Notes and Errata: April 27th, 2010
2010-04-26
Quick fan poll regarding potential Magic matchup: Are you more heartened by the fact the Bobcats rendered Howard completely ineffective offensively or scared by the fact the Magic got the sweep anyways?
The Hawks haven’t won on the road against a Bogut-less Bucks team. How did this team get the #3 seed?
Is there anyone — anyone out there who thinks the Magic can lose to the Hawks or Bucks in R2? If so, why?
I think the Thunder are playing better basketball than the Lakers right now. I don’t know if they’re better enough to win in LA, though. Who would’ve thought that a series with two teams shooting 40% could be this much fun to watch?
Rumors of Kobe’s demise: exaggerated. If the Lakers get past the Thunder, the Jazz don’t have enough lanky perimeter defenders to frustrate him the way Sefolosha and Durant have, and even Green to a lesser extent. They might try Kirilenko if he gets healthy, but Sloan will start Matthews or Miles on him. Plus, Kobe took Kirilenko apart last year.
On the other hand, watching Fisher vs. Deron Williams will be fun.
Kobe will bounce back. He always bounces back. Still, let’s take a moment to savor the fact that LeBron’s playoff PER is 22.66 points higher than Kobe’s right now.
I don’t know how to talk about LeBron right now. The Cavs haven’t won any games they haven’t been expected to win easily yet, and he’s going to be judged by how the rest of the playoffs shake out. Still, he’s easily the best player in the league right now. Easily. It’s him and everyone else. Seriously, look at what the other MVP candidates have done in their first-round matchups. Kobe, Howard, and Durant are all going against great defensive teams, but yeesh.
Man, I’m afraid LeBron will end up like Dirk someday. (He’s already proven himself to be better, but you know what I mean.) That is a cursed, cursed man. He makes that jumper over hill 9 out of 10 times, even in crunch situations. He’s such a money player with the game on the line, but seems to pick the exact right moments to come up short. Also, he really deserved a title against the Heat that year.
Russell Westbrook, you are the captain of the “have a league-average TS% for a full season so I can buy your hype, because I love watching you play” team.
So Jeff Green takes a lot of bad shots, he’s very versatile, he makes plays but doesn’t rack up assists, his TS% is terrible, and he defends multiple positions well without being a lock-down guy. Part of the “core” without ever really playing like an untouchable. On a team with a transcendent offensive player but still manages to be a below-average team offensively. I hate to do this — anyone else getting a “Larry Hughes on the Cavs” vibe here?
On that note, who’s sad the Cavs missed out on Stephen Jackson now? I bring this up because I’m never right about anything. Also, Jon Kuester. Sometimes there’s a method to my bitterness and skepticism.
Alright, that’s all for tonight. Good night, and good Hubie Brown.
ha ha wiggum. you’ll see
P i hate that you are a magic fan. this is one of the few places where civil debates about two great teams can take place. don’t taint that by being yourself, just swallow and vanish
come on cleveland, get a grip. there is a reason cleveland doesn’t win championships. orlando is gonna punch the cavs in the mouth, then lebron limps off the court with his head down again crying again. when lebron leaves for NYC, what do ya got the indians? browns? ha ha ha ha enjoy this fleeting moment of optimism. Cleveland is a toilet, just accept it.
I’ve watched every playoff game I could. And I remember possibly as much as half of the fouls Dwight Howard received weren’t even fouls. The worst was last night’s game when D.J. Augustin did the reverse layup then grab Howard’s arm with both hands. The problem is, by the time the ECF rolls around, if it’s Cavs-Magic, people will want to see Howard and Shaq going at it. If Howard is on the bench half the game, don’t expect great ratings and that’s bad news for David Stern. I don’t think we’ll see Howard with that kind of foul trouble… Read more »
On paper, Josh Smith Atlanta’s best player.
The Magic will win the Cavs series.
I’m actually more heartened by the ORL-CHA series. Orlando’s whole game is based on Dwight surrounded by 4 shooters. With Dwight out of the game you could definitely see the impact of his absence, but the Bobcats just didn’t take advantage. Or more accurately, they couldn’t take advantage because they just didn’t have the offensive weapons. Jameer is still a huge concern and Vince’s impact is a question mark, but if we can neutralize Dwight we’ll be in really good shape. We basically reloaded just to match up with the Magic, and seeing that Dwight can be taken out of… Read more »
just about last year’s cavs magic series. Even Krolik here noted that Lebron was getting to the line a bit much, and there was a lot of talk about refs being biased towards the Cavs. I’m interested to see what the officiating is like when dwight and lebron collide, because this will happen a lot. last year dwight didn’t foul out of any games i dont believe and was in foul trouble in only a couple. if it stays like that, i think the magic have a 45-55 shot. but even as a lebron james fan I thought last year… Read more »
Also, if Brandon Jennings can figure out how to play on the road, watch out Atlanta. Don’t sleep on them. As for KD versus LbJ, KD will end up being a better scorer when it’s all said and done, and LBJ a better all around player. KD just gets so many easy buckets, and that’s the key to scoring. But with Westbrook, KD doesn’t need to handle the ball as much as LeBron. What has REALLY impressed me about KD in the Lakers’ series is his defense. He has realized how good of a shot blocker he can be, especially… Read more »
The only way Atlanta makes a go of that series is if Joe Johnson goes into eff-you mode, and absolutely decides he’s going to take over the series. He has the talent, but only decides to do it about one game out of every 4, and he needs Bibby, Crawford, and Marvin Williams to bail him out behind the line if Orlando starts trapping. Also, Crawford is going to have to play a LOT. Bibby is almost useless in this series. If Milwaukee has figured out how exploitable he is, you can guarantee that Orlando will. Joe Johnson is the… Read more »
the Hawks can’t beat Orlando. MikeWoodson might be the worst coach amongst the 16 playoff teams. As a matter of fact, I think I’ll just go ahead and say as much (and yea, I know Vinny Del Negro exists). They switch every screen….WHAT A TERRIBLE WAY TO PLAY DEFENSE. The Magic will dominate that type of defensive scheme, and Atlanta will revert to being Atlanta. That is a team that is in trouble when the other team doesn’t give them the ball and can execute. Atlanta, when forced to play in the half-court (meaning when they play better teams who… Read more »
Except ben, here is the thing. All three games in cleveland were very close and competitive. 2 of the 3 in Orlando were not that close. Sure, Lewis could have missed two shots and the series is different, but the Magic didn’t deserve that. They played Cleveland close (and obbiouvsly won one) in Cleveland, and the Cavs only did so once in Orlando, and lost that game. Orlando was the better team w/ or w/o the Lewis shots.
Mat, you’ve slipped into the ORL-homer party line. Note that the Magic were also two heroic Rashard Lewis shots away from losing the series in 5 games. Or conversely, we were one Mo Williams miss away from forcing a game 7 in Cleveland (assuming the rest of the games besides the first played out the same way).
@Leo, why would durant need to pile up more rebounds to be mentioned in the same sentence as Lebron? KD leads LB 7.6 to 7.3. While I don’t think KD will ever have the same impact on the game as Lebron in many aspects of the game, particularly in terms of court vision, I think ‘KD ought not be mentioned in the same breath’ Is as frustrating a thing to hear as ‘Lebron should never be mentioned in the same breath as Jordan’ was 2 years ago.
Haven’t paid the closest attention to the Magic series, but what action I did see involved the Bobcats missing shot after shot. Cavs can defend at least as effectively as Bobcats, but will actually make shots. Magic are good, and make me nervous, but I’m not outright scared. Magic won’t play a legitimate threat until us.
“Last year, most of us were worried at about a 5 or 6 before the series where it should have been closer to a 9 on the Worry Scale. I’d say it’s still a 7 or 8 on the scale, but of course now we’re all worrying at a 9/10 level. (More like it normally is in Cleveland.)” Speak for yourself. I was at a 10 last year going into that series because of how easily the Magic defeated the Cavs in Orlando and almost won in Cleveland. In fact, when you think about it, Orlando should have won that… Read more »
Leo, Durant is and will be a great player. Until he increases all other stats a ton he’ll never be mentioned as one of the best ever (as i think lebron will be), but he’ll still be a great player
Although I think Howard will be somewhat neutralized by Shaq, I think dribble penetration will still be a problem. You could see it in the Bobcats series when Howard was on the bench. They always have 4 guys on the court who will drive and either look to score or kick it to an open shooter. The Cavs will have to play good man to man defense to stop this, and their strength is help defense. So while I think the Cavs can pull it off, the Magic will definitely be looking to exploit that weakness.
At least to counter the Magic we have Magic. Wait. His name’s not Magic? Our biggest weakness last year was at the 4 position, with Rashard being guarded by either Varejao (who normally has no business farther out than the high post) or Big Ben (who can maximize his impact inside in much the same way). This year we’ll be working with Jamison as the primary Shard defender – and in a pinch, Bron can also guard him (in the rare scenario where he’s actually guarding somebody who makes more money than he does). Somebody’s already pointed out that Tawn… Read more »
Extremely worried about the Magic. Bobcats did exactly what the scouting report says and took Howard out of the game. And they still got swept. If, for instance, a team was able to quiet Lebron (not saying it’s possible but let’s pretend for this hypo) the Cavs would have a tough time beating anyone in the playoffs. The Magic are the deepest team in the league and it showed in their first round series. It’s also worth pointing out that the Charlotte D is one of the best in the league (statistically even better than the Cavs). In our best… Read more »
And no, John. This OKC and LAL series could NOT be more fun to watch.
I’m a bit worried about the Magic and their sweep, but the Bobcats looked like a different team than the one that gave the Cavs trouble. Another thing I’m worried about is that many of those fouls on Howard were close calls. Different team, different matchup, different refs…deeper into the playoffs I think the refs are going to let a few of those bump fouls go. Cleveland didn’t have the offense last year. And Z and Andy had to handle dwight, which we all remember failed. Now, cleveland is significantly better on offense and overall ball movement and they have… Read more »
Hey guys, don’t be giving up on Gortat. That dude is a pimp. He’s actually the only player on the Magic I like (because he told that Polish newspaper last year about SVG being a D-bag). He’s a true center and he’s not afraid to give out hard fouls. In fact, I’d say he’s got more piss in him than smiley boy Dwight.
1. Here are two things that help me sleep at night after Orlando’s sweep. One, I think that Orlando was set up well against the Bobcats because the Bobcats defend well, but especially inside. That they don’t rely on Dwight is what carried them through the series. The Bobcats definitely don’t have the offense to keep up either. The Cavs do, and we have a much better all around defense, especially now on the wings. The second thing is that the Shaq vs. Dwight “prove yourself” battle is in our favor. If we can get dwight out, we can hammer… Read more »
I have seen nothing in the four games Cleveland played against Orlando this year that tells me the Magic have any kind of shot of beating the Cavs. If the team commits to defense it’s over for Orlando.
Hubie is awesome. I do hope we get Doug Collins as color commentator for a Cavs series this playoffs though.
I expect Orlando to win the series but the Hawks absolutely can beat the Magic in a 7-game series. The Hawks have a lot of quality big men to throw at Howard (J-Smoove, Horford and Zaza) and have the scoring punch at the swing position provided by Joe Johnson and Crawford to exploit Howard’s foul trouble in the ways that the Bobcats just couldn’t.
Milwaukee will get swept but DON’T count out the Hawks.
Howard will never be MVP unless he develops a stronger offensive game…he has the other intangibles but when he’s limited to jump hooks or forced to take a jump shot, he isnt that efficient…only when he just bullies his way one foot from the hoop to slam it down…im not that scared of the magic…the bobcats blew multiple chances in this series to take a game or two…stephen jackson killed that team numerous times and felton isnt a strong starting point guard…i was more impressed with agustin than felton…i really think that series couldve and shouldve gone 6 games, but… Read more »
ON a side note, who wants to see another D-Wade explosion and a game 5 Heat victory? I’m rooting for it, and I think D-Wade will explode again, but I don’t think any of his teammates are going to take their games on the road.
Btw, Jermaine O’Neal shooting an AWESOME 16% from the field this series. Money in the bank.
@Chris I think your analysis on the center position entirely ignores the trouble Dwight is having at staying in the games. He may have this resovled by the time he plays the Cavs, but he also might not and if he doesn’t and is sitting a ton due to foul trouble that would seem to greatly change the dynamic at that position. That said, I always laugh a bit when I see position vs position matchups like this trying to purely analyze a game’s outcome as if interaction between all members of the team wasn’t also a critical facet. Okay,… Read more »
i am fearful of the fact that orlando has swept in spite of howard’s lack of offense. the cavs don’t guard quick point guards well and although jameer isn’t one of the quickest, he is playing like a monster right now (second in PER behind lebron). last year jameer wasn’t even present for our series with them and we lost to them. in terms of matchups this is my guess: on a scale of +5 to -5 (+5 being in cavs favor completely, -5 being in orlando favor completely) c – dwight has a moderate advantage over shaq simply b/c… Read more »
1) Interested in the Howard issue and honestly encouraged. He KNOWS what they are doing and still can’t manage 30 minutes in ANY of the 4 games? He has his coach and the entire team riding him about it and he fouls out even faster on the 4th game? He feels he has something he needs to prove to anyone bodying him up and that’s going to get worse when it is Shaq doing it to him. The Bobcats had 3 bodies to throw at him foul wise, we have Shaq, Hickson, Andy, Z, Powe for starters. The Bobcats issues… Read more »
Everyone around here feeling a little vindicated lately. First Rich (bulls are good), then me (Kobe is overrated), now John (Kuester and S-Jax aren’t so great) OK here are my answers to the poll. 1.) Scared outta my mind about the Howard thing. Howard gives them NOTHING offensively, Carter gives them NOTHING offensively, and they sweep. POOP IN YOUR PANTS SCARY. Not only do 8 guys on their team shoot 3s, but 8 guys on their team have zero regard for human life when they shoot 3s. They jack up some horrible shots and don’t care. Their have what I… Read more »
I’d love to throw Leon Powe at Howard, just to see what happens.
I think it’s a good sign that Dwight Howard can be taken out of a game so easily. If the bobcats had more offensive weapons they would have been able to capitalize on it. IF the Cavs can do so, we have to believe that we will be able to capitalize on points in the paint to a much larger degree than the Bobcats. All they did was shoot jumpers when dwight was out, it made no sense.
The Magic would make me nervous if they had gone to 7 games and needed a buzzer beater to do it. They are really freakin good.