GM for a day: Enjoying the NFL Draft without heartache or heartburn
April 30, 2015Joe Gilbert’s Fearless 2015 NFL Mock Draft
April 30, 2015With the news that Kevin Love’s surgery will keep him out of the rest of the postseason, and the knowledge of J.R. Smith’s two-game suspension for going Street Fighter II on Jae Crowder, the Cleveland Cavaliers suddenly have lost 29.1 points out of their starting lineup for the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
What will the Cavaliers offense look like without Love and Smith? Well, we got our first preview of it for most of the second half of Game 4 in the series close-out against Boston. The worst kept secret is that it will involve even more from LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Additionally, you can count on more isolation plays from both. But, is that the best way to go about attacking either the Bulls or Bucks defense? Here are a few plays extracted from that Game 4 ugliness, dominated by missed shots and ugly basketball, that give a preview into how the Cavaliers must adjust to keep playing past the next round.
We start with LeBron James out top with under ten on the shot clock. He’s covered by Jonas Jerebko, but the entire defense is focused on him. Isaiah Thomas is in helpside position, sagging down from Matthew Dellavedova on the left wing. Kelly Olynyk has slid over into the paint as backup, while Marcus Smart is accounting for Tristan Thompson underneath.
James drives left into the middle of the paint, and Jerebko stays in front of him. But, Smart is the one that ensures the play’s success. By allowing Thompson to seal him, it leaves Iman Shumpert wide open in the left corner. James delivers the corner pass, and Shumpert knocks it down. Shumpert was fantastic both offensively and defensively in Game 4, and the Cavaliers are going to need that effort consistently going forward. James drew so much attention on the play that Delly had the shot on the wing as well.
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On this play, the Cavaliers overload one side of the court with James on the opposite side. As Kyrie passes to James on the right wing, he cuts to the left side overload with James Jones, Shumpert, and Thompson. James has Jerebko guarding him one more time.
Sullinger and Smart both provide help when James drives left toward the middle again. Once again, Thompson is closely involved with the success of this play. He sets up in the short corner, inching in as Sullinger draws toward James. Rookie Phil Pressey gets caught napping as James Jones is able to slide from the wing to the corner. Thompson turns around when he catches the pass from James and delivers it to Jones. Unfortunately, Jones fails to knock the shot down, and he was 0-for-6 in this game.
If there is one thing to stress without Love and Smith is that there will still be open three-point shots to be had. Somebody just has to knock down enough of them. With a cast of several that includes Jones, Mike Miller, Dellavedova, Shumpert, and maybe even Joe Harris, Coach Blatt is going to have to ride the hot hand and call for the next option when someone puts up a 0-for-6 type day.
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Here’s one the Cavs need to see a lot more of: Kyrie Irving moving without the ball. In this setup, LeBron is on the left side of the floor with the right overloaded. Irving takes off from the foul line in a loop. Shumpert comes over as the decoy to screen for LeBron in a pick and roll.
Both Thompson and Jones set staggered picks on Avery Bradley for Irving as he curls around them to the right wing. Marcus Smart could cut off Irving, but he instead chooses to sag in case James drives. LeBron instead passes to Irving, who does his best Rip Hamilton impersonation and knocks down the three. I think this is the untapped potential, the gear the Cavs have been holding back if there is one. Both Kyrie and LeBron need to be in motion when they don’t have the ball, and doing so is going to lessen the stale isolation opportunities and keep the defense more off balance.
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When the Cavaliers do have to go isolation, the looks are often higher percentage when they come earlier in the shot clock. On this possession, Kyrie and LeBron interchange as the ball goes to James on the left wing.
James attacks with 12 on the shot clock against Jerebko. Sullinger is outside the paint on the right side out of fear of a defensive three second call. Because of that, he cannot help in time, and James uses the angle to go left and finish at the rim over Jerebko. These are the opportunities that James will seldom see, but they’re also the ones on which he must capitalize. LeBron is at his best with space between him and the basket with a defender lacking backline help and backpedaling.
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Finally, we see Kyrie do the exact same thing as LeBron, attacking early in the shot clock with the defense forced to backpedal. Irving has Avery Bradley checking him, but the other three Cavaliers retreat to the right corner, LeBron is at the top of the key, and Irving attacks.
Kyrie is confident enough in his shot to not have to take it all the way to the basket. His mid-range floater goes in.
So, what have we learned? We’ve learned that the Cavaliers are going to have isolation opportunities, but they’re going to have the best ones often early in the shot clock. We’ve seen that the Cavaliers are still going to have plenty of three-point chances, and new guys are going to have to rise to occasion and sink those shots. And finally, we’ve learned that the Cavaliers are going to have to shoot better than they did in Game 4 on Sunday to keep playing past the next two weeks.
Until next time, the film room is closed!
3 Comments
Thanks Kirk. TT does more than I give him credit for to help the team win.
I found that to be terribly interesting as well. When you watch the game live, you figure LeBron is just going one-on-one and sort of lucking into finding an open man for the 3-point shot. When you really dig into the play, you see that Thompson is waiting for LeBron to get to the top of the key, at which point he’s basically sealing two defenders to allow for the open 3-point shot.
If The King can pull this off off it will be epic. Go Cavs.