Damon Jones’ three pointer at the buzzer to beat the Toronto Raptors was obviously his biggest shot while wearing the wine and gold. It extended the Cavs’ current winning streak to four and with Indiana losing, gives Cleveland a two game lead over the Pacers for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. With road games looming with Miami and Dallas, this was a big win for seeding purposes.
But what if Jones had missed the shot?
We would be inundated on talk shows about LeBron James not taking the last shot. Kenny Roda would be harping on Amon Ones the entire show, and blasting Mike Brown for taking Flip Murray off the floor at the most critical point in the game. We would have to hear about how the Cavs’ will not get home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and how Zydrunas Ilgauskas should have secured the rebound on Mike James miss for Toronto, thus not allowing Morris Peterson a chance to put the Raptors ahead.
My point is this: There are hundreds of decisions made by players and coaches during every game. Some work, some don’t, but they get swept under the rug if things work out. I remember Game 3 of the 1996 AL Division Series against the Orioles. With runners on first and second and no one out in a tie game in the seventh inning, Grover pinch hit for Jim Thome with Casey Candaele to have him bunt with Albert Belle on deck. Had Candaele gotten the bunt down, Davey Johnson undoubtably would have put Belle on. However, reliever Jesse Orosco walked Candaele, and Armando Benitez came in and gave up a grand slam to Belle. It was a dumb move by Hargrove to take the bat out of Belle’s hands, but it worked out because Orosco couldn’t throw a strike.
This is not to say anyone made bad decisions last night. I was surprised the Brown took Murray out of the game, but I could see his point. Putting in Jones would open up the floor for James to penetrate. LeBron made the correct play too. He was totally cut off from the basket, so he could take an off balance pull up jumper or pass the ball to the open man.
Jones did was he is being paid to do. Hit the open three pointer. He may not be a point guard, and he isn’t a good defender, but he has a reputation as being proficient from beyond the arc. You can’t get much better than a game winning three. Maybe that shot gets Jones going in the last 20 games.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 