Overview: In one of the most offense-heavy Cavs games in recent memory, the Cavaliers were able to pull out a 126-118 win over the Raptors in overtime. LeBron James led the way with 36 points on only 17 shots. The Cavaliers made three straight three-pointers at the beginning of overtime to break the game open.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
-The defense. It was not good. Some of the reasons for this are understandable. The Raptors are a very good offensive team. The Cavs did not have Shaq or Z to protect the middle. Jamison is still learning the system, and had to play nearly the entire game.
Then there was Mo Williams’ defense, which has become an issue. Jarrett Jack should not be getting 24 points on 14 shots. What makes it worse is that only six of Jack’s points came from outside the paint. He was abusing Mo. I don’t know if it’s the shoulder injury or if Mo has just always been a bad defender, but this cannot continue.
Mike Brown is a more patient man than I am. He stuck with Shaq in the starting lineup and Shaq turned it around. (He really couldn’t have benched Shaq, but still.) He stuck with JJ and JJ turned it around. Now he’s sticking with Mo and hoping he figures it out. I assume his DNP-CDing Boobie to get Mo’s confidence up, but it’s hurting the defense right now.
-Gotta love LeBron in attack mode all night long. When he made a move, he was looking to take the ball to the basket. LeBron was only 2-8 from outside of the paint. He was 8-9 from inside the key, and 15-16 from the line. That’s being aggressive. Throw in nine assists against only one turnover, and I’d say LeBron had a pretty good day at the office.
-The Cavs gave up 29 or more points in three of the four quarters in regulation. Sometimes, it was Reggie Evans working the Cavs down low. Other times, it was Hedo Turkoglu doing his thing. After that, the Raptors would start hitting tough outside jumpers. And then Jarret Jack would work Mo Williams. And so on and so forth until the Raptors scored 111 points in regulation. Not what Mike Brown wants to see on the defensive end.
-Let’s talk about the stretch run. With just under two minutes to go, LeBron went for an off-balance dagger three with the Cavs up one. It missed badly. After that, LeBron stopped settling. He drew a foul on the next possession and knocked down the free throws. On the next Raptors possession, Hedo got Mo on a switch and drained a clutch three over him.
LeBron tried to force a drive the next time down, missed, and Hedo put the Raptors up two with a nice tip slam on the resulting break. LeBron got the ball out of the inbounds play and immediately put in a layup. Jack drew a borderline blocking foul on Mo the next time down, and the Cavs were down two with 17 seconds to play.
At this point, the Cavs were tired. Varejao had fouled out. The Cavs were thin up front. It was a back-to-back. Some people were expecting LeBron to let the clock run down, go for the hero three, take the 35% chance of a win and get some rest if it didn’t fall.
As it turned out, LeBron took all of four seconds to tie the game with a layup. Parker played some nice defense on Hedo and forced him into an off-balance three. Parker missed the game-winner, and after that it was time to play free basketball.
In overtime, the three pointer saved the day. LeBron won the tip, the ball got to Mo in his favorite spot, and he casually drained it. Next time down, LeBron found Mo in the corner for another three. After that, LeBron found AP for yet another three. On the next possession, AP played hero himself, up-faking his man and hitting a 17-foot banker to put the Cavs up 9 with about a minute and a half left. Game over. Three-pointers and LeBron James are the great equalizers.
-Leon Powe looked solid in there tonight, even if he was getting out-Powed at times by Reggie Evans. He’s built like a tank, he fights for everything, and he can finish inside. I like him. Could put together an Ultimate Jawad-type campaign if Shaq misses real time.
-Oh, Mo Williams, how conflicted I am about you. Sometimes you kill the defense. Nobody outside of LeBron can change the game offensively like you can. But late in the game, it was Mo nailing the big threes and saving the game. Hopefully Mo improves his defense, because his offense is crucial. I wish this were football.
-Hickson on the floor without LeBron: bad idea. JJ got worked on defense, and has no idea what to do on offense when he’s asked to create. JJ had a team-low -9, but that was more about the team using JJ in the wrong spot than JJ having an off night.
-When Jamison’s on his game and cutting, he looks like Varejao with skills on the offensive end. That’s an awesome proposition. I continue to remain skeptical of his jumper, but he got five points on five jumpers tonight, which is passable.
-42 minutes for Parker and 0 for Boobie? Really? I don’t mind AP, but I’m not sure what Boobie’s done wrong.
-Alright, that’s about all I have for tonight. See you guys tomorrow.
I know Im mister negative… loved to watch the win, even with this many points but I gotta agree with one thing;
“42 minutes for Parker and 0 for Boobie? Really? I don’t mind AP, but I’m not sure what Boobie’s done wrong.”
Same here, Especially with Mo’s defense. Boobie too can hit a three.
Show me your Boobie, Mike Brown.
What Boobie is doing wrong is being to short. Bring him in to guard who?? Hedo??No..he couldn’t do that so that means we have to use LeBron on Hedo, making our star work harder. It really is that simple, Parker and Moon have size, and Boobie doesn’t. (I mention Hedo because the comment was that Boobie should be getting run in place of parker).
I’m sorry Krolik but you needed to spend more time on that Hickson 2nd quarter disaster. I mean, we get on Mo for poor defense, but excuse Hickson for being used wrong? Idc about the offense, I know he needs LeBron, but he got WORKED by Reggie Evans on the other end. It was mayb the single worst stretch of defense by one defender that I’ve ever seen by someone not on the Warriors.
Raptors were 21-8 at home with wins over the likes of the Lakers and Mavs. This was a good win.
Any win on the road is good in the NBA.
I think Boobie needs to get some burn. He is a more capable defender than Mo and his shooting has been lights out this year.
I loved seeing LeBron win that tip. If the season ended today he’s have the all-time best PER.
Amazing.
The Cavs defense was terrible, but part of that was due to the lack of a true center (when the Cavs have no answer for Reggie frakking Evans what more can I say?) … and the fact that Toronto is simply not a good matchup for them. With Bosh, Toronto is very dangerous … kind of an Orlando-lite with their dominant big man and sweet-shooting bigs. Hell, by getting Turkoglu and Orlando trading for Vince, Toronto’s arguably now out-Magicked the Magic.
After his inauspicious 0-12 start with the Cavs, Jamison has averaged 17 & 7 on 55% shooting the last 4 games. I liked the trade when it happened, but seeing Jamison now I really like it. He’s not going to continue to shoot above 50%, but is skill set is perfect for this team as he can create his own shot, but more importantly he moves well without the ball and with that quick release the ball can move from LeBron to Antawn to the bottom of the net before the defense can react. Defensively, I think he’ll be fine once he learns the system … he’s certainly got a much higher basketball IQ than JJ, at the least.
Charlie,
I agree that the Raptors look like Orlando-lite. Sometimes I don’t understand why the Cavs defensive system will send help to double ANY player with the ball! This is how Orlando destroyed us–there is always some knucklehead with a bad ass three-stroke waiting open on the perimeter. I’m so sick of Mike Brown refusing to adjust his system for teams like Orlando or Toronto. It doesn’t work against them!
At this point in the year, I’m convinced Parker has some compromising photos of Mike Brown with mid-sized farm animals.
I’ve noticed that Parker seems be the 2nd option at the end of quarters, the half, or the game when there is good ball denial on LeBron. I know these are difficult shots, but he has come up empty every single time. Just an observation.
I know that people are clamoring for Boobie to get minutes around here, but I feel Moon deserves some more time on the court as well. He got 4 minutes last night to Parker’s 42. He’s longer than Parker and quicker and without a doubt more athetic (we’ve all seen him sky for the alleyoop and go up and grab a rebound in traffic). I’m not sure what Mike Brown sees in Parker that most fans don’t see, but I’ve always felt that Moon is the one player other than Lebron who provides an athletic edge for the Cavs over pretty much every other team. I would love to see a lineup of Mo (or boobie) at the 1 Delonte at the 2, Moon at the 3, Lebron at 4 and either Verajao or Jamison at 5. That lineup can rebound and is more athletic than any other team can throw on the court.
I’m not sure if Brown gets caught up in the game and forgets that Moon is sitting on the bench or what, but I would really like to see him get 15 to 20 minutes a game with Shaq hurt to at least see what we have with him. Why would you sign a guy for about 3 million a year and then play him 4 minutes a game? It’s just confusing.
Excellent point, Shawn. I would also like to see moon getting a couple more minutes (in addition to a few for Boobie). I’m not say either needs a ton of minutes, but if you’re going to play Parker for 42, I’d like to see a few of those minutes distributed elsewhere.
Ditto the sentiments about Moon. When the Cavs got the ball back with one in regulation, why did we throw it in to Voldimort to brick a contested 3? We could have had Moon set a few back picks and then cut to the hoop for a game winning lob. Giving the ball to LeBron in that situation would have been predictable but sensible. Giving it to AP was semi-predictable and nonsensical. Tossing a lob to Moon would have been completely unpredictable and possibly would have won the game without overtime.
Also, I want to see some more Boobie.
I’m similarly confused about the lack of minutes for Moon and Gibson. One question I have: do NBA coaches just have some sense that they should not be giving significant minutes to more than 8 (or at most 9) players? Is it something about getting players into the rhythm of the game? This is my only theory to make sense of the substitutions, although there is one other point to note: for all of AP’s frustrating misses, his +/- tends to be quite good. It was +15 last night.
Henry Abbott linked to Mo’s 82games page in today’s bullets.
Here are some stats for comparisons sake:
Boobie: Net +2.3 points/48 minutes (not great)
Mo : Net -9.4 points/48 minutes (yikes!)
At PG
Boobie: PER: 13.0, Opponent PER: 13.1, Net -0.1
Mo : PER: 17.9, Opponent PER: 18.0, Net -0.1
Clutch Stats:(per 48 min)
Boobie: .667 eFG%, 10.8pp48, asst’d 77%
Mo : .357 eFG%, 16.8pp48, asst’d 38%
What I gather from this:
No one is calling for Boobie to start or play 35 minutes a game, but these stats should show that he can be a great situational player. His defense looks better to all of us watching and the opponent PER numbers show a huge difference between opponent PG production when he is on the court vs Mo.
Also, in late game situations, we’ve talked a lot about Parker being the 2nd option, and I’ve documented Mo’s struggles in the clutch (although he’s hit some big 3s the last 2 games). All that aside, is there a player in the ENTIRE NBA you would rather have spotted up in the corner for 3 when you must have it?
Obviously, in clutch situations almost all of Boobie’s points are going to be assisted, whereas Mo can create his own shot if need be. That definitely separates the two players (by a lot) but in end game situations, LeBron usually is the creator anyway.
My biggest problem with Boobie’s DNPs are that he’s going to play in big moments in the playoffs. Mike Brown did this same thing with Damon Jones. ( and DJ wasn’t leading the NBA in 3 point % and he was a worse defender than Mo is now) There is absolutely no way that in a grind it out playoff series there aren’t going to be situations where you just really need to spread the floor and hit some big shots and Boobie’s going to play. So why is he not even a little part of the rotation now?
Also, why does it have to be feast or famine with all these guys? I understand that in the playoffs a rotation is usually 7-9 players but why does Boobie either start games, play 30+ minutes and score in double digits, or else DNP? I mean, toss him in there for two 5 minute increments or something. If he starts hitting 3s, ride him, if he’s not really contributing, you just gave either Mo, Delonte, or Parker a 5 minute breather.
It would make sense to me if Boobie were a traffic cone on D or if he wasn’t hitting shots but he’s hitting shots and he’s hit some pretty CLUTCH shots this year already in limited time.
Basically, I haven’t criticized Mike Brown all year because I think he’s done a good job and all the talks of our offensive demise now that Kuester left ring hollow as ever. That being said, there is a large enough sample size to know that
1.) In general, Shaq and Mo hurt this team on defense
2.) Our starting lineup (which includes Mo, Shaq, and Hickson) gets outscored by opponents
3.) We rely so much on our bench already to provide a huge boost.
4.) What is the obsession with shortening the rotation when your bench + LeBron is often playing better than your starters + LeBron?
5.) Last year the only Cavs to exceed their reg season PERs in the playoffs were LeBron, Joe Smith, and Wally Szczerbiak. My theory is that the Cavs didn’t have a 2nd gear to go to because they were so spent by the grueling regular season. Even in those first 8 playoff games, it was really a TON of LeBron and a sprinkling of Joe Smith. Well, JS definitely had the most REST during the regular season. One of the biggest positives for the Cavs heading into the playoffs this year is the fact that other than LeBron, no one has played heavy minutes, either due to injury, Z’s buyout, or just depth. So why not continue to milk that for all it’s worth and share the minutes to keep everyone fresh? It just seems that in this situation with THIS team, it makes sense, even if the conventional NBA wisdom is to get comfy with 7 guys.
“Also, why does it have to be feast or famine with all these guys? I understand that in the playoffs a rotation is usually 7-9 players but why does Boobie either start games, play 30+ minutes and score in double digits, or else DNP? I mean, toss him in there for two 5 minute increments or something. If he starts hitting 3s, ride him, if he’s not really contributing, you just gave either Mo, Delonte, or Parker a 5 minute breather.”
+1
From yesterday’s Chat Wrap.
“Bill, with a gun to your head right now…who’s the 2009-2010 NBA Champ?”
Bill Simmons: “The Cavs. That team has an answer for everything – they can go fast, slow, big, small, doesn’t matter. The only guy who can stop them is Mike Brown. And don’t put it past him.”
MB is killing me every game with the substitutions. First of all, if you want to trim the rotation, dump Jawad Williams who has been worthless for the 3-4 minutes he’s playing in the first half every night. Give these minutes to Moon, who’s a roleplayer with upside. He’s long, he rebounds, he blocks shots, he runs the floor, and he defends well. He seems like a player made for Mike Brown ‘s defense. Yet Jawad’s inexplicable and uneventful entrance every first half for the past three games, continues to infuriate.
AP’s minutes are baffling. He’s a bench player who plays big minutes. Cut his minutes and give them to Delonte/Moon. AP shouldn’t be playing more than 28 minutes a night. He’s just not good enough. Mo’s minutes should be cut to about 30, and Boobie should be getting 14, and Delonte 4. Maybe it’ll motivate him on defense. LeBron should be spending more time at the 4 now that we only have Andy at center. He should play about 38 minutes a night, with Moon getting most of the burn.
And dare I say it? Shouldn’t we be seeing some more LeBron at point guard? What about LeBron, AP, Moon, Jamison, and Andy? We could literally switch every pick and roll. They did that last night for a second when Jamison was at the 3, and it totally stymied the Raptors. This should be the crunch time defensive lineup. How is it that AP is ALWAYS on the other team’s best player at the end of games. Moon was obviously affecting Turkoglu last night. Turk couldn’t get around moon, and he couldn’t shoot over him. Kevin’s right about MB and the doubling. This lineup would help with that.
The longer the season goes on, the more I’m convinced that Mike Brown just lacks the foresight and creativity to be a head coach for a great team. He coaches better with fewer options, and not more. He is a “player’s” coach, because he sticks with guys with big contracts longer than he should. I disagree with Tom though, that Shaq hurts the defense. If you look at how their interior defense has improved with Shaq, I don’t think that argument holds up. Also, he intimidates other players from coming into the lane (no way the Raps get as many layups last night with Shaq in).
Finally, the 7 guys thing is complete hogwash. If you can go 9 deep and bring energy at every position, go 9 deep. They have to be lineups where guys are used to playing together though. So get them in now.
Oh, and why does MB wait to the VERY last possession of a game to switch offense/defense. Why couldn’t we pull out Mo and put on moon on defense before the last play? I was amazed he did it, but he should’ve been doing it for the last 3 possessions. I at least give him credit for having someone other than LeBron take the last shot (though why it had to be a 3 is beyond me). I’d love to have seen Jamison setting a back screen for a LeBron Lob, and then hit Jamison if they go with LeBron.
“Hedo, what was the difference between the Cavs and the Raptors in this game? ”
“Ball.”
“He’s not going to continue to shoot above 50%…”
I disagree. I think there’s a strong possibility he could finish the season shooting above 50%. He’s gotten so many easy shots since he was traded here because of LeBron. I don’t see why that won’t continue.
Here is a simple question I have for everyone. Let’s say MB expands the rotation and gives more minutes to Gibson and Moon. Would you all be ok with a few more losses because of extra guys playing? It does disrupt the rhythm of a team. Personally, I’m ok with 58 wins as opposed to 68 wins, but I know other people would be up in arms. Imo, it’s a no win situation for MB. He expands the rotation, the team takes a while to adjust and he gets killed for it. He doesn’t, and he gets killed for it. I say take the extra losses in the regular season, take the lumps from the fans and critics in the regular season, but have Gibson and Moon ready to play in the playoffs instead of throwing them in cold.
After being bitchified by the Cavs on Thursday, Boston just lost at home to the Nets. Wow.
I’ll give this to AP. I’ve almost never seen him in the wrong SPOT in Mike Brown’s defense. When he gets beat, it’s because athletically he can’t hang. But he makes pretty much every rotation. Super Jamario, not so much. Also, notice how many times a game, AP gets a hand on a pass because he’s in good defensive position. He just plays the right way and Mike Brown trusts that. And I guarantee he’s going to be trusting that in the playoffs.
Mike Brown has always liked tall guards. And he feels Mo gives him more than Boobie in the one spot he’s willing to go small. This is a correct assumption. He’d really like to just play Delonte there if he could. But Mo offers more than Delonte on O and with his handle as well (though I love Delonte’s post game). Mo HAS hit a ton of big shots (as has Boobie), just not as many this year. All anyone remembers is his playoff run where he was in a slump. And his start of this year, when he was in a slump. But during the regular season his 4th quarter shooting was a big reason we got to 66 wins.
We’ve seen his D be better, and it will continue to get better. How many times and how hard would you want to run into a 250 pound NBA player with the shoulder you just dislocated 5 weeks ago?
Once again, even us Cavs fan are blaming Mike Brown for doing what’s best for the team. What’s more likely, Mo finding his D stride by being out there, or Boobie forgetting how to hit clutch shots while he sits? Basketball like life isn’t fair and Boobie should be getting some run, but right now, I think Mike Brown wants to make sure the D gets back where he wants with the PLAYERS (re: MO/Parker) who are going to be playing big minutes in the playoffs.
The D isn’t good right now. But Mo getting confidence in his shoulder and working Jamison in are more important than making the D look good now.
Good tough win tonight, so we’ll end as always with…
VIVA LA CAVS!!!
Great post Tom Pestak. Mo’s defense is just plain bad and the Toronto announcers pointed out that he was the weak link in crunch time versus Jack. This is had been standard routine. Boobie should be getting solid minutes at point guard.
I think another important comparison is Boobie to AP. Boobie doesn’t make easy shots for anybody and is really a 2 guard. I’m sure the reason why AP gets so much playing time is because he is a smart defensive player. Coaches love that. Plus he can hit open threes and handle the ball. But so can Boobie. He does all of these things. JK is absolutely right in pointing out the 42 minutes for AP for vs. 0 for Boobie. It just doesn’t make sense. I know Mike Brown is having a rich man’s problem distributing minutes with this deep of a team, but 0 minutes for Gibson doesn’t make sense after the way he played when Mo and Delonte went down.
I am less concerned about Moon not getting minutes, but he does bring defense, rebounding, and scoring in transition. If he would just stop shooting those ugly fade-aways I would feel more strongly.
parker is the 3rd cockiest player on the team, and i think that serves the cavs very well.