Article: Spurs facing a Cavs team built in their image

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...ory?id=2891759

CLEVELAND -- Born and raised a Pistons fan, Dan Gilbert celebrated earnestly in 2004 when his hometown team won a championship and with a defensive-based, blue-collar attitude. The next year he bitterly watched as the San Antonio Spurs knocked them from the perch to claim their most recent ring.


So when Gilbert wrote a check in early 2005 for $375 million to buy the Cavs, an underachieving team in another depressed rust belt city, he knew exactly how he wanted to make his franchise. As fellow owners attempt to re-tool their organizations to run like the Phoenix Suns, Gilbert went the other way and aimed at building a team based on defense with likewise-thinking front office.

He spent a long time talking to Larry Brown, at one point discussing making him the Cavs team president, but ultimately hired a Spurs executive in Danny Ferry to be the GM and a first-time head coach in Mike Brown who lived and breathed a defensive style he developed under Gregg Popovich as a Spurs assistant.

Now the pupils meet the teachers.

Improbably, the Cavs, after spending huge in free agency and then drafting wisely, have ridden their superstar to their first-ever Finals appearance just a little over two years after Gilbert assumed control of the team. And not so improbably, the Spurs are still there waiting for them.

The day Brown was hired he swore he would make the Cavs in the Spurs' image, a defense-first team. Over the last two seasons the Cavs have experienced plenty of up-and-down moments on offense, especially as it relates to the use of LeBron James and his supporting cast, but the defense quietly got better and better and better.

This year, the Cavs were fifth in the NBA in defense during the regular season and became just one of five teams to have won 50 games in each of the last two years. In the playoffs, neither the Wizards or the Nets or the Pistons were able to find any holes against Brown's complex but strong help-and-recover rotations.

During his first two years on the job, Brown leaned on Popovich regularly for advice. He named some of his plays the exact same names as were used in San Antonio. Even during the Eastern Conference finals against the Pistons as the Spurs were fighting to eliminate the Utah Jazz, Popovich was serving as a mentor with routine phone calls.

Which makes one wonder how he'll do when that faucet of experience is turned off. But then you hear this, since Brown became the Cavs coach they are 3-1 against the Spurs including a sweep this season when the Cavs won in San Antonio for the first time since 1988.

This season alone, the Cavs have outscored the Spurs 11-10 in a grinding, defense-only quarter and pounded them 38-28 in an up-tempo, fast-paced quarter.

James scored 36 points in the AT&T Center in November, leading a late charge that included a vicious dunk over the top of Tim Duncan. A team manager tacked a photo of the dunk on the wall over James' locker and it's been there for seven months now, its edges fraying and curving inward but it's message still the same.

The Cavs have all sorts of trouble with Tony Parker; he's quicker than any of their guards and the easiest way to deconstruct their defense is to get a player into the middle of the lane, which Parker is so good at. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Cavs' rangy center, has trouble staying out of foul trouble against Duncan and isn't as effective on offensive rebounds. They often lost Rasheed Wallace on the backside of the defense for 3-pointers and Robert Horry presents the same threat.

But James is playing the best basketball of his career, not just averaging 26 points and eight rebounds in the playoffs, but also killing double teams with an amazing 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Plus the last time the teams met up in January it was before the emergence of two of the biggest weapons, Sasha Pavlovic and Daniel Gibson.

All of which gives them some excitement at facing their next serious test.

"I love Gregg Popovich," Ferry said after the game Saturday. "But we're going down there to beat his butt."

Brian Windhorst covers the Cavaliers for the Akron Beacon Journal

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Originally Posted by NASpurs

"I love Gregg Popovich," Ferry said after the game Saturday. "But we're going down there to beat his butt."

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You can try, Ferry. After all the bulletin board material you bitches are handing out, I'd be surprised if your little ferry boat didn't turn into a leaky little raft.

"I love Gregg Popovich," Ferry said after the game Saturday. "But we're going down there to beat his butt."

Wha?

ferry doesnt know this is spur-taaaaa

outrageous

So who is Mike Brown going to call now to help ... Flip ?

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Originally Posted by CubanMustGo

So who is Mike Brown going to call now to help ... Flip ?

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:lmao

Get ready for Mike Brown's numerous rants about how Lebron isn't getting fair calls, and how they're not a whiny team proceeded by them whining.

Pop will own Brown.

A little OT to the topic, but it's funny how again the 2 best defensive teams ended up in the NBA Finals. Except CLE has Lebron so now this finals will be super duper exciting compared to SAS/DET :rolleyes

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Originally Posted by Lp26

Get ready for Mike Brown's numerous rants about how Lebron isn't getting fair calls, and how they're not a whiny team proceeded by them whining.

Pop will own Brown.

A little OT to the topic, but it's funny how again the 2 best defensive teams ended up in the NBA Finals. Except CLE has Lebron so now this finals will be super duper exciting compared to SAS/DET :rolleyes

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Yep. Ironic, aint it? I doubt it'll be exciting - the cavs play some of the most boring basketball on the face of the planet - very little ball movement, a lot of isolation/post up plays. Outside of a few Lebron dunks and lovely Tim Duncan blocks, this figures to be a very boring series - especially if majority end up being blowout games.

If Cleveland is built in our image, why is every play an ISO for LeBron? Why is Mike D'An...er Brown such a press crybaby?

*yawn*

Built in the Spurs image...with inferior role players and an unimaginative coach.

By the way, whatever happened to all of those Ferry sucks as a GM rants? Have his decisions over the last couple of years all of sudden become genius?

If nothing else, the Pistons showed last night that the ball can be taken out of Lebrons hands, and that he can get flustered with traps.

Pistons just didn't count on a "Gibson" being able to go off from 3 point land.

I suspect the Spurs are already working on the "getting the ball out of James hands", and at the same time cover up the arc.

Another thing I noticed. Cavs have a tendency to make a lot of long lazy passes. With the speed of Tony and the quickness and tenacity of Manu, I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of those long lazy passes swiped out of mid air and lead to fast break point for the Spurs.

I also suspect Tim will keep Z in foul problems with his up and under shot, and Tony should be able to get a couple on him with his drives.

We need to have someone take Gooden out of his game completely with smothering denial of the ball.

And we need to be fearless on the boards.

Andy, we have to be careful not to give him a chance to flop, like he did on a few occassions last night, but he doesn't sell them as well as Manu, so that could be a wash.

Pop will outcoach Brown, since he can't call Pop on the phone and ask him what to do. So who will he get advice from? Sloan? D'Antoni? What's his face in Denver? He better have a more of a game plan than "give it to Lebron".

While it's true the Cavs beat the Spurs twice in regular season, it was before the All Star Break, and we know how the Spurs have turned it up since then. This if for the "big prize", and the Spurs have a mindset not to be denied.

A first quarter like game 5 vs Jazz would be a nice way to send a message. Zip that ball around and through for easy layups, get the Cavs nervous right from the start. Let them know the Spurs mean business now.

The Spurs defense is much more crisp and tenacious than what the Cavs have seen all year, and even better than what the Spurs played earlier in the year. Remember, the last time these teams played, the Spurs were a middle of the pack defensive team. It wasn't until March and April that the Spurs tightened up.

Role players are playing great. Duncan has been the best player in the postseason on both sides of the ball. Parker and Gino will slice up that defense with their speed, which the writer admitted, the Cavs don't have the defenders to stop.

Lebron can go off for 40 a game, and it won't matter because the rest of the team won't score, and the Spurs will win. The Spurs don't lose in the playoffs to one man teams.

The Spurs are locked in while the Cavs seemed to have that "happy to be there" look about them last year. The Spurs talked about enjoying the moment, then going back to work. The Cavs celebrated like they won the title last night. with confetti, group chants, and jumping on the podium like it was all over.

The Spurs need to let them know early and often that the Cavs still haven't don't have what the Spurs have in the lobby of the AT&T Center, and the Spurs aren't going to hand the Cavs the title.

We just beat teams that had two superstars, Boozer and Williams for Utah, and Amare and Nash for Phoenix.

The Spurs can beat a team with one superstar.

spurs in 5

Point:. Cav's "defensive improvement" developed against Eastern teams, a minus for them given the quality of their competitiveness, or lack of it, that eastern teams curently offer this season.

Point:. A well-known fact is that the Spur's early to middle regular season games served as well-attended practice sessions disguised as regular games.

Point:. While the article mentioned the impact that the emerging players have now on the Cav's team, there was no mention of the Spur's emergent players; Oberto, Vaughn who was an x factor last game with Phoenix and also the columnist completely left out mentioning Michael Finley and his contributions this year, which are X factors that Coach Brown and GM Danny Ferry have little clue about.

Point: .Yes, Pop did communicate with with Brown about plays and other team related issues but that's imfornation Pop can rely on to use to his own advantage.

Point:. Know thine enemy, to borrow from the bible since today's Sunday, what better way is there to prepare your warriors for battle. In my opinion, Pop scores higher in this category because of the outcome of his last encounter with an ex-Spur (AJohnson) and who knows better how to use information to his advantage than Greg Popovich, unofficial recipient of the Tactition of the Year award for 2007.

Point:. In choosing the title for this article you keep waiting the logic to build that supports it's premise, but as you read on, you sense that this is just another piece of work that squirts out of the of misguided and misinformed group of sports-related media collective that remains ever hopeful of anyone getting the NBA championship this year other than the San Antonio Spurs.

so who from the Cavs is going to guard Tim Duncan?

Brown is a horrible coach.

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Originally Posted by spursfan09

so who from the Cavs is going to guard Tim Duncan?

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or TP or Manu?

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Originally Posted by spursfan09

so who from the Cavs is going to guard Tim Duncan?

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Tim - Gooden/carrot top (sideshow Bob)/Marshall
Manu - Pavlovic/Gibson/Hughes/Lebron
Tony - Hughes/Gibson/Snow
Oberto - that big bald dude/carrot top
Bruce - Pavlovic/Lebron

Seems like a mismatch every step of the way except for the Bowen/Lebron matchup on defense.

Didn't LeBron guard Tony in the regular season?

Something not mentioned, so far in the Playoffs:

Opponents PPG: CLE 1st SAS 7th
OPP FGP: CLE 1 SAS 10
OPP 3PT: CLE 3 SAS 11

Cleveland= Except for 1 guy, a bunch of no names!

Ferry couldnt have been talkin about the series. The SPURS are way too good for stupid talk.

Maybe Ferry and Pop had something going from when he was in San Antonio?

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Originally Posted by ManuTim_best of Fwiendz

"I love Gregg Popovich," Ferry said after the game Saturday. "But we're going down there to beat his butt."

Wha?

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Originally Posted by PM5K

Something not mentioned, so far in the Playoffs:

Opponents PPG: CLE 1st SAS 7th
OPP FGP: CLE 1 SAS 10
OPP 3PT: CLE 3 SAS 11

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well if we played the wizards that were missing their two best players, and if we played a shitty nets team, and if we played a pistons team that isn't very good offenisvly we'd have the same avg as them......... you can't compare an eastern teams defense to a western teams defense........ and the field goal percentage allowed isn't fair, the pistons jacked up anything the last 8 mins of game 6 cause they knew the refs wouldn't allow them to get back into the game

nuggets, suns, jazz >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> broke down wizards, nets, and no ben wallace pistons

For all those "worried" about them knowing "inside" information about us, and apprentices beating their masters.

Pop will OWN BROWN AND FERRY -- just like how Big Don Nelson owned Avery and his son, Donnie Nelson!

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Originally Posted by GoNavy

Ferry couldnt have been talkin about the series. The SPURS are way too good for stupid talk.

Maybe Ferry and Pop had something going from when he was in San Antonio?

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Hmmm... Bowen did make some insinuations about Pop kissing him, after the reporter alluded to Brown's attempted make-out session with Lebron.


So Ferry referred to "we" as not necessarily the Cavs, but he and Brown?