"We're 28-10, we're good."

[Numbers Guy]

Last I checked Antawn Jamison was spot up shooting forward that can't play a lick of D.

So that helps our guard problem how?

Jamison, offensively, is a complete player. He can spot up behind the 3 pt line, pick and pop, pick and roll, face up, go to work with his back to the back basket etc.

Defensively, you're correct.. he's not much of a defender.. but he's a good rebounder and boxes out.

 

[rabman_gold]

For some reason, watching us lose the games really kills me on the inside... but the truth inside me reveals something:

The games now do not indicate everything that happens in June.

I feel that frustration boil inside me but then I pretty much cool down and let bygones be bygones. Plus, what Windy says is interesting and gives me just enough insight to get me through. We can't play like that in the playoffs, which is quite obvious. But isn't it clear to anyone that these games only help to prevent that from happening? I always am able to understand that a loss is still a loss, which ends up becoming good medicine. They'll know not to do what they did yesterday and will keep getting better as a result.

Hell, if they played the way they were capable, the Nuggets wouldn't have stood a chance. So I'm not worried, this will set us up appropriately and we can move on and keep getting better. It's assured that you'll see it on the boards in the locker room for future reference.

28-10 is decent, can be better, but will end up showing them how they should play.

I'll be ready to watch the game Sunday.

 

[Otsego Mar]

The games now do not indicate everything that happens in June.

Hell, if they played the way they were capable, the Nuggets wouldn't have stood a chance.

You could have said the same thing about last year. Hate to burst your bubble rabman

 

[QuadrupleDouble]

I don't believe we lost this game because of Le-Iso by any means. In fact, I'll argue that the only reason we were in this game was because of Le-Iso.

I'm very frustrated with a few things that I think lost us the game last night and not necessarily in this order.

1.) early game complacency
2.) horrible rotations on Billups
3.) Mo Williams not being able to do shit
4.) horrible officiating

1.) early game complacency
This game could have been put away from the get go by just taking this game seriously. Mike Brown should have had them pumped to come out with what had happened with all the other games that night. Instead, Lebron decided this game was a joke and he wasn't going to take it seriously until the very end. You don't see him dancing before he goes out and plays the Lakers or Boston. He didn't use to dance before Detroit. You can tell he brought a "cavalier" attitude to the game that night. (pun fully intended)

If we stepped on their necks early, they would have wilted and given up. Instead, we gave them hope by not contesting jumpers early in the game and not fighting and hustling for boards.

2.) horrible rotations on Billups
Mo was obviously getting handled by Billups all night. He couldn't keep him in front of him, and he sure couldn't shake him to get his offense going. (more on this later) Then we try Anthony Parker? Couldn't guard him and wasn't helping at all.

Delonte did a pretty solid job on him for the most part. I think for the most part, this was a night when even Delonte couldn't stop Le-Iso because he couldn't get anyone to move. The biggest problem I have is that we didn't try Boobie out there on him. He's proved in the past that he can handle Billups on the defensive side. I know he's not known for his amazing D, Billups is one guy he can D the fuck up.

Instead Mike Brown parades out a guy that has no previous play time in Jawad Williams. Boobie was needed out there for sure.

Even though our big guys were tearing it up, I thought we needed to go small anyway. We never went to our small lineup that could have matched up better with the Nuggets and thrown them off their game plan. The small lineup works!

3.) Mo Williams not being able to do shit
Mo was a bitch last night. It is completely true that this team lives or dies with him. If he was even somewhat effective last night, we would have won. Instead he looked like Beacher from Oz when he first got to jail and Billups was that Nazi prick Schillinger. Maybe you'll get to shit on him later Beacher, but right now you're his property.

The guy couldn't defend, couldn't shake Billups to score, and wasn't helping to set anyone else up. I don't know how less effective you could be as a player.

4.) horrible officiating
There might have been a similar amount of fouls called, but the fouls called against us were ridiculous in many circumstances, and the calls that we didn't get were just as egregious. This is one of those games that makes me completely question the integrity of NBA officiating.



Le-Iso was necessary because nobody else could do shit, and nobody else wanted to do shit. The one blame I do want to place on Lebron was his early lazy approach to the game like he could just float around and shoot some dumb jumpers and we'd walk away with the game. I don't think he entered the paint until the 4th quarter.

Hopefully this is a learning moment, but I'm sure we'll see similar results again in about 10 games.

 

[MikeSwim07]

Shaq was playing well until he got into foul trouble. If he would have played more, we would have won.

Mo was hot in the first half but was horrible in the second. AP seemed like he was getting his shot back but only took a few shots so....?

 

[Splitz]

I don't want to hear this crap about what we do now doesn't make a difference come June. What we do now sets the tone for what we do in June. This is when we either make or break bad habits that could come back to haunt us later. It's also going to be a hell of a rude awakening if we are playing a game 7 in a hostile environment because of some easily winnable games that we decided weren't important because the "real season hasn't started".

 

[sjeppe]

The interesting thing about people saying we need an inside scorer is that we had one last night. His name was Shaquille O'Neal and he shot 80%. He just sat on the bench almost the entire second half for reasons nobody really understands.

He had 5 fouls thats why.

 

[rabman_gold]

.... When I said that what we do now doesn't necessarily mean the same thing will happen in June... I meant in regards to playing the same opponent and the same result (seriously, Denver's gonna beat us in June?).

I agree that what we do now will impact what we do in June, but for different reasons. We will learn from the mistakes made and even if they bite us again when it really gets tough, then I suppose the coaching brass will watch the film to see what happened in June. I think this team is able to learn better from losing these types of games, which will be the cause for not matching last year's record. At the same time, the more losses, the more the Cavs will probably want to fix those problems. Look how winning helped the team last year... it actually didn't.

You get what I'm saying?

 

[DougHeil]

I don't want to hear this crap about what we do now doesn't make a difference come June. What we do now sets the tone for what we do in June. This is when we either make or break bad habits that could come back to haunt us later. It's also going to be a hell of a rude awakening if we are playing a game 7 in a hostile environment because of some easily winnable games that we decided weren't important because the "real season hasn't started".

This^

 

[iEchoic]

He had 5 fouls thats why.

You still get 6, right?

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

I know I'm late...BUT..

We had a chance to win the game, Denver hit big, tough, contested shots at the end of regulation and we didn't. Then we lost. It happens.

Sometimes you need to catch a couple of breaks to win on the road against a team that came to play no matter who was playing for them or not. We didn't catch the breaks, we didn't play our best though either.

Regardless, everyone was okay with 3-2 on this upcoming trip, 4-1 is still possible also. Time to move on and beat the piss out of Portland.

The only thing that irked me was that L.A. lost, Boston, lost, and Orlando lost. A win last night would have been very nice.

 

[Splitz]

.... When I said that what we do now doesn't necessarily mean the same thing will happen in June... I meant in regards to playing the same opponent and the same result (seriously, Denver's gonna beat us in June?).

I agree that what we do now will impact what we do in June, but for different reasons. We will learn from the mistakes made and even if they bite us again when it really gets tough, then I suppose the coaching brass will watch the film to see what happened in June. I think this team is able to learn better from losing these types of games, which will be the cause for not matching last year's record. At the same time, the more losses, the more the Cavs will probably want to fix those problems. Look how winning helped the team last year... it actually didn't.

You get what I'm saying?

I get what you're saying but winning wasn't what hurt us last season, it was the fact that we couldn't beat the elite teams. The difference this season is that we are beating the elite teams but dropping games that we would have easily won last season. That indicated to me a lack of focus and a perception that the defensive intensity can be switched on at any moment. This is a better team then last year and is better prepared to matchup with the top teams in the playoffs. I just don't want to see opportunities to grab that one seed taken for granted. You give this version of the Cavs home court throughout the playoffs and I think we have a much better result then last season. It wasn't just necessarily you that I was addressing here Rab. I have heard the "it doesn't matter until the playoffs" argument rehashed many times after losing to teams that we shouldn't have.

 

[Maximus]

I swear I think we would have won the Dallas and Denver game had Dirk and Melo played. When the other team's star is out it seems like we lose our intesity and play down to their level.

 

[kidduck]

From Hoopsworld:

Cavs Offensive Approach is Fool's Gold

Tavis Heath

Watching the Cleveland Cavaliers play on Friday night sitting next to a NBA scout I remarked that LeBron James is without question the best athlete to ever play in the NBA. The scout paused for a second and responded: "You know what, you're right."

Simply put, the guy is freak of nature. His mix of strength, athleticism, and skill-level for his position is unmatched.

However, watching the Cavs play the other thing that became apparent is that Cleveland's coaching staff isn't giving James the best chance to be successful. Most of the sets the team ran in the second-half were simple iso's with James' teammates standing around the perimeter. When the team actually ran a high pick-and-roll James usually made the right read. On the rare occasion where the Cavs had some off the ball movement James found the open man. Thing is, this wasn't done nearly enough.

Putting the ball in James' hands and having everyone else stand doesn't maximize LeBron's seemingly limitless skill-set. It forces him to go one-on-one and the defense can tilt towards him knowing that the players around James will remain stationary more often than not.

After Cleveland's loss to Denver, much to my surprise, no one in the Cavs' locker room seemed to be concerned about the team's offensive approach despite the fact James turned the ball over eight times.

Your friendly neighborhood columnist asked James about the team's lack of offensive movement and how much he has to create in iso sets and LeBron was smiling before I could even get the question all the way out of my mouth. He replied tersely: "We're 28-10. We're good."

Very interesting response, and true on so many levels. However, good is often the biggest enemy of great, and I can't help but wonder whether or not this Cavs' team can be great playing the way they currently play on the offensive end.

The Cavs will win plenty of games simply because of the greatness of James, but the way they are playing on offense is not a recipe for championship success. It's hard not to imagine how good James would be in a system that mandated off the ball movement and put the best player on the team in a position to make a number of different decisions on any given possession such as the one Kobe Bryant plays in under Phil Jackson with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Watching Bryant play with the Lakers is almost like watching a veteran drop-back passer in football go through his progressions as he systematically picks apart the defense. On the other hand, watching James play in Cleveland's system is like watching a free-wheeling quarterback scramble out of the pocket on nearly every possession being forced to make plays simply as a result of his greatness.

In some respects, it's amazing LeBron performs as well as he does given the lack of movement and options he's provided as the team's primary playmaker. However, it's asking a heck of a lot of any great player to carry a team to a championship on the offensive end by simply clearing out and letting your best player go one-on-one on more possessions than not.

Link: http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=14927

 

[Cavatt]

Hoopsworld is right, but we have also seen the opposite. We have seen a lot less iso lately and more sets run through the 4th. I am really surprised Lebron still doesn't get it since playing off the ball has been so successful. Even in that Gent interview he said that Lebron would have higher shooting percentages if he played off the ball.