Really terrible game from everyone involved with the Cavaliers tonight, except I’d say Andy Varejao who continues to be amazingly active and productive.
I am, and have been, a Mike Brown apologist, but I have no idea what he’s doing right now in terms of the rotation. The guys don’t look comfortable at all: Z was 0-9 from the field (2/11/09 was the last time he shot 0% and that was on 5 attempts) and the team had 12 turnovers; worse, they only forced 6 on the Bulls, who are not exactly a great offensive club (27th in the league going into this game).
Mo Williams’s shooting was another example, including the bad brick he heaved off the backboard on the Cavs second to last possession. 1-7 from 3P is uncharacteristic, although he was probably due for a poor night given that he had been shooting 56% from 3P.
Side note: Michael Malone is now the offensive coordinator and Melvin Hunt is the defensive coordinator. Malone is replacing John Kuester, who left to coach Joe Dumars’s team of Joe Dumars-like players in Detroit, and Hunt is replacing…Malone, who was the defensive coordinator last year. I assume they have a reason for this, but why create change at two coaching positions when you really only had to create change at one?
Jamario Moon got another Coach’s DNP. Instead of going small with either Bron or Moon at the 4 so the defense could switch the pick and roll with Chicago’s better shooting bigs (Brad Miller, Taj Gibson), we were treated once again to the Twin Towers package…which is horrible in the pick and roll and in transition.
The only way the Twin Towers can work is if the perimeter guys can hold down the defense and Shaq and Z can both be effective offensively. Tonight, by the very fact that Z did not make a shot, and Shaq looked like he didn’t really decide he wanted to play until the second half, that wasn’t the case.
In another rotation gaff, Bron started the 4th quarter and then was taken out in the middle of it - which is completely out of pattern.
On the topic of Bron, he also played lackadaisically - but I’m sure he was saving energy to try and go for 50 in the Garden on Friday night.
The Cavs beat the Bulls on the boards 40-37, but on the offensive glass they were terrible. Shaq didn’t have a single offensive rebound and was constantly out of position or not expounding effort to try and keep possessions alive. Z had 6 offensive boards, which makes his horrible shooting night even worse since usually offensive rebounds lead to higher percentage shots.
Anthony Parker continues to frustrate the hell out of me…and then I look at the stats and see that he didn’t play as poorly as I thought he did. However, he needs to stop forcing two point shots. 3-3 on 3P and 1-6 on 2’s. 35 minutes for AP and 0 min for the Moon Man is a travesty.
If you remember from the EC Finals last year, inside Orlando’s huddle, Stan Van Gundy would constantly be yelling at his team to run. The coaches’ huddles I’ve seen so far this season have been very similar. In other words, the Cavs big defensive weakness from last season - transition - is still there, and one of the major cogs Danny Ferry got in the off-season to try and help with athleticism and speed…Jamario…is stuck on the bench.
One of the ongoing conversations within the NBA this season has been, and will continue to be, the concept of employing big men with 3P shooting range. Guys like Ryan Anderson in Orlando and Andrea Bargnani in Toronto. Most of the time these players are PF’s, but sometimes they’re C’s - the key is that largely teams are putting at least 4 players on the floor who can shoot from behind the arc (or at least spread the floor a little bit).
The Lakers can do this with Odom, the Celtics with Rasheed, and Orlando can do it with just about everyone besides Da-wight.
This is one of the things the Cavs still can’t do, despite all of their versatile pieces, and it’s hurting them on both ends of the floor. Yes, Z can shoot it (or he used to be able to), but he can’t guard Rashard Lewis, for example.
The concern here is that the Cavs are built on an old model, before the NBA realized that the corner three is the most efficient shot in basketball, and that the 3P in general is a higher percentage play than taking a mid-range jump shot.
This is why the rumors about Stephen Jackson make no sense. If the Cavs are going to make a deal, they need to do it for one of these new model 4’s, not another 2 guard.
Which brings us to the Cavs most athletic PF, JJ Hickson, who was so bad tonight that I sarcastically asked Tim when Leon Powe was going to be ready. I knew the answer, of course, but I had to ask anyway - and I root for JJ. Two rebounds in 3 minutes is good, but 0-4 shooting in that same amount of time is Golden State status.
Good no call on the officials at the end of the game, I thought. There was some late body contact from Noah, but I thought that Bron lost the ball in the middle of the play anyway.
Overall, a very discouraging night. More discouraging, in my mind, than the Toronto game because at least the Cavs put together a few excellent runs of both offense and defense there. Tonight, they looked average to bad for most of the game, after showing some improvement in the previous two contests, against a team that’s not very good. For most of all four quarters, the Cavs seemed apathetic…
I reminded myself, after that realization, that the Lakers were the same way for much of the season last year - and they won the championship - so maybe it’s okay. Still, they won 65 games…so the Cavs better get it going. This idea of “we’ll be ready when the playoffs come” is extremely dicey. As I’ve written before #1 and #2 seeds win championships - other teams don’t.
The only other “elite” team that’s struggling this much right now is San Antonio at 2-2, who also lost to Chicago.
“New York State of Mind” tonight/tomorrow, depending on when you’re reading this.
Oh, one last note. This doesn’t pertain to anything, but Don Nelson played Monta Ellis 47 minutes on Wednesday in a non-OT game against the Grizzlies, who utilize one of the most stupendous offenses in the history of mankind: Run at the basket and jack it up.
