Game 3: Cavaliers @ Celtics - Fri, May 7, 7:00pm [ESPN]

[Rise Against]

Taken from heathmalc.. Don't have time to make a game thread.

Game #3 at a glance:

I have noticed that a lot of you want to see JJ at PF and LeBron at SG, with Antawn at SF, and Delonte at PG. The problem is this: Delonte cannot handle the ball even half as well as Mo. If he could... we would have traded Mo a LONG TIME AGO!!! Unfortunately, Delonte is only about as good as a poor PG with his handle (which is still great...for a SG). Antawn on Paul Pierce? Are you guys totally crazy??? Jamison cannot guard Pierce... maybe he can switch onto him for spells, but he cannot guard him one on one...not even close; Paul would go right by him. What makes that matchup worse is that Paul CAN guard Jamison... Paul can guard the parimeter. Yeah, Antawn could beat Paul in the post 99 times out of 100... but Paul wouldn't be guarding him there... Garnett would.
On the Parimeter, Ray Allen can guard LeBron... as he has done well quite a few times this post-season. LeBron Becomes dangerous when driving the ball... because then there is nobody on the court (except JJ Hickson - Yes, JJ can stick LeBron...he does it all the time in practice), that can stick LeBron... unless they want to foul...and even then, he makes 53.6% of those attempts (when getting fouled... it's 71.9% when he isn't fouled).

And, even if none of those things were true... who would we have on the bench? Mo and Andy. Moon for very short periods. In short, we'd have NO BENCH! We couldn't bring Mo in as a defensive stopper, or to hold the game at the status-quo for 5 minutes while the starters rest. We couldn't do this because Mo's best defense, is his offense. It is sad, but true. If Mo scores 20 every game, and grades out at a C-minus on defense... then his offense and the team's help-D off-set any deficiencies he has on defense. Delonte cannot run an offense. This has been proven at St.Johns, in Boston, Seattle, and now Cleveland. What Delonte CAN DO, is play above-average defense, he can shoot the mid-range very consistently, and he can handle the ball when needed. He can come off the bench for a scoring burst, and defensive presence.

At any rate, the line-up proposed by some of the posters here, in theory sounds good...but, in-reality, is very bad.

The Mo dilemma:
Mo Williams is a streak shooter. We all know that. Mo Williams is a poor defender... we all know that. What many fans do not realize though, is that Mo Willams is one of the very best ball-handlers in the NBA. Don't believe me? When was the last time you saw Mo cornered by 1, 2, or 3 opposing players, and forced to give-up the ball...either a jump-ball or a turn-over, or forced to call a time-out? Don't remember? The reason you don't remember is because it has NEVER happened to him. Weird, eh? Check out the S.I. article on him from Oct? 2008. They talk about Mo's uncanny ability with the ball. Remember in game to when Ray Allen tripped him...Mo goes sliding, but keeps the dribble going, and despite the close-out on him, he manages to get the ball away for a score? LeBron... in the same scenario (almost) is closed-out by Pierce and another Celtics...and he turns the ball over. Delonte...turned the ball over in the same situation vs a 1-man corner (DRose) vs Chicago.

So here is the Dilemma: Mo is such a good shooter, and has amazing ability with the ball, but his defense is bad. His understanding of the defense is good...and he is always in the right spot...he just doesn't have the lateral quickness, or the hands to stop his opponent. So, the dilemma was to either keep Mo at PG or to trade him. If they keep him, then they have to get a long defender who can bring excellent help-defense, and cover for him. Enter - Anthony Parker. Problem with AP is that his lateral speed isn't great either; though his hands are. BUT... when he is chasing Ray around, it makes it difficult to help Mo...IE: weakness exposed.

The answer to the weakness:

This seemingly unfix-able weakness that the Cavaliers have is not fixed by changing the line-up; but rather changing the defensive assignments, and tightening the rotations on screens and P&R's. Example: Mo should guard Ray Allen. Ray is bigger, but he moves slow laterally...just like Mo. That means that Ray's shots will come off of pick&pop or pull-ups... (except 8 points, and free-throws, everyone of Ray's points in this series AND the Miami series - combined, have come this way. This means the difference between Mo and AP guarding Ray is negligible...except Mo is faster, and has a better chance of chasing Ray than AP. Whereas AP can guard Rondo a little better (not a LOT better) because of his height and reach/quick hands.

The one person I would add to the starting line-up is JJ Hickson. The reason for this is 2-fold: JJ is a lot stronger than Jamison, and he is faster, and a lot more athletic, thus he will be more of a problem for Garnett than Jamison...plus JJ can post Garnett up despite Kevin's size advantage. The second reasoning for this, is that is gives the Cavaliers another weapon off the bench, who can score a lot of points in a hurry. A Bench of: Jamison, West, Moon, Varejao, Gibson, Ilgauskas and Powe is more dangerous than one with Hickson in it.

Hickson is not a great shooter...but he can make shots, and has to be defended. The fact that he is so much quicker/faster than the guys that would guard him, makes him a liability to the Boston defense. Boston uses the "X" defense. This type of defense allows for 1 roamer, with the other four players surrounding the paint. It is a great defense if the rotations are tight. It has been pretty effective against the Cavaliers, as the Roamer gets to watch LeBron, while the other 4 rotate & help. With JJ on the floor, he creates what is called either a reverse P&R or a Diversion screen. He is so athletic, that he can set the screen, then move to the basket...forcing the defender & helper (roamer) to move to him/his area... this creates space, and allows the Cavs to either rotate the ball to the wing for a 3; for LeBron to drive & score, or Kick, or to throw a lob to JJ for an easy 2. This was one of the Cavaliers' main plays during the season, and it was a damn near perfect play, as it was virtually unguardable. When Antawn was added to the team, this play (ran 40% of the time according to 82games.com) was thrown out... despite the fact it was one of the very best plays they had. This play was stolen from the Phoenix playbook (kinda)... where Nash has the ball at the top of the key, he dribbles toward the paint, into the key,...Amare shadows to the left or right, Frye sets up on the corner, while Richardson sets up on the quarter... Nash pulls the defenders in, then either dumps to Amare, kicks to Frye or Richardson, or pulls up for a mid-ranger. Imagine if Amare was removed from that play and replaced with Antoine Wright? Well, that is basically what happened with the Cavs... Only Antawn is better than Wright, but he doesn't have the athleticism to make the play work...which is why you almost never see it anymore.

I think Powe will be activated for game #3 and Jawad will be a DNP-CD. It's been the other way around for the playoffs thus far.

[beantownski]

Taken from heathmalc.. Don't have time to make a game thread.

Game #3 at a glance:

I have noticed that a lot of you want to see JJ at PF and LeBron at SG, with Antawn at SF, and Delonte at PG. The problem is this: Delonte cannot handle the ball even half as well as Mo. If he could... we would have traded Mo a LONG TIME AGO!!! Unfortunately, Delonte is only about as good as a poor PG with his handle (which is still great...for a SG). Antawn on Paul Pierce? Are you guys totally crazy??? Jamison cannot guard Pierce... maybe he can switch onto him for spells, but he cannot guard him one on one...not even close; Paul would go right by him. What makes that matchup worse is that Paul CAN guard Jamison... Paul can guard the parimeter. Yeah, Antawn could beat Paul in the post 99 times out of 100... but Paul wouldn't be guarding him there... Garnett would.
On the Parimeter, Ray Allen can guard LeBron... as he has done well quite a few times this post-season. LeBron Becomes dangerous when driving the ball... because then there is nobody on the court (except JJ Hickson - Yes, JJ can stick LeBron...he does it all the time in practice), that can stick LeBron... unless they want to foul...and even then, he makes 53.6% of those attempts (when getting fouled... it's 71.9% when he isn't fouled).

And, even if none of those things were true... who would we have on the bench? Mo and Andy. Moon for very short periods. In short, we'd have NO BENCH! We couldn't bring Mo in as a defensive stopper, or to hold the game at the status-quo for 5 minutes while the starters rest. We couldn't do this because Mo's best defense, is his offense. It is sad, but true. If Mo scores 20 every game, and grades out at a C-minus on defense... then his offense and the team's help-D off-set any deficiencies he has on defense. Delonte cannot run an offense. This has been proven at St.Johns, in Boston, Seattle, and now Cleveland. What Delonte CAN DO, is play above-average defense, he can shoot the mid-range very consistently, and he can handle the ball when needed. He can come off the bench for a scoring burst, and defensive presence.

At any rate, the line-up proposed by some of the posters here, in theory sounds good...but, in-reality, is very bad.

The Mo dilemma:
Mo Williams is a streak shooter. We all know that. Mo Williams is a poor defender... we all know that. What many fans do not realize though, is that Mo Willams is one of the very best ball-handlers in the NBA. Don't believe me? When was the last time you saw Mo cornered by 1, 2, or 3 opposing players, and forced to give-up the ball...either a jump-ball or a turn-over, or forced to call a time-out? Don't remember? The reason you don't remember is because it has NEVER happened to him. Weird, eh? Check out the S.I. article on him from Oct? 2008. They talk about Mo's uncanny ability with the ball. Remember in game to when Ray Allen tripped him...Mo goes sliding, but keeps the dribble going, and despite the close-out on him, he manages to get the ball away for a score? LeBron... in the same scenario (almost) is closed-out by Pierce and another Celtics...and he turns the ball over. Delonte...turned the ball over in the same situation vs a 1-man corner (DRose) vs Chicago.

So here is the Dilemma: Mo is such a good shooter, and has amazing ability with the ball, but his defense is bad. His understanding of the defense is good...and he is always in the right spot...he just doesn't have the lateral quickness, or the hands to stop his opponent. So, the dilemma was to either keep Mo at PG or to trade him. If they keep him, then they have to get a long defender who can bring excellent help-defense, and cover for him. Enter - Anthony Parker. Problem with AP is that his lateral speed isn't great either; though his hands are. BUT... when he is chasing Ray around, it makes it difficult to help Mo...IE: weakness exposed.

The answer to the weakness:

This seemingly unfix-able weakness that the Cavaliers have is not fixed by changing the line-up; but rather changing the defensive assignments, and tightening the rotations on screens and P&R's. Example: Mo should guard Ray Allen. Ray is bigger, but he moves slow laterally...just like Mo. That means that Ray's shots will come off of pick&pop or pull-ups... (except 8 points, and free-throws, everyone of Ray's points in this series AND the Miami series - combined, have come this way. This means the difference between Mo and AP guarding Ray is negligible...except Mo is faster, and has a better chance of chasing Ray than AP. Whereas AP can guard Rondo a little better (not a LOT better) because of his height and reach/quick hands.

The one person I would add to the starting line-up is JJ Hickson. The reason for this is 2-fold: JJ is a lot stronger than Jamison, and he is faster, and a lot more athletic, thus he will be more of a problem for Garnett than Jamison...plus JJ can post Garnett up despite Kevin's size advantage. The second reasoning for this, is that is gives the Cavaliers another weapon off the bench, who can score a lot of points in a hurry. A Bench of: Jamison, West, Moon, Varejao, Gibson, Ilgauskas and Powe is more dangerous than one with Hickson in it.

Hickson is not a great shooter...but he can make shots, and has to be defended. The fact that he is so much quicker/faster than the guys that would guard him, makes him a liability to the Boston defense. Boston uses the "X" defense. This type of defense allows for 1 roamer, with the other four players surrounding the paint. It is a great defense if the rotations are tight. It has been pretty effective against the Cavaliers, as the Roamer gets to watch LeBron, while the other 4 rotate & help. With JJ on the floor, he creates what is called either a reverse P&R or a Diversion screen. He is so athletic, that he can set the screen, then move to the basket...forcing the defender & helper (roamer) to move to him/his area... this creates space, and allows the Cavs to either rotate the ball to the wing for a 3; for LeBron to drive & score, or Kick, or to throw a lob to JJ for an easy 2. This was one of the Cavaliers' main plays during the season, and it was a damn near perfect play, as it was virtually unguardable. When Antawn was added to the team, this play (ran 40% of the time according to 82games.com) was thrown out... despite the fact it was one of the very best plays they had. This play was stolen from the Phoenix playbook (kinda)... where Nash has the ball at the top of the key, he dribbles toward the paint, into the key,...Amare shadows to the left or right, Frye sets up on the corner, while Richardson sets up on the quarter... Nash pulls the defenders in, then either dumps to Amare, kicks to Frye or Richardson, or pulls up for a mid-ranger. Imagine if Amare was removed from that play and replaced with Antoine Wright? Well, that is basically what happened with the Cavs... Only Antawn is better than Wright, but he doesn't have the athleticism to make the play work...which is why you almost never see it anymore.

I think Powe will be activated for game #3 and Jawad will be a DNP-CD. It's been the other way around for the playoffs thus far.

mo wasn't tripped on that play. we was trying to get a whistle that he deservingly didn't get. he flops out on the court.

[Benedict_Boozer]

Must win game. This is the type of win a championship team puts together.

[gflem]

Of course Mo was flopping. C'mon Beantowski, all the Cavs do is flop around, thats why they had the best record. Stern has told the refs to help us win cause he loves Lebron so much. They all should be wheeled off in wheelchairs after their flops to accentuate how badly they were fouled, then of course come back in the next quarter like nothing happened.
Oh, wait, that is the Celtics routine. We wouldnt want to plagarize.

[Dupp]

biggest game of the season today. i cant wait..

[Rise Against]

I expect a much better game from Shaq and Mo..

[Dupp]

hows andys back?

[Rise Against]

I like the jerseys the Cavs are wearing tonight.

[Rise Against]

Seems like the Cavs are feeding to Shaq early..

[Rise Against]

Looks like the C's are expecting the Cavs to play the same way they did in game 2.. We're looking good so far.

[Dupp]

ok start

[Rise Against]

Get AP out of there... Missed his defensive assignment and just committed two turnovers.

[Dupp]

too many turnovers

[Rise Against]

I love it. We are making Rondo a jump shooter, not a passer.

[Dupp]

bron balling

[Rise Against]

2 fouls on KG.. Let's hope Sheed doesn't repeat what he did in game 2.

[Rise Against]

The Cavs are rolling.. I don't know what is going on. They play like they want to win, especially LeBron.

[TheOUTLAW]

Refs calling Boston for all their dirty tricks, but overall this game is being call too closely

[Rise Against]

I am loving every minute of this game so far. Hope we can keep it up.

[Rise Against]

What elbow injury are we talking about again?