duncan228
02-26-2010, 02:24 AM
Defense never rests for the Cavaliers (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AornXvhIunb7DB07kPvWhwS8vLYF?slug=ys-cavsceltics022510&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)
By Peter May
When you have the league’s best record, the best home record, the best point differential and, arguably, its best player, the little things tend to become big things in those rare moments of distress.
It would be naïve to suggest the Cleveland Cavaliers are in distress, especially after they suffocated the Boston Celtics on Thursday night, snapping a nine-game losing streak in Boston with an authoritative 108-88 victory. But it would not be overstating things to suggest there still is mild concern that the team of the last two weeks is not the team coach Mike Brown wants to see when the real season begins. He wouldn’t mind seeing the one he saw in the second half on Thursday, the one which outscored the Celtics 60-32.
Thursday night’s game against the Celtics, only the second meeting between the two teams and the first since opening night, came two weeks to the day since the Cavs beat the Orlando Magic for their 13th straight victory. Then came the All-Star break. Then came the big deal for Antawn Jamison. Then came three straight losses followed by a home win over the New Orleans Hornets.
Brown, who lamented on opening night that he needed two more weeks of training camp, is again trying to find time to work out the small kinks. Until the virtuoso second-half performance against the Celtics, he had seen signs of slippage in his defense. He had seen Jamison needing more adjustment time with hardly any practice availability. Against Boston, he had seen Shaquille O’Neal go down with a thumb injury, leaving him a little short in the middle. (Until Zydrunas Ilgauskus returns in a month or so. Oh, oops. That isn’t a done deal, yet.)
“We’re searching,” Brown said. “But I’m more confident now in what we have than I was last game or the game before that.”
Brown has molded the Cavs into a defensive monster, all the while weathering withering criticism at times for playing a slow-down game when he has the league’s best open-court player in LeBron James. The Cavs are right there in all the important defensive categories: fourth in points allowed; fourth in defensive field-goal percentage; ninth in defensive 3-point percentage and seventh in rebounding. And if the NBA has shown us anything in the last decade, the top defensive team is usually around at the end.
Prior to the Celtics game, however, the Cavs had allowed a Golden State-ish 104.7 points a game in their previous seven games. Included in that span was the team’s first three-game losing streak of the season, which happened to coincide with the arrival of Jamison, who did not play in the first game after the break. The Charlotte Bobcats, the third-lowest scoring team in the league, lit them up for 110 points. The Nuggets scored 118 in overtime.
Prior to that stretch, the Cavs allowed 93.7 points a game. Prior to that stretch, over a period of 51 games, the Cavs allowed an opponent to shoot 50 percent or better from the field on three occasions. They went from Nov. 17-Jan. 8 without allowing an opponent to shoot 50 percent. But in those seven games, five opponents shot at least 50 percent, including the, ahem, New Jersey Nets. The New York Knicks, Bobcats, Magic and Hornets also did it.
“We are not being as physical as we need to be,” Brown said. “We’ve just played in spurts [defensively] and we’ve got a ways to go.”
Working in Jamison has also been difficult, even though he is a savvy veteran eager to seamlessly blend in with the lads. But no matter who it is, changing teams in midseason and replacing a starter requires time for both the individual and his new teammates. A big trade like this one can pay huge dividends, as it did for the Detroit Pistons, when they got Rasheed Wallace at the break in 2004 and then went on to win a title. But Wallace, too, needed a while to fit in and so will Jamison.
Asked about feeling any pressure, Jamison said, “Sure I feel pressure. But this is good pressure. We all should be feeling this kind of pressure. They brought Shaq here to win a title and now I’m hearing that I am the key piece to get us over the hump. That’s all good. This is what I have been looking for my whole career. This is what I want and where I want to be. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
Jamison has averaged 12 points in four games with the Cavs, logging a shade more than 31 minutes. It’s a lot of learning on the fly, but every time he gets remotely frustrated, he thinks from whence he came.
“It’s been challenging trying to fit in. I’m still learning,” he said. “I’ve never been traded in the middle of a season, so this is all new to me. But I feel like I’ll be fine when the playoffs come. And to be on a team that prides itself on its defense! That was some display in the second half.”
The (shh!) return of Ilgauskus will give the already deep Cavs even more depth, even as it will again force Brown to juggle minutes. The injury to O’Neal is both a manpower problem and a defensive blessing. Shaq is absolutely brutal when asked to defend a pick-and-roll. He never has done it and he still doesn’t do it and teams run it every chance they get. But he isn’t as quick as he used to be, either.
James was asked if he felt the Cavs’ best defensive team had Anderson Varejao at center and J.J. Hickson at power forward. In other words – no Shaq. He said, “It’s one of our best defensive lineups because we’re able to fly around and help each other.” But he also threw a quick bouquet to Shaq. “We’re going to need him. You can’t always fly around in the playoffs.”
There’s still plenty of time to assimilate Jamison and to work on those defensive glitches that pop up now and again. But the Cavaliers looked mighty unstoppable against the Celtics (minus Paul Pierce), and they did it the way they have to do it if they want to win: the Cleveland Way.
By Peter May
When you have the league’s best record, the best home record, the best point differential and, arguably, its best player, the little things tend to become big things in those rare moments of distress.
It would be naïve to suggest the Cleveland Cavaliers are in distress, especially after they suffocated the Boston Celtics on Thursday night, snapping a nine-game losing streak in Boston with an authoritative 108-88 victory. But it would not be overstating things to suggest there still is mild concern that the team of the last two weeks is not the team coach Mike Brown wants to see when the real season begins. He wouldn’t mind seeing the one he saw in the second half on Thursday, the one which outscored the Celtics 60-32.
Thursday night’s game against the Celtics, only the second meeting between the two teams and the first since opening night, came two weeks to the day since the Cavs beat the Orlando Magic for their 13th straight victory. Then came the All-Star break. Then came the big deal for Antawn Jamison. Then came three straight losses followed by a home win over the New Orleans Hornets.
Brown, who lamented on opening night that he needed two more weeks of training camp, is again trying to find time to work out the small kinks. Until the virtuoso second-half performance against the Celtics, he had seen signs of slippage in his defense. He had seen Jamison needing more adjustment time with hardly any practice availability. Against Boston, he had seen Shaquille O’Neal go down with a thumb injury, leaving him a little short in the middle. (Until Zydrunas Ilgauskus returns in a month or so. Oh, oops. That isn’t a done deal, yet.)
“We’re searching,” Brown said. “But I’m more confident now in what we have than I was last game or the game before that.”
Brown has molded the Cavs into a defensive monster, all the while weathering withering criticism at times for playing a slow-down game when he has the league’s best open-court player in LeBron James. The Cavs are right there in all the important defensive categories: fourth in points allowed; fourth in defensive field-goal percentage; ninth in defensive 3-point percentage and seventh in rebounding. And if the NBA has shown us anything in the last decade, the top defensive team is usually around at the end.
Prior to the Celtics game, however, the Cavs had allowed a Golden State-ish 104.7 points a game in their previous seven games. Included in that span was the team’s first three-game losing streak of the season, which happened to coincide with the arrival of Jamison, who did not play in the first game after the break. The Charlotte Bobcats, the third-lowest scoring team in the league, lit them up for 110 points. The Nuggets scored 118 in overtime.
Prior to that stretch, the Cavs allowed 93.7 points a game. Prior to that stretch, over a period of 51 games, the Cavs allowed an opponent to shoot 50 percent or better from the field on three occasions. They went from Nov. 17-Jan. 8 without allowing an opponent to shoot 50 percent. But in those seven games, five opponents shot at least 50 percent, including the, ahem, New Jersey Nets. The New York Knicks, Bobcats, Magic and Hornets also did it.
“We are not being as physical as we need to be,” Brown said. “We’ve just played in spurts [defensively] and we’ve got a ways to go.”
Working in Jamison has also been difficult, even though he is a savvy veteran eager to seamlessly blend in with the lads. But no matter who it is, changing teams in midseason and replacing a starter requires time for both the individual and his new teammates. A big trade like this one can pay huge dividends, as it did for the Detroit Pistons, when they got Rasheed Wallace at the break in 2004 and then went on to win a title. But Wallace, too, needed a while to fit in and so will Jamison.
Asked about feeling any pressure, Jamison said, “Sure I feel pressure. But this is good pressure. We all should be feeling this kind of pressure. They brought Shaq here to win a title and now I’m hearing that I am the key piece to get us over the hump. That’s all good. This is what I have been looking for my whole career. This is what I want and where I want to be. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
Jamison has averaged 12 points in four games with the Cavs, logging a shade more than 31 minutes. It’s a lot of learning on the fly, but every time he gets remotely frustrated, he thinks from whence he came.
“It’s been challenging trying to fit in. I’m still learning,” he said. “I’ve never been traded in the middle of a season, so this is all new to me. But I feel like I’ll be fine when the playoffs come. And to be on a team that prides itself on its defense! That was some display in the second half.”
The (shh!) return of Ilgauskus will give the already deep Cavs even more depth, even as it will again force Brown to juggle minutes. The injury to O’Neal is both a manpower problem and a defensive blessing. Shaq is absolutely brutal when asked to defend a pick-and-roll. He never has done it and he still doesn’t do it and teams run it every chance they get. But he isn’t as quick as he used to be, either.
James was asked if he felt the Cavs’ best defensive team had Anderson Varejao at center and J.J. Hickson at power forward. In other words – no Shaq. He said, “It’s one of our best defensive lineups because we’re able to fly around and help each other.” But he also threw a quick bouquet to Shaq. “We’re going to need him. You can’t always fly around in the playoffs.”
There’s still plenty of time to assimilate Jamison and to work on those defensive glitches that pop up now and again. But the Cavaliers looked mighty unstoppable against the Celtics (minus Paul Pierce), and they did it the way they have to do it if they want to win: the Cleveland Way.