While We’re Waiting… Revisiting Braylon, Howard Leaving Orlando and More on Shurmur
January 20, 2011NCAA Basketball: Buckeyes Play Down to Iowa, Crush Them Anyway
January 20, 2011Seeking to ramp up the defensive pressure, Byron Scott’s Cavaliers caught a glimpse of what hard-nosed defense can do for a team, regardless of talent level or injuries.
After allowing the Suns to run a verifiable lay-up line in the first half, converting on 52.2 percent of their shots, the young and hobbled Wine and Gold managed to trim a 17-point deficit down to three with just three minutes to go in the game. Though the final outcome was a 106-98 loss, the Cavaliers managed to trim such a sizable point differential via defense, holding the Suns to just 41.1 percent shooting and forcing 10 turnovers.
“I thought in the first half our guys still looked a little confused on some of the things we wanted to change and some of the things we wanted to do but in the second half, after coming in at halftime and seeing (what we were doing on film), I thought they did a much better job,” said Byron Scott postgame. “Again, that’s the part we have to build on and that is exactly what I told them; not taking a couple of steps back or a step back, we have to take a couple of steps forward come Friday night.”
Cleveland has heard an awful lot about moral victories and babysteps over the last few months, but the most recent five-game road trip that saw the Cavaliers lose games by wide margins and players to injury required one giant push of the “reset” button. This week, given three days in between games, Scott was able to implement a broader use of the “show” defense that was used very often over the course of Mike Brown’s tenure as head coach.
Scott wanted to use something that a lot of the players were familiar with, but also the defense that the players seemed to execute the best. It allows for accountability and positioning, and while the game was another one for the loss column, Scott says that the improvements were undoubtedly a part of what the team has been working on during the 48 hours prior to Wednesday night’s tip-off.
Though much will be focused on the comeback stalling out on the offensive end, everything that had been killing the Cavs since the calendar hit 2011 seemingly improved. The Suns were held to 6-19 (31.6 percent) from three-point range, signifying the fewest threes allowed in a game since New Years Day when a conserted defensive effort held the Chicago Bulls to just 5-17 from long range. On the season, the Cavs allow more than nine three-pointers made (on 43 percent shooting) per game; both statistics were lowered – albeit marginally – on Wednesday night.
For the second consecutive game, the Cavs finished with 10 or more steals, as they tallied 11 steals on Wednesday night, thanks to strong positioning and being in the right place in a half-court set. For good measure, the team also had a season-high tying nine blocks, five of which came from the unlikely combination of Daniel Gibson and Jamario Moon.
“We had guys where we wanted to be, said Scott. “Guys were doing a real good job on the weak side of recognizing what guys were doing. When they were rolling, our guys were getting in and “tagging” as we call it.
“[We did] a lot of good things [but], like I told the guys it is like coming in second place. It really does not matter but it was something we thought we did a much better job of in the second half and we have got to just continue to learn from it.”
Scott stressed once again that, at the half way point in the season, the team will focus almost solely on improving defensively. Their next challenge arrives Friday in the form of the 15-24 Milwaukee Bucks.
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(AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
5 Comments
The defense in the second half was definitely much improved, and I give Byron Scott a lot of credit for this. A lot of coaches are unwilling to change their overall offensive or defensive plans at all, no matter personnel they have. For Scott to not only change the defense, but to use a defense similar to that implemented by the previous coach shows a flexibility and willingness to do whatever is best for the Cavs as a whole.
Now the goal has to be “learning how to win” as the game got close Ramon Sessions began forcing up shots in traffic and JJ Hickson began shooting some midrange jumpers. Crunch time is when players like Sessions and Hickson need to be going to their strengths the most, not going away from them.
It’s a good thing we beat the Knicks back in December or we would have just broken the record for longest NBA losing streak … set by us. Sigh.
I understand that after a “high” period, there has to be a “low” period in the NBA, but why does it have to be THIS low?
Go Cavs.
Actually, I’m going to file that in the “It could be worse” file.
Silver linings.
Or maybe the 2H defense was just noise?
Its an abomination that an 8 point loss is with all seriousness actual improvement.