Washington 84, Cleveland 94.

Things I liked:
- A healthy Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao.
Huge games from the two players that Cleveland desperately needs to be healthy. 29 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists for Irving and 9 points, 23 rebounds and 9 assists from Varejao.
- Rebounding.
Varejao had a monster game on the boards with 23 rebounds, Thompson did his part with 10 as the Cavs out-rebounded the Wizards 54-39.
- Full-court press.
It was only every now and then, but it caught the Wizards by surprise. This team is athletic enough to pull that off, so it's a good thing to see.
- The energy of Varejao and Tristan Thompson.
They both played to the whistle, all game. That scrappy, hustle type play is what wins ball games, and they both play that way.
- The defensive play of Thompson.
As I said above, he plays a very valuable type of basketball. He alters shots, blocks them if he can and is always fighting for rebounds.
- Dion Waiters.
Waiters was the wildcard tonight. He played well, scoring 17 and stealing three. I can get used to seeing these kinds of performances from Waiters this year. Definite rookie of the year contender if he keeps this up.


Things I disliked:
- Luke Walton getting minutes in crunch time.
Self explanatory, I'd much rather have anyone else on our roster out there.
- Irving early foul trouble.
Kyrie had to sit three minutes in the first half that he should have been out there playing because of silly fouls.
- Cavs second team defense.
Twice, decent leads were shrunk because of lazy defense from the Cavs second team.
- Lack of production from CJ Miles.
1-5 shooting with 2 points. He also had three turnovers. He's a guy that has got to play better. He is going to be our second-team offense along with Boobie, he needs to get it figured out.
- Cleveland losing a 16-point lead.
The starters were pulled for rest and the team we had on the floor looked like a D-league team. Forcing quick shots, allowing easy shots, turning the ball over and committing bad fouls. Good thing they overcame the Washington run in the end.

Turning Point:
- The Cavs had lost an 16-point lead and trailed by two, Waiters pulled up and nailed a three and was fouled, converting a four-point play that put Cleveland up by two. They didn't trail again. 

Player of the Game: Anderson Varejao. 9 points, 23 rebounds and 9 assists. The rebounds and assists were career highs. Of course Kyrie's 29 points were very valuable, but you just can't argue with how valuable Varejao was tonight.

2012-13 Cavs predictions

With the NBA season set to tip off tomorrow night, the first game of the season being in Cleveland, I wanted to take a few minutes to offer up a few predictions on the Cavaliers season. Here we go.

1) Kyrie Irving represents the Eastern Conference in the All-Star game.

2) Anderson Varejao will be traded; the Cavs will take an offer that isn't what he's worth.

3) Tyler Zeller will have a better rookie campaign than fourth overall pick Dion Waiters.

4) Both Irving and Varejao will miss at least ten combined games (Plausibly way more) due to injury.

5) Daniel Gibson will shoot better from deep than he has in his entire career; will be dealt at the deadline.

6) CJ Miles will average about 12 points off the bench and threaten Alonzo Gee's starting job at some point.

7) Cleveland will beat Miami once and there will be endless discussion of LeBron coming back to the Cavs.

8) Cleveland will beat a championship contender by 15+ on the road. Cleveland will then lose to a lottery team by 15+ at home.

9) Luke Walton will see the court way too much; will never play in the NBA again after this season.

10) Cleveland will be the eighth seed in the East, IF, Irving stays healthy.

So, over/under on five being right?

(Almost) Opening Day Power Rankings

Photo courtesy of Waitingfornextyear.com

The preseason is now over, roster has been trimmed to 15 and here is Cleveland's power rankings for the start of the season.

#1 - Kyrie Irving (No change)
Not a surprise. He's the man.

#2 - CJ Miles ( Up three spots)
Miles was the Cavs best player in the preseason not named Kyrie. At 11.9 ppg he was the second highest scorer on the team and at this point it looks like he'll be a fairly serviceable player this year.

#3 - Tyler Zeller (Up three spots)
Zeller was very productive in the preseason despite starting only one game. He was at 8.4 ppg, and he did that on an efficient 55% shooting. He's not a bad passing big man either, getting a little over two assists a game. Rebounding will be an area of improvement going forward, but I liked what I saw from Zeller to this point.

#4 - Tristan Thompson (No change)
In just about 20 minutes per game, Thompson put up eight points and six rebounds. He shot 50% from the field and if this carries over to the regular season with his increase in minutes, I'll be very content.

#5 - Alonzo Gee (Down three spots)
It'll be interesting to see what Byron Scott does at small forward. Miles obviously played better in the preseason, but I feel like his scoring off the bench would be more valuable. Gee shot decent from the field and played good, hard defense in the preseason, but that was expected. No doubt am I glad we got him re-signed. He'll be productive in whatever role he gets.

#6 - Boobie Gibson (Up one spot)
Gibson looked alright in the preseason all things considered. Shot well, moved the ball well and even snagged a few rebounds per game. He's back from the torn ankle tendon he suffered last year, but this season will be interesting for a few Cavs, Boobie being one of them. He could be moved by the deadline.

#7 - Anderson Varejao (Down four spots)
Like Boobie, it's nice to see Varejao back playing after his season-ending injury from last year. His productivity should increase when his minutes do, but otherwise it was the same ole' Varejao. The scrappy big man playing to every whistle, and doing the little things that help Cleveland win games. Here's to hoping he stays healthy this year.

#8 - Dion Waiters (No change)
I'm pretty glad the preseason is over, if for nothing else, because everything is so over analyzed. And in Waiters' case, that was magnified. Yes, he was the number four pick and I think he'll be fine, but through the preseason, he showed no reason that he should have been taken that high. He's a wait-and-see kind of player at this point. In the next power rankings, I won't be surprised if either he moves up in the top five, or drops off this list. My hunch, however, is that Dion will figure it out sooner rather than later.

#9 - Omri Casspi (Up two spots)
When I first did these rankings, I kept Casspi off the list because of how bad he was last year and how little playing time he will probably get with Miles and Gee both ahead of him on the depth chart. But Casspi shot the ball very well not only overall, but from deep which was something he struggled with last year. If he can shoot like that in the regular season, minutes will be there for him, possibly at shooting guard.

#10 - Samardo Samuels (Up one spot)
Samuels slimmed down, looks more athletic and played decent enough in his limited time. He'll be in the mix in the Cavs frontcourt and his expectations, for whatever reason are moderately high. I like Samuels for the record, I think he plays with a lot of energy and passion and hopefully cutting weight can make him a more efficient player.


Biggest Winner: CJ Miles and Tyler Zeller; Up three spots.
Biggest Faller: Anderson Varejao; Down four spots.
Cracking the top ten: Omri Casspi and Samardo Samuels.
Falling out of the top ten: Donald Sloan and Kelenna Azubuike