A trendy Game 3 review
Posted May 13th, 2007 by Brian Windhorst
East Rutherford, NJ — It was inevitable that the Nets Big 3 would get things going together in this series with the Cavs, and they certainly did so in the Game 3 victory. Nobody thought this series was going to be a sweep either way. While I still think it will be tough for the Nets to sustain that level of play to win four of five games, this could very much go either way.
Some thoughts…
–There are a couple of things not trending well for the Cavs. First off, they are not passing the ball nearly as well as they were in the Washington series. As a result, they are getting few good shots and making fewer shots. The Nets have a lot to do with this, but all Jersey is doing is following the book of forcing the ball out of LeBron James’ hands and letting the lessor players decide the game. The Cavs are shooting just 42 percent in this series.
–Secondly, the Cavs’ defense is allowing a lot of open shots and very high percentages, 50 percent in the last two games. They are just freely allowing Jason Kidd to shot from the outside. I realize that giving him space is the smart play because you don’t want him driving, but how many wide open 3s will be allowed when he’s making 75 percent of them? Richard Jefferson is also shooting 52 percent in the series. Much of that is Kidd getting him the ball in position, there’s no doubt he’s a master at it. He’s a true Hall of Famer. But, as the Cavs will point out, he’s not a Hall of Fame shooter.
–All that said, I believe a lot of things have been going in the Nets favor over the last several games on offense. They are making a lot of shots. Perhaps the Cavs can survive that if LeBron is into the game and the Cavs are getting extra possessions with offensive rebounds. But that didn’t happen in Game 3 because the Cavs and LeBron played passive.
–I asked Mike Brown about the defense at practice today. Usually he sees defensive flaws when they aren’t there. Today he said he was OK with the effort and said the team has to live with Kidd and Jefferson getting those shots. So I guess you shouldn’t expect any changes.
–Had I been live blogging yesterday’s game, I would’ve told you the Cavs were in great position at the half, when they had a 26-12 edge in points in the paint. The teams ended up tied in that category and the Cavs had a grand total of 2 in the fourth quarter. You know how much I hate the jump shot and that’s all the Cavs took in the fourth, which that stat shows. Also the Nets 56 percent shooting in the second half illustrated how more willing they were to get better shots.
–At practice today at John Jay College in New York, there was a banner off a small balcony that read: "The Doghouse." Apparently that’s what the home of the Bloodhounds (it’s a criminal justice school, get it?) is called. One reporter, who shall not be named, asked if that was where Damon Jones would be practicing. It was funny, but honestly I don’t see Damon as being in Brown’s doghouse, he was a victim of the Cavs going in another direction. Same for Donyell Marshall, who is still grumpy about losing much of his playing time. I asked Donyell about whether he’d play tomorrow (because he’s got a sprained left ankle) and he and Scot Pollard both laughed. Pollard then said: "It has very little to do with his ankle." While the Cavs in general have almost no problems in the locker room, there’s no doubt there’s an under current of angry veterans upset about playing time. They know enough not to make major waves, but Donyell and others get their digs in every now and then. It won’t happen publicly, but expect Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall and Ira Newble to ask Danny Ferry for trades in the offseason. As for Pollard, even if he doesn’t retire he probably won’t be back. Then again, having veterans who believe they are capable and aren’t playing is a common thread across all sports.
May 13th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Those three guys are going to ask Ferry to trade them? To WHOM? That’s like saying a $200,000 ‘91 Chevrolet Cavalier is going to demand to be sold. Who is this imaginary lunatic that’s going to buy it?
If Ira Newble wants to play for another team, who the hell is stopping him? He has a player’s option on his contract to opt-out, doesn’t he?
If the Dynamic Duo of Donyell and Damon want to go, then why don’t they have their agents simply ask Ferry to buy out their contracts for a penny on the dollar? After all, those two noble statesmen don’t care about the money. What swell guys. They just want to play.
May 13th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
LOL…I thought the same thing, Alan. What a freaking joke. Veterans that don’t suck asking to be traded? I can see that scenario. However, Marshall, Newble and Jones are not “veterans that don’t suck”.
May 13th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Let’s cut through the crap, the Cavs looked like they weren’t trying in game three. Can someone explain this to me? I’m watching Utah-Golden State and every possession is a war, yet the Cavs play with no intensity. I thought we might have turned the corner near the end of game two, but game three was a return to what looked to me like game 34 of the regular season, on the road against Memphis in the second of a back-to-back.
I have always wondered whether professional athletes actually care, but then I look at how upset someone like Dirk is and it reminds me of why I’m a sports fan. So is it only Lebron who don’t care? I’ve watched a lot of games this year, and when he shows up everyone else feeds off of him. Saturday he was walking into frame five seconds after the ball reached the front court, so when I say the team lacked intensity in my mind I put most of it on Lebron.
May 14th, 2007 at 4:47 am
The inconsistent intensity is disturbing and it’s been going on for a couple years now. Some of the blame has to go to LeBron, and some to Mike Brown.
But I also have to wonder about all these “grumpy” veterans. They yuk it up constantly on the bench and imply to beat reporters that the coach doesn’t know what he’s doing. That kind of “undercurrent” is a team killer and it reminds me of the way I acted in my ninth grade earth science class. I still owe the teacher an apology.
My pet peeve is Snow. You can’t watch a nationally televised game without hearing about Snow telling one of the broadcasters that he’s still the team’s leader, just like he was with the Sixers, etc., etc. Why does the press lap it up, and why can’t he just say, “My role has been reduced but were winning and I want to play well when I’m in there.”
May 14th, 2007 at 4:50 am
Maybe if Donyell made an open look every now and then, not to mention plpay some D and grab a rebound here and there, he’d get playing time. It is obvious Mike Brown preferrs his vets, and if Marshall could play at the level, of let’s say, Robert Horry in San Antonio, he’d get the minutes. He doesn’t, so he won’t.
Same for D-Jones. The occassional three he hits doesn’t make up for his total lack of defense.
The Pollard thing definitely baffles me, however. Pollard has always played hard. He has always taken up space inside, and he plays with the type of mean streak the Cavs could use in a series like this when R.J and Carter are getting to the hole with ease.
FTS
http://www.fearthesword.com
May 14th, 2007 at 5:41 am
Does Mike Brown have the inability to call an offensive play that takes less than 20 seconds to run? Or is it the players? Honestly, how lengthy of a process can it be to get the ball to LeBron and say “have at it” (Brown’s admitted strategy last year according to pluto’s article). Yet even when the cavs are facing a double digit deficit late in the fourth quarter, we continue our slow, prodding, 20 second hesitant and bumbling offensive scheme. I know that’s all brown has done all year, but come on, it’s playoffs game 3 and you don’t have one stinking play you can run in less than 20 seconds?
May 14th, 2007 at 5:59 am
I’m afraid that fat boy Barkley is right.
Until we improve the point guard position
ie Kidd, Billups, Hinrich, Nash, Davis,
Parker, Williams and stop allowing Lebron and Hughes to stand at the top of the key & dribble through their legs we are going
nowhere. Also did you see Mikki smash down
dunks in Z’s face? We do need to dump all
except for starting 5 and Andy. The rest
are garbage. And BW if Damona ain’t in Browns doghouse you and I have never slept
on the couch. CMON get real. And Chickenhawk
should be put in just to pop somebody right
in the kisser. What a bunch of pansies.
May 14th, 2007 at 6:01 am
Brian, enquiring minds want to know–who are the players mentioned here? I’m guessing Gooden was the one spending it up on sushi.
(From http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/paul_forrester/05/12/cavs.nets.game3/index.html)
“Who says highly paid entertainers don’t know the value of a buck? In one corner of the Cavs’ locker room prior to Game 2, two players excitedly talked about the possibility of winning a set of custom-made golf clubs at a replica set-up (at New York’s Rockefeller Center) of the famed 17th green from the Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass. In another corner, one of Cleveland’s big men expressed disbelief at running up a $180 tab for sushi on Friday night. The Nets largely spent the pregame media availability in the trainer’s room.”
May 14th, 2007 at 7:13 am
Please, would this blog’s author, in either this blog or in his newspaper, please oh please oh please, remind his readers that New Jersey was a .500 team in the pathetically putrid NBA Eastern Conference? Basically, Cleveland is playing the East’s equivalent of Sacramento.
Yes, the Cavaliers will beat the Nets, but the false hopes continuously dispensed by the local media simply stinks like Gooden’s three-day-old sushi and the female genitalia on the back of his head. Wow, they made it to the Conference Finals by virtue of beating two outstanding YMCA teams! That Danny Ferry is so BRIGHT!
Larry, you marched up to your ninth-grade earth science teacher and demanded a trade?
May 14th, 2007 at 8:07 am
I think he walked up to the principal and demanded a trade. I was too chicken to ever get into real trouble but acted like a clown and made his job tough. But that’s beside the point.
You never hear a peep about (or from) the heady veterans who are supposed to be leading this team when one of these frequent listless spells comes around. All of a sudden, LeBron’s the leader.
All the vets Ferry brought to Cleveland wore out their welcomes in other cities within a year or two. The Cavs will be beat Jersey, and I think Detroit is beatable too. But even if the Cavs make it to the finals, they need to unload everyone older than Gooden.
May 14th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Larry D:
This team will lose to Detroit in 5. Their
guards present significant matchup problems
and Prince is a big problem for LBJ.
May 14th, 2007 at 10:43 am
i think the cavs need to upgrade the point guard poition. lets say we make a deal for chauncey billups
May 14th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Ok terone pretend you are Joe Dumars. Who
do you want for Billups?
May 14th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Detroit always looks great when teams are rolling over for them but I haven’t seen them adjust well to a tough series in about three years.
Just about any backcourt can outplay the Cavs’ backcourt, but I can’t see how the Pistons are any better with Webber than they were with Ben Wallace.
May 14th, 2007 at 11:47 am
I’d like to see Mike Brown develop Shannon Brown. The guy just wants to go to the hole and dunk on people. Reminds me of Monte Ellis. He’s a better defender too. Get that kid some minutes next season - we need more athleticism on the court.
May 14th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Somebody said that Nets are a .500 team but when you loose number 2 and three scorers and only post presence, you tend to loose. They were to miss play offs even in the beginning of April and somehow made it in the end. If Nets are so bad and Cavs are so superior, how come Nets were in both opening games despite horrendous rebounding. Net’s are going to win the series if they win today.
May 14th, 2007 at 11:59 am
The part that bothers me with the CAVS is their lack of passion. You saw that during the regular season and that is still evident now - WHY. They do not play with and edge. They come across as if they do not care. They will probably beat the NETS. The CAVS will give Detroit a game, if they play hard - you watch the teams in the WEST play and they are fighting for every position - it is like a war. The CAVS have the TALENT to make waves. It is kind of disappointing that they do not play with passion
May 14th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Flip Saunders is way smarter than MPH. It
takes 5 clock minutes for him to even realize an in game adjustment needs to be made. Look at Kidd, when he hit the first
two threes Saunders would have had Billups waiting for him at the three point line for
the next try. Browns response, ” well if they are going to make those shots they are
going to make those shots”. What kind of response is that. You certainly won,t see
Hamilton or any other member of the Pistons
dribble out the shot clock like Lebron does.
It’s assinine to think that even he can
make something happen with 4 seconds left on the clock and everybody else standing
around. In crunch time for the Pistons everybody is involved. Same thing with
San Antonio and Phoenix. Whens the last time
Brown either threw up a zone defense or some
kind of man to man or zone press that teams
love to surprise us with. He is predictable
as a hibernating bear especially when it comes to having no one else but LBJ handle
the ball in the crunch. Put MPH in the package with Damona, Donyell at the coach,
and those idiots Wesley and Newble and put
them on a match lit Cuyahoga out the back end of the Q after they are run out of the
playoffs.
May 14th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
jmoe,
While I see where you are coming from, the problem with the Cavs this post season has not been their defense. Their defense has done enough every game to win and win convincingly. When the opposing team is not even averaging 91 points a game, you have a chance to win a lot of games, which is why the Cavs are 6-1 in the playoffs.
My problem is with the offensive execusion. Going into game 3, I think the Cavs relied to heavily on the offense rebounding and second chance points. When those were not happening they got stuck. Now, is it coaches play calling or offensive execusion I do not know. There needs to be some sense of urgency and passion. What I see happening, especially from LBJ, is that one they start driving and not getting calls they should, they start settling for jump shots and give up on driving. This happened in Game 3 and often during other games throughout the season.
Here is to what we hope is a win tonight!
May 14th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
We’ll see what’s more important.. a happy locker room without Damon Jones, or a cool handshake before every game…
May 14th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
The Cleveland Cavaliers still suck, even though they just went up 3-1.
May 14th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
i agree, they are not ready for the pistons, but it is good to see them in the eastern conference finals.
May 14th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Did anyone else notice that Ref actually signaled pavlovic for an offensive foul on the flagrant 1??? Unless that is the same signal for flagrant 1. And what was with Pavlovic getting fouled going up for the dunk and not getting free throws???
May 15th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Did anyone else notice the three pointer L.B. shot first half only scored @42instead of 43… also how slow & deliberate our three pointers were being registered two points then one …hhmmm