The bad news: the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers allowed Maccabi Tel Aviv to score on its first three possessions. The good news: everything that happened after that. Cleveland's offense was in complete control, breaking the game open in the second quarter and cruising to a 107-80 victory in its preseason opener.
Cavaliers vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv final score: 3 things we learned from Cleveland’s impressive preseason opener
The Cavaliers cruised to a 107-80 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv in their preseason opener, looking sharp from the second quarter on.
Jason Miller
The Cavaliers weren’t perfect. There were occasional defensive breakdowns, particularly when trying to close out on shooters. The half-court offense was fine, but clearly new coach David Blatt didn’t unveil his full system. But they were largely impressive against an overmatched Maccabi club and showed why they’re going to be an elite team as they gain more experience.
Kyrie Irving led the way with 16 points in 26 minutes, while Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson had 15 and 13, respectively. LeBron James played just the first half, scoring 12 points in 19 minutes.
3 things we learned
1. The stars looked sharp enough
LeBron James didn't expend a ton of effort in his one half, but he hit his long perimeter shots, read the floor beautifully and did the kinds of things he's known to do. Kevin Love was a bit slow defensively and missed some perimeter shots, but got it together in the second half and gave us his customary outlet pass.
Neither shot the ball particularly well, though that will come.
But of the three stars, Kyrie Irving looked the most impressive. He didn’t monopolize the ball, yet found ways to be effective within Blatt’s offense. More importantly, he was on point defensively, showing much more effort defending ball screens than we saw last year. Defense and leadership are the two biggest deficiencies that have dogged Irving in his career. There’s a looooooooooong way to go, but early returns were encouraging.
2. Good luck keeping up
Seriously NBA, have fun trying to stop this Cavaliers team in transition. Cleveland rebounded and ran the entire first half, with Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao and Shawn Marion in particular zipping past Maccabi Tel Aviv's slower big men. They were able to draw defenders to the middle, opening up shooters and slashers running the lanes. (They also helped Cleveland pound Maccabi on the glass, but don't expect that to keep up against actual NBA frontcourts).
There weren’t a ton of obvious highlights, but that’s also the point. We know the Cavaliers can and will run off turnovers and in obvious fast-break situations. But they need to also run consistently off missed shots, even if they don’t have numbers. Speed is their greatest asset, particularly at the power positions, where they give up size. When the bigs run, Cleveland’s transition attack becomes that much more lethal.
Season Preview
3. Rotation questions remain
Four of the five starting positions appear set, with Dion Waiters joining Irving, Love and James in the backcourt. The center position, though, remains an open question. Tristan Thompson got the start in this game and played well, putting up a double-double. As mentioned before, he was excellent running the floor, which set up Cleveland’s transition game. But it’ll be tempting for new coach David Blatt to go back to old reliable Anderson Varejao, who dominated the glass and executed Cleveland’s still-developing defense to a T.
There’s also the threat of going small, with Love sliding over to center and Marion joining James in a small lineup. We didn’t see Blatt use this trio together, but a lineup with James, Marion and Varejao broke the game open in the second quarter. Marion is a tough matchup for many power forwards with his speed and lateral quickness.
As the pressure of the regular season bears down, it’ll be tough for Blatt to resist the impact Marion and Varejo make when they’re on the floor. Blatt must be careful not to overwork them and maintain Thompson’s confidence for the long haul.
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