The big note from tonight’s game is on the subtler impact of the Cavs not having Zydrunas Ilgauskas for the next thirty days or more. We can’t just think about what Z does that the team will miss - we have to think about what Z’s replacements will do.
Watching tonight’s game, we saw three major issues.
1) Glitch will likely get more minutes.
2) Shaq has to try and save his fouls.
3) Because of #1 and #2 Mike Brown’s rotations are out of wack.
Glitch was back to earning his nickname during the 30 minutes he spent on the court (19.3 MPG is his average; he didn’t play in OT). Yes, he was 5/7 from the field and even 4/5 from the line - but he also had 2 turnovers and only 2 rebounds.
He glitched a ton, too. He stood and watched on one play, while Andy Varejao blocked The Birdman’s shot, fought but failed to get the rebound, and then contested the second shot all by himself.When JJ took the ball out of bounds afterward, Andy yelled at him. And then there was a completely blown rebound on a missed free throw that practically rolled down his back for Kenyon Martin to pick off.
Shaq was able to play 30 minutes, which isn’t great considering this was an overtime game and Z wasn’t available (Shaq’s averaging 23.1 MPG for the season).
What may be worse than both the Glitch and the Shaq issues is the effect they have on Mike Brown’s rotation. This, frankly, has never been Coldstone’s strong suit. We saw him use Shaq and Z together in the opening two games of this season poorly; we saw a similar problem with Mo Williams and LeBron at the beginning of last. Simply put, Mike is not great at adjusting to new rotations.
Tonight, the whole system seemed to be screwed up. Jamario Moon didn’t play. Jawad Williams did. That was bad (I’ll let you check the box score). I’m certain this contributed to the Cavs being outrebounded by 4. Anthony Parker continues to frustrate, although his numbers weren’t horrible tonight - zero turnovers was good, for sure, and he even had a dunk - but he’s still too one-dimensional to have to be playing over 30 minutes.
Admittedly, some of these dynamics will change over the course of the next few days once Antawn Jamison and Leon Powe are activated … which will probably only throw Mike’s rotation into a deeper tailspin. Mo Williams working his way back in, too, won’t help. Neither will having to re-integrate Z, if a buyout and re-signing does indeed occur.
The winning streak is over. The trade deadline is over. And the Raptors’ mascot keeps eating cheerleaders.
