Cavs eviscerate Warriors, and I’m busting

I’m trying not to overreact here.

It’s a long season.

A lot can happen between now and the end of April.

Still, it’s hard not to get super-pumped when you’ve parlayed $10 into $13.60 since downloading the FanDuel Sportsbook app. I’m on a two-game win streak, and the Cavs are on a 10-game win streak, so life is good (as they say in the popular parlance).

I am busting. Jerry, I’m busting!

The Cavs just gave the Golden State Warriors – our archnemesis, the evil empire – a taste of their own medicine in front of a rapturous home crowd. A comeuppance, if you will (and I will). The 3-point shots were falling, the offense was flowing and the camaraderie was on full display at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, on a Friday night to boot.

If I may be so bold: It wasn’t unlike watching the Warriors in their heyday.

As many fans probably do, I have a veritable Cavalanche of thoughts.

1. A relative in the Bay Area texted me earlier this week, feeling very confident about the Warriors. And this was before they beat the Celtics. I tried to temper his expectations, in the most loving way possible. I tried to convey just how scorching hot the Cavs are right now. But I guess he had to see for himself. He had to learn the hard way.
2. Making history: At the end of the first half, with the Cavs up 83-42, FanDuel Sports Network’s Serena Winters noted that the 83-point outburst set a franchise record for most points scored in a first half. The Associated Press said the 41-point halftime lead is a franchise first. The Cavs came into the game holding the record for consecutive wins to open a season. The hits just keep coming.
3. No news flash here: In a postgame interview, Ty Jerome affirmed that the Cavs are playing with a lot of confidence right now. Jerome had 20 points off the Cavalier bench. “We have a lot of depth, [and] we’re using it,” Jerome told Winters. “Different guys [are] stepping up every night. And we’re rolling.”
4. The Warriors came to town riding a five-game win streak, and they were undefeated on the road. They were riding high after a big win in Boston. This throwback (or should I say “froback”) game had all the markings of a marquee matchup. But it didn’t play out that way. The Warriors never led in this game, and they looked lethargic. The first half looked like a Harlem Globetrotters game, at times.
5. “I think the biggest thing is how we came out and set the tone right from the beginning,” Georges Niang said on the postgame show. “Just defensively wearing them out, and then getting the spots we wanted to get to and making shots.” It was raining threes inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Isaac Okoro, who started in place of Dean Wade, was 4-for-6 from 3-point range, while Ty Jerome was 3-for-3 and Darius Garland was 6-for-11 from long distance.
6. Raising the bar: When you’re as hot as the Cavs are right now, you have to challenge yourself to get better, even after a decisive 136-117 win over Steph Curry and the Warriors. In the second half, Golden State outscored the Cavs 75-53. That wasn’t lost on Jerome. “We need to keep getting better everyday,” he said. “That second half wasn’t great. We picked up some bad habits. We kind of played to the score.”
7. Jarrett Allen used that same phrase in his postgame interview. “We didn’t come out with the same intensity, the same defensive mindset,” Allen added. “They got a lot of easy baskets on us, and we weren’t sharing the ball.” Still, when you’ve built a 41-point lead at halftime, I think you’re allowed to pace yourself in the second half – especially on the first night of a back-to-back.
8. Speaking of Allen, I made a $5 bet that The Fro would snag more than 10 rebounds in the game. I think he had six or seven at halftime. With the game trending in the direction that it was, my biggest concern was that Allen might see limited action in the second half, as Atkinson – who has leaned into the Cavs’ depth from Week 1 – might want to rest him with Saturday night’s game in mind. Fortunately (for me, at least), the Warriors played much better in the second half, and Allen grabbed 12 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. And I’m $2.08 richer.
9. Would it be terrible if I said Allen probably would’ve played 44 minutes if J.B. Bickerstaff was still coaching? Am I a bad person for saying that?
10. I feel like I’m late to the sports-betting party, and that’s probably a good thing, given my personality. It’s fun, though. One thing I don’t like is that it changes the way you watch a game. I found myself rooting for Golden State to make it a close game in the second half, simply because it increased the chances of Allen staying on the court. And every time the Cavs launched a 3-pointer – which was often – I was disappointed, just for a nanosecond, when it went in.
11. This one goes to 11: While the Cavs cruised Friday night, the Nets lost to Boston in overtime, 108-104. In terms of “heavy legs,” Brooklyn likely will be at a disadvantage. The Cavs have an excellent shot at an 11th consecutive win to start the season.