I showed up early for tonight's game against the Cavs. What can I say, I like to people watch and I wanted a hot dog. Despite our great play so far this season, I had a bad feeling about this game as we've had trouble stopping star players and Kyrie Irving is leading the league in scoring at 36.2ppg. I saw on ESPN last night that he went for 57 against the Lakers so maybe he'll be worn out tonight.
Starting Lineups
Cavs
Surf
Kyrie Irving
Jeff Teague
Patrick McCaw
Troy Daniels
DeMarre Carroll
Justise Winslow
Markieff Morris
Gus Rollins
Tristan Thompson
Hassan Whiteside
The start of this game wasn't too exciting, well not if you like scoring anyway. Both teams struggled from the floor and we even struggled from the line, which is always bad. Kyrie Irving did score 11 points early for the Cavs, but he was the only person hitting. He had 14 points in the 1st quarter so it looked like I'd have to watch another star go off on us. On the bright side, we got a surprise boost from Patrick Patterson off the bench, who scored 10 in the quarter, including an impressive dunk and a foul while making a circus shot with 0.6 seconds remaining to give us a 20-19 lead at the end of the quarter.
In the 2nd quarter, it hurt me to watch as we launched 3 after 3, missing most of them. Winslow came alive for us though with 8 points in the quarter and we would trail 44-43 at the half. Winslow had 11 for us in the half and Patterson had 10. For the Cavs, Irving had 19 and was the only Cavs player in double figures.
The 3rd quarter went back to being a struggle for both teams. Boban Marjanovich had 3 monster dunks, all of which looked like should have pulled down the rim, but luckily they didn't. He also had 2 really sweet blocks and Whiteside blocked a shot that went about 20 rows up into the stands. Isaac Copeland led the Cavs in the 3rd with 5 points. Despite our struggles, we were able to take a 61-59 lead into the 4th quarter.
In the 4th quarter, Winslow picked things up for us again, scoring 12 in the quarter. He also had 2 assists and 2 steals. Gus Rollins also got involved, scoring 7. Kyrie had 11 in the quarter for the Cavs, but had 2 big turnovers down the stretch. The key play, or at least the one that really got the crowd going, was a steal by Winslow, who passed to a wide open Troy Daniels, who then lobbed it back to Winslow for the dunk and a foul with just under 3 minutes left. The free throw put us up 81-76 and from that point on, we basically lived at the line and would go on to win 96-87.
Winslow led the way for us with 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Hassan Whiteside just missed a double-double as he had 11 points, but just 9 boards. The Cavs were led by Kyrie Irving with 33 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. DeMarre Carroll was the only other Cav in double figures with 14 points. We put 6 players in double figures.