The Cleveland Cavaliers are playing winning basketball right now. They extended their winning streak to six games with a 124-100 victory over the Sacramento Kings last night at the Q. This latest win came without LeBron James, who sat out the contest with back spasms. The team’s defense continues to be tough, and the offense has gained new life with the backcourt change of moving Larry Hughes to the point and starting Sasha Pavlovic at the #2 guard spot.
Of course, it wasn’t until rookie Daniel Gibson was injured that the coach made the line up switch, but sometimes a good thing comes from an injury. In all seriousness, the real change in the Cavaliers play came when the roles of Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall were de-emphasized. Without significant playing time for the two veterans, the defense started to improve and with it the team’s fortunes. They were replaced in the rotation by younger guys like Shannon Brown and Pavlovic, who are more athletic and can help the defense more.
It also allowed the offense to get out and run a bit more, which plays into the strength of its best players: James and Hughes. The good thing about the move is that the coach finally made the change. The bad news is it took him 50 games to figure this out. Hopefully, Mike Brown has learned his lesson and in the future if the vets are struggling, let the younger guys play.
Now, the wine and gold are even getting contributions from Ira Newble, another guy with a defensive reputation. Drew Gooden has also starting playing better after a three week funk where he was not contributing. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was more active offensively last night with James out, scoring 19 points, grabbing 10 boards, and even getting 7 assists. With nine or ten guys getting action and making positive plays, it allows the team to run more and give LeBron more rest.
Suddenly, the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference is being solidified and the Pistons are only 2 games ahead of the Cavs. It’s attainable to be the top seed in the East with home court advantage until The Finals if the wine and gold get that far. Gibson’s injury hurt the momentum he had going, he was getting better and better as he played more. However, his injury could be the thing that propels the Cavaliers to bigger and better things.
Playing the young guys didn’t hurt anything, in fact, it helped. We’ve been advocating making the change for months.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 