Z and Shaq on the floor together AGAIN??? God no...

[Cavatt]

That wall that Mike Brown said we put around Kobe was exactly how they guarded us last year. The big difference was that we hit some shots and opened everything up this time. We just have better offensive weapons than we did last time, and they couldn't guard all our guys.

 

[jason436]

We have to be willing to let Coach Brown experiment with the lineups. It might not look pretty at times but if we're going to use Shaq and Z together against the Lakers, Magic and maybe even the Celtics then we need to get them some time together on the court in game situations. It might not work well against some teams but they are going to need more time together then just against those select teams.

I really think Moon is going to be a wild card for us. He brings defense, length and athleticism and is an opportunistic scorer. Have Moon allows Lebron to guard a lesser man until necessary.

Also a lot has been made of Lebron being more productive when Shaq is out. Well part of this is they haven't played a lot together and the other part is they're trying to get Shaq touches to get easy scorers and or the oppositions big men in foul trouble. Another plus from this is Lebron isn't expending a lot of energy on offense when we're feeding Shaq.

Another thing I've seen with Shaq is that with Z and him, Shaq is making people pay for driving to the hoop. He's not afraid to use his fouls and will sit guys on their butt when they try. Hey when he gets in foul trouble we go to Z or even Varejao in a small lineup. Shaq doesn't have to worry about staying on the floor nearly as much as in years past.

 

[Prime 1978]

Thought this would be a Happy Christmas.......Guess not.

How does your crow taste?

 

[Benny08302]

Bynum is basically a lesser developed Dwight Howard, so having Shaq on him was the first thing I had in my mind.

Gasol was guarded well by Z last year. So I was hoping that matchup could be used again.

These two men negated everything Dwight had last year in the Finals. Because they had more to throw at D12. Just like we finally had two legitimate offensive and lengthy (and somewhat strong) big men, better than last year of course.

So Odom was the one that worried me. Andy was really ready for him this time. Andy usually can stick it to them, but got hit hard when he didn't expect quickness and ability from big guys like Lewis and Odom. Odom really got frustrated.

This matchup was clearly possible because of Shaq. Last year, Ben guarding Pau and Andy guarding Bynum was just not in the cards for good results. Now you see the difference it makes from the previous year.

And the twin towers isn't meant for a full season. Neither guy has any real foot speed to help compensate for the other, like Tim was able to do with David in the last year of his career (2003, and Dave wasn't too slow either). But it's a good possibility against the contenders. Just wish Mike could've figured it out in preseason, but oh well... lesson learned.

Shaq can deal with Perkins, Dwight, and Bynum just fine as we see. Z can hold his ground against Wallace, Gortat (who has no offensive game), and Pau. Garnett is a difficult cover that may need multiple people. Rashard, Odom, Davis, among the other perimeter bigs are a good shot to be guarded by Andy, Jamario, J.J. (if he's actually able to hold his ground for a minute or 2), Leon (if he can come back healthy), and LeBron.

We have some outs, but we'll need some luck, decent seeding, and ability to play at the highest level like we did tonight (calling Coach Brown).

Twin Towers FTW-at-least-against-big-lineups-right...

Disagree, Andrew Bynum has a baby hook shot.

Agreed. The Twin Towers should be able to hold their own against both Boston and Orlando. And I really don't think either guy would have trouble guarding KG at this stage of his career (he's a skinny, jumpshooter with bum knees).

 

[rabman_gold]

Disagree, Andrew Bynum has a baby hook shot.

Agreed. The Twin Towers should be able to hold their own against both Boston and Orlando. And I really don't think either guy would have trouble guarding KG at this stage of his career (he's a skinny, jumpshooter with bum knees).

Okay, so maybe Andrew has a LITTLE hook shot. It still doesn't mean he's the defender that Howard is or can capitalize like Howard has. There's no range. Howard is technically a lesser developed O'Neal, so between those three players, doesn't it hit home? Shouldn't that be the case?

Oh well. I wouldn't write off Garnett, if he's at full power and healthy. He's one of those guys that makes it tough. I saw that in the opening night game this 2009-2010 year.

The problem for Garnett will be if his stamina will be hurt, if he'll be injured more, or if something will go down for him. Andy held his own in 2008 because of that. Not sure if Shaq should be covering him from a further distance. Z could probably do something okay, but he's still much slower. LeBron might be able to. That's it, though.

 

[Benny08302]

Okay, so maybe Andrew has a LITTLE hook shot. It still doesn't mean he's the defender that Howard is or can capitalize like Howard has. There's no range. Howard is technically a lesser developed O'Neal, so between those three players, doesn't it hit home? Shouldn't that be the case?

Oh well. I wouldn't write off Garnett, if he's at full power and healthy. He's one of those guys that makes it tough. I saw that in the opening night game this 2009-2010 year.

The problem for Garnett will be if his stamina will be hurt, if he'll be injured more, or if something will go down for him. Andy held his own in 2008 because of that. Not sure if Shaq should be covering him from a further distance. Z could probably do something okay, but he's still much slower. LeBron might be able to. That's it, though.

Heh. and I know what ya meant with Bynum. I'm just beyond baffled that Dwight Howard still doesn't have any go-to moves. It really boggles my mind, if he can't dunk he's not scoring (as we all saw yesterday against Boston).

From the little I've seen, Shaq seems to move fairly well laterally when he's guarding a (big) guy face up. Well, maybe he doesn't move well but he moves better than I expect him to.

I'm not saying KG is done but he's older and his game has changed. And what does "full power and healthy" actually mean? Playing without pain? Trusting his knees? Cutting and planting well? Garnett may regain his strength and stamina (if he stays healthy) but I doubt we're gonna see him taking guys off the dribble on a regular basis. Z or Shaq should be able to stay with him for the most part.

 

[rabman_gold]

I still don't trust the scenario completely.

The only way to make sure is playing another game against Boston. We've seen the team do well against 2 of the 3 elites. Let's get a road win in Boston (finally).

 

[nime]

They were stuck in a half-court game because of the way we executed.

Once they're in that half-court, Gasol can still use his speed against Z..but he's still running into Shaq...and after Shaq knocked this shit out of Gasol early, Gasol took like 5 straight jumpers and never went near Shaq again. He was fucking rattled as hell.

You nailed Gasol last night. After Shaq's hit, he turned into a little boy.
Did absolutely nothing after that hit.

You love to have Shaq because of those hits.

Boston's defense exposed LA two years ago. They were lucky that Bos wasn't healthy and Cleveland didn't get it done vs Orlando. Cleveland or Boston would have exposed the same flaws last year.

IMO, the best two teams in the NBA are in the East. A healthy Popovich squad still has a great chance to take out LA as well.

I am sticking with my prediction we see a SA and Cleveland re-match.

 

[buzzdog]

We should call Shaq "Sherwin Williams" because he owns the paint.

As far as the Boston match-ups go we were hampered badly in the first game against them, by lack of cohesiveness and the fact that West was out. The cohesiveness is coming together on both ends of the court, it was just a matter of playing enough games together. AV has always given KG fits as long as he doesn't have to leave him alone helping others in the help defense. If the guards can stay in front of their man AV can slow down KG enough to beat them.

Missing Delonte was a huge factor in the first game against the Celts. Delonte is critical to take Rondo out of his game, to disrupt him and keep him from going off against us. Without Rondo driving and dishing the Celts become very ordinary offensively. Parker should be able to clamp down on Allen, matching up old against older. LeBron can limit Pierce enough as well, and our bench is now looking very strong and should hold their own against the Celts.

The upcoming game in Boston will be our next statement game.

 

[Spencer Hawes]

Disagree, Andrew Bynum has a baby hook shot.

Agreed. The Twin Towers should be able to hold their own against both Boston and Orlando. And I really don't think either guy would have trouble guarding KG at this stage of his career (he's a skinny, jumpshooter with bum knees).

Bynum has that little baby hook that is a good shot for him when it's about 3-4 feet away from the basket. But he can't really back Shaq down like he does with the other centers in the league so the percentage of his shot goes down. But that's pretty much all the moves he has. Even though Shaq is older, you can still see he has plenty of moves in the post and he can get his shot off against any center in the league.

Orlando now doesn't matchup well when Shaq is on the floor because they either have to put Dwight on Shaq (which Van Gundy and Howard doesn't want to do :chuckles or bring in another big to play with Howard which negates the advantage they have of playing Lewis at the 4.

 

[Gunther]

Cavaliers notebook: Shaq, Ilgauskas prove to be big obstacles for opponents.
By Chris Beaven
CantonRep.com staff writer
Posted Dec 31, 2009 @ 12:19 AM

CLEVELAND —They spent just over a minute together on the court Tuesday night. But that was enough time for Hawks Head Coach Mike Woodson to realize the Cavs using Shaquille O’Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas together can be scary.

“There’s no room to maneuver around the paint,” Woodson said. “When your talking about trying to get to the rim, they clog up things. You’re basically becoming a jump shooter and if you’re lucky enough to get to the free-throw line by drawing fouls, that’s a bonus.”

Using the 7-foot-1 O’Neal and 7-3 Ilgauskas together was something the Cavs had little success with early on. But they used them together effectively in beating the Lakers on Christmas, and brought it back for a brief encore at Atlanta.

But even playing separately, Woodson said it’s tough to attack the Cavs.

“They have a huge team,” Woodson said. “(Anderson) Varejao is just as big, too. ... They’re like the Lakers now. The Lakers won it last year with two 7-footers on the floor that were dynamic.”

SOURCE

 

[cav jvl]

Z is our stretch PF