LeBron returns, Irving shines in Cavs’ preseason opener

CLEVELAND — Walking out of Quicken Loans Arena Sunday night, I had a chance to catch several fragments of conversation.

“That place was nuts,” said one man.

“I can’t wait for the season,” said a middle-aged woman.

Most of the time, though, all I could catch was a name.

“LeBron James.”

It couldn’t have been more obvious who the fans came out to see. And, unlike most preseason games, this wasn’t just the diehards (or if it was, there are suddenly a lot of diehards in Cleveland). The Q was packed. At a rough estimate, it was 85 percent full, including the far upper levels. For a preseason game. Against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Cleveland is a city that, despite years and years and years of failure, loves its sports teams. They haven’t celebrated a major sports championship since 1964, but now, with LeBron back in town, it feels like the end of that streak could be coming.

While Kyrie Irving might have received the loudest cheers, there was one man who brought all the people into the building, and LeBron hardly disappointed. Despite not really finding his touch from the floor (4-of-11 shooting in the first half), LeBron showed why he’s the best player in the game. For substantial portions of the second quarter, he controlled most of the ball-handling, with Irving playing off the ball, and the offense hardly missed a beat.

LeBron (12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) was rarely the most active player on the floor, though that was most likely due to his being one of the Cavs’ oldest players, this being the first preseason game, and, honestly, his producing quite enough without even having to make many cuts. He showed that he can basically do it all, racking up rebounds on the defensive end, spotting up on the wing for a couple of threes, and dazzling the crowd with alley-oop feeds. His effort on the defensive end was solid for the most part, though he did get beaten off the dribble a couple of times.

More impressive was Irving. He was able to get to the rim without any trouble, he got great looks when he played off the ball, and his defensive effort never faded. His assist numbers (5) may not have been where Cavs fans might have liked, but that was at least in part due to spending a lot of time off the ball. Irving also looked to have the least rust on his game, probably a result of his summer with Team USA.

In comparison to his fellow stars, Kevin Love kind of faded into the background, though by no means did he not contribute (8 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists). Apart from a few quick attempts from distance, he seemed glued to the low block, and never stopped producing. He was among the Cavs’ leaders in rebounding, he showed some deft passing, and his willingness to bang bodies in the low post was a big reason the Cavs were able to throttle Maccabi, 107-80. His role appeared to be more limited to the traditional power forward role of rebounding, getting to the line, and occasionally driving to the hoop. His ability to step out to the perimeter has been proven time and time again, so chances are we’ll see more of that as the season progresses, though part of what makes him such a great player is that he can dominate on the glass as well as on the perimeter. He also had one of the moments of the night with his signature pinpoint outlet pass to a streaking Tristan Thompson.

This is the preseason. Definitive conclusions should not be drawn. But as LeBron and Love get more and more into the flow of things, and everyone gets more accustomed to David Blatt’s schemes, the Cavs are going to be good. I think that’s fair to say.

After some extended garbage time (don’t read too much into Joe Harris’ line — 10 points in 17 minutes), the final buzzer sounded, and wine and gold confetti rained down. “Cleveland Rocks” played over the PA, and for once, that cheesiest of city odes felt appropriate. With this roster, with this team, maybe Cleveland can rock again.

Some other stray observations:

Blatt’s offense is exciting. I counted maybe four isolation plays on the night, mostly with LeBron handling the ball. Everything else was a whirlwind of backdoor cuts and weakside motion. Even against a Maccabi team that presumably was familiar with Blatt’s schemes, the Cavs were able to consistently get open looks close to the basket.
The Cavs’ role players aren’t going to be anonymous. Anderson Varejao was a tremendous linchpin for the offense in the second quarter, when the Cavs ran away with the game. He was able to handle the ball at the top of the key and allow everything to flow through him. He made some nifty passes on backdoor cuts, dominated on the glass, and was immovable on defense. Tristan Thompson, his competition for the starting center role, had a great night as well, being the first one down the court on several occasions, finishing a few alley-oops and also being on the receiving end of the aforementioned Love outlet. He was a little ungainly in traffic around the rim, but he did manage to get to the line a few times, and showed some potential as a rim protector. He’s obviously less polished than Varejao, but his boundless energy on both ends in this game showed why the Cavs took him so high, and why they’ve held onto him even as just about every other young role player was shipped out.
Dion Waiters was selected to do the postgame on-court interview, and what he said was fairly interesting.
“As long as we move the ball, play with each other, and be comfortable with the system, we’ll be fine,” he said. It was almost like he was confronting his critics, the ones who said he was only concerned with how many shots he put up and how many times he touched the ball. If this one game is anything to go by, those days are in the past. He hardly monopolized the ball at all. I never saw him force a bad shot. He took the point on a couple possessions and showed a tight handle, at one point crossing his defender up and delivering a pass to a wide-open Irving for three. He also got the single loudest crowd reaction of the night with a punishing dunk midway through the third quarter.
Matthew Dellavedova is going to be the Cavs’ backup point guard. A.J. Price didn’t get off the bench until garbage time, in part because Dellavedova was pretty impressive. He got the crowd on their feet by nailing a floater in the lane as the first quarter ended, and overall combined heady point guard play with tenacious defense. He’s nowhere near Irving, obviously, but he got substantial burn during the crucial second quarter and led the Cavs’ second unit (including Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, and Varejao) adroitly.
Joe Harris was the king of garbage time. A good portion of the crowd was gone by the time he got to show his stuff, but he had the ones who stuck around oohing and ahhing with his attacking play. Of the guys on the roster bubble, was easily the most impressive.