what happened to our offense?

dakobestopper · Post #1 » by **dakobestopper** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:19 am

whats the gameplan when it comes to offense?

are we just passing the ball around at the three-point line, waiting for perk or garnett to provide a sluggish moving screen, that will eventually allow one of our players to jack up an 18-footer?

what happened to going to the basket? what does doc have against scoring in the paint or at least trying to?

why not work on some of our matchups? why not use kg inside? why not isolate Pierce and let him drive? why not make lebron work on defense?

outside shots are good a compliment to an already smooth offense, but when every player is relying on it, it makes it real easy for the other team. it allows varejao to guard kg. it prevents pierce from getting to the foul line and it prevents any chance of getting an offensive rebound.

you can complain about shots not falling all you want... but it's dumb to rely on those shots in the first place.

cavsfan_osiris · Post #2 » by **cavsfan_osiris** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:32 am

I like how the Lakers consistently leak out the player furthest from the hoop. I'm not sure if it would work in this series because rebounding is so key from every player, but the Cavs crash the boards hard with everyone and it could make them pay for doing that if the Celts get the rebound. They have to do something to increase the tempo.

The Cavs know they are up against a much better team. The fewer possessions per game the better for Cleveland.

SuigintouEV · Post #3 » by **SuigintouEV** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:35 am

what happened to going to the basket? what does doc have against scoring in the paint or at least trying to?

The system just isn't proper. Look at the lakers/jazz game that's happening right now. The celtics are trying to play a point guard oriented offense, but rondo isn't good enough a player for that. They need to play a post oriented passing/cutting offense. I'm sorry, but i see no reason the Lakers' spacing should be any better than the Celtics' spacing, especially if you have shooters like House/Posey/Pierce/Ray and KG in the middle.

Even with Rondo on the court, he's not that much worse a shooter than Odom, albeit a weaker finisher.

why not work on some of our matchups? why not use kg inside? why not isolate Pierce and let him drive? why not make lebron work on defense?

Pierce vs Lebron is a losing matchup, lebron shuts pierce down. As for KG, your guess is as good as mine. a guy like Popovich would get KG the touches he needs. The other matchup problem should be Ray vs Wally. I seem to recall guys like bowen being unable to guard ray allen. but ray's J has gone away.

SuigintouEV · Post #4 » by **SuigintouEV** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:40 am

double post

GuyClinch · Post #5 » by **GuyClinch** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:57 am

I see two problems..

Some of our bigs seem to be having trouble finishing around the basket. That's why Doc should have played Powe. he has the leaping ability to finish around the basket whereas big baby is earthbound. As much as Big Baby has some nifty talents this really kills his usefullness at times.

Secondly - we have "scared to shootitis" Rondo in particular gets this on the road. At home he attacks the hoop and throws up sweet runners over defense and looks like a star. But on the road suddenly he is a meek guy. Can't we bring along his g/f or something?

But its not just Rondo - it's ray sometimes - even Pierce. During the season if we got a good shot we took it. We need to be more assertive on offense and not pussyfoot so much with the ball.

Pete

dakobestopper · Post #6 » by **dakobestopper** » Sat May 17, 2008 5:13 am

lebron isnt shutting down pierce, doc is. lebron is the excuse for why pierce doesnt get isos.

sure he may not be able to score 40 points on him, but at least he could make him work on defense. he may not be able to foul him out but maybe he could force them to put someone else on him. it's still better than jacking up fadeaways.

seriously how many times has boston forced cleveland to switch defenders? the so called "big three" are not creating ANY matchup problems. I dont think it's due to lack of ability. I think doc prefers "sharing the ball" and pussyfooting around the three point area rather than attacking the cavs head on. "we had some good looks" my ass.

if pierce/garnett started driving then all of a sudden ray, house, posey would find open looks. if any of you still remember the regular season, thats how the celtics scored most of their three pointers.

SuigintouEV · Post #7 » by **SuigintouEV** » Sat May 17, 2008 5:25 am

dakobestopper wrote:lebron isnt shutting down pierce, doc is. lebron is the excuse for why pierce doesnt get isos.

sure he may not be able to score 40 points on him, but at least he could make him work on defense. he may not be able to foul him out but maybe he could force them to put someone else on him. it's still better than jacking up fadeaways.

I don't really agree. Pierce just has a very hard time penetrating against lebron. He isn't a ridiculous ball handler that he can use hesitation moves to create separation, and lebron has a speed, strength, and length advantage over him. Against basically any other team in the league, pierce has a physical advantage he can exploit.

Rasheeed!!! · Post #8 » by **Rasheeed!!!** » Sat May 17, 2008 5:32 am

The Cleveland defense is just that good!

PPAW4Life · Post #9 » by **PPAW4Life** » Sat May 17, 2008 5:53 am

Sometimes this team is too concerned about making the right play and passing the ball so much that they don't look for their shots and just be aggressive.

Ray Allen needs more than 8 shots a game....I say give him 20 shots he's bound to make 8 or 9 with a couple threes.

Both he and Pierce do go to the basket but for whatever reason the contact on them isn't enough to warrant a foul to the officials....boggles the mind.

When you have Pierce dribbling the ball up the court and the defender lifts Pierce's arm up and they call an offensive foul on Pierce you can't tell me the contact that Pierce, Allen, or Big Baby receive doesn't warrant foul shots.

The refs are not calling fouls the same at both ends of the court and a lot of it is "guess work". You don't see a foul and or don't see the ball go off a player you can't check with another official who has no angle on the play....it's absurd.