Overview: The short-handed Mavericks easily handled the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night. All five Dallas starters scored in double figures, and Antawn Jamison had a season-high 35 points to lead all scorers.
Losses by less than 15 points don’t really even feel like losses anymore bullets:
- Well, the Cavs definitely missed Andy on Sunday. Tyson Chandler was able to bully the Cavs in the paint, easily grabbing rebounds over Leon Powe and dropping in baskets every time he caught the ball inside. It’s been a season of comically futile basketball for the Cavs, but watching the 6-7 Powe have to try and battle Chandler on bad knees was one of the clearest illustrations yet of just how outmatched the Cavs are on a given night. But if the Cavs did have Varejao in this game, they would’ve been able to stop Chandler and Marion from scoring at will inside and had a real shot at a win. And all the Mavericks were missing was their starting small forward and a leading MVP candidate! CATCH THE FEVER!
- You’re not going to believe this, but the Cavs had no answer for the Mavericks whenever they pushed the ball in transition or made multiple passes to open three-point shooters. Just kidding. The Cavaliers are terrible at defending both of those things, and the Mavericks did a great job of pushing at every opportunity, making quick decisions with the ball, and knocking down open threes. On a related note, Jason Terry does not miss jump shots.
The Mavericks were able to punish the Cavs in the paint and on the perimeter despite the fact that none of their guards played all that well — Kidd never really got in sync with the rest of the Mavs, and Dominique Jones and J.J. Barea ran the offense with all the patience and calm of people who had been set on fire. Also, watching DeShawn Stevenson rain in open threes was kind of the final indignity, although I suppose I should just be happy he didn’t do the “I can’t feel my face” gesture.
Jamison was, indeed, feeling it in this game. He made everything he threw up, both inside and outside, and Jamison and Sessions were really the only reasons the Cavs weren’t blown out. He did spend a lot of time inside, which is the right thing to do against Brian Cardinal, and seemed to be a little more patient down there than he usually is. As always, Jamison didn’t hesitate to take an open catch-and-shoot jumper when it was there, and he made most of the ones he took. A few more of these performances, and somebody just might want Jamison at the deadline.
I’ve spent a lot of time ripping on Ramon Sessions this off-season. I am very aware of his physical and mental shortcomings as a player. That said, it’s clear to me that Ramon Sessions should be this team’s starting point guard. He is clearly the most gifted passer on the team — he’s had more perfectly timed passes that led to a dunk or layup this season than Mo or Gibson combined, and he’s better than either of them at putting pressure on the defense with his ability to penetrate.
Austin Carr was talking about how Ramon is learning to play the point during the broadcast, but when you look at his career stats, it’s clear he came into the league as a true point. He’s spent most of his time on the floor trying to be an instant offense-type guy this season, but I feel like that’s a product of his role on the team and some correctable bad habits — there’s a point guard buried underneath all those ill-advised forays to the basket. When Ramon Sessions is picking his spots on drives and finding cutters, the Cavs’ offense looks like a real live offense capable of creating high-percentage looks. It’s time to see if he can galvanize the starting unit. Again, what does the team have to lose?
Another shocking development: Hickson followed up a promising game with a miserable one. He was passive, settled for too many jumpers, got destroyed on the boards, and was invisible for most of the game. I’m not ready to call J.J. a lost cause yet, but it’s been two and a half years now, and he still doesn’t appear to be very close to putting it together.
Eyenga had a very Jamario Moon-like game — one great fast-break dunk, missed open threes, some breathtaking rebounds and almost-blocks, and some very bad defensive moments. He looked a little eager to shoot that three, but you can see just how smooth and explosive of an athlete Eyenga is. Hopefully he will not suffer Jamario’s fate. I’m cautiously optimistic.
That’s all for me tonight. Hopefully we can get a win in 2011.
Sorry, but I couldnt disagree with you more about Sessions starting. All he has proved to me is that he is even more inconsistent than Mo and Boobie. He has had two very good games with Mo being basically absent (he clearly wasnt getting good height on his jumpers today), but lets not forget all of the terrible games he has had this season.
When Sessions attacks, he has no court vision whatsoever, and even though he finishes better than Mo or Boobie, when he misses, most of the time it leads to a fastbreak with the opponent scoring. There are also many times when he goes into the lane contested, and fails to find the players out on the perimiter.
Mo, on the other hand, has been playing pretty well for most of the season, especially at actually being a distributor. His shooting numbers are down, but that is because most of his shots are contested or off the dribble, since, lets face it, he is our best offensive player. However, he is averaging a career high in assists at 7.2 a game, and I see that number doing nothing but going up.
Finally, while Mo is not shooting the 3-ball well this season, again because his looks are worse, he is still a threat from out there. You cant just leave him wide open, like you can with Sessions, who is somewhere around an 8% liftime from behind the arc.
In other words, Sessions can stay on the bench once Mo fully recovers from his hip injury.
As a fan who has been resigned to celebate loses that are less than 15pts, i have to ask if the Cavs put a little effort in running people off the 3 point line and contesting 3′s every single time, wouldnt they have a win or two here and there in the midst of long loosing streaks?Seriously. Its become almost predictable that as soon ass they get some momentum going an dslice up leads, that they will absolutely positively give up 3 or 4 threes in a row. Anybody can shoot 50%and above on three against the Cavs. It bothers me that they dont see this and it doesnt bother them.
That aside I have serious issues with Ramon Sessions. I love his mentality of driving to the basket every single time. I hate that he doesnt have a plan when he does it. I hate that he hogs the ball for 10s sometimes. But the last few games have proved that he’s capable of single handedly being a thorn on the other team’s side. I just want my point guard to have some range.And he sadly is quite inept on that.
As for point guards, i have officially given up understanding what Mo williams wants in Cavs basketball life.
Finally, knowing we’re going nowhere but down, i would really like this team to be a tough team out. make teams work for their wins. improve their statistical defensive numbers by the weeks and and every so often get a win at home to give the fans something to drink for. Other than that we’re on the right track.
” I’m cautiously optimistic.” <- that pretty much sums up cleveland sports
” I’m cautiously optimistic.” <- that pretty much sums up cleveland sports
I made a bet with a friend that cavs would make the playoffs this year, surely a team cant fall that low with the loss of just ac ouple players, I thought my firend was a complete idiot for agreeing to the bet…. man Im so foolish.
ps: blow the whole thing up, no one is untouchable, get rid of everyone and start fresh, seeing this team play like this hurts me.
This team…….I’m losing words for it. Somehow every single one of our perimiter players is clueless when it comes to rotating on defense. I don’t know how that works, but it does work.
Oh John. I understand the sentiment about Session, and hell, even his Per is pretty good, but let’s net forget just how atrociously bad he is at
1. defending his man. 2. pick and roll D. 3. Finishing at the rim. 4. Executing the pick and roll on O.
The fact that he has actually made a couple jumpers and some wide open layups the last few games while Mo and Boobie have been hurt, should not make it clear that he is the starting PG. Mo had been averaging double digit assist numbers for about 6 games and is really running the pick and roll well when it is with Jamison. For some ungodly reason, Hickson is popping instead of rolling or it would be a good play with him too. Mo is no defensive stalwart, but Sessions, despite his athleticism, doesn’t seem to have any idea on that end. Boobie is our best defender at the guard position, but unfortunately has been forced to cover 2s. Mo is our best bet at the point when healthy. More important, is what we do at the 2. We can’t keep going so small unless our guys are putting up a ton of points. I am almost ready to give Gee a shot there as he at least seems to play some on the ball D.
I say this practically every day, but maybe you can help.
Please John, make it clear to the national media that we did not just lose Bron, but also Z, Shaz, Delonte and all of the Coaching staff and GM. I am so tired of reading how LeBron made the right decision just because this version of our team is playing like crap and the Heat are putting together REGULAR SEASON wins…. You have the power!!!
Love the sarcasm in this entry.
Ben – head over to Basketball Reference. If you look at the advanced stats for last season, you will see this:
Lebron, 18.5 Win shares,
Andy, 8.1
M0, 6.7
Anthony Parker, 4.9
JJ Hickson, 4.3
etc..
Delonte, Shaq and Z were, respectively, 6th, 7th, and 10th in Win shares.
The big differnece has been
a) losing lebron (would make them a 40 win team)
b) The production of previously perfectly adequate players has dropped off a cliff.
So you have to question either the commitment of the players, or whether playing with lebron really made it that much easier to hit open shots, etc.
Anyway. Just saying.
if sessions keeps playing like this the knicks will REALLY want him now. so……..i guess keep playing him. we need boobie back….
Ramon’s somewhat of a junkyard player. He learned how to drive during D-League, where he probably started to notice the absolute lack of effort from time to time on defense (since many D-League players simply want to puff their stats). So he will always clean up if the opposing either a) gets comfortable with a lead, or b) during garbage time/4th quarter blowouts.
I applaud his opportunistic spirit, because he has clearly found a way to reach the NBA and stay there. However, when it comes to playing teams who actually enjoy playing defense as a unit, he will be massively shut down.
You who’d be fun? Earl Boykins. And you thought we couldn’t get any shorter at the guard position.