trueD
06-09-2007, 12:23 AM
SAN ANTONIO -- Cleveland coach Mike Brown has a problem. His team looked overmatched in Game 1, and one of his key starters, Larry Hughes, was all but worthless. Nursing a foot injury that isn't going to heal until after the season, Hughes made only one basket Thursday in 23 impact-free minutes.
Mike Brown also has a solution. His name is Daniel "Boobie" Gibson, and he put together his fourth straight impressive playoff performance in Thursday's Game 1 by scoring a team-best 16 points off the bench. For all the LeBronmania surrounding these Finals, it was the second straight game that the unheralded Gibson led the Cavs in scoring.
So it had to disappoint Cleveland fans to see Brown come into the postgame press conference and immediately rule out one thing that might give his team a better shot in Game 2. Asked if he was pondering a lineup change to replace Hughes with Gibson, Brown offered an immediate "No."
Pressed further on the question, he said, "It's one game. We're going to go back and take a look at the tape and make some adjustments … but one of them won't be a lineup change."
Here's the problem: It's not just one game. It's actually been a few games since Hughes hurt himself, and he hasn't played well in any of them. Moreover, one or two games starts looming pretty large when it appears there are only three left in the season, unless Brown comes up with an immediate and powerful remedy.
I should mention again that Hughes' bravery in playing with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot is very admirable. But he's a shadow of his usual self, and never was that more apparent than in Game 1. Hughes was just 1-for-5 from the field, and it's telling that none of his shot attempts was from inside 10 feet.
Without the usual hop in his step, Hughes' slashing skills are no longer a factor, and that is his strongest (some would say only) offensive attribute. With Hughes turned into a jump-shooter -- three of his five shots were from 20 feet or farther -- he limped to a two-point, zero-assist outing. It's not like he can blame a lack of court time, either. He played 23 minutes.
And it's been par for the course for Hughes of late. Allegedly the Cavs' second perimeter scoring threat behind LeBron James, Hughes hasn't scored in double figures since Game 1 of the conference finals. The slump actually predates the injury, which he suffered in Game 3 of the conference finals against Detroit. In his past nine games, Hughes has been a ghastly 21-for-79 from the field, an indefensible 26.6 percent.
If it was just his shooting, that would be one thing, but the other facets of Hughes' game have gone missing as well. Theoretically the point guard, he has a paltry 20 assists in that nine-game stretch, an average of just over two a game. Normally a fine rebounder -- the foot injury obviously limits him here too -- he has 12 in the past six games.
And defensively, he was totally exposed by Tony Parker in Game 1. Early in the first quarter TP wiped the floor with him, zipping past him five times in six trips, resulting in three Parker layups and two Tim Duncan dunks when teammates tried to help out on Parker. After that, Brown took Hughes off Parker the rest of the night, hiding him against Bruce Bowen while James (and others) covered Parker.
So if he can't contribute offensively, and he can't keep up defensively, why's he out there again?
Brown seems weirdly reluctant to pull the plug on Hughes. Before the game, he said, "For me to start somebody else because they had a big game, I don't know how much sense it would make to try to mess with what's gotten you here."
OK, but what about four big games, consecutively? Gibson has been lights out throughout the postseason and was again on Thursday, scoring 16 points on only nine shots to provide the only punishment for the Spurs' strategy of sending swarms of defenders at James. He's made 25 of his last 44 shots from the field, including 12 of 25 from 3-point range, and he was the only Cav besides LeBron to get to the line consistently in the Detroit series (although the Spurs kept him off the stripe in Game 1).
Game 1 was his fourth straight double-figure playoff outing off the pine, which leads one to wonder what he might do if his minutes were in the 40s instead of the high 20s. And he's done it without mistakes, too -- just six turnovers in six games.
Additionally, Gibson showed he has defensive value in this series too. While he wasn't matched up much against Parker, he defended Manu Ginobili for long stretches and helped hold him below par (5-for-12, 16 points). The rookie obviously did his homework, going out of his way to force the southpaw to his right and into contested jumpers going in that direction (though he did suffer an embarrassing open-court "nutmeg" from Ginobili). Gibson also had a game-high four steals.
"He's a great player, either way you send him, but he's a strong left-hand guy, so I just try to send him to his weaker hand," Gibson said.
This doesn't seem to be a fluke -- he defended well against Chauncey Billups in the previous round, and it's a little odd he didn't get more of a shot against Parker in the opener.
Cavs fans (and probably Brown) will point out that, starter or not, Gibson played 27 minutes in Game 1 -- it's not like he was shunted to the end of the bench. That's great and all, but I think the minutes number needs to be more like 40 or 42 … which would also help push Hughes' number to something under 10, exactly what his play merits at this point.
Consider the plus-minus disparity from Game 1. The Cavs were crushed in the first and third quarters -- the two stanzas in which Boobie saw little action -- but won the second and fourth by a combined six points. For the game, Cleveland was plus-5 with Gibson on the court, but a jarring minus-18 when Hughes played (adjusting for free throws earned while the player was off the court).
Mike Brown also has a solution. His name is Daniel "Boobie" Gibson, and he put together his fourth straight impressive playoff performance in Thursday's Game 1 by scoring a team-best 16 points off the bench. For all the LeBronmania surrounding these Finals, it was the second straight game that the unheralded Gibson led the Cavs in scoring.
So it had to disappoint Cleveland fans to see Brown come into the postgame press conference and immediately rule out one thing that might give his team a better shot in Game 2. Asked if he was pondering a lineup change to replace Hughes with Gibson, Brown offered an immediate "No."
Pressed further on the question, he said, "It's one game. We're going to go back and take a look at the tape and make some adjustments … but one of them won't be a lineup change."
Here's the problem: It's not just one game. It's actually been a few games since Hughes hurt himself, and he hasn't played well in any of them. Moreover, one or two games starts looming pretty large when it appears there are only three left in the season, unless Brown comes up with an immediate and powerful remedy.
I should mention again that Hughes' bravery in playing with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot is very admirable. But he's a shadow of his usual self, and never was that more apparent than in Game 1. Hughes was just 1-for-5 from the field, and it's telling that none of his shot attempts was from inside 10 feet.
Without the usual hop in his step, Hughes' slashing skills are no longer a factor, and that is his strongest (some would say only) offensive attribute. With Hughes turned into a jump-shooter -- three of his five shots were from 20 feet or farther -- he limped to a two-point, zero-assist outing. It's not like he can blame a lack of court time, either. He played 23 minutes.
And it's been par for the course for Hughes of late. Allegedly the Cavs' second perimeter scoring threat behind LeBron James, Hughes hasn't scored in double figures since Game 1 of the conference finals. The slump actually predates the injury, which he suffered in Game 3 of the conference finals against Detroit. In his past nine games, Hughes has been a ghastly 21-for-79 from the field, an indefensible 26.6 percent.
If it was just his shooting, that would be one thing, but the other facets of Hughes' game have gone missing as well. Theoretically the point guard, he has a paltry 20 assists in that nine-game stretch, an average of just over two a game. Normally a fine rebounder -- the foot injury obviously limits him here too -- he has 12 in the past six games.
And defensively, he was totally exposed by Tony Parker in Game 1. Early in the first quarter TP wiped the floor with him, zipping past him five times in six trips, resulting in three Parker layups and two Tim Duncan dunks when teammates tried to help out on Parker. After that, Brown took Hughes off Parker the rest of the night, hiding him against Bruce Bowen while James (and others) covered Parker.
So if he can't contribute offensively, and he can't keep up defensively, why's he out there again?
Brown seems weirdly reluctant to pull the plug on Hughes. Before the game, he said, "For me to start somebody else because they had a big game, I don't know how much sense it would make to try to mess with what's gotten you here."
OK, but what about four big games, consecutively? Gibson has been lights out throughout the postseason and was again on Thursday, scoring 16 points on only nine shots to provide the only punishment for the Spurs' strategy of sending swarms of defenders at James. He's made 25 of his last 44 shots from the field, including 12 of 25 from 3-point range, and he was the only Cav besides LeBron to get to the line consistently in the Detroit series (although the Spurs kept him off the stripe in Game 1).
Game 1 was his fourth straight double-figure playoff outing off the pine, which leads one to wonder what he might do if his minutes were in the 40s instead of the high 20s. And he's done it without mistakes, too -- just six turnovers in six games.
Additionally, Gibson showed he has defensive value in this series too. While he wasn't matched up much against Parker, he defended Manu Ginobili for long stretches and helped hold him below par (5-for-12, 16 points). The rookie obviously did his homework, going out of his way to force the southpaw to his right and into contested jumpers going in that direction (though he did suffer an embarrassing open-court "nutmeg" from Ginobili). Gibson also had a game-high four steals.
"He's a great player, either way you send him, but he's a strong left-hand guy, so I just try to send him to his weaker hand," Gibson said.
This doesn't seem to be a fluke -- he defended well against Chauncey Billups in the previous round, and it's a little odd he didn't get more of a shot against Parker in the opener.
Cavs fans (and probably Brown) will point out that, starter or not, Gibson played 27 minutes in Game 1 -- it's not like he was shunted to the end of the bench. That's great and all, but I think the minutes number needs to be more like 40 or 42 … which would also help push Hughes' number to something under 10, exactly what his play merits at this point.
Consider the plus-minus disparity from Game 1. The Cavs were crushed in the first and third quarters -- the two stanzas in which Boobie saw little action -- but won the second and fourth by a combined six points. For the game, Cleveland was plus-5 with Gibson on the court, but a jarring minus-18 when Hughes played (adjusting for free throws earned while the player was off the court).