Cavaliers Preview Game #7: Cavs at Nets

Cleveland Cavaliers (3-3) vs
New Jersey Nets (2-4)
Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
7:00 PM EST
FSOH/WTAM

The Cleveland Cavaliers finish off their 3 game mini road trip tonight with the front end of a home and home with the New Jersey Nets. After winning their first 2 games this year, the Nets ran into a buzz saw of a schedule, having to play the Heat twice and the Magic once, leading to a 4 game losing streak. The Nets are returning home after their brutal Florida trip and they will be hungry for a win at home. As for the Cavaliers, I was slightly concerned, if you recall, with the fact they had to take a 3 game losing streak out on the road. However, a couple strong performances on the road leading to consecutive wins on the back of Mo Williams and this team heads into Jersey running high on confidence. I expect a good game between two teams who will view these next 2 games as extremely winnable.

Projected Starting Lineups

Cleveland Cavaliers:

-G Mo Williams (20.7 ppg, 4.0 apg, 1.7 spg, 24.18 PER)
-G Anthony Parker (10.0 ppg, 2.3 apg, .625 3P%, 9.18 PER)
-F Jamario Moon (6.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.3 apg, 10.68 PER)
-F JJ Hickson (16.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 0.3 bpg, 18.42 PER)
-C Anderson Varejao (9.8 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 0.4 bpg, 15.73 PER)

Key Reserves: Daniel Gibson, Ramon Sessions, Antawn Jamison, Jawad Williams, Ryan Hollins

Injuries: Antawn Jamison (questionable), Daniel Gibson (probable – personal reasons)

New Jersey Nets:

-G Devin Harris (15.8 ppg, 6.3 apg, 1.0 spg, 21.03 PER)
-G Anthony Morrow (10.5 ppg, 1.0 apg, .375 3P%, 9.86 PER)
-F Travis Outlaw (8.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 0.3 apg, 9.94 PER)
-F Troy Murphy (5.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.3 bpg, 2.76 PER)
-C Brook Lopez (18.8 PER, 5.7 rpg, 1.7 bpg, 15.40 PER)

Key Reserves: Terrence Williams, Derrick Favors, Jordan Farmar, Kris Humphries

Injuries: None

Team Efficiency Stats

Cleveland Cavaliers:

-Off (99.7 ppg, .460 FG%, 37.8 rpg, 19.5 apg, 15.2 TOpg, Eff-102.7, Rank-15)
-Def (102.2 ppg, .484 FG%, 40.7 rpg, Eff-106.7, Rank-23)

New Jersey Nets:

-Off (91.2 ppg, .434 FG%, 39.7 rpg, 18.2 apg, 16.2 TOpg, Eff-96.6, Rank-26)
-Def (98.3 ppg, .463 FG%, 40.5 rpg, Eff-106.4, Rank-22)

Previous Matchups

None

Future Matchups

1. Wed, Nov 10 at Cleveland
2. Mon, Jan 24 at New Jersey
3. Wed, Mar 23 at Cleveland

Game Notes

What a difference a weekend makes. The Cavaliers went into the weekend as a bottom 5 offensive team. Their efficiency was bottom 5, their points per game were bottom five, their differentials were bottom 5. After a couple solid road wins, though, the Cavaliers find themselves as a middle of the pack offensive team. Now, a big part of this is simply the fluid nature of 1st month NBA basketball. Beyond just that, though, a ton of credit needs to go to the return of Mo Williams, who has been simply sensational.

If you take out the Toronto game in which the Cavs were without Varejao and Mo (and is still the only truly bad game the Cavaliers have played so far), the Cavaliers are averaging 103.4 points per game. In the 3 games Mo Williams has played, they’re averaging 106 points per game, and in the 2 games he has started they’re averaging 115 points per game. Small sample size? Sure. But that doesn’t mean Mo Williams hasn’t had a staggering impact on this team.

Some of us were concerned about Mo when he missed basically the entire preseason, and then was held out of the team’s first 3 games. But Mo hasn’t missed a step. At times he seemed hesitant in his first game against Atlanta, but over the weekend Mo was aggressive and exerted his influence all over the court. The most eye opening aspect of his game has been his relentless pushing of the basketball. He is asking for the ball quickly, whether it be in transition or from an inbound pass off a make, and he is quickly getting the offense running. He is pushing the ball, driving into the lane, running the pick and roll, and hitting mid range jumpers. Just about the only thing not working for Mo right now is his 3 point shot, and once he gets that to start falling, this offense can really be dangerous. Who knows if Mo can keep this up, and once the Cavs play some better defenses, he will probably struggle more, but so far, Mo has asserted himself as the best offensive player on this team by a mile.

As for New Jersey, I’d love an explanation as to why their offense doesn’t work. You have one of the best driving PGs in the game in Devin Harris, you have one of the absolute best spot up shooters in the game in Anthony Morrow, you have a streaky shooting player with a nose for finding ways to score in Travis Outlaw, and then you have Troy Murphy and Brook Lopez rounding up your frontcourt. You bring the impressive rookie Derrick Favors in off the bench, and he’s only 2nd in the NBA already at offensive rebounding rate. Troy Murphy has always been an outstanding rebounder. Brook Lopez may not be a good rebounder, but he’s one of the most effective players at scoring in the post in the NBA. Yet somehow, this offense is a complete mess.

Perhaps it’s just the insanely difficult schedule they’ve had to play. After all, they scored 101 and 106 points in their first 2 games of the year against the Pistons and Kings. It wasn’t until the Miami-Charlotte-Orlando-Miami stretch that they began to struggle to score. The Cavaliers are one of the worst defensive teams in the league, so scoring against Cleveland should come much easier for the Nets. The good news for Cleveland is that Anderson Varejao has, to this point, shown that he is able to hold his own in defending the paint against some very good post players.

Last year, Brook Lopez had his way with Shaq, Andy, JJ, and the rest of the Cavs’ frontcourt defenders, averaging 21.5 points against the Cavaliers. Andy and Ryan Hollins must do a better job against Lopez this season. When the Nets can get Lopez working down low early, it really opens up the looks for Morrow and Outlaw. The Cavaliers also have to be careful because the Nets will look to use Harris to drive past Mo and force the Cavaliers to bring help, leaving Lopez in prime position to clean up underneath. Mo did a great job of sagging off John Wall on Saturday and forcing him to shoot more from the outside than he probably wanted to. I would use the same strategy on Harris. I think Harris is a better shooter than Wall, but never the less, until Harris proves he’s going to be hitting from outside, I’d give him that shot because it’s better than the alternative.

Defensively, the Nets do an outstanding job clogging up lanes and defending the paint. They don’t force many turnovers (dead last in steals and 5th worst in blocked shots), but what they do is keep everything on the outside and force opposing teams to rely on their outside shot. If the Cavaliers fall asleep and don’t keep themselves active on offense, they will play right into the Nets’ hands.

Antawn Jamison is expected to be back for the Cavaliers tonight, and it is just so important for many reasons that he begin to return to his normal form. Along with Daniel Gibson (also expected to play after missing practice for personal reasons yesterday), Jamison should make up one of the best bench pairs in the NBA. So far Gibson has lived up to Byron Scott’s expectations for him, but unfortunately Jamison has not. Favors is a pretty good defender already, but he’s a rookie and Jamison is a smart veteran who should have a few tricks for the young guy. When he’s lucky enough to have Troy Murphy on him, Jamison should be able to have his way with one of the league’s worst defenders. So there’s no excuse for Jamison to not begin turning his season around tonight. Conditioning may be a question after missing so much time, but if Jamison can’t impact this game tonight at all, then he’s in a lot of trouble for this season as a whole.

Vegas Line

New Jersey (-2.0)
Over/Under 195

From The Outside Looking In

Nets Daily
Nets Are Scorching
Whoop-De-Damn-Do

Birds Of A Feather

Stepien Rules
Cavs: The Blog
The Wine and Gold Rush
Random Thoughts

Next Game For The Cavaliers

Wednesday, November 10, 2010
New Jersey Nets at Cleveland Cavaliers
FSOH/WTAM