2017-2018 Boston Celtics: No Irving! No Hayward! No Brooklyn Pick!

[Ohio]

Injured or not, this was a forgettable series for Kyrie. Probably the worst of his career.

Gonna need him to get it together before long.

 

[LennoxLewis]

Injured or not, this was a forgettable series for Kyrie. Probably the worst of his career.

Gonna need him to get it together before long.

Yea he did a great job at scoring, but his playmaking and defense were inconsistent throughout.

He doesn't need to be a pass 1st guy, but would great to see him find guys when they have a better shot and not get into these PG duels and go 1 on 1.

 

[Tornicade]

I am sure the team only having 11 assist had nothing to do with the Cavs shooting 29% from three. Kyrie was 9-18 from 2 point land with 7 free throws. He also has 1 steal and 3 blocks vs 1 turnover.

Meanwhile Love had 3 assist and 4 turnovers and LeBron only had 4 assist on 25 shots.

Looks like Pacers were focused on shutting down the passing lanes and daring Lebron and Irving to Iso. Doesn't look like it worked out for Indiana.

 

[godfather]

Like I said in the game thread, his pick and roll defense is absolutely atrocious. And someone honestly suggested he can guard John Wall? Like what planet are we living on thinking he can do that? He can't even guard Teague, in whom is much inferior.

 

[We'reAllKyrieWitnesses]

Like I said in the game thread, his pick and roll defense is absolutely atrocious. And someone honestly suggested he can guard John Wall? Like what planet are we living on thinking he can do that? He can't even guard Teague, in whom is much inferior.

YEAH FUCK THAT GUY

 

[godfather]

YEAH FUCK THAT GUY

Not exactly. We all know he's pivotal to this team, and we're going to need him if we're going to win it all.

But it is pretty depressing watching Kyrie play pick-and-roll defense, to be honest. I'd love to be very kind to him on that, given I'm as bias as it gets with him too.

But I can't sit here and sugar coat it. If he were just bad as a pick-and-roll defender, I'd take it. But he's not, he's literally got to be one of the worst 3 in the league at defending it.

And it's not that I think Kyrie isn't trying, he is, he played hard defensively. Defensively in isolation he's not bad (when he's trying), he'll get out and challenge shots. He'll get his hands into passing lanes, and he'll even recover and alter shots when he gets beat at times.

But when it comes to actually defending the pick-and-roll, woof, it's not pretty, man.

 

[priceFTW]

The good news is that the Cavs were able to win 4 out of 4 games with Kyrie playing arguably his worst playoffs series ever. If he's injured, it's best he sit and get better because he's not helping playing like this.

What's miraculous is that the Cavs had by far the best offense in the NBA playoffs DESPITE the fact that thier highest usage player was so inefficient which never happens in the NBA playoffs. Kyrie's usage was 37.1% coming into this last game which is extremely high. To give you an idea, Michael Jordan's career playoffs usage% was 35.6%. A 99 ORTg on 37% usage and yet the team still had the best offense means that an offense this good looks to be sustainable since it's unlikely Kyrie is this poor offensively throughout the playoffs.

The numbers are exceedingly ugly.

• Coming into game 4 per BKREF, Kyrie's ORTG was 99 and DRTG 121 for a NET rating of -22.
• Cavs with Kyrie On court: 119.7 ORTg, 125.4 DRTg, -5.8 per 100 possessions while on court;
• Cavs with Kyrie Off court: 135.7 ORTg, 108.3 DRTg, +27.4 per 100 possessions
• Limited amount of possessions but the Cavs are about 16 points per 100 possessions better on offense and 17 points per 100 possessions better on defense for a total of 34 points per 100 possessions better while Kyrie has sat.

Cavs' ORTG going into game 4 (most of these will drop after game 4 with Kyrie's will slightly rise).

DWill: 197!
Frye: 162
Stump: 162
Korver: 145
KLove: 137
Jefferson: 127
LBJ: 121
TT: 121
JR: 111
Kyrie: 99

Cavs' DRTg going into game 4

LBJ: 110
Frye: 115
TT: 119
KLove: 119
Shump: 120
Korver: 120
Kyrie: 121
Jefferson: 123
DWill: 124
JR: 126

• Kyrie was last on the team in:
• wins shares per 48 (-.032)
• last in offensive Box_plus_minus (-5.2)
• last in defensive Box_plus_minus (-3.1)
• last in overall Box_plus_minus (-8.4; next worst was JR at -2.8)
• last in VORP (only one at a negative)
• last in Total_Points_Added (-24).

Then there's his defensive numbers per SportsVU. They're horrific.

Overall: 59.4 DFG%, opponents usually shoot 45.7%, +13.6%
Threes: 47.4% DFG%, opponents usually shoot 38.2%, +9.2
Twos: 76.9 DFG%, opponents usually shoot 49.3%, +27.6%
<6ft: 66.7% DFG%, opponents usually shoot 59.4%, +7.3%
<10ft: 80% DFG%, opponents usually shoot 50.4%, +29.6%
>15ft: 47.8% DFG%, opponents usually shoot 40.9%, +6.9%

What's worse is that these numbers don't record the plays in which he gets screened out of a play and the defense breaks down and someone else contests the shot (open shot in the lane or open three). This of course happens a lot because they target him no matter who he is guarding.

So, it's unlikely Kyrie plays any worse than this. Some of his numbers will be a bit better after today's game. Even if he doesn't distribute or play better defense, if he just scores at his usual rate, the team will build leads against Eastern teams, at least. But that assumes that LeBron continues to play at peak level and not have any bad games.

 

[We'reAllKyrieWitnesses]

Ahh, it's gonna be such a great week for this thread

 

[godfather]

Wow, that's a series Kyrie would like to forget. I hope he plays better going forward.

At least he wasn't last in Dtrg? LOL

 

[brownsbuck6]

Quite the luxury now to have D-Will backing him up.. if he doesn't get better.. his minutes will be cut. Of that I have no doubt.

 

[czvo]

He is the only guy on the team that really didn't get a break in the offseason because of the Olympics. Not surprising that he's more banged up than the rest.

 

[ice cream man]

Kyrie did not play hard defensively in that series. Not at all. I mean sure you can point to a play here and there where he hustled. But for a full 24 seconds on defense? Hell no. Most times when he hit a screen we had to switch cuz he made little effort to fight through. Or he just wasn't even ready to fight through.

Numbers don't necessarily backup an "effort" argument, but:
He averaged 2.25 rebounds for the series. We also know he didn't shoot a good percentage. Physically and mentally is was a bad series for Kyrie.

Kyrie and JR need to give more effort on the defensive end, stop giving up on plays, and at least try to get some of those 50/50 long rebounds.

 

[JMoneyYourHoney]

He is the only guy on the team that really didn't get a break in the offseason because of the Olympics. Not surprising that he's more banged up than the rest.

It's precisely why I didn't want him playing in the Olympics.

 

[Zog]

If a whole series of rest plus this time off after the sweep is enough time for him to get healthy, then just start Deron. We will take care of the Raptors or Bucks with Deron. Plus, Deron's size should actually be really effective in guarding Lowry or Brogdon.

 

[godfather]

It's precisely why I didn't want him playing in the Olympics.

I hope that was a one time thing for him. Got your gold medal, but rest up in the off-season Kyrie, from now on.