The Cleveland Cavaliers (35-24) got a damper at home against the San Antonio Spurs (36-25). With the 110:94 of the guests, almost the entire Cavs team was disappointed, with the exception of LeBron James.
The Cavaliers opened with the lineup that had worked so well last time: George Hill and J. R. Smith on the Guard positions, including Cedi Osman, LeBron James and Tristan Thompson. Meanwhile, Gregg Popovich surprised the Spurs with the decision to let Patty Mills start on second place, although Danny Green was fit again. Mills started again with Dejounte Murray, Kyle Anderson, LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol, while Manu Ginobili was suspended.
The guests got off to a slightly better start. San Antonio didn’t burn down offensive fireworks either, but they defended with great attention and kept the cavs at a low 30.4 percent in the first quarter. After losing Tony Parker twice in a row in the final minute, Cleveland scored 20:22 in transition, but then Bryn Forbes struck a wild threesome with the siren.
In the second quarter, San Antonio was left without a field goal for a few minutes before Forbes scuttled another three in a row after nine Spurs tickets – but the Cavs could only make limited use of it. James now became stronger and put his team in front with 8 points, but Green then responded with several threesomes – it went into the break with 53:50.
Half-time two then began with a private duel – LeBron on the one hand, Aldridge on the other. James, however, had no support at all for a while before Jordan Clarkson woke up towards the end of the quarter. Nevertheless, the Spurs went into the last quarter with 76:74. Together with James on the bench, San Antonio put an 11:0 run there. At 87:74 for San Antonio, Kyle Korver finally hit a threesome to stop the bleeding.
But San Antonio now had the upper water. James and Korver tried a lot, but Aldridge and Murray in particular had the right placements again and again. An LMA-layup for the 110:94 one minute before the end was the final decision.
With 27 points, Aldridge was also top scorer of the Spurs, Green finished the game with 22 points and Murray scored 13 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks. With 33 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists James outdid the Cavs with 33 points, but only Clarkson (17) and Green (14). Cleveland remains on 3rd place in the East despite the bankruptcy, San Antonio was able to narrow the gap to the third-placed Timberwolves in the West.
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Dejounte Murray. His statline wasn’t “loud”, but Murray played great especially in the final stages. In the Defense one of the main factors for the strong Transition-D of the Spurs, offensively almost flawless – in this form Murray looks like a future star. Made it to stay the whole game over without ball loss. Also strong: Aldridge at half time two and Green at half time one.
J.R. Smith. Very weak appearance of the shooting guard. The throw didn’t want to fall (1/8 FG, 0/6 3FG), but Smith wasn’t able to influence the game in any other way. So it was understandable that he was only allowed to watch in the final phase. Also weak: Osman and Hill.
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When the cavs were completely overrun at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Tyronn Lue opted for a very unusual lineup: he completely abandoned Big Men and filled his “big positions” instead with James and Green, flanked by Korver, Hood and Clarkson. So the tempo should be accelerated again. It didn’t work out with a run, because the Spurs in Transition could form incredibly fast, but it showed that Lue and his “new team” are still looking for combinations that fit. In any case, there are more possibilities than before the trade deadline.