Hawks 98, Hawks 94
–So, I guess LeBron decided to stop playing passive. 32 points in the second half, 12 in the last 1:40, 19 in the fourth quarter. This is the thing about LeBron that it is easy to forget, he is a generational talent and at any moment he can go off like that. Which is why there were 20,562 fans at Quicken Loans Arena on a snowy Wednesday night for a game against the Hawks, just in case. Sometimes I forget.
–Anyway, two things happened in the second half. First, LeBron was more more aggressive in going to the basket in the third quarter, which set up the fourth. Second, Mike Brown changed his offense and started putting LeBron at the top of the key a lot. He then played one-on-one instead of running off pick-and-rolls. Now, this is not a great way to play offense, it is a Band Aid, but it worked for tonight. Largely because the Cavs kept moving, they had 16 assists in the second half.
–The LeBron jumpers down the stretch were clutch, but they were also true. What I mean by that is that his technique was solid. Since he’s come back from the injury, he’s been falling away a lot, his old bad habit. In the fourth, he was squaring up. Even on the shot he made with 32 seconds left, he got square and was balanced. If he continues to do that, his jump shot will be improved.
–Larry Hughes was 6-of-10 tonight and with him and Daniel Gibson on the floor late in the game and the Cavs spread the floor, the Hawks had to respect the wings and they had to respect LeBron’s drive so he had space outside. Sorta of how things would look if the Cavs had good guard play every night.
–There were two women wearing halter tops and body paint sitting about four rows behind the Cavs bench. At every time out they would stand up and hold up signs so the Cavs in the huddle could see them. Usually they save such shameless stuff for the hotels. Of course, there was that one woman in Atlanta who stood by the tunnel and had a bunch of cash hanging out of her low-cut top last year.
–I keep hearing these Bulls-Cavs rumors involving all sorts of different players. I highly respect Sam Smith, but he openly says in this column where he spreads the rumor that he heard it from a fan and can’t confirm any of it. So if he can’t confirm it and I can’t confirm it and it just comes from message boards, what do you want me to say about it? Forget that common sense says division rivals don’t trade with each other, that Kirk Hinrich is only shooting slightly better than Hughes this season or that Ben Wallace contract is longer and his output as sharply downhill as Hughes. If Larry is about to get traded, I don’t know about it, I just hear about executives turning down every deal with Hughes in it. So if he gets dealt in the next day or so, I will be glad to give credit elsewhere.
–If you are interested, I guest hosted TrueHoop at ESPN.com today and had what I think was a cool post about the life of an advance scout that you may enjoy. Or not.
Tonight’s review:
Pregame
Starting lineups
Hawks: Anthony Johnson, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, Al Horford
Cavs: Larry Hughes, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Officials:
Joey Crawford, Scott Wall, Olandis Poole
–Ira Newble is out sick, he probably would’ve gotten a lot of playing time tonight because the Hawks play a lot of guys his size.
–The Hawks are much improved, especially offensively. They have established their roles well and share the load. Three guys average 15 points or more. Marvin Williams has become an excellent mid-range shooter and Johnson is one of the best pure long-range shooters in the NBA. Horford is a rookie of the year candidate.
–The Cavs had two full practices to work on their offensive spacing issues. LeBron has been getting hammered with double teams and they have been working on countermeasures. Also, they have spent practice time working on getting Daniel Gibson some more shots, teams are camping down on him more. Of course everything would be easier if Sasha and Hughes actually made even 40 percent of their shots.
–Josh Smith is one of the most dynamic players in the league right now. He is a prolific shot blocker, especially coming from the weakside. The Cavs (especially Sasha and LeBron) will have to be mindful of him.
Halftime — Hawks 38, Cavs 37
–The Cavs ought to be ashamed they are behind in this game. The Cavs are shooting 32 percent on the road and are winning. The reason, plain and simple, is turnovers. The Cavs have 10 of them in the first half. The Hawks have 10 points off them, but it’s actually cost the Cavs more than that because of the lost shot chances. The Cavs have nine more rebounds yet have fewer shots.
–LeBron has four points on five shots. Over the last several games, he is looking more and more like the guy who started last season. A couple of times coming off screens he’s been triple teamed, so the scoring is going to be hard in that situation. But he’s also only got two assists. He’s playing passive and that is when he’s easiest to defend.
–The Cavs missed their last seven shots in the half and shot 43 percent, before that they were shooting 55 percent. Still much of that came from Drew Gooden, who is 6-of-7. Otherwise the offense has been weak. We still don’t know if Horford can guard Z, who has just three shots in the first half. They are not putting the big guy in position. Not what you’d expect after Mike Brown had two days of practice.
Postgame
Stars
LeBron, 36 points, six assists
Larry Hughes, 14 points
Drew Gooden, 13 points, seven rebounds
Josh Smith, 20 points, eight rebounds
Joe Johnson, 24 points
Quotes
Mike Brown: “LeBron was being LeBron. We have all the confidence in the world in him.”
LeBron: “I was just trying to be aggressive. I have confidence that I can knock down my jump shot.”
Johnson: “(LeBron) carried his team tonight. For awhile it seemed like he couldn’t miss.”
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
BW: Your BW counterpart at the PD reportedly mentioned on WKNR before the game that the Cavs had a trade on the table for Hughes but one side was hesitating in pulling the trigger. Any idea with whom and for what?
I have an idea which side would be hesitating to pull that trigger–the other side.
@ half , larry 2-6 and pavs 1-4 . we can see where this is heading for these two studs already
Hughes hit a 3 pointer and Mcleod said Larry must have watched a Mark Price video. That’s high comedy.
am i dreaming ? is larry actually above 50% from the field,5-9 ? please ,pull him now before his % goes under
test
I’m back, baby…..I’m back!
S’up y’all…
I know this ain’t really about tonight’s game, but thought y’all would want to know…
There’s a blog called http://www.respectkobe.com that compares LeBron and Kobe, like the ESPN article did before. Except the dude’s basically ripping on one of the guys from the ESPN article. Dude obviously has a man-crush on Kobe, cuz all he does is sing Kobe’s praises and hate on THE KING.
We all know LeBron is tha shiz and Kobe’s old news… y’all should go on over there and tell him what’s up!
http://www.respectkobe.com/?p=6
Kuck Fobe!
Good win. Lebron stepped up when he needed to.
Varajeo and Gooden both had nice games.
Hughes’ shot 6-10 from the floor this evening. Ferry should trade him TONIGHT.
That’s a NICE win… Atlanta is an up-and-coming team. Smart coach too.
From what I’ve heard, it’s the Bulls who are trying to get Drew Gooden (along with Hughes) and dangling Kirk Heinrich and Ben Wallace in exchange. I could see that being possible, considering the state of disarray the Bulls are in right now. I’d rather have Ben Gordon than Capt Kirk, but if that’s really the case, Wallace is the muscle we’ve been needing inside, and it would rid us of Hughes’ contract. What’s not to like?
Please, BW, look into this and confirm or deny.
heylarryhughesdidn’tgivemeanyhalloweencandy.com kid’s probably p’oed. That website is a joke – the 5 year-old who runs it edits your comments out if you don’t agree with the little genius on every point. You can’t control injuries – look at Z, he was gone for how long with his foot? I’m pretty sure some of that was with a max contract, too. And now he’s healthy and solid, if not spectacular. Villify Hughes all you want, son, it’s about as legit as USC and Georgia claiming to be national champs. I don’t doubt Hughes is moving but c’mon, I can’t believe BW would give him the publicity for that shite. Hughes will likely benefit from a change of scenery.
I’d wouldn’t mind that trade and I keep hearing about it too. Wallace can’t score well but he’d be a real nice addition for the D and we’d get a point guard who has upside even. THAT would be amazing.
Still think I-go-0-7-in-every-big-game Snow and D. Jones the overrated malcontent who dresses like Elton John should go any way possible.
Good game boys…
I love larry d’s first comment in this thread. Hilarious, and oh so true.
King Jester – you were right that ‘PoorKobe’ website or whatever is funny stuff, what a ‘wackjob’ LOL!!! Still, it’s better than the Larry Hughes site written by the little comment-editing retaad.
A very good win. The defense is coming around and the veterans are starting to adjust to more limited roles, like last year. Varejao’s helped the big rotation, and Gibson will continue to improve.
I predict the Cavs still win 50 games and LeBron will deserve MVP but Kobe will win it. Ferry will make a borderline-helpful minor move at some point, which will be seen as genius in some quarters.
Rashard Lewis will get hurt and the Pistons will get outcoached in the first round, so the Cavs meet the Celtics in the conference finals.
The Cavs didn’t cover the spread again. Thank goodness LeBron had to score only 36 instead of 38, I’m now $12 richer, thank you very much. Enough to cover a day’s worth of home heating.
Why is it when Cleveland wins, it’s not the refs’ fault? When they lose, everybody screams the refs should be neutered, shot, decapitated and thrown into a shallow grave with that Donaghy guy.
BW: Thanks for commenting on the rumor. What you did was make clear that Branson’s rumor was just the tired old rumor from Chicago rather than new information. Branson didn’t say that, which made it seem like it was something new and, in the “where there’s smoke there’s fire department,” it was therefore worth asking you about. So, when you ask “what do you want me to say about it?”, I think what you said speaks volumes. Of course, it slams Wright not to even mention him as having possible independent information, but I guess that’s the journalistic rivalry (if not the polite truth).
Thoughts from last night’s win at the Queue:
- Very entertaining game last night, including the LeBron heroics and Joe Johnson’s ridiculous 3’s to make it interesting late. I’m not sure how many watched, but it was the first good thing to happen in Cleveland sports in a week. You have to admit, it’s been a pretty depressing week.
- This Hawks team has some weapons, but they are going to need Horford to develop into a post threat before they can seriously contend. Fortunately for them, Horford has shown signs of being a certified beast. If they can team him with a center, rather than making him play center, he seems like he could become an Elton Brand-level player.
- Still, only 4 shots for Z with a guy 4 inches shorter guarding him. Z was definitely passive last night, but it was also clear that the bench had no interest in establishing him in the post.
- Or really establishing anyone for that matter. Gooden got off early, then hardly saw the ball in the second half. Shouldn’t Brown consider giving Gooden more minutes with the second team, where his offense (especially in the post) could open up some space for the guys who have more trouble creating their own shots?
- Sasha played his best game in weeks. That’s not saying much, but he was more aggressive on both ends of the floor.
- Why in the world would the Cavs trade Larry Hughes for 2 Larry Hughes’s? I would be happy to deal Hughes for *either* Ben Wallace or Kirk Hinrich, but for both? That’s an Isiah Thomas trade. Ben Wallace looks like he’s 40, and Kirk Hinrich has been shooting 39%, down from his already modest 41% career mark. You don’t get rid of an overpaid, underproducing player by trading him for *two* overpaid, underproducing players. That’s getting stuck in a hole and trying to dig your way out.
- How bad does a team have to be when the wild, impossible trade speculations of the fans include acquiring Larry Hughes?
Go Cavs.
Mike C.
cosign on Larry D’s first comment being hilarious, i almost laughed out loud at work…
hey, tucker. here’s something for your clearly small mind to chew on. the ONLY reason the hawks were in the game was because of the HORRIBLE refereeing and the massive despairity on FT attempts between and the hawks and the cavs.
let me refer you all to this link: http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/shotchart?gameId=280102005
this is a shot chart. now, go to the left and choose m. williams from the drop down menu. then go to the right and do the same for LBJ. take a look at the attempts in the paint ( as it is the best indicator of aggressiveness on driving the ball and the place where most fouls occur, obviously ). now, unless my eyes deceive me, williams had NO shot attempts inside the pain, YET had 12 ft attempts. on 6 TOTAL shot attempts. LBJ, by contrast, had only 5 FT attempts, when you take out the 6 attempts he had when fouled intentionally at the end of the game. so, marvin willimas get TWICE as many attempts as LBJ. does that seem correct to you?
now, i will say that only looking at the shot chart is not the only or even best way to gauge a player’s aggressiveness in going to the hole. but coupled with me actually watching the game, something i’m quite sure you don’t do, i can clearly see that LBJ didn’t get at least 3 calls last night he should’ve received.
keep in mind also that the cavs shot over 50% from the field for the game and had 24 assists. and out-rebounded the hawks. oh, and despite what windhorst may claim, at the end the cav only had 4 more TO’s than the hawks. but the haws went to the line 11 more times than the cavs and again if you take out the intentional fouls the hawks had to commit at the end of the game, that becomes a 17 attempt gap. on the cavs home floor! just horrible, horrible officiating.
btw, tucker, espn is reporting that the nets won’t be moving to brooklyn until ‘10 “at the earliest.” hmm, that kinda sounds like your grand prediction about LBJ going to join jay-z in brooklyn might be in serious jeopardy. of course, knowledgeable nba fans know that trying to predict player movement 2 or 3 years in advance is a fool’s game. but i guess that’s the kind of game you specialize is, isn’t it?
hey kj, it does not matter, lebron will not be here after his contract is up, give me 1 good reason why he should stay here….He is gone baby so you better enjoy him now.
The possible trade mentioned in BW’s post above will be a disaster for the Cavs. Ben Wallace is the most overrated player in the league. His fat salary, lack of skills and age is killing the Bulls and it will kill the Cavs. I like Heinrich but he will struggle with Brown’s version 3.0 offense. Heinrich will do the same thing Hughes, Gibson, Snow, Jones does at the point guard position. That’s dribble down the court and toss it the LeBron. I know Gooden is inconsistent but at least he can make a free throw..unlike Clank Wallace.
alan t i agree 100% on your little note about the refs. i for one never blame the refs and instead hold the team accountable for their own actions, but most fans like scapegoats.
and if we think we are bad offensively now…man just think about throwing ben wallace into the rotation. at least larry doesnt cause too much locker room drama and is a good person; wallace hasnt like any coach he has ever been with except larry brown. how that figures i dont know but its the truth. and heinrich will eventually play like he normally does as the year goes on but wallace would bring this team down more than larry does already. plus i think his contract is longer. yuck. and if kirk does really suck, well its easier to keep one bad player on the bench all game then 2.
besides, if larry can muster up the strength to shoot 40% without shooting the ball too much, then the cavs are a much better team
I’m still not impressed with LBJ’s one game of two quarters of agressiveness. Why couldn’t he begin in quarter one and two. I still blame him for his lack of killer instinct game after game. I think his lack of couching causes him to be less enthusiastic and being a non-motivator on the court. Watch him in the next game and see what happens. Same old no shooting lack of enthusiasm LBJ
Yeah he had a bad game, whatever dude
Same old same old. We rejoice when Hughes shoots over 50%. How pathetic is that. He runs next to one of the greatest players ever and can’t take advantage. Drew shows up for once rather than playing soft and we are thrilled. The Cavaliers beat a team they should stomp at home by only a few points and we are thrilled. This team will be lucky to finish .500, will make the 8th spot, and will get crushed by the Celtics in the opening round unless Ferry makes a significant change to the roster. Up until this point in the Lebron era this team has taken a step forward every year. But not this year. And that blame goes directly to Danny “thanks for the chance to ruin this franchise again” Ferry. A loser is as a loser does.
Papa Moe…another post, another silly comment. If your thing is being unserious, then so be it. It’s just sports afterall, I guess.
Anyhow, this was a nice win over a very improved team. It’s a positive step.
that was a good win. atlanta is good. better than the cavs right now, though that’s not saying much. kind of funny that Z was the one guy they couldn’t guard and we never figured out how to run any plays for him. hilarious, actually.
the kings are crazy short handed. i predict a win, though it’ll probably be a lot closer than it should be.