The Point-Fourward: Big Three Better Than Little One

Four things I’m thinking about the Playoffs…

1. It’s rather clear to me that Isaiah Thomas’s agent gave the mini-All-Star a call during halftime of the Game 2 destruction at Boston’s TD Garden. The Cavaliers had thoroughly solved any and all Thomas-centric offensive action. The Wine and Gold trapped hard on Thomas, forcing the ball out of his hands early, and with good anticipatory backside rotation. With his size, Thomas is generally unable to make the murderous cross-court passes that dissuade defenses from selling out on the trap. He was forced to make weak release passes to the short roll man without having gained any of the desired four on three advantage. Additionally, the Celtics couldn’t keep Tristan Thompson off the offensive glass because they were in constant scramble mode trying to cover for Isaiah’s defensive limitations. In short, Thomas wasn’t tall enough for the task.

As I covered last week, Danny Ainge desperately wanted this series to reveal Thomas as a playoff liability. It would have allowed Ainge the most public relations flexibility going forward. Instead, an “injured” Thomas lets the fanbase indulge in this delusional fantasy: “if only Isaiah would have stayed healthy, we would have had a real chance. Just add the number one pick and we are there!”

It’s really the worst possible outcome for Ainge. Now, not only can he not trot out the lopsided series loss as an indictment of Thomas’s play, but the Game 3 success sans Thomas has reinforced the narrative that the Celtics are better without Thomas.

What? Didn’t you just contradict yourself, Ben? Either it’s good for Ainge that people see that the team is better without Thomas or it’s not. Logically, yes, but fans aren’t rational. They love Isaiah Thomas. Thomas already had only marginal trade value. The league knows that Thomas is a dumpster fire on defense and solvable on offense, but fans just witnessed a 5’7″ dude drop almost 30 a night for sixth months. If Thomas is shrewd, he uses fan enthusiasm to score himself a huge deal. That little soreness that he’s been playing through on his way to dropping 53 against a team that can’t play defense, gets a little tighter against the reigning champs. A little nudge from his agent reminding him how many millions he has to lose would reinforce that twinge. Better to be an injured “Superstar” than be revealed on a national stage. Thomas will likely get a hefty payday, but I’d be shocked if it comes from Ainge.

2. Just how much better are the Celtics without Thomas? According to one NBA coach, apparently harder to defend than the playoffs 12-0 Golden State Warriors.

“The stuff they’re running, it’s harder to defend than Golden State’s [offense] for me, as far as the actions and all the running around and all the guys who are making all the plays, so it’s a totally different thing.

“Like, they hit the post, Golden State runs splits and all that stuff but these guys are running all kinds of [stuff].

“And Brad’s [Stevens] got them moving and cutting and playing with pace and everybody is a threat.”

Yep, that’s from Cleveland’s own, Tyronn Lue. What this really says to me is, “I have seen the Warriors’ actions in 13 Finals games and I have seen these non-Thomas Celtics’ actions in two games. I don’t understand new things very quickly.”

I might be being hard on the coach, but his quote is already rather absurd. Sure, the Celtics are much tougher to defend when they diversify their offense. Still, that doesn’t get them anywhere near the Warriors’ level. I understand that Lue is trying to focus on the series at hand, not get ahead of himself, respect his opponent, etc.., but sometimes he makes it difficult for us to take him seriously. Coach, either stick to the P.R. script or don’t. Saying you don’t think about the Warriors as you directly compare your current opponent to the Warriors might not be the way to go.

3. No matter how interesting Brad Stevens makes the Boston offense, they simply don’t have enough talent to beat an engaged and healthy Cavaliers team. As far as health is concerned, Richard Jefferson suggested that the Celtics avoided a sweep with the help of Mother Nature.

“I know he won’t talk about it, so I’ll give my big guy a shout,” Jefferson said. “Deron Williams missed shootaround this morning because he had like a little bug, really lethargic, had no energy. And I think that’s what ‘Bron had. And sometimes these little bugs can go around. And (James) was like, dude, when Deron didn’t show up to shootaround, it kind of started clicking in his head.

“Because for him it was like, ‘I don’t know why I was so lethargic, why I had no energy, I had nothing.’ And so, these little things happen. (There) was no panic. Look, he was lethargic, they hit a bunch of tough shots, if Marcus Smart doesn’t go 7 for 10 from three, then we’re not even talking about it.”

LeBron looked only marginally better in the first half of Game 4 than he did in the Cavs’ only loss of the postseason. Fortunately, James seemed to get a second wind during the second half after Kyrie Irving did most of the heavy lifting.

Kyrie has some health questions of his own after turning his left ankle. The ankle didn’t stop him from finishing the layup or drilling a subsequent three, but Kyrie does expect to be sore for Game 5. Hopefully, that soreness won’t knock Uncle Drew out of his groove. After a slow start in the playoffs, Kyrie has been on a straight tear during the Eastern Conference Finals. Kyrie has connected on 11 of 19 three point attempts over the last three games. An optimist might suggest that the extra game against the Celtics simply helped Irving find his rhythm.

4. The third hero of the Cavs’ Game 4 victory, Kevin Love, also looked to have tweaked something late in the fourth quarter, but he seems to be fine. While Kyrie and LeBron did the most damage scoring the ball, Kevin had a fantastic overall game, cleaning the glass and moving the rock on his way to a stat line of 17, 17, five assists and two blocks.

Kevin has been hot from the left wing three while still playing with consistent physicality on the block. Sometimes defensive rebounds are taken for granted, but Love’s 15 were obtained from great box-out position and tenacious effort. It’s a shame LeBron missed that tomahawk jam. The box-out, rebound and outlet pass, all almost in one motion, was Love’s beautiful game in a nutshell.