This was never going to be an easy one. As I mentioned in the game thread, Charlotte came in with the 5th best offense, 7th best margin of victory, and 7th highest margin of victory.
1. I think Blatt and LeBron wanted this one badly which is why Delly and Moz played. Blatt was looking for defense, defense, and more defense and he shortened the bench in the second half by not bringing Mo back off the bench, keeping JJ on the bench, AND went with the TT/LBJ/JR/Jeff/Delly lineup for the 4th (keeping KLove on the bench) which was the ONLY lineup that could get any type of stops at all. Heading into the 4th, this team only had 6 sets of consecutive defensive stops (not counting ORebs) which is putrid. In fact, since the first 5 games of the year, this team has been having difficult stringing together consecutive stops. They couldn't buy a stop in the second or third quarters tonight. The 4th quarter defense was the best defense the team has played all year and only the fourth time this team has held another team under 20 points in the fourth quarter. You have to credit Blatt to have the balls to go with that lineup.
One of the reasons why this team went 33-3 with the Big Three playing after the trades last year is because Blatt shortened the bench. He was playing only 8 players for the most part (Kyrie, JR, Shump, LBJ, Moz, Love, Delly, and TT) and all of these were PLUS players for the Cavs last year. Now, we can't do that the entire way for the rest of the season, and last year was different due to multiple circumstances, but when push comes to shove in the playoffs, we will see these 8 players unless there's a trade that brings in a 3 and D player.
The Delly/Shump/LBJ/TT/Moz lineup was the best defensive lineup in the NBA last year and was NET +45 per 100 possessions last year. When this team is healthy, look for the same starting five as last year (Kyrie/JR/LBJ/Love/Moz), with James coming out at at the 4 minutes left mark or so of the first and then coming back with the defensive lineup (5 plus defenders this year--Delly/Shump/LBJ/TT/Moz) at the beginning of the 2nd in games that matter. If the lead gets big enough, we'll see Mo, Jefferson, JJ, et al., with probably Jeff the first one up, but in games that matter, I don't see an all-bench lineup out there. That's the benefit of having three first option type offensive players. What people forget about last year was that the injuries killed our ability to put both the best offensive and defensive lineups in the NBA out on the court.
2. Love is 13-20 from three in his last three games. In his last three games, his true shooting % is 70.6%. His TS% is 64% or greater for 6 consecutive games now. Last year, it was 60%+ in only 27 games and he has NEVER had a streak longer than 3 straight games of 60%+ TS until now. He needs more shots, honestly. He's also grabbed 14 offensive rebounds in the last 5 games. He had only two 5 game stretches last year with 14+ ORebs.
3. Delly was +11 an a NET +17. He's +143 for the season including double digit + games in 10 of the 15 games he's played (+29, +26,+15, +14, +14, +13, +12, +11 against MEM, ATL, MIA, ORL, IND, MIL, NYK, NYK, PHI).
4. This game snaps a streak of 6 straight games with 11+ threes. 6 straight games of 11+ threes was the fourth longest streak in NBA history.
Last 6 games: 14-29, 18-35, 11-29, 11-24, 11-33, 14-38.