Tag: al horford

What Needs To Change In Game 2 For Cavs?

Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers should know better by now.  You cannot and should not overreact to a single game in the NBA playoffs.

If we would have told you before Sunday’s game one that Cleveland would shoot 36% from the floor, and go 4 of 26 from three point range, while the Celtics make 51% of their shots, we both would have predicted a 25 point loss in Beantown.

Then you add in Boston shooting 64.1% on contested shots, while the wine and gold made just 30% of wide open shots, and you can see why the Cavs weren’t really in game one.

Basketball is a funny game, we say this all the time.  A team can execute a play perfectly and the player who ends up with the ball misses the shot.  Conversely, you can be totally discombobulated offensively, and then a great player makes a contested shot.

That’s just the nature of the game.

What coaches and players do is try to even out the odds.  Normally, the percentages even out, and team make open shots and miss ones that are defended.

When it doesn’t work out that way, it is awfully frustrating to watch or play.

Could it happen again in game two?  Of course.  And if it does, all the Celtics have done is hold serve on their home court, and the Cavaliers can even it up and make it a best of three series by winning games three and four at Quicken Loans Arena.

We would doubt that Marcus Morris or Al Horford can play better tonight than they did in the first game, and we would also be surprised if LeBron James was as inefficient as he was on Sunday.

And quite frankly, we’d be more shocked if the wine and gold made just four three point shots.

This doesn’t mean that’s all it comes down to in tonight’s contest.  The Cavs have to show more fight, and they have to do a better job on Horford, who the Celtics use to facilitate the offense.

It appears Tristan Thompson will start in place of either JR Smith or Kyle Korver, to add some size to the lineup, and Thompson has done a good job of defending Horford in the past.

We would like to see more of Jordan Clarkson attacking the basket, not settling for mid-range jump shots.  And while Rodney Hood got credit for being okay in Game 1, we weren’t impressed.  Yes, he scored 11 points, but needed 12 shots to do so.

We also think it sends the wrong message, even in the playoffs, to put him out there after he refused to play in the series clincher vs. Toronto.

Cleveland needs to rebound better too, as they were outrebounded 48-40 on Sunday.  Jeff Green had one board, and Hood had none.  Both must do better.

There has to be better ball movement too.  The Cavs only had 18 assists, half of them by James.  Now, some of that is you can’t award an assist unless someone makes a shot, but the next highest assist total was by Kevin Love with three.

Game one was just a bad game for the Cavs.  If tonight’s game is similar, then there is reason for concern.  Even if that happens, it only means the wine and gold must win the next two at home.

JK

 

 

Previewing Cavs-Hawks

Last year, the Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference finals and earned their second berth in the NBA championship round in the franchise’s history.

This year, they take on the Hawks in the conference semi-finals after Atlanta eliminated Boston in six games in the first round.

What can the Cavs expect starting on Monday night?

For the season, the wine and gold averaged 104.3 points per game compared to 102.8 for the Hawks.  Defensively, the Cavaliers allowed 98.3 points (4th) compared to 99.2 (6th) for the team from the Peachtree State.

After last season, the Hawks were branded as a ball movement team that relied on the three point shot, led by Kyle Korver.  Actually, the Cavs took 100 more shots from beyond the arc, and finished 7th in threes made, compared to Atlanta’s middle of the pack rank (15th).

Down the stretch, the Hawks became a tenacious defensive group, allowing the worst field goal percentage in the NBA at 43.2%.  Tyronn Lue’s group ranked 14th in this category.

Mike Budenholzer’s squad also ranked 5th in defense against the three point shot.  So, there is no doubt that Atlanta is very good at defending shooters.

However, it becomes a problem for them once a shot is missed.

The Hawks are simply not a good rebounding team.  Twenty three teams had more rebounds than them, and they allowed the 4th most offensive rebounds in the sport.

Cleveland was 9th in total rebounds and allowed the fifth least offensive rebounds as a team in 2015-16.

That makes Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love keys to this series.  If they can keep possessions alive after missed shots and can convert, that’s very demoralizing to opposing teams.

Jeff Teague improved his long range shooting tremendously this season, hitting 40% of his three point shots, compared to 34% a year ago.  He can be a handful for Kyrie Irving, who must stop penetration.

He did not shoot well from distance against Boston, so we would test his ability to make shots early in the series.

His backup, Dennis Schroder, who plays a lot, isn’t a good shooter from outside.

Atlanta’s best player is veteran Paul Millsap, an undersized four at 6’8″, but a very good scorer at 17 points per night.  He is very good at converting second chances, Love, Thompson, and company must keep him off the boards.

Because of Millsap’s size, it will be easy for Lue to use LeBron James at the four.  The Cavs should be able to match up easily if they want to go small.

Al Horford is Atlanta’s third leading scorer, and he’s a bit undersized to play the center spot.  Also, he seems to want to take more shots from the perimeter, which if we were playing defense, would be exactly what we wanted him to do.

And there is no question that Cleveland has to keep an eye on Kyle Korver, one of the NBA’s best long range shooters.

His three point shooting dropped by 10% this season, but you can’t let him get open looks.  You are surprised if he misses those.

Also, when he is on the floor, you have to go at him defensively.  He’s not a strong defender, and now 35 years old, isn’t getting any quicker.

With the home court advantage, it will be critical for the Cavs to come out and win the first two, obviously.  If they can win big, after last year’s sweep, the Hawks could be demoralized early.

This also shouldn’t be a physical of a series as the first round match up vs. Detroit was.  Atlanta doesn’t have the big bodies, but they are a better defensive team.

If Love and Irving are shooting well, we would figure the Cavs in no more than five games.

JK