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Windhorst Radio Show & Updates

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That scout is crazy,, Kyrie is nowhere near the best player in that series.. Both Lebron and Love have been better than him by far so far in the series.
Cavs are -8.8 with him on the floor because of his defense, he needs to step it up soon.

He was +0 while scoring 37 points.. there is only one reason for that. I expect a big game out of him tomorrow and I hope his 3pt shot comes back.
Ahh yes, we're back to using +/- to evaluate player performance? Take it to the Kyrie thread! ;)
 
Sorry, his On/Off is -8.8.. Cavs are +0.5 with him on the floor, but +9.3 with him Off.
Do you think his defense has been good so far? He allows easy penetration every time, trailing Teague on every PnR without the ability to recover.. His defense looks even worse than the RS, I hope it becomes better.

Lebron is On/Off is +31, Cavs are -25 with him off the floor. Love is at +20 and the Cavs are -12 with him off the floor, so saying Kyrie is the best player so far in this series is wrong. I excect him to be better though.
 
Sorry, his On/Off is -8.8.. Cavs are +0.5 with him on the floor, but +9.3 with him Off.
So finally the LeBron + bench crew is doing good things.

Do you think his defense has been good so far? He allows easy penetration every time, trailing Teague on every PnR without the ability to recover.. His defense looks even worse than the RS, I hope it becomes better.
I thought his defense in Game 1 was actually really good. He made Teague irrelevant in that game and Kyrie made several clutch defensive plays down the stretch to help us win. Game 2...his defense was bad.

Lebron is On/Off is +31, Cavs are -25 with him off the floor. Love is at +20 and the Cavs are -12 with him off the floor, so saying Kyrie is the best player so far in this series is wrong. I excect him to be better though.
I don't disagree with this at all. I too think it's nuts to say Kyrie has been our best player in this series. He's been great, but not the best.
 
So finally the LeBron + bench crew is doing good things.


I thought his defense in Game 1 was actually really good. He made Teague irrelevant in that game and Kyrie made several clutch defensive plays down the stretch to help us win. Game 2...his defense was bad.


I don't disagree with this at all. I too think it's nuts to say Kyrie has been our best player in this series. He's been great, but not the best.

His defense was very good in the clutch in game 1, but up until then he was just abysmal man. Watching Delly defend Lowry in the PnR reminds me why the bench was so good with him on the floor, and that's because he is always able to recover from the PnR right in time. Kyrie can't do that.. he is okay as a 1 on 1 defender though.

Don't understand why his advanced stats look that bad so far, but I don't really care about that for now. He looks pretty quick, quicker than he was in the RS.
 
* Scouts have told me that Cavs' on-ball defense is not really worse than average.
* But, scouts say, Cavs' help defense and weakside defense is awful. These are the big problem areas.
* I think this offensive "tense-ness" in the fourth quarter is a scar from the big Hawks comeback game.
* Cavs must break this habit ASAP, no more getting tense when teams make runs at them in the 4th quarter.

Yes!! We don't completely suck on defense :)

Windhorst is really reaching on the last two or deflecting blame from coach Lue. We've been blowing leads in the 2nd half all season

We went away from our offense, our role players didn't get open looks (Korver) and Tristan's man completely ignoring him clogged the paint not to mention fatigue being an issue particularly for LeBron. I would rather blow an 18 point lead in the 3rd and allow LeBron to be well rested going into the final stretch.
 
It looks like Windy kept his job!
 
It looks like Windy kept his job!

Windy getting let go would have been shocking.

He's at the absolute top of the chain in terms of NBA reporters. At ESPN, he's easily their #1 reporter.
 
OK, my like to post ratio is dropping a little, so I'm going to put in the effort for all you guys and transcribe the latest Hey Windy from Tuesday. Transcribed the first 38 minutes until they started to talk Tribe. A lot of this is obvious stuff covered on the board but always interesting to see Windy's take. But I may be prejudiced -- he agrees with me that the Raptors are the toughest opponent in the East for us.


______________________________________________

Cavs got two days off with no practice, about 8 days total with practice -- heck of a lot of rest

Great things for the Cavs to have. Lebron teams used to this because he always seems to sweep in the first round

Exactly what they need, a bunch of players with minor injuries

Kyrie with left knee thing, Korver with foot, TT with thumb, JR with hamstring

Guess that they will really start drilling in and preparing for Toronto Raptors

Raptors have controlled this series

Cavs will install game plan things for Raptors

This rest is great, a really good thing, every team would always choose rest. Vital for Cavs

Interviewer asks -- what did we learn about Cavs in Indiana series, what do you take away most?

Windy -- I have good news and bad news

start with bad news -- despite improvements from Shump and second unit, their defense did not statistically improve

111 points/100 possessions in this round, identical to their post-all star break record

this is 12 points / 100 possessions WORSE than typical first round performance by eventual NBA champions

first team in 20 years to sweep a best of 7 series while allowing 100 points in every game

worst defensive performance by a Lebron team since 2014 Finals. Similar to performance against Magic in 2009

So defense is not healed. They are not out of the woods on defense at all

Good news -- Lebron looked sensational. 1 rebound and 4 assists shy of averaging a triple double for a playoff series

He thought Kyrie had a good first two games, but only had one good quarter in last two games

But Cavs won those games anyway because of good bench play

Deron Williams played great

And bench units could play defense -- e.g. the Shump/DWill/Frye/Lebron/Korver lineup

so if Cavs defense collapses with starters they can pull Kyrie/Love if they need to

it was a close series but Cavs were clearly the better team


Q: Cavs kept giving up big leads -- what is going on when they let other teams back in the game?

Cavs play best when they are in transition after getting stops, they don't look so good playing a slower ISO game

when Cavs get up they tend to slow down, then they don't get a lot of stops because the D is weak

so they tend to lose leads that way -- slow down, fail to get stops, slow down more

play better when they are down sometimes because they have to hurry and speed up

they will have to work on their habit of slowing down


asks about JR behind the back pass

Windy -- JR has regressed a little

JR also regressed after getting his long term contract in NY

but of course injury, personal situation contributes


talk about the 3 pointers at the end of the 4th game, claim by NBA that he traveled

Windy is fine with last two minutes report. But at the same time, there is no freaking way any ref calls travel on that Lebron 3. Nor would the league want them to. It's a flow of the game thing.

thinks they may expand the last two minutes report to entire playoff games


Q: when people get physical with KLove his lack of athleticism really shows up. Limits his value. How valuable is he over the long term from a playoff perspective?

Windy -- very fair question. KLove rebounds with positioning, not athleticism, he doesn't get high off the ground

he struggles with interior shots near the basket

limited athleticism + knee problems

he is still a valuable player, but all this is definitely a factor. Cavs will have to think about it.

but does think his ability to play alongside Lebron, his ability to find places to shoot, he can be effective.

Q: is there anything the Cavs do better than the Warriors, do the Cavs even have a chance in the Finals?

Windy -- what a buzzkill to bring up the Warriors.

The Warriors are looking absolutely sensational right now.

they took apart Portland even though some significant players were injured. Pretty scary.

What do the Cavs have that the Warriors don't? They have Lebron James. He's a great equalizer

but it's early in the playoffs yet. Reminds him of last year

Right now, I don't like the Cavs chances. But they're not playing right now

Q: thoughts on Mike Brown coaching the Warriors?

Kerr is in bad physical shape, a lot of pain

belief is that the docs can fix the symptoms with the week off, expect to see Steve Kerr back

hired Brown as lead assistant because he had head coaching experience, just in case

Brown has won nine different playoff series

Brown really good at making in-series playoff adjustments

no matter what your memory says, Brown does have a good track record


Q: what do players do during all this time off? Do they leave and hit the party scene (lol) or stay and work out?

players have had two days off, they could have gone anywhere or do anything

but typically what you see this time of year is that players will get treatment or do workouts.

Cavs have world class massage therapists at their facility. Also a great chef who cooks to order. Light shooting work maybe.

during this week Cavs will have one or two contact practices, go full out five on five

they bang, call fouls, etc. Or practices that focus on conditioning

Lebron likes to turn these off times into mini training camp

Lebron does wind sprints and stuff


Q: Raptors-Bucks -- have the Raptors found their stride? Are they the more difficult matchup? Compare Raptors and Bucks

Windy -- I saw the Raptors as the biggest threat to the Cavs in the playoffs [NOTE -- I agree]

Cavs have not really played *this* Raptors team. Haven't played against Raptors with Ibaka and PJ Tucker

Cavs really wanted PJ Tucker but couldn't come up with a deal that worked

Because of this he believes Raptors became the best defensive team in the East post-trade

Lowry has been so-so, still has some injury issues, a lower back problem, but he has done some clutch stuff this series

Raptors lineup switch -- took JV out of starting lineup and started Norman Powell

transformative move -- Powell had sensational game, playing great

Powell shooting 89% from 3 this series

moved Ibaka to center in small lineup starting

they will also have great size off their bench (JV and Patrick Patterson)

expects Raptors to win.

Bucks start two rookies -- Brogdon and Thon Maker

Giannis struggles shooting.

Delly's shot is completely off. He can't hit the broad side of a barn, huge hitch in his shot

Bucks have fantastic length but offensively challenged

Raptors are hungry, have been looking forward to this series all season

Raptors will not be intimidated by the Cavs

This Raptors team is deep, experienced, and will not be afraid


Q: Believes Wizards will go to ECF. Are the Wizards the scariest team out there? Also, how does Mike Brown change the Warriors?

Windy -- Mike Brown does not change the Warriors. he will not change a thing.

re Wizards vs Raptors, Windy thinks the Raptors are scarier for the Cavs, Raptors are the bigger threat

Raptors have a lot more depth than the Wizards

John Wall is scary, but Wizards not as much

you could not put Kyrie on John Wall, he thinks. Wiz require defensive adjustment that way

But Wizards have very suspect bench, and also very wobbly / unreliable defense

Raptors go 9 or 10 deep with quality NBA players, Wizards go 6 to 7 deep maybe.

But whatever happens Cavs will be facing very good guards going forward.

[They start talking about Indians]
 

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