The Cavs followed their best 1st half of the season with their worst 2nd half because of course they did. Down 18 at the break, the Suns ratcheted up the intensity in the 2nd half and the Cavaliers responded by looking like they’ve never played basketball before.
I was really looking forward to writing up this recap after the first; wins are so fun, and man, was it fun. The Cavaliers opened with seven assists on their first nine baskets, and Kyrie responded to a tough article from Jason Lloyd with a wonderful first quarter performance. He was getting the Cavs into their offense early, and it worked. The Cavs shot 54 percent for the first half.
Luol Deng also did work in the post, and it was a nice reminder that the Cavaliers now have a SF who can play basketball pretty well.
Tristan also had a very, very nice game, and both he and Andy were wonderful attacking the offensive boards in the first half.
Speaking of Andy, he hurt his knee in the fourth quarter, and oh my God, you shoulda seen Cavs Twitter have a quick collective meltdown. I was ready to hand in my two-weeks notice to RCF because I’m not sure if I could handle this horrifying season in conjunction with no Andy.
Anyway, the Cavaliers absolutely fell apart. As the boss man tweeted out from the RCF account, the Cavs seemed to think the Suns were just going to go away in the 2nd half.
