Cavaliers easily defeat Spurs 117-103
BY STONE LEXINGTON
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
With a 117-103 victory over the San Antonio Spurs Saturday night in Quicken Loans Arena, the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to their best win of the season. The victory was Cleveland’s fourth straight as the Cavs (34-12) avoided falling to 0-4 against the Spurs (39-8) and Golden State Warriors this season.
“It was a good win for us going forward knowing that we have a chance to beat a great team like the San Antonio Spurs just gives us confidence going forward,” Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue said. “We can always look back at this game and say listen, we beat the Spurs, and now we just have to continue to keep getting better and continue to move on.”
Saturday against San Antonio, the Cavs put together their best four quarters of the season. Cleveland scored a season-high 37 points in the first quarter and led 37-30 when the period ended. The Cavs improved their advantage in the second quarter, taking a 66-49 lead into halftime. The 66 points was the most the Spurs have allowed in a half this season, while it was also the Cavs’ season-high for points in the first half. Cleveland power forward Kevin Love was spectacular in the first two quarters, scoring 18 of his 21 points in the first half. Love also added 11 rebounds in the game, recording his team-leading 22nd double-double of the season.
“Kevin had it going early, so we wanted to keep featuring Kevin,” Lue said. “LeBron was being a facilitator, and I just wanted Kyrie to keep attacking, keep being aggressive, and it kind of all worked out. Kevin carried us in the first half, then LeBron and Kyrie carried us in the second half, so the ‘Big Three’ came through for us and it was great.”
The Cavs maintained their large lead in the third quarter. When LeBron James converted back-to-back layups with 2:23 remaining in the quarter, Cleveland took its largest lead of the game to that point, 88-69. The Cavs led 92-76 heading into the fourth quarter, where the closest the Spurs came within Cleveland was a 12-point deficit.
“This is exactly how we want to play,” Lue said. “Getting the ball up faster, getting guys open shots, attacking the basket early and giving our guys, our dynamic one-on-one players like LeBron and Kyrie, space on the floor where we can attack early in transition. So, with them doing that, guys are pulling in and we’re able to get open shots, open threes for everyone else — So it makes it more fun to play.”
James led Cleveland with 29 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Kyrie Irving added 21 points and six assists, while all five starters finished with double-figures in scoring.
Cleveland entered Saturday on a three-game win streak, averaging 114.3 points on 51 percent shooting from the field, while also outscoring opponents by an average of 12.3 points. The Cavs kept that trend going Saturday night, pushing their home record to 19-3 this season.
Cleveland has been solid against Western Conference teams of late. The Cavs are 27-6 in their last 33 regular season games against Western opponents (13-5 this season), while Cleveland has also won 15 of its last 16 regular season games over the West at The Q.
Since Lue took over for David Blatt as Cavs head coach last week, Cleveland’s offense has been reenergized. James has taken over distributing duties, Irving has been as aggressive as he has been since returning from injury and Love seems like a completely different player, averaging a shade under 24 points in his last three outings.
“I want the ball in LeBron’s hands to facilitate and create for other guys because he’s 6’8,” Lue said. “He’s a great passer, and I want Kyrie to be more in attack mode, more aggressive looking to score because I don’t think anyone can stop him one-on-one. I think with LeBron’s passing ability, we’re able to do a lot of things.
“Also, having Kevin at the elbows and posting Kevin a lot also opens it up and he can pass also. It’s been great for us so far.”
Had the Cavs lost to San Antonio Saturday night, they would have been winless against the top two teams in the NBA. Instead, Saturday’s victory over the Spurs had to boost the confidence of the team moving forward.
POSTED 01/30/2016 23:51
Lake County Sentinel
