“If you had somehow been able to show me this game film at the start of the season I would not have believed what I saw from J.J. Hickson. He battled Tim Duncan without fear all night. He looked to make plays for himself when he got the ball. He attacked late in the game like a seasoned veteran. He made clutch free throws. He got a clutch rebound. His growth has been astounding this season.” [Brian Windhorst - PD]
“The defense gets a fair amount of credit, too. After trouble with dribble penetration in the first half — George Hill stepped in for Tony Parker and scored 23 points — the Cavs closed up the paint in the second half. They allowed just 43 points in the second half, just eight in the paint, and just 26 percent shooting in the fourth quarter.” [Brian Windhorst - PD]
“West will not deliver a title to the Cavaliers, but the Cavaliers need him if they are to deliver a title to Cleveland.” [Patrick McManamon - Fanhouse]
“Williams logged 34 minutes of play (only JJ Hickson received more time), finishing with 17 points (7-of-16 from the floor), eight rebounds and eight assists. With a small-ball lineup surrounding him for most of the night, Williams was frequently pushing the pace, leading to easy buckets, drawing the ire of Spurs coach Greg Popovich.” [Scott - WFNY]
“Nash and the fourth-ranked player on this list, Mark Price, are the only two players in history to shoot better than 50 percent on 2s, 40 percent on 3s and 90 percent from the line for their careers. And as it happens, Nash’s general manager in Phoenix, Steve Kerr, is second on the list.” [John Hollinger's list of Greatest Shooters Ever]
Boobie came in last night and hit a deep contested 3. No one else has mentioned it yet so here’s the proof. Every time he shoots a 3 I think it is going in.
“His performance as it relates to who he’s playing with and against is far and away the best in the league no matter how you measure it — box-score metrics, adjusted plus/minus or the old-fashioned way of just using your eyes.” [Ken Berger on NBA Awards]
“Antawn Jamison’s MRI today showed nothing serious. He’s day-to-day with sore left knee.” [Brian Windhorst's Twitter]
Now this is interesting:
Look at these two lineups:
1.) M.Williams-Parker-James-Hickson-O’Neal
2.) Gibson-Parker-James-Hickson-O’Neal
Lineup 1 has been outscored by 42 points in 380+ minutes.
Lineup 2 has outscored opponents by 34 points in 138+ minutes.
One thing to note is that the 2nd lineup got more of its burn when Mo Williams went down with injury which was against fairly modest competition and mostly at home. However, Boobie played well against Miami both times and played very well against Orlando. This is also a reason to point out that 82games was finally updated again over the weekend.
I just can’t stop looking at the Cavs lineups.
There are only 3 lineups that have been outplayed and 2 of them are our most used and 3rd most used lineups. The other is the most used lineup that doesn’t include LeBron.
What does this MEAN going forward?
Obviously we’ve now seen 5 games against the Lakers and Magic and we know how important having a big frontcourt that includes Shaq is to beating those teams. But the lineups with Varejao and Z are just KILLING teams.
And almost across the board it looks like having Gibson in instead of Mo has produced better +/-. West and Parker seem to be about the same.
The playoffs are going to be insane this year. Right now we are giving lots of minutes to JJ Hickson and Shaq who both seem to be hurting teh Cavs. But both guys have played EXTREMELY well in BIG GAMES!
Mike Brown SERIOUSLY has his work cut out for him come playoff time. And D-West is CRITICAL to this team winning the playoffs, but Brown is in love with Parker’s defense. (and parker is a pretty good defender).
It’s easy to see why this team has endured despite so much adversity this year, their depth is incredible, but in the playoffs it’s more about your starters….
Honest question: why do teams insist so much on having set ’starters’ and ‘bench.’ Wouldn’t it be more sensible to adjust each night to the other team? I get that egos are involved, but the small ball line up works so well, for instance, that it seems worth playing it against the majority of teams, only giving Shaq big minutes when the game requires it. And in the same vein, i’m really suspicious of this ‘energy guy’ tag that Varejao gets. It sort of makes sense till you think about it… and then i start to question its rationality.
Issac, I have the same issue. I remember at the start of the season thinking Shaq would be best suited coming off the bench and playing with Mo when LeBron sits. Obviously he always started but at least Mike Brown started using him in that second unit.
As far as Varejao goes, he does get the “energy guy” tag but he really does so much more than that. Energy guys typically play with reckless abandon, foul a lot or jack up a lot of shots. The point is, they bring a lot of energy in spurts. Varejao has a Delonte-like motor and would give 110% for 48 minutes if MB played him that long.
In addition, he has great hands, good basketball instincts, is a good passer and ballhandler for his size and might be one of the best below-the-rim finishers in the nba.
I remember a time when varejao had horrible hands and dropped a lot of lebrons bullet passes. JJ hickson started off this season the same way. Hickson will be a great player on day but I still favor a line up with varejao in it for now. Also, let’s nor give up on the line up with Mo in place of Gibson. Mo will get his stroke back and has been struggling in any offense with shaq in it. The spacing just isn’t their. Whereas, Gibson fires up threes with little dribble penetration. It’s hard to let keep Gibson benched especially when we is hitting them all season long. However, we need the old Mo Williams much more.
Excuse the horrible grammar that post was written on my phone
I haven’t been able to watch many games, living well out of the market without a TV, but have Mo’s defensive issues been related to his general effort on that side of the floor, or just on his skillset? Certainly, if Mo’s just not trying very hard, there’s no reason not to reduce his minutes, but if it’s just the fact that he can’t keep up with 40% of the other starting 1s, then letting Mo work it out in the regular season isn’t the worst.
Gibson needs at least SOME minutes, though. Come on.
The set starters and bench is all about rhythm. I know that doesn’t wash with stat heads, but there’s a certain ebb and flow to a player’s energy levels. It’s clear (to me) that Hickson and Jamison plays better as starters and Varejao as a bench guy. Andy’s energy brings guys back up, just as they’re naturally trending down from a fast start. Gibson comes out firing off the bench, so that seems fine. Even as a starter he waits awhile before looking for his shot. I’d like to see how Parker comes off the bench, we know a “happy” West is effective either way (a true 110% guy). Shaq and Z are both better as starters, and Shaq really sets the tone for keeping guys out of the paint early on. Given how the Cavs have lost games the last few years, that’s important.
It’s a personality thing to a large extent, some people need a lot of structure and defined roles, minutes, etc. Other people are read and react players. As a player, I’m a horrible starter, I always come out flat. I need to watch the game, see what the other team is doing and figure out where I can make the biggest difference. JJ is building his confidence and needs to know he’s not going to get yanked 30 seconds in. And as Tom is laying down the numbers, you notice certain people play better off of each other. It’s also possible that the AV+Z lineups look phenomenal because they’re not playing exclusively against first stringers while they are both starter quality players.
It’s also a bit of coach’s ego. Most coaches would prefer that you react to MY lineup, rather than being the one playing catchup.
great comment, action. very well stated.
I agree that personality plays into it and the numbers alone don’t account for the strength of the opposition.
Usually when I read stats that sort of back up what i’ve seen on the court, I run with them
This year I feel like the team plays better when Mo is not court and the numbers back that up to some extent. Obviously Mo’s ceiling is much higher than Boobie’s but Boobie has been very steady this year and Mo is so feast or famine all the time.
Hey Mat, if you don’t have LPBB either, you can watch the games on atdhe.net
You and your man-crushes on Boobie Gibson and JJ Hickson *shakes head*
Hey Guys,
Haven’t commented in a while. Still read this thing every day. #justsayin #favoriteblog
It’s weird as a Cleveland fan to think such things, but this team feels like “this is it”.
Maybe it’s the impending doom of this summer, but there’s never been a time in my sports fan life that has felt so do-or-die. I know, we all know the stakes. But, is it worth the mental agony to even imagine the Cavs not winning the championship? Like an ignored denial, I feel more confident in this team than I have ever felt about a Cleveland sports team – and yet that feeling is calm, somewhat anticlimatic, and unsurprising. It’s like there is no alternative to losing this year.
…because no one walks away from defending their first title. Because there are only so many chances to win. Because this feels like the culmination of so many trial-and-errors.
Because last season, even though they kept winning, I kept thinking “I felt more confident in them last year” (when they took the eventual champion Celtics to within 5 points of advancement). I felt the numbers lied last year. The stats weren’t indicative of their success and losing in the ECF was more beneficial to this season than a sweep would’ve been to the Lakers.
I just thought about what my point was for a moment.
It’s this:
I feel the confidence I had in the underdog teams of past (06/07, 07/08) in this current team (that I didn’t have last year) and all the more comforting I believe in this team like never before. I see the strength and resolve of underdogs past in this stacked team of talent now. With Lebron where he is (think 3 years ago saying, “wow that 22 year old… he’s going to be SCARY when he’s older”) it’s just not an anxiety inducing situation anymore.
It really feels like the organization, Lebron, Mike Brown, the fans… have done everything in their power to bring the championship to Cleveland.
…and if they fail? Well what’s the point? Why even go down that road?
PS: There was a Terry Pluto podcast back in October or November where he said something along the lines of “if you can’t win a championship with Lebron and Shaq, how can you? Wait, don’t answer that.”
Not hopefully we won’t have to. It’s so beyond hope at this point. It’s hedging insanity believing they go all the way this year.
#lovethisteam
ozward, I hear you. The playoffs this year are going to be a terrifying experience.
In terms of last year vs. this year, I think that being so strong last year really did us in. We swept the early rounds which gave us very little to get fired up about really. No come backs, no adversity and to top it off, sitting and getting out of sync for extended stretches. This is why there was no one but LeBron when it came time to play Orlando. While it’s true that we didn’t match up well against the Magic, I think it is also true that they overplayed their actual skill level and we underplayed our own. They looked like they couldn’t miss a shot and our normal shooters all went cold. yet despite that fact, we still came within a few points of winning the series anyways. Had Orlando been just a bit colder and/or Mo/Delonte/Z been closer to their actual season average then that series goes to Cleveland. The past is the past, just wanting to put the loss in actual perspective.
This year however, we’ve struggled, we’ve had key losses and been put into various difficult situations. No Z for a month due to the trade and then Shaq goes out with an injury right after so we have no bigs left to hold the center. Mo and Delonte getting hurt at the same time so LeBron has to run the show. You guys have seen it all just as I have. But I think this adversity makes us stronger. When we get Z back in 2 weeks, let him get into his groove. Let Mo try to shoot his way out of this slump and give him all the support you possibly can, we’ve got Antawn so now the burden to produce doesn’t have to be Mo’s alone. Delonte is beasting and JJ is chiseling some of the stone off his hands.
Look, yes I’m sure the stats show that Mo costs us points and Shaq does the same. But in the end of it all, we still have the best record in the league so while it may have hurt us in stat packing, I only care about the end result as does LeBron or else you know he’d be averaging a triple double this season if it was only about the per game stats for him. We’ll need Shaq for specific key matchups/series and he isn’t costing us wins so why not get used to playing with him and keep him happy? Until last month we didn’t know we’d get Antawn so we’ve needed to try to get Mo through whatever his issues might be. Hopefully, as his shoulder gets stronger and the pressure on him lessons he’ll find that shot that we loved from him. But in the end, any which way to a championship is fine by me.
Well said, action. It’s about rhythm and chemistry in a sport where split-second decisions and anticipating what others are going to do are the difference between a turnover and a dunk or wide open 3 (on offense AND defense). Even though there are stretches where I will wish that this guy or that guy would get more minutes, MB does a good job of handling the rotation overall, especially given the major changes that have happened over the past 2+ years. He’s also good at recognizing that the “starters” don’t have to be the “finishers” … which is why we’ll see AV, Delonte, sometimes even Moon or Jawad on the court to end a game, depending on the situation.
Stats are useful, and I like 82games a lot, but it’s important not to extrapolate too much from them. Let’s say Shaq puts up a +/- of 0 in a game against Orlando and Z gets a +5. Does that mean Z should play more against Orlando? Not necessarily. Shaq could’ve fought Howard to a draw and Z got his points on Gortat (or maybe someone like Delonte went off and brought the whole second unit’s numbers up). The problem is that we can’t test the counterfactural: what would Z have done if he’d played in Shaq’s place. Maybe Z would’ve had a -10 because Howard crushed him and Shaq had a -2 because playing with the second unit resulted in more double teams. At the end of the day, it’s the W-L record that says the most about a team, and at 50-15–with a lot of quality wins against good teams–it’s hard to complain!
I thought it was noteworthy that Mo actually ranked 16 on Hollinger’s list of the best shooters of all time.
I’ve been saying this all year. Mo and Shaq are terrible together. For whatever reason: slower pace, Boobie being better at feeding the post, etc., Boobie plays much better with Shaq.