An inside look at the Cavs

The Knicks are a mess. A full blown, New York style, six car accident in the Lincoln Tunnel at rush hour type of catastrophe. They don’t play defense, they barely run an offense right now and more times than not Wednesday, they looked like five parking cones the Cavs had little trouble driving around for dunks and easy baskets.

That’s not to take anything away from the Cavs’ effort or victory. If nothing else, the Knicks serve as the perfect example of how not to build a winner. Put it this way: One New York writer after the game admitted the Knicks were putting a whole lot of hope and faith on Baron Davis’ weak back and busted knee. That’s a sure recipe for trouble.

The Cavs, however, had a little bit of everything in 48 minutes. This is exactly how it’s going to be for them this season. They shot well in the first quarter (52 percent), lousy in the second (35 percent) and played gritty defense in the second half, limiting the lifeless Knicks to just 36 points in the second half.

The Cavs received contributions from everybody — all the starters had their moments, and Alonzo Gee, Samardo Samuels and Ryan Hollins did good things off the bench. The Knicks will limp on to Miami for a Friday night clash with the Heat that could look like a crime scene by the end of the night. The Cavs will keep playing gritty defense and look for a winning streak with the beatable Nets coming to town on Friday.

Turning point
The Knicks had one field goal through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, allowing the Cavs to extend their lead to 10.

Key stat
The Cavs held the Knicks to just 36 points in the second half.

Quotable
“He’s a stat sheet stuffer. That’s the one thing about Andy. He does a little bit of everything, tonight was no different. The last two games he’s back to playing the way he’s capable of playing.” — Byron Scott on Anderson Varejao, who had 10 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks.

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Anderson Varejao had 10 points and 16 rebounds and the Cavs continued their dominance over the New York Knicks with a 91-81 home victory on Wednesday to snap a four-game losing streak. The Cavs have won 12 of the last 13 meetings against the Knicks, who haven’t won in Cleveland since Nov. 29, 2006.

Amar’e Stoudemire had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Carmelo Anthony had 15 points, but shot just 5 of 14. The Knicks committed 23 turnovers and shot just 3 of 20 on 3-pointers. It was the Cavs’ first victory on the second night of a back-to-back, improving to 1-4. The Knicks were also playing for the second-straight night.

Varejao was active in the paint and on the glass, drawing a technical on Tyson Chandler and making life miserable on the Knicks. His 16 rebounds were one shy of his season high and two shy of his career high.

Antawn Jamison had 15 points and Omri Casspi had 13 points, but left in the second half to get six stitches in his chin. Anthony Parker had 13 points and Rookie Kyrie Irving had seven points and seven assists.

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New York Knicks (7-10) at Cleveland Cavaliers (6-10)
Time: 7 p.m.; Venue: The Q; TV/Radio: Fox Sports Ohio/WTAM, WAKR, WHBC
Cavs probables: PG Kyrie Irving, SG Anthony Parker, SF Omri Casspi, PF Antawn Jamison, C Anderson Varejao
Knicks probables: PG Iman Shumpert, SG Landry Fields, SF Carmelo Anthony, PF Amar’e Stoudemire, C Tyson Chandler
Injuries: Cavs — Tristan Thompson (ankle) questionable; Knicks — Baron Davis (back) doubtful, Josh Harrellson (fractured wrist) out.
Officials: Bill Kennedy, Kane Fitzgerald, Scott Twardoski

Notes
* The Cavs’ turnover epidemic seems to be getting worse, not better, although it could be a product of the teams the Cavs are facing.

* They’ve committed at least 20 turnovers in a game seven times now through just 16 games. Even more alarming, it has happened in three of the last four. Not surprising, the Cavs are 2-5 when they commit 20-plus turnovers and they’ve dropped five straight.

* The game against the Heat may have been the most offensive in terms of turnovers. Guys were throwing the ball all over the court, half the time without really checking to see if anyone was within 3 feet to catch the pass. Byron Scott joked after the game that at least one of those passes was headed toward Heat President Pat Riley.

* Tristan Thompson remains questionable tonight with that ankle injury and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he misses another game. Byron Scott said last night the Cavs really could’ve used Thompson’s athleticism against the Heat, and without it Chris Bosh hammered them for 35.

* The Cavs will get another athletic power forward tonight in Amar’e Stoudemire, who absolutely tortured the Cavs and Antawn Jamison last season. Stoudemire averaged 30.8 points and 9.5 rebounds in four games against the Cavs, and Antawn Jamison’s defense hasn’t exactly improved since then. Without Thompson, the Cavs will likely turn to Samardo Samuels again. Samuels had some huge moments against the Knicks last season, but was also abused defensively by Stoudemire.

* Stoudemire has been slumping, as have the Knicks, but they put it all together for a 33-point whipping of the hapless Bobcats on Tuesday. That means both teams will be playing the second of a back-to-back tonight, which could make for ugly basketball. The Cavs are 0-4 on those nights and the Knicks are 1-3.

* THe Knicks are a mess and putting entirely too much hope on Baron Davis’ bad back and knee. In fact, Davis just might be coach Mike D’Antoni’s final chance at keeping his job, which is why D’Antoni is so eager to rush Davis back into the lineup. D’Antoni said Tuesday Davis couldn’t be ruled out for tonight, but after a workout yesterday afternoon, Davis said that was highly unlikely. He just doesn’t feel ready yet.

* The Knicks dropped six straight before Tuesday’s win and they’ve had miserable luck against the Cavs. Their victory over the Cavs late last season ended an 11-game losing streak that dated back to LeBron’s days in Cleveland. Davis played a big role in one of those victories with a huge 3-pointer in his debut game.

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Here is the perfect illustration to what was a strange night in Miami: Kyrie Irving threw the ball away for the Cavs’ 17th turnover with 4:17 left in the third quarter and the Cavs trailing 55-51.

Shane Battier came up with the steal on Irving’s pass and tried to fire it down the court in transition, but Omri Casspi was quick to get back and picked the ball off. Upon trying to bring it back up the floor, he threw an alley-oop pass to … well, I still don’t know who. The ball wasn’t really directed at anyone, flew into the stands and the Cavs had their 18th turnover of the night.

Scott immediately turned around and summoned Alonzo Gee back into the game and Casspi wasn’t seen again the rest of the night.

That isn’t meant to pick on Casspi, who actually did a solid job of getting back on defense. I counted at least three times Casspi stopped the Heat in transition by getting back and disrupting fast breaks, something that was Scott’s biggest concern at the start of the night.

But every time the Cavs did something right, they negated the positive by doing something really dumb. They threw the ball into the stands enough to make Ricky Vaughn proud. Young team or not, they simply can’t have those types of errors.

Scott has been hard on Kyrie Irving for his defense and turnovers, and rightly so. But I didn’t think Irving was the problem tonight and I thought he should’ve played more minutes. I completely understand Scott’s thinking. He has limited Irving’s minutes all season and the Cavs have another game Wednesday, but they had a chance to score a big win Tuesday and let it slip away. Letting Irving play more than five minutes in the fourth quarter could’ve helped the cause.

As for the defense on Bosh that allowed him to score 35, well… I have an early flight in the morning, so I’ll save that for another day.

Turning point
The Cavs couldn’t defend Chris Bosh most of the night, particularly in the fourth quarter. He had 35 points, including 17 in the final quarter. He scored nine in the final 2:37 and went 14 of 14 from the free-throw line.

Key stat
The Cavs committed 22 turnovers, the seventh time in 16 games they’ve had at least 20 in a game.

Quotable
“That was more like us as a basketball team. Good solid defense, stayed in the game for 48 minutes. The only thing I’m disappointed in was the 22 turnovers again. And that’s killing our team because it’s hard to overcome those mistakes when you are playing great basketball teams. Some of them were going in the stands, some of them were bad decisions. We just have to get better at taking care of the basketball and treating it better than the way we have been treating it.” — Byron Scott

Up next
The Cavs (6-10) host the New York Knicks (7-10) at 7 p.m. tonight at the Q.

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Chris Bosh had 35 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, and the Heat held off the Cavaliers 92-85 at AmericanAirlines Arena tonight.

The Heat (12-5) struggled to shake the pesky Cavs (6-10), who trailed by three on a 3-pointer from Kyrie Irving in the final minute. But Bosh scored nine points in the final 2:36 to give the Heat their fourth win in their last five games.

LeBron James struggled against his old team despite rarely seeing double teams, shooting just 8 of 21 on mostly long jumpers for 18 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Irving had 17 points and four assists for the Cavs, who lost their fourth straight. Samardo Samuels, playing in place of the injured Tristan Thompson (sprained ankle), had 15 points off the bench. Anderson Varejao had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Heat were again without Dwyane Wade, who remains sidelined with an ankle injury. The Cavs return home to host the New York Knicks tonight at the Q.

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Cleveland Cavaliers (6-9) at Miami Heat (11-5)
Time: 7:30 p.m.; Venue: AmericanAirlines Arena; TV/Radio: FS Ohio/WTAM, WAKR, WHBC
Cavs probables: PG Kyrie Irving (17.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 4.9 apg); SG Anthony Parker (6.0, 2.4, 2.2), SF Omri Casspi (7.9, 2.9, 1.4), PF Antawn Jamison (15.7, 5.6, 1.5), C Anderson Varejao (9.7, 10.9, 1.5)
Heat probables: PG Mario Chalmers (11.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 4.4 apg), SG James Jones (4.5, 1.4, 0.3), SF LeBron James (29.7, 8.3, 7.3), PF Chris Bosh (20.5, 7.9, 2.1), C Joel Anthony (3.8, 4.8, 0.2)
Injuries: Cavs — Tristan Thompson (ankle) questionable; Heat — Dwyane Wade (ankle) questionable
Officials: Tony Brothers, Kevin Fehr, Michael Smith

Notes
* Tristan Thompson was jogging and dribbling this morning at shootaround, but he didn’t sound like a guy about to suit up in a game. It wouldn’t be surprising if he misses at least this back-to-back with Miami and New York today and tomorrow. Said Thompson: “It’s not fractured. If I miss a couple games, that’s fine, but the key is to get back healthy and get strong.”

* The death in Daniel Gibson’s family was on his father’s side. It was unexpected and Gibson said the result of a staph infection that the family member ignored, so there was a lot of guilt and grief among other family members. Gibson said he didn’t return to Houston, but he made himself available for his grieving aunt and cousins. He said he won’t leave the team again for the funeral unless it falls on a scheduled off day. The Cavs will be off Thursday.

* The Cavs want to be more efficient on offense and move the ball around better, but that’s dangerous tonight against a lightning-quick Heat team that is second in the league in forcing turnovers (18 per game). Guys have complained about the ball “sticking” on one side of the floor, which typically means guys are dribbling too much. Gibson said a lot of times guys are coming out of a pick-and-roll and trying to make a play with the dribble instead of trying to pass. “We’re a better team when we get the ball moving with the pass instead of the bounce,” Gibson said.

* Coach Byron Scott said it’s important for the Cavs to score in transition, but when they can’t and they’re forced to go to their half-court offense, it’s imperative to get the ball across the court from the strong side to the weak side. “If we can get it from the strong side to the weak side, then look to attack, we’re pretty good,” Scott said. “But the times we’re standing on one side of the floor, or it’s one pass and shot or no pass and shots, then we’re a below average team.”

* Scott said Christian Eyenga was primarily recalled for practice purposes. With Anthony Parker needing time off to rest his ailing lower back, the Cavs were short on wing players. Eyenga can’t handle the ball very well, so Scott has always looked at him as strictly a small forward. But Alonzo Gee is a little more capable of playing the guard spot. Either way, Eyenga is still a distant third behind Omri Casspi and Gee at the forward position. As a side note, Scott said Eyenga’s recall had nothing to do with Thompson’s ankle injury.

* LeBron James was not in a very chatty mood this morning, but he did praise Kyrie Irving for playing much older than his years. “He’s not a rookie really. His game is not a rookie’s game. He’s always in control, plays at his own tempo, he’s like a veteran out there.”

* James said there shouldn’t be any pressure on Irving to try and fill the shoes he vacated when he left for Miami. “They’re in a rebuilding stage right now. I don’t think he has any pressure. Pressure is created when you compete at a high level. He’s going to continue to do things at a high level, that’s just the player he is. I don’t think he has any pressure. Coach Scott has given him starting job for a reason. He’s going out and proving why he should be the starter.”

* It only took one year for much of the anguish in this series to disappear. Each time the Cavs have faced the Heat since James’ initial return to the Q last December, the tension level has decreased significantly. “It’s just another game,” James said. “For us, we’re just trying to get better every day.” I don’t believe James will ever view a game against the Cavs as “just another game,” but the feeling surrounding this game is nothing like last year.

* Like so many others, including Scott, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra compared Irving’s game to that of Chris Paul. “Irving is special. He’s unique,” Spoelstra said. “You can see his skillset, his ball handling is above what you’d normally see. Speed and quickness are elite, but it’s the mind that you notice when you get into the film. He’s looking at second layer, third layer, fourth layer when young players are usually looking at that first layer and that’s all they can handle at that point. He’s quick, but he never looks like he’s in a hurry. You see on film he’s going by people and making plays, but on film it doesn’t look like he’s going 100 percent full speed. You realize that’s when he’s making a lot of reads like Chris Paul makes with his mind. At this stage, I’d compare his mind to that.”

* Gibson said he worked out in Cleveland during the lockout with Heat rookie Norris Cole, who was a star at Cleveland State and stayed in town for much of the lockout.

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MIAMI: Byron Scott said after Saturday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks that the Cavs hadn’t hit rock bottom, but they were well on their way.

By the end of practice today he was much more upbeat.

Scott put the Cavs through a rigorous defensive practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts before the team flew to Miami for another meeting with LeBron James and the Miami Heat on Tuesday. He ripped Kyrie Irving’s defensive performance over the weekend, but said Irving came back in Monday’s practice with his best defensive showing of the season.

Daniel Gibson also returned to practice following the death of an extended family member and Christian Eyenga was recalled from the club’s D-League affiliate in Canton. Tristan Thompson received treatment on his sprained left ankle, but did not practice and will be a game-time decision Tuesday night. Otherwise, Scott isn’t planning any lineup changes based on consecutive losses by a combined 66 points.
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“We have two bad games and everybody wants to panic and make all these changes,” he said, adding that the Cavs would make the playoffs if the season ended today. “It’s not all that bad.”

Scott wants his players to return to the intensity level they had through the first 13 games and believes that will solve a lot of their problems. As for facing James again, a lot of the frenzy from last season is gone.

“It’s definitely a big game for us because of what’s happened the last two games,” Gibson said. “We’re planning to get it back on track.”

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The Cavs are officially taking Sunday off. They unofficially took Friday and Saturday off, too (ba-dump-bump!).

It had to be a long flight home from Atlanta late Saturday night for a team wondering where all that good mojo went so quickly. The good vibes from a 6-7 start are all gone, washed away in the bloodbath that was consecutive losses by a combined 66 points.

The Cavs had zero fight last season. They would get drilled and humiliated night after night after night during that brutal 26-game losing streak. I would think (hope?) we won’t have a repeat this season, but a third straight humiliating loss could be coming Tuesday at Miami.

Byron Scott is demanding the Cavs play defense, only the message doesn’t seem to be sinking in. The problems that plagued them last season (defending the pick-and-roll and 3-point line) are cropping up again lately. Scott said Saturday if guys are going to relax or “rest” on the floor, he wants them doing it on offense and not defense.

Scott was particularly harsh Saturday before the game in assessing Kyrie Irving’s defense from Friday against the Chicago Bulls and C.J. Watson. It was a bit surprising to me, because I thought Irving had games where he was far worse defensively than Friday.

Watson is a darn good point guard and he just torched the Phoenix Suns before he got hold of Irving and the Cavs. I think Scott’s chastising had a couple of angles: He has been asking Irving to be better defensively since the preseason and he’s tired of asking and perhaps Scott heard some of the grumblings for removing Irving from the game Friday when he was playing well offensively.

Scott was clear that Irving’s minutes will increase when his defense improves. Scott says his biggest problem is relaxing when his man doesn’t have the ball, but I’m watching Irving get beaten off the dribble time and time again. He’s also having a hard time fighting through screens.

Ultimately, he’s 19 years old and far, far from the Cavs’ biggest problem at this point. While his plus/minus of minus-28 tonight is a concern, no one on this team is playing well right now. But I’ll have to disagree with Antawn Jamison, who said tonight that this is worse than last season. Last season was way worse than anything the Cavs have endured yet. For their sake (and mine), hopefully we won’t get anywhere near that point again this season.

Key stat
From the start of the second quarter Friday night until the end of the third quarter Saturday — a span of six quarters — the Cavs scored just 102 points.

Turning point
The Hawks had an 8-0 run in the first quarter, a 9-0 run in the second and a 13-2 run in the third quarter. The Cavs have been unable to slow the momentum lately when the opponent gets hot.

Quotable
“We’re not there (rock bottom) yet, but we’re definitely on our way.” — Byron Scott

Quotable II
“Worse than last season. We’re better than this.” — Antawn Jamison

Up next
The Cavs (6-9) play at Miami (11-4) at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

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The Cavs were run off the floor for the second time in as many nights, falling to the Atlanta Hawks Saturday 121-94. They’ve now lost two games in the last 48 hours by a combined 66 points.

Kyrie Irving had 18 points, but turned it over seven times and had a game-worst plus/minus ratio of minus-28.

The Hawks used runs of 9-0 in the first quarter, 8-0 in the second and 13-2 in the third to take a 26-point lead into the fourth quarter. The Cavs trailed by as many as 33 in the fourth.

Tristan Thompson had 16 points off the bench for the Cavs, who managed just five offensive rebounds, allowed the Hawks to shoot 61 percent, make 11 3-pointers and set a season high for points scored.

Coach Byron Scott spent his pregame Saturday publicly scolding Irving for his defense and again insisting the Cavs’ defense must improve. For the second time in as many nights, it was awful.

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