Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer
Coming off their four-game road trip, the Cavaliers returned home on Monday night and recorded their first home win of the season.
Once again, Cleveland relied on their offense to propel them to a 118-111 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
The offense, which was lackluster in the first half, was running on all cylinders after halftime as Kyrie Irving scored 27 of his 32 points in the second half.
Irving, who has been heavily scrutinized for his poor assist total, finally put it all together tonight as he also recorded nine assists.
Before Kevin Love joined the Cavs in late August, one of the main reasons LeBron James left Miami was because of Irving. Tonight, was a small sample size of how dynamic James and Irving can be when the offense is clicking.
{adinserter 2}Speaking of James, he recorded his first triple-double of the season with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. When the offense was out of synch in the first half, James and Irving took it upon themselves to carry the load to end the third quarter on a 16-1 run. Irving and James combined for 64 points on 53 percent shooting (20-38).
Love’s main contribution came late as the Pelicans began to rally back. Every time the Pelicans cut the Cavs lead to a minimal deficient, the Cavs would go to a 1-3-1 pick-and-roll with Love. Love would leak out to the perimeter after the he set the pick and connected on four of his six three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Despite the success of the Cavs’ offense, their defense is still an issue. Their defense was dreadful in the first half as the Pelicans’ received numerous of wide-open looks from the perimeter.
The Cavs still have an issue on defensive assignments. Ryan Anderson, who scored 23 of his 32 points in the first half, was open outside and the Cavs would rarely contest any of his shots.
The Cavs’ defense will be the main topic of conversation throughout the season. It is no question
the Cavs will be able to score on any team in this league. The main question will be able to get timely spots when they matter? Tonight, they did.
Enjoy the first home win of the second LeBron James era, Cleveland. There will be many more to come.
BIG Big 3 game for Cavs. LeBron triple double. But Kyrie explosion in 3rd and 3 Love 3s in 4th were the crucial points.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) November 11, 2014
They’ve got to be happy about the win and impressing Skip:
And 1
Dion Waiters missed the game with a lower back injury suffered against Denver on Friday.
Joe Harris contributed five points in 20 minutes off the bench. Expect Harris to receive more playing time if Waiters injury lingers.
James recorded his 38th career triple-double in tonight’s win.
Lebron gets videobombed! Lmao https://t.co/sNEeuzVMKh
— NBA GIFS (@RTGIFS) November 11, 2014
The Cavs will not play again until Friday. They will play the Celtics at Boston.