Cavs Continue to Baffle

 

The Cleveland Cavaliers continue their up and down play of late.  After beating the Pacers Tuesday night on the road for a big win to start a five game trip, the wine and gold dropped one to the undermanned New York Knicks last night in the Big Apple.  It was exactly the kind of game the Cavs can’t afford to lose if they want to hold on to the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference.  Of course, LeBron James hopes that Isiah Thomas’ crew make the playoffs as a fan.  What???

 

With less than 10 games remaining on the slate, Coach Mike Brown continues to struggle with his playing rotation.  Besides Donyell Marshall, now we have to question the time rookie Daniel Gibson is getting.  Since Gibson has returned from his sprained toe, he has not played up to the level he was playing prior to getting hurt.  Both he and Marshall play because of their ability to stretch defenses with long range jumpers, but lately neither one is making anything. 

 

With home court advantage in the first round at stake, now is not the time to let Gibson get his legs back.  Clinch second place in the division and perhaps Brown will have two or three games at the end of the season to let the former Longhorn play 30 minutes a night to get his shot back. 

 

Since Brown has and always will emphasize defense, it seems the players forgot why they won eight games in a row earlier this month.  During the winning streak, the Cavaliers held their opponents to an average of 91 points per game.  In the six games since, the wine and gold are giving up 95 per night, and that includes the Knicks horrible 68 point output a week ago at the "Q".  They are playing a running game on offense without playing the D needed to get that running game going.

 

The team is also shooting the three point shot way too much again.  In two games of this six game stretch, the wine and gold shot 3 of 20 from behind the arc.  That’s unacceptable.  If the shot is not going down, someone on the floor has to realize it and work to get better looks.  This team has so many guys who can get to the basket (James, Hughes, Pavlovic) there is no excuse for settling for the long jumper.  They have to get the aggressiveness back, particularly Hughes, who apparently now thinks he is Mark Price.

 

Brown gets a lot of criticism, and he deserves it for his rotation.  However, I believe he stresses defense and doesn’t like his team jacking up 3’s.  Unfortunately for him, his team is not blessed with a lot of players who have a high basketball IQ.  They don’t remember why the team played so well a few weeks ago, and again have settled back into bad habits.  Giving more time to guys who contributed to the streak (Ira Newble and Shannon Brown) would be a start.  With less than three weeks left, there isn’t a lot of time to be patient.

 

JK