Konichiwa, Cavalier fans! I’m the Optimist. Let’s get it on …
Well, that’s more like it, huh?!
On Wednesday night, the Cavaliers stoot-slapped Golden State by 30 points. Everything was clicking, TheBron and Kyrie combined for 62 points, Cleveland’s defense held the Splash Brothers to a meager 29 points on 4-for-16 three-point shooting, Tristan Thompson doubled-up and Richard Jefferson stepped seamlessly into the starting lineup.
And do you know that that game is in the grand – and I do mean grand – scheme of things?
Ancient history.
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More stats about Game 3.
Get into the conversation with other die-hards.
Joe G. has your keys to victory.
With Game 4 on deck tonight at The Q, that 120-90 victory is as much ancient history as Joe Nuxhall taking the mound as a 15-year-old with the Reds on This Date in 1944 or the Apple II going on sale in 1977 or the establishment of something in Akron, Ohio that’s saved more lives than TheBron, Brian Windhorst, DEVO and the Goodyear Blimp all put together: the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous back in 1935.
So we can all go ahead and stop beating our chests about Game 3. That was the biggest game in Cavaliers history. And now this one is.
Why would I have any doubt that Cavaliers fans will bring it just as hard or harder than you did on Wednesday night? That’s as loud as I’ve ever heard The Q. The team truly needed that juice, and you gave it to them.
At the 5:49 mark of the third quarter of Game 3, our old buddy Anderson Varejao checked into the game, and he did so to a chorus of boos.
This – and the ensuing booing of Justin Bieber – outraged one of my favorite Cavalier beat writers and all-around dudes, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. I find this humorous, being that McMenamin is from Philly – a city whose fans once booed the man (Santa Claus) who likely lavished him with Tonka trucks and Sixers footie pajamas when McTen was a McThree or Four.
What’s Justin Bieber ever given him?
The point is that Cleveland is not to be trifled with. Don’t misunderestimate our fans’ raw, sometime irrational animus.
In many ways, he’s still one of us. And Andy expects nothing less.
But our work is so far from done.
The Cavaliers have to come with even more energy on Friday night. As good as J.R. Smith, Kyrie and the entire backcourt have been defensively, at some point Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are going to heat up.
That energy boost is going to come in the form of Kevin Love’s return.
After Cleveland’s Game 3 thumping of Golden State without the three-time All-Star, certain media knuckaheads openly questioned Love’s value to the team.
This development – (like TheBron having seven turnovers in Game 2, kicking in the mathematical impossibility of him NEVER having two bad games in a row) – plays directly into the Cavaliers’ hands.
To wit ….
I theorize that, as a Cavalier, Kevin Love always goes into crush-kill-destroy mode when he’s being doubted by external forces.
Allow me to illustrate.
This season alone: following the Cavaliers’ eagerly-awaited January 18 loss to Golden State in which Love scored a total of three points on 1-for-5 shooting, he bounced back to combined for 35 points and 34 boards over the next two games. When he was snubbed for the Eastern Conference All-Star Squad, he took it out that weekend on Detroit (29 points) and San Antonio (21 points, 11 boards).
After he and his teammates stunk up Dade County in a three-TD loss to the Heat. Tyronn Lue gave him the next game off – a 33-point home blowout of the hapless Nuggets – and Love was golden the rest of the season, netting seven double-doubles in Cleveland’s last 11 games of the year and 10 more in the postseason.
Don’t let the laid-back, West Coast attitude fool you. On the outside, you’re getting Blue Steel. On the inside, he’s ready to strike down upon thee with great vengeance and fuuuuuurious anger.
(For those of you looking for a more clinical explanation of Love’s predicted readings for Game 4, see below)
You’ve been warned, Warriors. Watch those elbows and we’ll get back to having a good, clean series.
As for the rest of you nerds reading at home, I don’t think we need any elongated, schmaltzy speeches at this point. We’re way past that.
I’m counting down the minutes between when the Quicken Loans Arena crowd completes the National Anthem and TheBron tears off his warmup jacket, roaring like the King of the jungle.
And it’s gonna be a jungle on Friday night.
With the Tribe in first place, the Monsters set to win the Calder Cup less than 24 hours after the Cavaliers send the series back to the Barbary Coast, even at two games apiece, I hope you can see the Cleveland Sports Renaissance is unfolding right before your eyes.
The Cavaliers will NEED all 20,562 fans – and fans of the Wine and Gold across the globe – for that extra push.
Tonight, the world will the loudest, stupidest, most obnoxiously awesome fans in the National B.A. They’re gonna tear the roof off that mutha on Friday night!
If it rolls down Huron Ave. and crushes a few fans, so be it. They should be honored to have given themselves for the Cavaliers cause.
As for the rest of you, you know what time it is. We didn’t come this far just to come this far.
So let’s bring it strong again. And let’s win this one.
Please …
Keep the faith, Cleveland
Tu hermano, The Optimist
