While We’re Waiting… Anderson Varejao’s Impact, Cliff Lee’s ERA and Big Ten vs. SEC
March 18, 2009NFL Free Agency: Browns Ink Veteran John St. Clair to Three-Year Deal
March 18, 2009Cavaliers 97, Orlando 93 (Box)
With 42 seconds left in the game, LeBron James dribbles to his left past the screen of Mo Williams, lifts and drains a three pointer over Magic rookie Courtney Lee. Cavs take the lead 95-93. It gave LeBron 41 points on the night. The crowd goes wild. Chants of MVP are heard on Ontario Street. Fred McLeod, over Austin Carr’s laughter, shrieks “LeBron James knocks it down cold blooded style!” as the Cavs retreat to play defense and finish the game off. Howard camps in the lane and Cleveland has the win. LeBron drops in 2 free throws to secure the victory giving him 43 points. But wait a minute. Before we go crazy talking about LeBron’s heroics, we have to talk about ‘THE Rebound’.
Let’s rewind the action a little over a minute. Rashard Lewis launches a three pointer with 1:51 left in the game, with Cleveland up 92-91. LeBron James secures the rebound (no, not THE Rebound) and brings the ball up the floor. He runs the two-man game with Mo Williams, going past the screen and into the lane where he finds a cutting Varejao, who doesn’t have a good path to the hoop and passes to Delonte West in the corner. Delonte misses the three, but it was a good shot to take.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas tries to back-tap the rebound (no, not THE Rebound) out to the top, but it is snatched out of the air by Rafer Alston. Alston races down the court with just Mo to beat and flips to Courtney Lee who just gets the ball out of LeBron’s reach. Orlando’s lead 93-92.
The next possession starts for Cleveland with Lebron James bringing the ball up the floor with 1:24 to go. LeBron and Mo again run the two man game with LeBron driving left into the lane and passing to an open Delonte West who shoots a three, this time from the other side of the court but with the same result- a miss.
While the ball is in the air, Andy Varejao wrestles Hedo Turkoglu for position. The ball hits iron and comes toward the pair. Varejao and Turkaglu have their arms tangled. Andy’s left arm (the one closest to the basketball) is pinned to his side as Hedo reaches up with his only free arm for the ball. Andy gets his right palm on the ball and in one motion scoops it to his chest and dribbles away from the contact, finding Delonte with a pass to reset the shot clock and the offense. Delonte passes to LeBron. The rest you read about already. That my friends was THE Rebound. You probably won’t see it on the highlights over at ESPN.
I don’t want to take anything away from LeBron’s game. He was MVP-like again finishing with 43 points, 12 boards, eight assists and four steals. Mo Williams was also huge adding 21 points of his own including the three pointer that put Cleveland up 92-91.
But on a night when Zydrunas wasn’t clicking offensively (just 3 for 10) and the bench not contributing anything (5 bench points?) Andy’s play was huge. His 12 points made him the only Cav not named LeBron or Mo to reach double figures. THE Rebound was one of four offensive boards for Andy on the night. He helped keep Dwight Howard in check as well, Combining with Z and Joe Smith to keep Howard to 13 points.
There were plenty of negatives. The second and third quarters for example, when Orlando flew past screens and went uncontested for lay-ups. There was the fear that Cleveland had to go inside against Dwight, and the brutal rejections they received when they tried. Wally’s knee injury could be a blow. And how about Daniel Gibson playing himself out of the rotation for a big game. I’m not saying I blame Mike Brown for not playing him, I just find myself surprised that Gibson has regressed to this point.
But in the end, and by the end I mean the fourth quarter, the Cavs picked up the intensity and made the little plays when they had to. Things like LeBron’s steal under the basket. Zydrunas tying up Dwight Howard for a jump ball. And of course THE Rebound. I think maybe Andy was reading the site before the game. What do you think?
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(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
25 Comments
When Lebron told the crowd to get loud during his second free throw it gave me goose bumps. I wish I had been there last night.
Just to be fair, though. If you were a Magic fan and you got a three seconds call against you at the end of the 4th quarter, would you be complaining today?
Part of me is really concerned about the lack of bench production here, but the rest of me thinks that it may have been a match-up issue. Orlando doesn’t do much with their bench (Pietrus had 11, aside from that, not much). Our bench only took seven shots, and none of them played more than 19 minutes.
This was definitely a starters game.
“If you were a Magic fan and you got a three seconds call against you at the end of the 4th quarter, would you be complaining today?”
Someone in my office said that you don’t make that call with a minute left in the fourth quarter. My response to him was “then don’t cheat with a minute left in the fourth quarter.”
It’s not Mike Brown’s/Cleveland’s fault that their big man is one-demensional; albeit extremely good at that demension. Apparently, Van Gundy blamed Hedo for that call – he was supposed to shoot the first time he touched the ball, but extended the play too long without Howard knowing.
Too bad.
They just highlighted Andy’s rebound in the Sportscenter highlight package, BTW.
SVG knows the first rule of coaching: Always blame the Turk.
Also, Cavs win!
i don’t think i would complained too much about that 3-sec call. they def could have let it go, but it was the right call.
i have more of a problem with the block/charge calls late in games than i do with 3 seconds.
big win for the cavs though, although, we gotta start playing better defense.
I heard Howard was in the paint for about 6 sec, so it’s not like it was a ticky-tack call.
The 3 second call was definitely not Howard’s fault. Orlando passed up about 3 shots to keep moving the ball. If I thought they were going to shoot, I’m sure Howard did too, and had to get in position to get that board.
I’m suprised they made that call though. In my 23 years of life, I’ve probably seen that call 10 times in the NBA; and 2 came last week on Shaq.
It would be nice if the league were consistent on these types of calls, then there wouldn’t be any animosity when it’s called in a crucial time such as last night.
Great win.
@ Scott – I’m actually very concerned about the lack of bench production and the amount of minutes the starters are logging. When was the last time LeBron got to sit out any time in the 4th quarter? I think part of the lack of bench production results from Andy in the starting lineup, but to get only 5 points from Smith, Wally and Sasha is disconcerting to me.
It sounds like Wally has a minor sprained knee which could keep him out for a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see who claims those minutes – Gibson or Kinsey.
I think Boobie is just getting a break to get his mind right (and maybe give that toe some time off). I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back in the rotation come playoff time.
Nice play-by-play narrative, Rick.
It’s unfortunate how game highlights often knock out crucial elements of plays and focus on “the shot” or “the dunk” or whatever punctuation mark came at the end of a complex sentence.
I left to go get another beer when Mo stepped to the line late in the game figuring it was money in the bank. Never thought I’d see the day when Mo would miss 2 from the stripe.
I was there last night, all I can say is WOW. There were enough wow moments and clutch plays to hurt your jaw. The atmosphere was playoff like, louder than anytime this season.
Go Cavs!
Nobody mentioned the LALs lost. Cavs have the best record all by themselves. Hope they can hang on to it.
As for the 3 second call, when you’re in the lane long enough to forward your mail there, then it’s the right call whether it’s 10 seconds into the game or with 10 seconds left.
How many newborns were sacrificed to allow the Van Gundy brothers to be part of the NBA?
You guys can talk about bench production all you want. But as long as D-West keeps going 0 for from 3 every game, the Cavs will never win a championship, let alone play for one.
He has GOT to start sticking jumpers again. That is when our offense really clicked. That’s what really spreads the floor and gives Z some room to awkwardly twist into the lane with those lopsided lob shots.
Every night I am checking the box score just to see if I missed something. But every night–0 for __.
Please, Delonte…hit a shot.
mark i totally agree. but hes a gamer, he will be ready. i think he is still shaken up a bit from the injuries and is trying to find his role in the offense again. as great as it is to have 3 guys on the floor at the same time who can run the point (mo, delonte, lebron) it requires great chemistry. they have a few weeks to get it up and going. Delonte should be fine
Van Gundy is a baby, he has been crying the past few weeks about the refs.
secondly props to Mike Brown or whoever on the coaching staff that drew up that play with 3 seconds left in the third quater. that was awesome
What a huge win, but Mo’s on-ball defense in the second and third quarters was atrocious. As key as his offense has been for us this year, it’s easy to forget that this is his first year in the league where someone has demanded that he work at both ends of the floor. And he sure didn’t play many important, tense games with the Bucks the last few years. He can be an average defender when he tries, but he’s gotta try.
Re Gibson, the coach had to bench him after his tentativeness on the west coast trip. He’s not shooting well, handling the ball well, defending well or going after loose balls. Whether its physical, mental or both, it’s that time of year to man up. Time for the Kinsey Report?
Corey-
Good post, I agree with you on both points. I turned to the guy behind me last night and said exactly what an awesome designed play that was-totally caught Orlando and Van G. off guard.
More truth to what Shaq had to say about Stan Van G. than most people realize.
I was going to comment about when Shaq was called for offensive 3 second violations _twice_ in one minute in a recent game…but it became a little different when I saw that the calls happened while the Suns were playing the Cavs. Guess the Cavs just pick these calls up against their opponents?
http://espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=290312021&period=4
Harv:
True, Mo’s defense in the middle quarters was pretty bad, but in the fourth he had a couple of ridiculous defensive possessions where he was practically inside Alston’s jersey.
That’s kind of my point. Alston is good, not great, but until the 4th when Mo gave defensive effort Alston’s first step looked like a young Kevin Johnson and his shot looked like AI. Mo simply cannot slack on defense for 2 quarters once the playoffs start.
Have fun with these LeBron numbers. Just found them using my historical spreadsheet and the NBA Hot Spots feature..
Coming into this season: 1.022 points per field goal attempt
33.0% three-point shooter (20% of his shots)
57.9% shooter in the paint (55.3% of his shots)
35.2% shooter away from the paint (44.7% of his shots)
First 48 games this season: 1.046 points per field goal attempt
29.7% three-point shooter (22.8% of his shots)
61.5% shooter in the paint (51.8% of his shots)
35.7% shooter away from the paint (48.2% of his shots)
Last 19 games this season: 1.088 points per field goal attempt
41.1% three-point shooter (29.9% of his shots)
59.4% shooter in the paint (41.3% of his shots)
40.5% shooter in the paint (58.7% of his shots)
Maybe the cavs contest shots that are normally open, thus someone moving into the lane for a rebound gets stuck with a 3sec when the shot doesn’t go up.
I feel like it happens at least once a game to Cavs opponents.
Interesting take from TrueHoop on the call:
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-337/That-Was-a-Rare-Three-Second-Call.html
First time a 3 seconds has been called in the last minute of a close game since the guy’s database was put up in 2002. Neat.