Mike Brown and Z

Post #1 » by **wizardg** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:22 am

Does anyone else see what I see?

Z is killing Cleveland's defense. But I cant blame Z he is doing the best he can. Mike Brown is the real problem. I'm not hating on Mike. As a Spurs fan I want Mike to succeed but he's blowing it.

Z's presense means:
1. wide open shots on the PnR for everybody.
2. terrible rotations out of double teams and help defense, resulting in great looks
3. Howard has a distinct speed advantage over Z to the hoop.

If you haven't studied it watch Cleveland when Z is in and when he is out. When Z is out, all of a sudden Orlando doesn't get wide open looks all day and there aren't mismatches all over the place.

I believe that if Z had not played a minute of this series Cleveland would be up 3-0.

Wallace, Joe Smith, need to play until they probably foul out. With them playing instead of Z there will be more effective rotations and double teams ... Z needs no more than 12 minutes unless he is hot.

Too make the above work the Cavs need Boobie's energy and heart on the court, Cavs play better in an open court scramble game .... Z hurts them there too.

I don't think cleveland will win with Z playing more than 10 minutes a game

RevMan26 · Post #2 » by **RevMan26** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:39 am

This is exactly what I've been thinking. Varejao or Wallace needs to start on Howard.

prekazi · Post #3 » by **prekazi** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:22 am

True. I hate to say this but we can't win anything with a bigman like Z.

DubaLakers · Post #4 » by **DubaLakers** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:13 am

Uggh. The whole point is D12 has to come out if Z hits his shots, he hasn't hit shi*, but he's a great shooter. AV is like Noah, he will foul out and is crucial to CLE defense. Ben Wallace has nothing left. Did you watch him today he looked lost.

DubaLakers · Post #5 » by **DubaLakers** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:14 am

Lebron has to stop shooting from tip to buzzer, and get the others involved and then take over in the fourth, that's what he was doing all year, the playoff D is tougher and he doesn't trust his guys once they miss a few, he's got to or else it's over.

prekazi · Post #6 » by **prekazi** » Mon May 25, 2009 11:27 am

If you aren't watching the games at least check the box score. Nobody is making their shots. LeBron never mistrusts his teammates. He even trusted Larry Hughes for god's sake!

CzBoobie · Post #7 » by **CzBoobie** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:29 pm

Great, Kobe fans telling us what LeBron is supposed to do with the ball.

And the thing with Z...he is still our best big overall. Sad but true.

orlandomike · Post #8 » by **orlandomike** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:44 pm

James is keeping Howard in foul trouble anyway, then worrying about the rest of the team.

Post #9 » by **TheOUTLAW** » Mon May 25, 2009 1:37 pm

It really seems that Orlando's length is making Mo and Delonte tentative on offense. It's not LeBron that is stopping them from shooting.

Post #10 » by **B Mac** » Mon May 25, 2009 3:28 pm

I dont know what has happened to the Z pick and pop play. Why not run that to death in the 1st Q and make the Magic adjust to it? It seemed almost nonexistant in this series until partway through the 4th Q last night.

Post #11 » by **wizardg** » Mon May 25, 2009 3:34 pm

DubaLakers wrote:Uggh. The whole point is D12 has to come out if Z hits his shots, he hasn't hit shi*, but he's a great shooter. AV is like Noah, he will foul out and is crucial to CLE defense. Ben Wallace has nothing left. Did you watch him today he looked lost.

Ben isn't lost he is just experiencing his body not being able to do what his mind tells it. He knows how to play a pick and roll, he knows how to rotate. Ben is the former defensive player of the year.
Maybe you mean lost on offense.
Z is lost on D and he's doing next to nothing on O.
The d is good with Ben and AV and or Joe S.

Anyway it doesn't matter at this point because Brown will prob stick with Z. So all you can do is pray his shot falls.

Orlando is good but Mike is playing into their hands like Phil J did years ago when he refused to take BJ Armstrong out and put Ron Harper on Penny when Orlando already had a huge mismatch with Shaq against Luc L.

Brown is getting schooled. No I take that back. Van Goofy is just the recipient of a matchup advantage and like his mentor Pop, Brown is a great strategist but he is failing to make the tatical adjustment which is to limit Zs playing time.

When Z is on the court Orlando can always get an open jump shot if they PnR or dump it into DH or pass 3 times.

good luck

Mike12345 · Post #12 » by **Mike12345** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:05 pm

Rockets fan here, just wanted to say that Mike Brown should take a significant amount of blame for not making enough adjustments to battle orlando.

Every single game has been a struggle for Cleveland against them for a team that is used to dominating. Brown STILL has not made major adjustments and if he continues to believe hsi current rotation is going to generate enough offense he is insane.

You honestly need to start using some random weird bench players and get them to step up. Even if its a rookie im not sure the status on jj hicksons back injury or anything like that but serious adjustments need to be made.

Right now mike brown is getting out coached by stan van gundy plain and simple, you have not shown you are capable of winning this series and Lebron cannot do it all by himself and stop playing West and Mo williams at the same time neither of those guys can create for other players there both just waiting for lebron to do something.

LeQuitterNotMVP · Post #13 » by **LeQuitterNotMVP** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:14 pm

The problem is that we're trying to match the Magic. We are NOT a shooting team... so why are we shooting as much as them? We need to slow down the game, not speed it up. Until we learn to do that on offense, we won't have success. The Magic are a better shooting team than us, but we somehow can't come to terms with that. So yes, i do agree that Z needs to not be playing. He's not hitting his shots on offense, and he isn't helping us one bit defensively.

Speaking of defense - we need to have a man on EVERYONE. We cannot afford to leave any of their shooters wide open. So Howard will get a few easy baskets - fine. Make him beat us, not their shooters. If Howard gets the ball, let it go. We shouldn't swarm to him and then hope their shooters don't make their shots. Ridiculous.

We can easily win this series (games 4, 5, and 7) if we just go back to what we're good at both offensively and defensively. Stop trying to "match" the Magic. It just won't work. They're better at what they do than we are.

BigBallingMIA · Post #14 » by **BigBallingMIA** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:29 pm

The more I watch this series, the more I am starting to agree with the 'experts': "The playoffs are all about MATCHUPS." Orlando at the start struggle with the sixers and then the Celtics took them to 7 games. If you notice in that series, the Celtics had some STRONG, MOBILE, ACTIVE bigmen in Perkins and Big Baby. Though none could stop howard, they were STRONG enough to 'hold' the fort 1on1. Cleveland has finally met its match....UP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3s63sGoP_c&feature=fvst

Pula_86 · Post #15 » by **Pula_86** » Mon May 25, 2009 5:22 pm

Z should not play at all in this series. Too many uncontested shots off of the pick and roll. There is always someone late to recover and his name is always Illgauskus. I'm not sure why the Cavs do not try a lineup with West, Williams, Pavlovic, James, and Smith. Their defense would not nearly bee as vulnerable. Rashard Lewis is too quick to be played by Z or Varajeo. Also, why doesn't Brown play Gibson and Kinsey a little more. Perhaps they could do some good things. It would be nice if Hickson wasn't injured, but I think there are some things that Cleveland could try. Although we get nothing from Ben Wallace on offense, I love his defensive and rebounding effort. Brown cannot continue to let Lewis and Turkoglu get wide open shots because Varajeo and Z are too slow to recover.

Post #16 » by **wizardg** » Tue May 26, 2009 9:45 pm

Lets see what happens tonight.

I'm hoping Z gets in immediate foul trouble.

gflem · Post #17 » by **gflem** » Tue May 26, 2009 10:34 pm

I am fine with that, but heres hoping he hits a few shots first. I really think Lebron should start at the PF, and use the collective fouls of Andy, Z, and Ben on Dwight. But Ben should save one "inadvertant" elbow for the magic starting PG to make up for what I thought was a cheap shot last game. We havent shown any toughness these playoffs as far as hard fouls go. Since Van Gundy called Ben out, and since Ben seems pissed, and since he was supposed to bring some toughness to our team, he should definitely be getting his (or more to the point the Cavs) moneys worth on his six fouls tonight. We wouldnt lose much if he were suspended a game anyway.

vct33 · Post #18 » by **vct33** » Tue May 26, 2009 10:37 pm

RevMan26 wrote:This is exactly what I've been thinking. Varejao or Wallace needs to start on Howard.

Varejao is more athletic but he is still a pathetic defender. I've said this all season long and got lambasted for it. Ilgauskus and Varejao are the worst defensive 4/5 combo in the league. If the Cavs had a few more athletic wings, they'd be best off with LBJ on Howard.

Pula_86 · Post #19 » by **Pula_86** » Wed May 27, 2009 3:56 am

Maybe Ferry will finally realize he needs to blow up the forwards. The Cavs also need to get rid of Mike Brown. How is he being outcoached by Stan Van Gundy. Every time the Cavs went on a run, he took out their best lineup. You cannot let Lebron James stand there with the ball. Brown has to have them run their offense. Coaching has made a huge difference tonight and throughout the series. It took him until Game 4 to insert Daniel Gibson and still no Terrence Kinsey or Pavlovic. I am at an absolute loss.

orlandomike · Post #20 » by **orlandomike** » Wed May 27, 2009 6:42 pm

I will probably get tossed from here again because i am a magic fan but the thread starter is right. You dont need a shooter in your center, you need a guy who could possibly be more physical with Howard and keep him away from the basket like Bostons Kendrick Perkins. Sure scoring helps but Lebron cant be concerned with having to neutralize the center AND get to the shooters outside.

That doesnt mean that Wallace would be able to do it the entire game, but he is the better option IMO.