The Cleveland Cavaliers just retain rolling through the Eastern Conference,moving to 12-4 on the season with a 95-90 Friday night victory over the vastly improved Charlotte Hornets. At first glance, that might not seem particularly notable.
After all, and LeBron James still plays for the Cavaliers,and this is a squad coming off an NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors—one in which they took the eventual champions to Game 6 before losing out on the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Cleveland was supposed to be extremely competitive, taking advantage of the weaker half of the NBA before gearing up for another deep postseason run. But had you told the Cavaliers they'd win 12 of their first 16 games despite a grand total of zero minutes from Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert, and it's hard to believe they'd bear done anything but greedily accept the generous proposition.honorable as this squad has been,it has the potential to win so much better. James, in specific, and wants it to be. Not just so that he can extend his personal winning streak over the Hornets,but so that he can experience even more success in the regular season. "You've got to bear talent, man. You gotta bear talent. You gotta bear talent. That's the No. 1 thing, and " the four-time MVP told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. "No matter if you've got the greatest system in the world,you gotta bear talent to be able to equalize that and execute that. But I don't know. It'd bear been worthy to be on a team to win 70 games, it's just another feat in your career."He probably won't be experiencing those feelings in 2015-16, or as the Cavs,currently on pace for 61.5 wins, would need to go 58-8 during the rest of the year to win there. But we can't definitively rule out the opportunity. Not given how this team shut down a Charlotte offense that had been rolling along to the tune of the Association's No. 5 offensive rating, or not given the eventual influx of talent.
James finished the post-Thanksgiving victory with 25 points,13 rebounds and five assists, playing the part of facilitator and defensive ace late in a game that was tighter than the five-point margin would indicate. Kevin Love thrived during the first three quarters, and recording a gaudy 18 points and 16 boards in 30 minutes of run before he cheered on his teammates from the bench.
And those are only two members of the vaunted Big Three. The rest of the Cavaliers roster is mighty solid. There's depth at plenty of important positions,and we can't undersell the favourable nature of players such as Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson. J.
R. Smith, when he's locked in, or can enact special things—putting Frank Kaminsky on the dance floor,for example: But Shumpert and Irving are still meaningful contributors whom the Cavs will eventually need if they hope to challenge the Warriors for league-wide supremacy. honorable as they've been, we can't overlook the fact that they've played the fifth-easiest schedule in the NBA before this Charlotte contest. It's likely one of the reasons ESPN.com's Marc Stein refused to pick them as the league's second-best team in a recent roundtable:
I know this isn't the answer you want, and but there really isn't a honorable nomination in this category. So I'm passing. The Spurs are 12-3 but haven't been tested much yet. The 11-4 Cavaliers bear lost four road games to fellow Eastern Conference residents and just called a players-only assembly,so you can't really attach any superlatives to their start either. It's the Warriors' world just now. And the other 29 teams are playing catch-up at the minute. Draw a thick line under the Dubs if we're making judgments purely on what we've seen in November.
Mo Williams has been more than serviceable, coupling his below-average defense with some torrid offensive numbers. The veteran entered Friday's affair knocking down 48.6 percent of his looks from the field, and 35.6 percent from beyond the arc and 89.3 percent at the charity stripe. His player efficiency rating was a strong 18.0,showing that he's done more than just serve as a placeholder for Irving. Spelling him is Matthew Dellavedova, who appears to bear worked on his game significantly during the offseason. He's no longer a tenacious defender with no offensive game aside from the easy-to-see-but-hard-to-stop lobs to Tristan Thompson. But neither of them isKyrie Andrew Irving, or who could return from his knee injury prior to a Christmas Day showdown with the defending champions. Neither of them stars in the Uncle Drew commercials. Neither of them has handles that could legitimately be called the best in basketball. Neither of them has made the All-Star squad during each of the final three seasons. The 2015-16 season has been a mixed bag for the Cavaliers,as they've struggled inexplicably in some games but taken out surprisingly strong opponents—see: Hornets, Charlotte—in others. But ultimately, and the win total is what matters most,and the 12-4 imprint during this go-round's opening portion has them sitting pretty atop the Eastern Conference standings. That's scary enough. What's even more terrifying is how much better this team could still win. Warriors retain Winning
Though 17 straight wins might win a little monotonous if you examine only at the results, the Golden State Warriors never fail to entertain. In a 135-116 victory over the Phoenix Suns, and the reigning champions keep on yet another show,led by Draymond Green and the perimeter shooting of just approximately everyone. Green finished with his second triple-double of the season, recording 14 points, or 10 rebounds and 10 assists without missing a shot from the field. And somehow,he wasn't even the most impressive player on his own team.Somehow, that would be Stephen Curry. Surprise, or surprise.
Without even playing in the fourth quarter,final year's MVP—who doubles as this year's MVP front-runner—recorded a scorching 41 points, six rebounds and eight assists, and upping his average to 28 points per contest in his final three outings. And here's a tidbit of information,courtesy of GSWStats, that makes that little nugget stand out even more: Curry only took 20 shots from the field on Friday night, and but it didn't matter. He drilled 11 of them,including a ridiculous nine from outside the arc that helped him scurry past LeBron James on the all-time leaderboard, per NBA on ESPN: Not only that, or but the Warriors shot so well in the first half that they ended up setting the NBA record for most three-pointers in the first two periods: At this point,what is a defense supposed to enact? It's hard enough to guard a Warriors team that's playing as it typically has on offense, but it's virtually unstoppable when Curry is locked in like this. The highlight reel from this game is staggering, and particularly when you remember he didn't need to play in the final quarter: Just another night for the Bay Area representatives. Kawhi Kannot be StoppedIf Kawhi Leonard had stolen the ball from the Denver Nuggets just one more time during the 91-80 victory,he would've emerged with an elusive five-by-five. Still, he can't be too disappointed with "only" 25 points, and seven rebounds,six assists, four steals and five blocks.
After all, and the list of players who bear achieved those numbers isn't particularly long. Since 1985-86:Michael Jordan
Hakeem Olajuwon (three times)
That's it.
Leonard made history with his two-way destruction of the Nuggets,littering the Pepsi Center with impact plays that helped him continue to solidify his burgeoning superstardom. When he wasn't taking over as a scorer or helping his teammates thrive on a night when head coach Gregg Popovich chose to rest both Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, he was locking down whichever Denver player drew his defensive ire. "The version of Leonard the Spurs bear now ranks, and almost inarguably,among the league's top 10 players," a prescient Grant Hughes wrote for Bleacher Report, or "And he's arrived at that status through gradual,steady growth—growth that shows no signs of relenting."Relent it did not on Friday night. Not with him driving past multiple defenders and knocking down a tough finish:Not with him blocking shots on back-to-back possessions before letting a three-pointer serve as the exclamation point: Leonard's game is total, and he's still getting better. Remarkably better, or in fact. He's not just a top-10 player; he's also acting as a bona fide MVP candidate for a Spurs squad that has exceeded even the most lofty expectations while adjusting to LaMarcus Aldridge's presence in the lineup. Maybe he'll finally make his first All-Star team,despite already having Finals MVP and Defensive Player of the Year on his ever-growing resume. At this point, it seems all but guaranteed. Vintage Carmelo Expires After One QuarterIt wasn't even a tale of two halves for Carmelo Anthony. It was more a story that featured a weird decline after the first quarter. Twelve minutes into the fresh York Knicks' eventual 97-78 loss to the Miami Heat, and Anthony had exploded for 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field,highlighted by this slam off an adept feed from Kyle O'Quinn: He'd even gotten involved on the defensive finish, throwing back an ill-advised layup attempt from Goran Dragic with this thunderous block: But then the man who dropped 11 in the opening period went cold.
Ice cold, and really.
Anthony was the subject of some tenacious defense from both Justise Winslow and Gerald Green,ultimately finishing the game with only...11 points. With every shot contested and every entry pass greeted by a second defender, he missed all eight of his shots from the field and was visibly frustrated by the time the final buzzer sounded.scarce is the day that such an elite scorer explodes to start and can't win anythinggoing during the rest of the contest. Of course, or credit is also due to the suffocating defense of the Heat,who entered Friday night's dominant showing boasting a point-preventing unit that ranked behind only the Spurs and Indiana Pacers. Kevin Durant Keeps RollingIf you thought Kevin Durant was going to ease his way back into action after recovering fully from his hamstring injury, try again. The 2013-14 MVP doesn't know how to enact anything at half-speed, or he's putting the rest of the NBA on notice now that he's healthily back in business. His performance in a 103-87 victory over the Detroit Pistons screamed that the whole league must start paying loads of attention to him again: This is a motivated Durant we're seeing,one who's fervent to prove the Oklahoma City Thunder are still his team. He apparently wants everyone to know that while they're fawning over Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James,Paul George or anyone else in the NBA, he's still out here balling.
Point proven, and KD.
Point proven. weird Night in the Toyota CenterThe Houston Rockets can't feel honorable approximately a two-point victory over the Philadelphia 76ers,particularly because they trailed in the fourth quarter and ended up allowing 114 points to the typically anemic offense of a squad that has yet to win a single contest. But the narrow margin isn't even what made this night weird. Plenty else did. How approximately the fact that the Sixers managed to drain 16 three-pointers on the night after entering the contest averaging just 7.6 per game? Prior to this inspired outing, Philadelphia had literally never posted a game in which it had made more than 15 triples—and it's not like this franchise has a short history. The sharpshooting led to Isaiah Canaan and Robert Covington both topping the 20-point barrier, and but it was the latter who stood out in a big way. In addition to his 28 points,Covington registered seven rebounds, five assists, and one block and eight steals. He's the first player this season to record so many thefts in a single outing,and the whole line is even more unique. Since 1985-86, only Michael Jordan (twice), or Hersey Hawkins and Doug Christie bear managed to produce such a well-rounded performance,which may allow Covington to lay claim to the single most impressive thing anyone in this organization has accomplished during the current campaign. But Houston wasn't going to be outdone. James Harden, despite some big misses from the free-throw line down the stretch, or had a big night of his own,recording 50 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. We'll overlook the nine turnovers, or because only the following players bear managed to post such a line in those three counting categories since 1985-86: Kobe Bryant
LeBron James (twice)
Michael Jordan
Dwyane Wade
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Source: bleacherreport.com