Recap: Timberwolves 129, Cavs 95 (Or, this team is not good at basketball)
2010-12-04
Overview: The Minnesota Timberwolves set a franchise record for three-pointers when they went 18-26 from beyond the arc against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers have lost their last three games by an average of 27 points.
That was freaking horrifying to watch related-bullets:
Dear and honest lord. From an emotional/off-court/whatever standpoint, Thursday night was rock bottom. From a basketball standpoint, Saturday has to be rock bottom. Jamison said after the game that the Cavaliers are playing like the worst team in basketball right now, and nobody is arguing with him.
It all starts with the defense, which is so far beyond pathetic. Does anybody realize that the Heat’s best offensive performance of the season was one of the better defensive games the Cavs have had in the last two weeks? Everything about that is terrifying. At least LeBron and Co. had to make some contested mid-range jumpers while they were destroying the Heat, which most of the league hasn’t had to do.
18 three-pointers, and they were all wide-open looks until Wesley Johnson drained a semi-contested three off an on-ball screen in the third quarter. The Cavs’ defensive strategy in Minnesota was essentially that of a drunk person playing NBA 2K: they threw random double-teams at the Timberwolves around the three-point line and decided to see what would happen. Darko in the corner 23 feet away from the basket?Trap him! Pick-and-roll at the top of the three-point line? Everyone collapse! The Timberwolves, being NBA basketball players of sound mind and able body, would react to these double-teams by calmly swinging the ball to a wide-open shooter behind the three-point line for a shootaround-difficulty three.
Two defensive possessions really stick out to me, and both of them were Ramon Sessions’ doing: as the Timberwolves looked to set up a pick-and-roll, Sessions left Wayne Ellington alone behind the arc and cut off the paint before the Timberwolves guard had began to make a move. He passed to Ellington for a wide-open three. Another time, Sessions left his man wide open in the corner to awkwardly go for a steal when Kevin Love was posting up. He missed the ball and went past Love, who calmly found the wide-open shooter for a three. Oh, and a lot of times the Cavs would completely forget that Kevin Love can shoot threes. That was fun. I realize that some of the Cavs’ rotational issues were because of the anti-mobile Leon Powe replacing Hickson on Saturday, but there’s no excuse for the kind of defense the Cavs played.
107 of the Timberwolves’ 129 came from the paint, the three-point line, or the free-throw line. That is unfathomably horrible. On every level, this team seems to have no understanding as to what the purpose of an NBA defense is.
The offense was also horrible. Everything was a jump shot, and while I actually thought the Cavs got some good looks from three when they moved the ball, everyone’s outside shot was off. Sessions, as he is wont to do in blowout losses, had a very good night, going 7-10 from the field and finishing with six assists. Bully for him.
Harris and Samuels got some garbage-time run. I’d like to see Manny get rotation minutes, because garbage time seems like a chance for him to cultivate his bad habits — he’s playing AAU-style ball, but does have some gifts.
Jamison seems to be in full “the more I look like a stretch four, the better my chances of getting the hell out of here at the deadline” mode. 3-7 from deep and 2-6 from two-point range.
I don’t have much more to say. It doesn’t get much worse than this. The team’s lack of talent is incredible. Look at the starting lineup tonight. It included a second-round pick whom the Cavs got for Joe Smith and Damon Jones, a bargain-basement free agent who spent two years in the NBA before washing out and spending his prime overseas, a bargain-basement free agent who went unsigned in the 2005 draft, a second-round pick with no knees left that nobody wanted in free agency last season, and a guy we got (along with Drew Gooden) for Tony Battie and two second-round draft picks. There is one way to win with that kind of a roster in the NBA, and that’s to have some idea of what the hell is going on on defense. The Cavs clearly don’t, and that’s why embarrassments like this have been occurring on a regular basis.
I’m just not sure what Scott is supposed to do with this horrid roster. I mean he can start one terrible player in place of another, but you’ll still have ther esults from a terrible player.
Darko is shaping up.
I disagree with the take on Andy. His contract is pretty reasonable compared to what a lot of guys make (Dark Milicic). Cleveland’s biggest problems are the wing positions. They’re awful on offense and defense there. Anthony Parker needs to be on a farm upstate with lots of hay. Moon can only be effective with a good distributor, and a proper motivator (or he just sucks). Jawad… UGH. Cleveland probably has the 32nd worst player in the league starting at the 2 and also at the 3. Teams have figured this out and exploit them on offense and defense every… Read more »
Yikes. If Jawad Williams is playing more than 10 minutes, your team is pretty bad. Cleveland has a black hole at the wing positions now. Maybe they can combine with Detroit and Philadelphia to make one good team. Though now that I think about it, that would just be a pretty okay team. The east is sad.
Rofl, this team is so full of fail. I can’t wait to trade Andy and Mo. They still play hard and would help a good team. They don’t deserve this mess of crap.
Another day, another Cavs loss, another step toward Krolik graduating and getting an NBA writing gig. Abandon ship! Abandon ship!
Build around Powe and Sessions? Powe is done and Sessions might be the worst player in the NBA right now. The guy is absolutely terrible.
I’ll go ahead and agree with d. Let the rebuilding officially begin.
the only players i trust on this team to build around are Boobie, Powe, Hollins, maybe Sessions, but thats about it…id also include the young guys that never play, but mainly just mentioning the guys that play right now….Varajao might join that group but as others have mentioned and I agree, he is better on a good team…the fact this dude still has no offensive game still baffles me and i dont think he averages double digit rebounds either….i mean if you’re not gonna score points at least rebound the hell out of the ball aka dennis rodman….
As other people seem to be thinking here, who would you hate to see gone from this team? Hickson Andy Boobie? That’s about it. Jamison is definitely gone by the trade deadline, hopefully they get something good back. I love Varejao, but he signed his fate with this team with that huge contract a few years ago that everyone agreed would be killing the Cavs in its last year (which is ’13-’14 when he makes over $9M). That said, he makes so much more sense on a good team, but I’d hate to see him go. Perhaps he could be… Read more »
I agree with a lot of you guys, especially Ben and Rich. I missed the game last night, so I wasn’t exposed to 48 minutes og garbage time. Can someone tell me how Austin Carr was reacting? I love how pissed he gets.
This team is horrible defensively because we have bad coaching strategies, confused players, and a a small team. There was a reason that Mike Brown always played the better defender at all costs. I am so sad that his firing was included in the Bron crap. He would have at least given the team an identity that is plausible. This “running” nonsense has only succeeded in making the players focus on something that really isn’t all that successful in the NBA. Great defense is the catalyst to easy buckets in transition. You must concentrate on that before you can run.… Read more »
this team is laughably bad…i was at a bar last night when they threw the game on midway thru the first quarter and we are already getting killed…midway thru the first! man i dont think thats lack of talent man…i think this team is mentally beat up and we have guys on this team that either dont want to play here or dont want to play in this system…maybe hints of quit on coach but what else can you conclude with this type of beating from the t-wolves of all teams…with the way we are playing now we could get… Read more »
Coaching is not the problem here. Byron Scott is a fine coach, he just needs players. Look at Doc Rivers in Boston. When Doc had terrible players, the team was terrible and people wanted him fired. With superior talent, suddenly Doc is “outcoaching” Phil Jackson (that was the perception in the 08 finals). The truth lies somewhere in the middle with NBA coaches. As an NBA coach, you need to be more of a motivator than an x’s and o’s guy. At the same time, you need players that are sure of themselves and won’t get down when the going… Read more »
Because if you let him play and continue to do stupid shit night after night, the only thing that does is allow him to develop poor habbits while thinkin it’s ok (after all, he isn’t getting pulled). Also, if it was just him doing stupid things that ‘s one thing, but when he’s the last player back on defense time after time, it’s simply a lack of hustle and heart. You can’t let him remain on the court when he isn’t even playing hard. Scotts system looks like crap, but all systems would when you have crap players. This team… Read more »
I have to say that I’m not digging Byron Scott’s system too much anymore. In all honesty, it may have been Mike Brown’s defensive system that got the team this far in the first place. I understand that with what we have at this point, the running offense may seem like the most successful route, but we’re turning into the old Warriors without some of the offensive pieces. I still think that Mo, Gibson, Varejao, and JJ have a place on the team, but pretty much everything else needs to change. As a side note, I’d also like to add… Read more »
I’ll continue to fight this fight as long as I have to. Put Delonte West and Shaq in the starting line-up and this team gets the 8th seed. This is not the team LeBron was playing on last year. Anyway, whether or not the team has talent (it doesn’t) is beside the point with LBJ. He quit in game 5. This much is fact. Yes, the talent level wasn’t great. But he still quit. Excuse that if you will. Jamison and I hate to say Andy look to be “get me the eff out this place” mode. I don’t blame… Read more »
But it was somehow Lebron’s fault that he couldn’t take this sad collection of players and win a ring? It’s downright miraculous he got 60 wins out of them.