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November 26, 2014Lyle Alzado, the Heart and Soul of the Kardiac Kids: Reliving Yesteryear
November 26, 2014Is the recipe for victory, once reduced to its most integral grail ingredients, merely toughness and discipline? Several members of the Cleveland Cavaliers appear to feel so as they welcome the Washington Wizards into Quicken Loans Arena just five days after being soundly beaten in Washington, 91-78.
“If you look at our season so far, we have had high-turnover games and lost, and high-assist, low-turnover games that we have won,” said LeBron James during Wednesday morning’s shootaround. “That’s what it comes down to.”
This past Friday evening, in front of a nationally televised crowd, James and the Cavaliers were beaten in all facets of the game. The Wizards were quicker, moved the ball better and played tougher, more physical defense. The loss was the third in a row at the time, and was compounded by a loss the following night against the Toronto Raptors.
On Monday, the Cavs got things back on track in a dominating win over the Orlando Magic, but the game was hardly a litmus test for the otherwise struggling Cleveland franchise—they were favored by 10 despite having lost their previous four games. Wednesday, however, would undoubtedly serve as a barometer or progress, playing a talented a Wizards team at home.
While the team won’t call it “revenge,” they are undoubtedly looking to make amends for their lack of focus and sub-par start to what has morphed into a 6-7 record to this point.
“We had tons of turnovers in transition, and plays that weren’t normally us,” Irving said of Friday’s loss. “They had a lot of energy and a lot of physicality and we just have to match that tonight–have a ‘hit first’ mentality”
Making matters more interesting is the potential for Cavs head coach David Blatt to make yet another change to his team’s starting five-man unit, with all speculation pointing to veteran Mike Miller soon joining All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving in the Wine and Gold backcourt. Miller, while not necessarily expected to start on Wednesday (depending on who you ask), is likely to see additional playing time after averaging just 11 minutes per game through 11 games to this point and not playing at all in the team’s win over the Magic.
“It’s not always about who’s starting the game,” Blatt said at practice on Tuesday. “It’s about the combinations on the floor that are working and the way they’re playing together.”
With Miller, the team will get a floor-spacing shooter (despite this specific one failing to find much of a rhythm this season) in addition to the added bonus of Shawn Marion, the team’s starting shooting guard to this point, heading to the bench to allow his 36-year-old body to spell LeBron James at the small forward position. What they do not get, however, is the physicality and speed needed to keep up with a high-octane offense like the Wizards.
If Blatt does opt to make the move, the Cavs will be forced to play more of a team-style defense that includes traps, help-side rotations and harder shows on high-post pick-and-roll situations. Through this point in the season, the Cavs lead the league in having their big man hedge toward the hoop in pick-and-roll situations, doing so more than 40 percent of the time (via Vantage Sports). Facing a backcourt composed of Washington’s All-Star point guard John Wall and dead-eye shooting guard Bradley Beal, and active big men like Marcin Gortat and Nene, the team is immediately forced to change how they approach the defensive side of the ball in order to hinder their sets. Factor in the potential for another wave of new rotations, and the team will need to ramp up considerably in an area that has been a struggle for them all season long: Communication.
“We’re our best when our rotations are on point and we’re all communicating and we’re at the right spots at all times,” said Irving. “It’s easy to say now, but we just have to go out and do it and execute it on both ends of the floor.”
The Cavs have used the first few weeks of the 2014-15 season to pinpoint issues, to discuss what they need to do better. Using Monday’s win as a launching point to execute on these words would seem to make sense. But then again, nothing this season really has.
4 Comments
A mere, MERE, 10 extra points per game from the best player on the planet and we’re 11-2.
Problem solved. Easy peezy japaneezy.
Let me be all negative and say that I don’t know if playing Mike Miller more will solve the problem. Miller has been flat out terrible this season. I hope he can turn things around with more playing time, but as JNeids said yesterday, his career may just be entering the Jason Giambi era. I’m all for giving James Jones some extended non-garbage-time run.
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