Suns 108, Cavaliers 100: The Manny Harris Show

Just for the record, I've been right about Manny Harris all along.

The most talented player on the Cavs roster turned his game up to another level, and led the Cavaliers to a close defeat in Phoenix.

Manny Harris finished with a career-high 27 points on 7/13 shooting in his coming-out party, and surely solidifed his spot in the rotation (if not the starting lineup).  He also added 8 rebounds, and 3 assists in 41 minutes on the floor. 

He would have had even more assists if Jamison and Mo Williams weren't busy wasting his dimes, by bricking 3 pointers.  Antawn and Mo finished with a combined 1/10 from beyond the perimeter. Mo made 2 of the 11 shots he attempted.  Jamison finished with 23 points, but took 23 shots to get there.  In a perfect world, all 34 of those shots get redistributed to #6.  They lost us the game, not Manny Harris.

Manny took the right shots, drove when the opportunity presented itself, and was all over the floor. 

Manny even drew a huge charge with 3 minutes left in the game.

Right now, he is our best offensive option.  When he drives to the lane, he has an unbelieveable ability to change hands last second and finish lay-ups in a highlight-reel manner.

 It was the first game where Manny didn't think twice about shooting the basketball, and he played with an aggressive mindset for almost the entire game.  He has the offensive skills to create and make his own shot, he just needs the green light.  And it seems like at least for now, he has it.

Byron Scott, your thoughts?

"Manny Harris is playing with a lot of confidence right now."

This entire season, Manny was saying all the right things.  An undrafted rookie who wasn't even supposed to make the team has worked hard in practice, and proven he belongs in this league.  He stays late to shoot jump shots, and his hard work is paying off.

He consistently gave 100% effort on the defensive end.  Anyone who has seen him practice would know he's an unparalleled offensive talent, who has just been waiting for this exact moment to unleash his deadly offensive swagger. 

Campy Russell might have said it best during the postgame show, "I thought Manny Harris had the hot hand, and I think we should have gone to him more."

Oh yeah, the Cavaliers also lost their 10th game in a row, the second such streak of the season.  At this point, who really cares?  We're not making the playoffs, and I'm trying to just focus on enjoying watching this team compete on a nightly basis.

Byron Scott was pleased with the effort, but still doesn't want to watch losing basketball.

“I am extremely happy with the effort. I thought our guys played their butts off and played extremely hard. I’m really proud of our young guys, Manny, Christian and Samardo, I thought they really did an excellent job. It was that fourth quarter, the last few minutes we just seemed to, I wouldn’t say fall apart but we seem to do something we just can’t do. I addressed that with Christian, you know three fouls that sent them to the free throw line and gave them some easy points instead of making them earn them. That’s lack of experience from young guys but other than that I’m very proud and very happy with how hard we played.”

J.J. Hickson played excellent basketball as well.  He rebounding was picked up and he was rewarded with more playing time.  He finished with 23 points and 17 rebounds, almost Kevin Love-esque numbers. 

If J.J. can get us 9 offensive rebounds every night, we have a chance at winning most of those games.

Christian Eyenga continued his strong play and played productive minutes while displaying his world-class athleticism yet again.  He might have injured his ankle, but returned to the game and hopefully it was nothing serious.

Ramon Sessions continued his impressive streak of dunking out-of-nowhere.  To be honest, I think Ramon is a better option than Mo Williams right now. 

All this on the day the Cavaliers find out Anderson Varejao is likely done for the season.  That one hurts.

At least we can sit back and enjoy the Manny Harris show.