Cavs at Nets
Posted December 14th, 2007 by bwindhorst
Pregame
Starting linueps
Cavs: Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Nets: Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Malik Allen, Jason Collins
Officials
Joe DeRosa, Bennie Adams, Eli Roe
–Boobie Gibson is back in the lineup but he’s not 100 percent as he’s still dealing with the effects of what sounded like a nasty tooth issue. We’ll see if there is carryover.
–It is hard for me to believe that the Nets are this bad, especially after watching them in last year’s playoffs. I was actually telling people that I thought they’d challenge the Celtics in the Atlantic Division. Oops.
Halftime — Cavs 57, Nets 50
–Overall Cavs have played OK. They are having problems at times dealing with the Nets zone and driving into traffic in the middle. But they have shot the ball well enough from the outside to stay in front. Seems like the Nets surprised them with it and their halfcourt trap, but the Cavs have turned it over just six times.
–Daniel Gibson has 12 points on three official shots. Guy is crazy in that regard.
–Cavs are allowed way too much penetration into the middle on defense. It is repeatedly breaking down their rotations. The Nets have 18 assists on 21 baskets, which is amazing, but part of it is because they are just dishing to open guys around the basket.
–LeBron may be on the way to a triple double but lookout for Zydrunas Ilgauskas, seven points, five rebounds, five assists. That would be the statistical achievement of the year, I belive.
–Vince Carter hit some jumpers early so he’ll probably feel like shooting them the rest of the game, if the Cavs get up into him he’ll be hard-pressed to hurt them. But he can get super hot if he gets any space.
–Cavs bench scored 20 points in the first half, having Larry Hughes off the bench makes quite a difference. Then again Sasha Pavlovic has played eight minutes without a shot, rebound or assist.
–Make it six arenas I’ve been to that use the Kanye West song as their intro.
Postgame
Stars
Vince Carter, 32 points, seven rebounds
Richard Jefferson, 24 points
Jason Kidd, eight points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, five steals
LeBron James, 29 points, eight assists
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 21 points, 12 rebounds, six assists
–Offense will not be discussed in this blog tonight, there is no point.
–The Cavs’ defense in the second half was pretty much a joke. Mike Brown tried zone for awhile and then got so desperate that the Cavs went to the hack-a-Josh Boone card. That had to be embarrassing for the entire team. They couldn’t get stops, so they sent players in to slap Boone. Boobie Gibson went over to Bennie Adams to tell him the Cavs were going to do it and Adams even gave him a weird look.
–Yes the Nets have some hard covers, but let’s keep in mind they are ranked 30th in the NBA in offense. Tonight they had 27 assists on 39 baskets and Kidd had just 11. That means there were a lot of Nets passing to wide open other Nets. The reason? Because the Cavs didn’t keep anyone in front of them and their weakside rotations were non-existent. Boone had a season-high 15 points and his is a man who cannot make a free throw and missed at least three shots within six inches of the basket tonight.
–The Nets have scored more than 100 points just twice in the last eight games…both against the Cavs.
–Nets started 1-of-11 from the field, then went 30-of-50. That’s not a hot streak, that’s domination.
–The Cavs won 50 games last year and 12 playoff games with defense and rebounding. Tonight, they only had a handful of good defensive possessions and got outrebounded by the 25th ranked rebounding team, 45-35. The Cavs got beat to 90 percent of the loose balls and Anderson Varejao looked pretty rusty, he couldn’t get his hands on anything.
–The Cavs now rank 27th in the league in opponents field goal percentage. They have been behind going into the fourth quarter in 19 of 23 games. Considering injuries and the schedule, it is a miracle they have 10 wins. Yes there is promise because they still have the personnel to be a good team but this night was just a reminder of how far away they are from the level they were playing last year.
–Larry Hughes went 4-of-15. Hot streak over.
–The Cavs got one basket in the paint in the fourth quarter…with 30 seconds left.
–LeBron had six turnovers, the Cavs allowed 23 points off turnovers.
Quotes
Mike Brown: “It’s pretty simple to break this one down. We haven’t defended all year.”
December 15th, 2007 at 12:36 am
Way too many 3’s tonight and it cost us the game. Why did we go away from driving to the rim?
Let’s trade for Andre…
December 15th, 2007 at 8:13 am
I hope everybody likes the new offense. There’s great ball movement, LeBron looks like an MVP and we’re giving up season highs to gimpy Vince Carter and stiff Josh Boone. Even Boone can hit free throws with enough practice. I’m sure he appreciated it. I wonder if LeBron can win MVP even if we’re 42-40? I’d rather bump and grind back to the NBA Finals myself. Actually, the defense is bound to get better, but this was a frustrating loss.
It may sound like irrational player-bashing, but while there were a lot of defensive lapses, a “healthy” Larry Hughes cost us this game. I was praying for a quick “fantasy-style” trade after his 36 point mirage against Indiana. Unfortunately, he and his contract are still here and he was his typical 4-15 last night in 34 precious minutes. Lots of missed jumpers (even though he’s not playing his dreaded point guard position) and he even managed to get a layup blocked by what looked like three people. He buckets of critical shots as the Nets surged ahead. Advertised as a defender, he was also victimized by most of Carter’s fade aways. And what Cavaliers game is complete without Austin Carr saying “I think Larry hurt himself”. Next month when Hughes finally has another good game, hopefully Ferry can find a sucker GM before he turns back into a pumpkin again.
We need a point guard? No, we need a consistent 2-guard.
December 15th, 2007 at 9:20 am
A 2-guard and a shot blocker who can move a little. Nachbar and Boone almost combined for 30 points.
December 15th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Temple-man…right on. I am so tired of Larry Hughes hoisting up jumpers from all over the court. He is most effective when he penetrates. If he is just going to hoist up jumpers and play mediocre defense then Mike Brown needs to sit him down, period. Also I really don’t understand his complaining about being used as the point guard. In the first half of last season when he was the two and Snow was the point he was his same, 40% shooting self. Heck, Lebron plays point half of the time anyways even when Larry technically is the point so that argument does’nt float either.
December 15th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I know that Brian doesn’t want to talk about offense last night, but LeBron’s decision to heave two off-balance 3’s in the last 2 minutes was terrible. This is a team that has shown how quick scores and good defense can save you down the stretch. The “wait for the shot-clock to wind down, then LeBron heave a 3″ play has *never* worked.
I know that Coach Brown can’t bench him, but any player at the high school or college level would have been nailed to the bench after the first one, not given a chance to do the exact same thing a minute later. It almost seems like LeBron had a little too much fun in his two weeks off. He doesn’t seem quite as careful in his play and in his comments lately. Here’s hoping it’s just a blip, not a sign that he’s headed back into the coasting phase he was in at this point last year.
Go Cavs. Clean it up at home against the Sixers.
Mike C.
December 15th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Larry’s next injury can’t happen soon enough for this team.
He is most effective when he penetrates.
Larry is effective? When, where? I must have missed it…I didn’t see that one game the other night.
December 15th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Larry’s next injury can’t happen soon enough for this team.
He is most effective when he penetrates.
Larry is effective? Was that game the other night the only one you’ve watched in the last two years?
December 15th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Larry’s next injury can’t happen soon enough for this team.
He is most effective when he penetrates.
Larry is effective? Was that game the other night the only one you’ve watched in the last two years?
December 15th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
While Brian’s analysis re the defense is correct. I thought the game was lost in the last couple of minutes in the 3rd Quarter and the first few minutes of the 4th Quarter. The game went from even to about an 8 or 9 point deficit in that span. Other than bringing LeBron in for the last offensive play in the 3rd, Brown went with a lineup of Snow, Hughes, Jones, Newble, and Varajeo. Not surprisingly, they could not score and fell behind for good then. When you are playing poor defensively, you have to outscore your opponent. Why not mix in a scorer like Shannon
Brown or play Gooden instead of Andy with that group? What’s with Newble at the 4?
Did any one else think all of the whistles went the Nets way?
December 16th, 2007 at 12:15 am
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December 16th, 2007 at 12:42 am
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January 20th, 2008 at 4:26 am
[...] bwindhorst wrote a fantastic post today on “Cavs at Nets”Here’s ONLY a quick extractNets: Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Malik Allen, Jason Collins. Officials Joe DeRosa, Bennie Adams, Eli Roe. –Boobie Gibson is back in the lineup but he’s not 100 percent as he’s still dealing with the effects of what … [...]