Yes, it’s the return of the bazooka point. For those of you who are new to Mesa, the bazooka point is our version of a game recap. Tim and I will typically pick one issue to write about each game, an observation or a point of interest, and focus on that, instead of rehashing all four quarters or a series of bullet points. One point. One gun. One bazooka.
Or something like that.
Tonight’s bazooka point will be about offense, more specifically floor spacing and pace.
Ironically, I thought the Cavs suffered from some of the same problems tonight that the Miami Heat faced last night - mainly, their floor spacing was fairly awful. Because both teams played the Celtics, I think we should give some credit to Boston and some credit to new systems and new players learning to play together.
Side note: I hope that’s the last generic thing I write all season long. I probably wouldn’t have written it at all if I hadn’t seen the Cavs deal with similar issues the past two seasons.
At the same time, the Cavs’ spacing in the first half particularly was very, very bad. On numerous occasions I saw players occupying the same general space in the half court. I saw JJ Hickson and Ramon Sessions both cut to the same exact area on one play, as if neither had any concept of the other’s existence. Most importantly, after hearing from pretty much the day that Byron Scott was hired that the Cavs were going to be a running team, I consistently watched the guards walk the ball up the court while the forwards struggled to throw effective outlet passes.
Generally speaking, the Cavs on offense looked a lot like they had no idea what they were doing.
Since I wasn’t able to watch a single preseason game, I can’t say for sure if things were different tonight or similar. But I can say that pace is something we should continue to watch as the season goes on. I’ve been skeptical of Byron Scott’s assertion that the Cavs would be a running team - don’t forget, he went so far as to say on his radio show that the team would look to get a shot up in 6 seconds or less - since none of the squads he previously coached played particularly quickly (only one was in the top 10 in pace, New Jersey in 2001-2002).
Having said all of that, the Cavs actually won! Haha.
And something noteworthy - nobody on the team had a negative raw +/- number. Everyone was in positive territory except for Jamison, who was at zero.
A little bizarre watching tonight’s game. My observations, I have to say, are probably still in preseason form. More to come as the season goes along.
