Cavs, Z-Bo finished with just five points and three boards in 20 minutes of action.
Despite having his final shot attempt rejected by Pau Gasol, LeBron James looks to be in mid-season form after sitting out Cleveland’s final few preseason contests.
On Tuesday night against the Bulls, James led both squads with 25 points, going 12-of-22 from the floor and earning his 290th career double-double with 10 boards, five assists and a steal. It won’t be easy trying to replicate those numbers against Tony Allen, one of the Association’s nastiest defenders.
In two games against the Grizz last season, LeBron averaged 22.5 points and 8.0 assists per.
While Love and Tristan Thompson had strong showings against the Bulls on Tuesday night, the Cavs’ center combination of Timofey Mozgov and Anderson Varejao struggled against Chicago’s smaller lineup.
In just over 20 minutes, Mozgov finished with five points and five boards while Andy – seeing his first regular season action since December 23 of last year – notched just two points and two boards in 11 minutes off the bench. But despite Varejao’s meager numbers, one number that does matter was the team-high +9 mark when he was on the floor.
Coach Blatt didn’t have both bigs at his disposal last year and he’ll figure out how to best utilize them as the season moves on. They’ll have a tall order in Memphis tonight, going against All-NBA first teamer and former NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Marc Gasol.
