Overview:
In what became a much-needed win on their home court, the Cavs comfortably handled the Spurs by 20 points, both helping them maintain their hold on home-court advantage and showing the importance of the home-court advantage itself.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
We came out meaning business, and instead of being passive early, LeBron recognized that this was one where we needed to establish our presence with authority straight out of the gate, and ripped off 18 points in the first with his confidence level flying up through the roof, firing in mid-range bankers, fadeaways, post-ups, and everything else they didn’t think he was going to hit them with.
From there, the crowd at the Q was able to propel what we had going through the rest of the game; after LeBron left the game in the 2nd, Mo and Delonte got together and propelled a 12-2 run with LeBron on the bench that put us in the driver’s seat. That run doesn’t happen outside of the Q, I don’t think.
Good news and Bad News file: Mo, Delonte, and LeBron outscored the Spurs by themselves, scoring 82 points on 55 attempts. (TS%=74.5%)
That does mean that the rest of the team scored 19 points on 27 attempts. (TS%=35%)
While we do pay LeBron and Mo a lot of money to do stuff exactly like this, a little more balance might be nice, but we did start Darnell Jackson at the four tonight, and it’s understandable that Z might be trying to keep some in the tank at this point in the year.
And of course, if Delonte shows up like this in the playoffs, I don’t see any way we don’t cruise to the finals. Absolutely a huge sign and hopefully a game that can get his confidence up.
I mean, what do you say about the Gibson/Kinsey situation at this point? It’s ridiculous, but we’re stuck, although I don’t understand how D-Block gets a shot and Tarence doesn’t. You know how I stand on this.
Happiness is going back to the highlights of LeBron’s dunks tonight and realizing that Drew Gooden is standing outside the point, not rotating, on most of them. Although he was the team’s second-leading scorer tonight, so it’s not like he’s killing them.
Daniel Gibson had 0 points, 1 rebound, 0 assists, 1 turnover, and 4 fouls in 25 minutes tonight. He was paid $48,000 for it. I would say it’s the worst performance I’ve ever seen out of any player in extended minutes, but I would be ignoring the fact that those four fouls could’ve gone to someone else who actually tried yesterday instead.
Along those same lines, the team played around $260,000 for 0 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 fouls, and 3 turnovers combined from Sasha, Wally, and Boobie.
Just thought I’d point that out.
Here’s something else about the rotation that’s become completely comical at this point (but not in a funny haha way, more like a bitter satirical jab at the soul) – Wally & Sasha are EXACTLY THE SAME PLAYER (more fouls & TOs than FGs) and Brown continues to play them at the same time – usually with Gibson handling the ball which only compounds things. I just don’t understand how anyone, let alone a coach of Mike Brown’s stature, thinks that this is a good idea. I mean, it’s not rocket science & yet time after time Wally &/or Sasha continue to bumble away leads, or dig our deficits deeper. So again, WHY NOT GET KINSEY SOME QUALITY PT BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS?!? He’s long, athletic, creates TOs (for the other team, not ours), and slashes to the basket – all things that Wally, Sasha, & Gibson don’t/can’t provide.
I liked the change Brown made yesterday having Mo, Delonte, & Gibson out there with the bigs, but it only works when Gibson makes his shots, which he didn’t – not any – brick city… But I digress. The only thing I can that makes sense as far as Kinsey not playing is that he’s in Mike Brown’s dog house for whatever reason. Windhorst hasn’t reported this, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. I mean why else wouldn’t you utilize a spark player when your bench has been struggling for weeks?
Long story short, if Wally is guarding Songalia on Wednesday my head may explode.
Viva la Cavs!
This was a good post. It’s just that picture is really creeping me out.
Wally hasn’t been right shooting since he bruised his knee. Might be a good idea to get him some down time. But the reason TK isn’t getting run, is because Brown likes the space that his shooter’s (and yes, I mean Boobie, Wally, and Sasha even though they’ve been terrible lately) give LeBron and/or Mo to get to the hoop. Not to mention the space Z needs when he’s posting (if he’s posting; but that’s another subject). If TK could start hitting threes even slightly consistently. He’d be our answer to Courtney Lee. So I’m very much hoping that’s what we see over the offseason. ‘Cause I love his length and athleticism.
The reason I like Wally over Boobie and Sasha is because he has a rounded offensive game. He can create his shot off the post, dribble, and the set shot. Only LeBron and Mo have that same capability. We’ve seen what happens when Boobie and Sasha dribble. Now 90% of Wally’s problems are all based on physical limitations. You’ve got to be careful how you use him because of this. But I think he’s a guy that hits a few big shots for you in the playoffs. Go back and look at some of the game’s when this team was rolling early in the year and see what an energized Wally can bring. But I digress.
Seeing LeBron attack out of the gate is more of what we’re going to see in the playoffs and I like it. And I think that Orlando loss will end up being a positive by forcing the guys to zone in. Some extra practice won’t hurt either.
So I’ll end with the most important point…
Viva la Cavs!!!
I forgot Delonte. Delonte has the same rounded game as LeBron and Mo. I apologize to Delonte and all St. Joe’s fans out there.