Two sides of the sword

Basketball is a game of two halves and the Cleveland Cavaliers showed just how different those halves often times can be in a 120-103 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Cleveland controlled the first half and led by as many as 17 points before a halftime lead of 12 before a devastating second half that saw the Knicks outscore Cleveland by 29 points.
Antawn Jamison led Cleveland with a double/double of 23 points and 10 rebounds,with Kyrie Irving adding 22 points.
The 13-20 Cavaliers host the Bulls tomorrow night in Cleveland.

Swashbucklings

1) There is nothing more that I can say about the drastic change in the two halves that you cannot figure out for yourselves,but I did think that the Cavaliers came out less than hungry in the second half and then when the Knicks came roaring back,the team rolled over in the final period.
The occasional game where that happens will occur with all teams over the course of a season,but Byron Scott has to make sure that it stays an aberration rather than a habit...

2) First time that I saw the Jeremy Lin hype machine and I thought he was a nice player,but I'll take Kyrie Irving over the long haul.
Lin seems like a talented and multi-dimensional player,but seems to be prone to the turnover and sometimes makes me think that his stats will settle a bit once teams have more film on him to prepare for...

3) The real killer from the New York side was not Lin,or the other big names in Amare Stoudemire  and Carmelo Anthony,it was Steve Novak,who came off the bench to drill five three pointers in the second half from further and further behind the arc.
Novak's performance brought to mind a player from my youth in the 70's from Lefty Driesell's Maryland teams named Brian Magid,who seemed to have ungodly shooting range in the days before the three pointer,but never seemed to find consistent PT and transferred to George Washington.
I remember my dad and I always wondering why this guy never seemed to play more...

4) Rough night for Alonzo Gee,who was just 1 of 9 from the floor.

5) Still next to no production from the middle,with Semih Erden and Samardo Samuels combining for just eight points.
Look for more and more of Tristan Thompson shifting to the pivot as the season progresses until Anderson Varejao returns...

Photo Credit:AP Photo