While We’re Waiting… DA’s Trade Value, Comparing Cavs Teams, and Snuggie Records
February 24, 2010NFL Draft Rumors: Teams Look to Trade Down
February 24, 2010
The most important thing about this game is that the Cavaliers ended their three-game losing streak. They beat a New Orleans team that is over .500 and battling for a playoff spot in the tough Western Conference. Yes, they were without Chris Paul, but guard play was really not a problem in this one for the Hornets.
Let’s start though by giving some credit. I’m going to say that LeBron James did exactly what we needed him to do. He didn’t dominate the ball. In fact, he hardly touched the ball in the first quarter. LeBron’s first shot of the game came with just four minutes left in the first, and that was a break away dunk. Total shots for LeBron in the first frame: 2. Both were made and the Cavs led by 12 points after that frame. He allowed the offense, and especially Jamison to get some much needed floor time together to gel after yesterday’s practice – Jamison’s first.
The Cavs new front court was very good. Antawn Jamison got his first start and finished with 18 points while Shaq and LeBron each had 20. Throw in Varejao’s 14 and you have some nice balance. They didn’t fare as well on the boards as you’d expect, but New Orleans shot above .500 for most of the game.
The backcourt, however, was terrible. Those wondering who Marcus Thornton is have not been paying attention to the NBA this past month. The rookie is averaging over 16 points a game over the last 30 days, hitting 20+ points seven times this season. Point guard Darren Collison has been spectacular playing for Chris Paul as well. The Cavs should have been prepared for these two.
What is frightening is that once again a smaller, quicker back court has caused us to nearly implode defensively. Take a look at that second quarter. It could very well be that the Cavs had taken a breath and maybe a bit of a rest thinking they were going to walk away with the game after that first quarter. Yes, Delonte and Mo are still ‘getting their legs back’ after missing so much time, but they were not getting back on defense AT ALL in the second and New Orleans was quite happy to push the tempo and take quick, open shots.
Ironically it was back to back threes by Mo and Delonte that ultimately sealed the game. Williams finished the night 2-9 from the floor.
The Cavs can hold their own with any front court in the league, especially if they get Zydrunas back. They will always win that battle, but the guards will have to play better against quality opponents. I was hoping that with Jamison we could reverse the trend that as Mo goes, so go the Cavs. Now, I’m not so sure. In Cavalier wins Mo averages 18 points, in losses he averages 12. That is the biggest differential of any Cavalier starter, ranking higher than JJ Hickson.
Speaking of Hickson, I want to assume that the stomach problem that kept J.J. from shoot around was also the reason that he didn’t see any court time. I found it very strange that on a night Mike Brown wasn’t 100% sure who was starting at the 4 as late as yesterday, Hickson didn’t see the court and neither did Leon Powe who was active for his first contest post ACL surgery.
Brown’s decisions kind of surprised me in this one all around. I get giving the starters, or core group time to gel together, but why shorten your bench down to essentially seven players? Moon got nine minutes as well, so technically eight players saw action. On a night when Mo Williams was getting killed off the dribble and in transition IN ADDITION to not making shots, why wasn’t Gibson used at all? Mike Brown loves to throw big guards out there, why not see if Jawad Williams could stay with Thornton? I was just confused. The announcers kept talking about Brown getting his playoff rotation ready and that’s garbage. It is way too far out to worry about that. If LeBron plays 44 minutes a game from now until the playoffs that is a recipe for disaster.
The highlight for me was seeing LeBron dish to Jamison for a monster dunk on David West during a break away. How awesome must that have been for Antawn to get the opportunity to be on the finishing end of that play instead of the defensive one.
With that said, the losing streak is done and Boston awaits on Thursday. If I’m Doc Rivers, I give Nate Robinson and Rajon Rondo a chance to play some minutes together after seeing this one.
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(John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer)
31 Comments
Antawn’s dunk. Check out David West’s face.
http://i.imgur.com/AefV7.jpg
Image credit: John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer
How’s that for redemption?!
I love it when Marv Albert and other broadcasters say “Major Facial” as to imply something else lol!
I knew the Cavs would strike back, now lets do it to Boston!
I truly don’t think Brown has any rhyme or reason to his rotations. It’s almost like “Oh, forgot to use Jamario last game… ok Jamario, you’re in!” *cue butt slap*
I’m not 100% sure we need to stick to the tried and true 8 man playoff rotation come playoffs either, especially given the VAST stylistic differences each of our front court men bring to the game. They all couldn’t be more different from each other.
1) Rick, I agree that Brown could have tried some different players out there; however, he ran out a ton of guys in the last 3 games and spreading it around didn’t seem to work. I don’t blame him for leaving some guys out there and trying to let them groove and gel.
2) Delonte looked good last night. How many blocks did the little guy have? He was driving to the hoop, which is sorely needed but he still seemed hesitant and deferred a lot.
3) LBJ, 4th quarter, final minutes. I saw him grab the ball and take the point and thought, here we go 1 v 5. Pleasantly surprised, he kept the offense flowing in spite of his 3 (or 4?) 3-point attempts.
4) Is MB gonna unleash Powe against Boston? The guys has gotta be dying to get back out there.
Mo Williams is some sort of liability. Obviously this raises concerns about players like Rondo and Nelson.
This is why we match up much better against the Lakers more so than we do against ORL and Denver.
Mo and Delonte cannot be on the floor simultaneously when we play these two teams. Against ORL, Delonte will eventually guard Nelson and Mo cannot handle any of their two guards. And if Delonte guards Billups, Mo has no chance against JR Smith. He also usually picks up 2 fouls in a hurry trying to guard C-Bill.
If Mo is not hitting over the top of guards like Nelson, he loses value in a hurry. His +/- can’t be good of late.
Also, missing Z is hurting us more than I thought it would. While he really wouldn’t make much of a difference in terms of scoring (Antawn does what he did, more effectively) and while he would still be almost useless, getting eaten in pick-and-rolls (Andy needs to be used with a real PF sometimes! to stop this), Andy seems to be struggling adjusting to the role of primary rebounder. In the past, he’d only have to do that once in a while when MB, much to our liking, went small. But now, without Z eating up a body, getting tips, drawing attention, Andy isn’t as free to run around and get tips/boards over the top and from unexpected “hustle angles.” Instead, he has to hold down in the lane and box out. While he gobbles boards, he’s not a great “traditional” rebounder. That’s where we miss Z the most. Freeing up Andy.
Great article.
I said not to sleep on Collison, dude is fast.
And now, what you’ve all been waiting for… the comments about how Z will make this team better….
Cue Cleveland.com Comment:
Did you see how good those Hornets guards were? Man, maybe Danny Ferry can make the Hornets buy out Chris Paul and we can sign him for the playoff run!
@ Jack, Mo Williams is becoming a liability with his shooting.
I’ve analyzed Mo Williams and he is one of the best in the league at penetrating defenses and getting underneath the basket. However, he seldom uses his ability to get in the paint to take the easy layup, instead he drives underneath the basket only to come back out, passes the ball or shoot that rainbow shot.
If Mo simply used his ability to get to the hoop and penetrate the defense, and not shoot the rainbow as much Mo would be getting a lot more easy layups, or a few more assists.
Our backcourt problems would improve if we start using Boobie more…I don’t understand his recent DNPs
This game was a lot closer than it rightfully should have, but considering the fluke game Thorton had explains a lot. Thorton had the 3rd highest single-game point total in NBA history for a rookie coming off the bench. He and Collison singlehandedly kept the Hornets in this game.
I don’t get why we kept chucking up shots instead of continuing to pump the ball into Shaq. They didn’t have anyone who could stop him. I realize he’s probably a bit more gassed because we’re asking more out him with Z’s absence, but I think he could have gotten a few more shots inside, which would have opened up our outside game.
@TS it would be better if Albert’s said that when Jawad got a block and used his not so P.C. nickname.
@TS – Here, I actually agree with you. Mo HAS to be more aggressive. Has to be. He and Delonte have got to put it on the floor and get to the rim.
Look at what the Bobcats did to us. All they do is drive to the basket as often as possible, get to the line, and make the game ugly. We need to get tough again and stop waiting for “pretty” looks all the time.
I agree about Mo being a liability of late. He’s looked really slow and sluggish since his return. I’m sure part of that is just getting back into game shape, hopefully come playoff time he is 100%. It was nice to see Lebron get the rest of the team involved as well. Also, looking at that three from ‘bron that iced the game; does anyone else think he’s making those shots harder than they have to be? It seems like he keeps leaning back and shooting akwardly from three almost like a half fade-away….at least he made it though 🙂
Apologies to MP34 if this is the same image, but here’s the AP image…
@MattC not surprised at all by the Cleveland.com comment. If I’m feeling down and need a good laugh, I’ll just go there and look through the comments section.
The reason for Mike Browns lineups is always the same: Mike Brown is not a very good coach. I didn’t understand how you guys graded him a B, it always seems like the Cavs win in spite of Brown, never because of him. Yea he’s a great defensive coach, but he falls off fast everywhere else. Mo should be worked back into the lineup a little bit slower, it’s obvious he’s still not 100%, and to play him 32 minutes and Boobie 0 minutes is just stupid. In all those games Mo was out Boobie filled in just fine, his shooting stroke is great, how he sees no floor time is beyond me. Also I agree the Mo/Delonte line up is not the most efficient, what happened to Moon and jawad? With some of the back court issues that have been popping up it really makes me wonder if we should have pushed harder to get stephen jackson, he’s been lights out with the bobcats. I hope Mo can get his rhythem back before playoff time.
Whatever form Mo returns to eventually, we are not going to get away with small ball in the back court any more than we have in the past, our ridiculous front court size and depth notwithstanding. Brown needs to be willing to go bigger in the back court at times
I love Boobie.
That said, it really seems like backup PG on the Cavs is becoming like backup QB on the Browns.
Scott, nope. That’s a different pic. David West looks like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar in the pic I linked to.
And man, picture in the comments, that is Jedi stuff right there!
The backcourt problem will work itself out. I know we are all worried about Mo come playoff time but, by that time he will (hopefully) stop overcompensating for his shoulder and just be getting into the groove of things. Once he’s fully healed (which I think has been obvious that he’s not), he will be good to go.
I have got to say again though, start Delonte. Brown stated his reasoning for putting Delonte on the bench was for depth and energy coming off the bench. Something we have with Andy, Moon, and god help me Boobie. No reason for him to sit.
@Cavs Dude Thankfully Fisher and Nelson are some of the worst guards in the NBA. Fisher draws fouls and isn’t going to kill Mo off the dribble and Nelson doesn’t play much defense either. Rondo however will destroy Mo and that’s something he should realize and step up to.
Nate Robinson doesn’t bother me because Delonte can keep up with him and he doesn’t have a ton of floaters/off balance moves like Collison does. That backcourt is scary.
Isn’t Bassy Telfair fast?
I’m loving Excusefest 2010. Meanwhile Charlotte intergrates two brand new players who adjust immediately and kill us. Kobe takes extended time off and wins the game in his first one back.
@5 – great point about Z. I agree that we miss Z less because of what Z actually brings, and more because of what his presence allows our other players to do. Andy is definitely effected the most as he is not a true 5 and Shaq is effected because he’s now playing 8-10 more minutes a game without a true backup behind him.
I think Brown needs to keep running Mo out there. If he’s medically ok to play, this is mostly an issue of getting him back into the flow of the game and getting him back in basketball shape. If Mo’s truly hurt, he needs to sit. If not, he needs to play because we’re going to need decent output from the backcourt come April.
Love watching Jamison get more comfortable.
Which excuse fest are you talking about?
Are you really celebrating the “best team” in league struggling to beat a team that’s barely over.500?
Oh, and you guys know that when a team has to play the star player into the ground during games, that’s an indication that the team isn’t well constructed.
Those two rookie Hornets guards made the Cavaliers guards look like fools and Chris Paul didn’t even play!
Put me in the camp questioning Mike Brown’s player rotations but why should this surprise anyone his rotations have defied logic since he came here. This goes to my belief that he shouldn’t have a team comrpised of so many role players because while having options are nice I feel like this many is to many for the Coach of the Year. Going to an 8 man rotation in February, seriously? Like others said the Cavaliers dominated inside yet they continue to go away from more for Shaq and even Jamison down low. Also how is it that Varejao ends up taking shots that should belong to Antawn? Varejao’s shots should be like JJ’s from within 5 feet of the basket period forget these jump shots.
About Andy, anyone else notice how well he did defending the pick and roll last night?
Eric says nothing during after the Cavs destroy Orlando in Cleveland, then pops up after a rough patch. Expert trolling.
@26 Andy has always played solid defense it looks like the Cavaliers need him to be able to defend guards too!
@ben: The excusefest that was our 3 game losing streak.
@TheOther Tim – isn’t that the way it works for Cleveland though? We struggle to shoot, but the other team just nails every shot……or……a team that was last in the NFL one year, rebuilds and makes the playoffs the next year while the Browns never change…..or……like you said..every other trade the players come out and instantly dominate while we get one of the best PF’s in basketball, and he goes 0-12.
I think the curse is scared of Lebron…but he pokes his head in from time to time just to remind us he hasn’t gone anywhere.
that dunk by jamison was nasty as heck. nasty.