Hey, Cavalier fans and CavFanatics! It’s Austin, checking in from Cleveland in the middle of a three-game win streak. What’s happening?
Last week was a wild one for the Wine and Gold – especially Kyrie Irving. On Monday, he was named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week and it was well-deserved.
I’m not breaking any news to say that we have something very special here with Kyrie. He may not be as dominant physically as LeBron was, but he’s the man in Cleveland right now. Kyrie’s picture should be up on that wall across from the Horseshoe Casino.
That game-winner he shot on Saturday night took some real guts. At first, I thought it was a little bit of a long shot. I was sitting there, thinking: ‘Because I have Kyrie, I’d go for the two and try to win it in overtime.” But with the confidence the young man has been playing with – after Coach Scott gave him the right-of-way – I can see why he feels comfortable taking it.
As that last play unfolded, you could see Kyrie was just setting Alan Anderson up. Anderson was thinking he was going to kind of lay back and guard the drive. Dwane Casey was yelling for Anderson to ‘Get up! Get up!’ But you could see Kyrie was gathering himself – and he walked right into the shot.
BANG!!
That game-winner over the Raptors capped off a fantastic week for the young man. I was on-hand at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards when he won Pro Athlete of the Year (moments after being named to the Eastern Conference All-Star squad), and it was a great night for the Cavs. I thought Coach Scott and Chris did a good job presenting the award. And it was big that Kyrie was there. I’m not sure LeBron was ever there for one of his. To have Kyrie there was a nice touch, and the people really received him well.
The GCSA is a big deal – locally and around the country. You see who they bring in as emcees. So it’s pretty big. At last year’s ceremony – when I won the Lifetime Achievement award – I was sweating and emotional. But this year, it felt good to be able to sit back and enjoy and watch Kyrie win that award. It gives the Cavs a nice shot in the arm.
And with Rondo’s injury on Sunday, there’s a chance Kyrie could start the All-Star Game in Houston. It’d be fun. His game is suited for the All-Star Game, because he can handle the ball so well. All-Star Games are never system games; they’re one-on-one games. So he should be fine. He’s one of the best one-on-one players in the league.
Kyrie’s play has been great, but the whole team is starting to gain confidence right now. The Cavs are playing more to their style to win now.
They’re pushing the ball more; they’re playing tired. (You have to play tired if you want to be a running team. There’s no such thing as stopping when you get tired. You keep going. Look at Houston – they never stop. They might be standing at the foul line, bent over holding their shorts. But as soon as that ball’s back in play, they’re gone again.)
And the thing I like about what the Cavs are doing: They’re using more traps and things on defense to force turnovers and get out on the break. They’re running off made shots now. They’re doing a lot of things right. They’re pushing the ball via the pass instead of the dribble. They’re doing all the things that running teams do.
You’re also seeing a big difference now that they’ve brought in a couple veterans – Wayne Ellington and Marreese Speights – in last week’s trade.
Ellington and Speights have bring a lot to the table. They communicate so well. The coaching staff has been always preaching communication all year. But with the new personnel – everybody’s out there talking. You can see a lot more communication now. And when you have Speights, Ellington and Livingston on the floor together, you can see the defense pick up.
It’s about veteran leadership – guys not being afraid to lead.
Speights gives you an inside presence, a guy you can throw the ball into with his back to the basket. That, to me, is huge. Now you have a guy who’s rugged around the basket. He’s not a leaper like Tristan. He uses positioning.
He’s going to bring a little nastiness in there, and it’s already rubbing off. Even Tyler’s starting to bristle up a little bit, because he was getting knocked around a while and now he’s starting to fight back. A lot of good things are starting to happen.
I don’t want to say that this team has “turned the corner.” But we’re close. It’s going to take a lot to get us back near the top. But you can see that change is happening. The confidence is there, the know-how is there. And when you have an ace like Kyrie – you just want to get to the last five minutes of the game.
The Cavs will get an excellent test on Tuesday night when the Warriors roll in. The key is how well we can defend in transition. That game’s going to be up and down. You have to keep their main guys from going off. Don’t let Curry get 30. And try to keep David Lee from beating you up on the boards.
And we need to play our style. Don’t be afraid to play our style. We play a running game really well, but it has to start on the defensive end. When we have no energy on defense, our offense does not work.
When we play tough defense, we run better, we shoot better. Basically – we play better.