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“The Cleveland Cavaliers are your 2016 NBA Champions!” Man — that has such a nice ring to it. Speaking of rings, did anyone watch last night? The Cav’s players and coaches received their championship rings and raised their banner to mark the historic accomplishment. Watching the montages of the Finals for maybe the thousandth time still gave me goosebumps. It was a cherry on top of the bottomless sundae we received as fans this Summer. While they night was made by 7:20 PM, it had only just begun. The main event of tonight was Game 1 of the 2016–2017 NBA season.
Historically, opening night gets the better of the Cavs. The emotions run high, they play a quality opponent, or whatever else may fall on the occasion, it typically doesn’t end in their favor. Well — last night the Cavs played through the emotions and saw through the improved New York Knicks to win handedly. So let’s break down the first win of the season…
Early in the game it was close. The off-season rust needing to be shaken off played a role in the Cav’s sub-forty percent field goal percentage to start the game. They were still holding a slight lead due to the Knick’s turnovers. Of course, the ice had to be broken. LeBron had two huge blocks and two ferocious dunks, and just like that the Cavs regained all their mojo. Other than some star defensive efforts and fast break leak-outs, LeBron played a game-style of getting everyone involved. We have seen this before, but something felt different about it last night. Is LeBron trying to send a message, is he trying to boost the other guys, or was this just the game plan tonight for the Knicks? I guess that narrative will have to wait a little, but seemingly every problem on the court is still solved by LeBron James.
Coach Lue gave Kyrie a little more freedom last night mixing him in a lineup without LeBron or Love. Looking at his point tally, some might say, “That really worked well!” But I’m not set on the fact it did. The idea is great, but look who is in that lineup with him. Frye and Smith lack defensive capabilities and Jefferson, Thompson, and Frye lack size as a unit in the front court.
The depth of my analysis lies around JR, Shumpert, and Dunleavy. JR is known for being hot and cold. Some nights you’ll get him 9–11 with 28 points and other nights you’ll get him 3–13 with 8. The latter is what we saw last night. Unfortunately, I think we might see some consistency from JR this year. I say unfortunately because it might look like last night. With last season’s success and this offseason’s new found wealth, the stars are aligning for a bad year for JR. Shumpert probably had the most disappointing night out of any Cavalier. The one player truly known for his defense was the only player holding a +/- in the negatives on the stat sheet. I’m hoping to see his newly improved outside shooting, but it didn’t come out last night. I won’t judge him on only three shots total, but two turnovers and -5 in fourteen minutes played certainly wasn’t helping anybody but the Knicks last night. The Cavs added a couple of new guys to the roster. A veteran with a great shot and a strong IQ, Mike Dunleavy signed a short term deal this Summer. I think he will be taking most of Channing Frye’s minutes just because they do similar things and having an extra ball handler on the court is extremely helpful. Last night Dunleavy gave a solid twenty-three minutes. We didn’t see much of his shot, but he had the highest +/- of all the bench players. He could be a guy the Cavs lean on throughout the season.It’s just game one, but these are things I think we should look out for throughout the season.
Looking ahead, the Cavs face the Toronto Raptors on the road Friday. Toronto will be having their home opener and looking for a little revenge on the what the Cavs did to them in the playoffs. The Raptors will be tougher than the Knicks. They’ve added Ohio native Jared Sullinger and Jonas Valanciunas is healthy once again. In order for the Cavs to steal the Raptors opening night, Shumpert has to play better and the Cavs will need LeBron to be more aggressive. Keys to victory against Toronto is rebounding, getting out on the run, and attacking the rim. I think the Cavs will win narrowly benefitting from the fact they’ve played once and can improve from it, but regardless don’t get caught up in too much of the Cavs for the first ten to twelve games.
