Post mortem:
Cavs 105, Nuggets 88
Remember a few years ago when everyone screamed about whether Zydrunas Ilgauskas was worth the cash the Cavs were giving him? Many talked about letting him go? Ummm…yeah.
Ilgauskas shows what his presence can do for the Cavaliers offense tonight. Sure he tied his season best with 23 points, but because someone had to guard him on the perimeter that middle was wide open for some aggressive drives by other players, including LeBron James (33 points) and Delonte West (22 points).
The Cavaliers didn’t look perfect in this game – far from it. In fact on more than one occasion it looked as if they were just trying to give it to Denver with crappy shot selection and transition defense.
What kept them from blowing it: the Nuggets shot selection was a lot worse, chucking up jump shots left and right without hesitation.
Ultimately, it took a Mike Brown timeout to get them straight and eventually win this one in a cakewalk.
Quotable:
From the coach’s office:
George Karl on the Nuggets’ play tonight:
We are not a jump shooting team. That was one of our failures. It felt like a Christmas season bad game. We didn’t match the intensity for most of the game. People think that we are a good team and we have to prove that we are good. One thing that is always floating in my head is our offensive ineffectiveness. It seems that we have to be slapped before we start playing hard.
From the locker room:
LeBron James on the game’s meaning:
I think it is a statement game; we wanted to make a statement. They are playing as hot as us, just as hot as Boston, just as hot as the Lakers.
At the half:
The Cavaliers should be well in control of this game, but you have to give Denver credit for locking down on defense to for an 8-2 run in the second to bring the Nuggets to within 12 and eventually 11 to end the half. In earlier comments I said to watch Z’s performance. At the half: he had 15. Think he missed playing?
Game: Cavs (21-4) at Denver Nuggets (17-8)
This year: The Cavs 110, Denver 99
Broadcast: TV: ESPN, FSOhio Radio: WAKR (1590 AM); WTAM (1100 AM), WHBC (1480 AM)
Starters: Cavs: LeBron James (F); Ben Wallace (F); Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C); Delonte West (G); Mo Williams (G); Carmelo Anthony (F); Kenyon Martin (F); Nene (C); Dahntay Jones (G); Chauncey Billups (G)
Officials:
Injuries/inactive: Cavs: Zydrunas Ilgauskas (questionable); Daniel Gibson (out, left big toe sprain); Eric Snow (knee). Nuggets: Steven Hunter (out, right knee)
Streaking: Cleveland has won one and the Nuggets have lost one.
What to watch:
- Billups vs. Mo Williams: The Nuggets trading for hometown product Billups was no accident nor is it turning out to be a mistake. Perhaps the Pistons thought that because of his slow start to the season, the point guard was showing his age. If that were the case, Billups has proved them wrong averaging more than 18 points per game with Denver. Williams will have his hands full because Billups plays defense as well and brought that attitude with him from Detroit. Not that Williams has anything to be ashamed. His presence helped to solidify the Cavs and bring a legitimate second-level scoring threat to aid LeBron James. He’s been no slouch on defense, debunking those rumors that defense wasn’t a part of his repertoire. It doesn’t show up in the stats, but Williams has been tenacious. This should be a great battle.
- The game overall: Like the Cavs, the Nuggets are off to their best start in team history. If observers are honest, they would note that the Nuggets team Cleveland faced earlier in the season, wasn’t the team they’re playing now. With Billups, their defense has gelled and they play more like a team, not like a group of players led by two superstars trying to figure out who should get the ball more.
- LeBron James vs. Carmelo Anthony is always a great show. In that first game, they played fairly close with James winning the offensive battle 22-18, but in getting teammates involved, there was no contest as James dished out 11 assists in the victory.
- The Return of Z: The Cavs’ center expects some stiffness and soreness for a while. Tonight he returns. How effective he is could determine the outcome of the game. One thing is certain, his return opens up the floor more for Mo Williams and Delonte West to work.
Quotable:
From the coach’s office:
Coach Mike Brown on the effect Chauncey Billups has had on the Nuggets:
First of all you’ve got a great guy for off the floor, just for the organization, for the city, shoot for the whole state. He’s a class act hard to follow. Now you add that to his basketball skills and his leadership skills and you have a guy who is capable of changing the face of a franchise, which is what he’s done.
From the locker room:
Mo Williams on playing Chauncey Billups:
I love playing against Chauncey. It’s always a good matchup between us. We both have different strengths and we use our strengths to our advantage against one another. It’s always a fun…I take the challenge to play against the better guards in the league. He’s no different so I’m definitely looking forward to playing against him.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
the way z is being used in the offense this year gives credence to the idea that mike brown was not a capable offensive coach. z was always too weak to continually work the low post. in previous years they would always work z in the low post for the first quarter and then forget about him for much of the rest of the game. it wasn’t until late last year when the cavs really started to take advantage of z’s outside game.
mike brown’s greatest coaching move was to relinquish control of the offense. if he had not done that i suspect this year’s team would resemble the dribble, dribble, dribble, shoot teams of the last few years.
Uh, George, the reason people “screamed” about the Ilgauskas signing is because he wasn’t worth the money (he wasn’t, and Ferry bid against himself during a summer when nobody could offer him more than the mid-level exception), he wasn’t worth five years (he’s not), and he didn’t fit into an offense nor a defense which best meshed with LeBron James (he doesn’t). Z apologists (and evidently, you’re one of them) always point to his periodic good games to support the argument that he was worth the bloated contract and that ridiculous 15% trade kicker on top of it. It’s a lame argument. He’s not a bad player, but he’s been on the wrong team.
Alan T’s brain is slowly melting as Danny Ferry’s master plan pays off and the Cavs rise to the top of the NBA. So much for five years of constant naysaying about the Cavaliers, Alan!
They’re doing well the first quarter of the season, but the only “master plan” Danny Ferry ever had was the Z-Hughes-Marshall-Jones power play. Didn’t seem to work.
But really, I think James would do almost as well on just about any team. He’s gotten that good. On the Blazers, he’d win a championship every year for the next 10 years. Wouldn’t even be a question.
I still think Ferry is going to make a trade by the trade deadline.
Actually this year’s hot start proves only that alan t. was right and the Hughes, Marshall, Damon Jones spending spree was a terrible miscalculation.
Big Z is hitting open shots and Brown’s offense looks better because the Cavs aren’t don’t have a bunch of black holes on the floor, like the aforementioned and Drew Gooden.
Mo Williams and Delonte West aren’t special players, really. Just competent NBA guards who actually make decisions and hit the open man.
It’s been obvious for years that Hughes/Marshall/Jones was a terrible idea. But Alan’s criticisms went well beyond that — basically he’s been saying for years that Danny Ferry was incompetent to do anything beyond sabotage this team. That’s being proven wrong.
Of course Lebron would win a championship on the Blazers. He could win championships on the Lakers or the Magic too, but not on the Thunder or plenty of other teams. But anyway, the Blazers are only who they are because they sucked for years and got a ton of high draft choices, plus had some talented malcontents to trade away. The Cavs were never going to be in that situation after they got Lebron. Not only did they become too good for regular lottery trips, but Paxson had sabotaged the team.
alan is making a much bigger issue out of Z’s contract than it really is. so what if the cavs paid him a bit more or gave him an extra year? z isnt a liability. in fact, he helps this team. anyone that knows anything about basketball can see that. the trade kicker (which you LOVE to bring up) is irrelevant since ferry wasnt going to trade Z anyways.
the hughes signing didnt pan out, but its not as if hughes was ferry’s #1 option. he went to hughes after ray allen, michael redd and joe johnson didnt work out (for reasons mostly out of ferry’s control) and hughes was the next best thing. the cavs had to bring in a SG. the only other option at that point was cuttino mobley.
as for marshall and jones – relatively bad signings. agreed. nevertheless, ferry rebounded and turned those guys (and hughes) into wallace, mo williams, wally, delonte west. at this point, those signings are completely irrelevant since the replacements are MUCH better.
and larry d – “Mo Williams and Delonte West aren’t special players, really. Just competent NBA guards “. huh? mo williams is MUCH better than a “competent” guard. no hes not chris paul, but he is well above average. hes on that fringe of not quite being an all-star. delonte i can see being “competent.”
Please. Part of the problem during the first three years of Ferry’s reign of error was Ilgauskas’ huge contract. That and Hughes’ contract. It clogged the salary cap, and nobody would ever take the remainder of Ilgauskas’ contract. He was always a liability. Still is, albeit now he’s much less of one because now there are other guys to space the floor, and his inability to pass a ball has become less of an issue. But still, he remains strictly a matchup-type player. Essentially, a glorified role player. Not worth the money nor the years, never was.
And again, I fail to understand why some folks don’t understand the concept of “patience.” You don’t need to sign a free agent when an attractive trade will eventually present itself if there is cap space available to do it. They always do. So that “the other guards were already taken” nonsense doesn’t fly. No reason Ferry couldn’t have waited a few months, but this guy panicked and spent like a drunk sailor in Bangkok on three days leave. Which left fans waiting three years until those horrible contracts finally had some semblance of tradeability, if there is such a word.
And yeah, larry d. is absolutely right, the Cavs’ guards are merely competent. Not bad, not great. Just because Mo Williams is better than the other guys who’ve pretending to be Cavs point guards doesn’t make him a black Bob Cousy. But he’s been fitting in well on the team because he doesn’t do as much crazy crap as players in years past. Same with West. These two guys seem to be more intelligent than their predecessors. When you have a bunch of Hugheses and Pavlovics (and Goodens) running around the floor like proverbial chickens with their heads cut off, it’s not pretty.
alan – having cap space for a trade is only good when there are tradeable assets. the cavs had no tradeable assets back when ferry first came on board thanks to the “reign of error” of paxson. what were they going to get for guys like kevin ollie, jumaine jones, darius miles and milt palacio? maybe they could have sweetened some deals with a little michael stewart or tierre brown? not to mention, the cavs had no draft picks at all to trade (even if doing so would have been prudent) thanks to paxson. thats exactly why the potential joe johnson sign and trade never materialized – the cavs had nothing in trade value.
if you want to believe that mo williams is “merely competent,” thats fine. you keep on believing that.
who said anything about mo williams being a black bob cousy? there is in fact a level or two between being “merely competent” and “black bob cousy”. since you refuse to read (or ignore) what i wrote, i dont think mo is an all-star PG. hes not chris paul, deron williams or anyone of that level. he is for sure on the next level down. guys who are fringe all-stars, but not bona fide consistent all star caliber.
Tim, a contract itself is can be an “asset.” You don’t even need a player. As an example, Denver gave away Marcus Camby for nothing. That “they didn’t have anything to trade for anybody” apology is lame. I look at the past three years as three wasted seasons mitigated only by James’ greatness.
And please, don’t give me that “Paxson traded away first-round draft picks” apology. Anybody can buy and/or sell mid to late first-round picks, you don’t necessary even need to own one. Hell, if Ferry wanted to, he could have bought back from Steve Kerr the very same first-round pick that Paxson originally traded.
All lame apologies. All moot points. But with all that cap room available at the time and seeing the way James now functions without a bunch of knuckleheads running around, it makes you think of what could have been if it had all been handled properly.
Who are some competent starting NBA point guards? If a guy isn’t considered a ‘fringe all-star’ you can be sure the team is trying to replace him.
Point guards don’t grow on trees and the Cavs found one which is great.
alan – trades like the marcus camby giveaway dont happen right and left. ferry cant sit around being “patient” expecting that type of giveaway to happen. sure every now and then a pure salary dump can occur, but you cant rely on that nor can you expect it.
paxson didnt just give away first round picks. he made bad trades involving them, plus he also drafted poorly. the cavs didnt have a single young player (like an al jefferson) to use as trade bait. those trades which you think could have happened had ferry been patient werent going to happen.
buy/sell first round picks? how often does that happen? very rarely. and when they do, they arent lottery picks but rather lower-third picks of the first round at best.
and all you do is rip on Z and his contract!? Z is a legitimate starting center who is an asset on the defensive end and gives you a double/double (or close to it) every night. those guys dont grow on trees. youre not going to get a guy like that for $2million/year. who would you prefer at center? eddy curry? zaza pachulia?
larry – a “competent” starting point guard would be guys like beno udrih, rafer alston, brevin knight (in his prime) – guys like that. mo williams is CLEARLY better than those guys.
alan – the biggest problem is all you ever say is things like “it makes you think of what could have been if it had all been handled properly” but you never give any viable suggestions. what should ferry have done? dont give me your generic punchline that he should have been patient, or some stupid hyperbole like “he shouldnt have panicked like a drunk sailor on leave.” who should he have gone after? given the wealth of tradeable assets (either players or contracts) he had at his disposal (according to you), what moves should ferry have made then to make the team clearly better than it was??
Who knows what Ferry could have done? It’s kind of silly to make “suggestions” as to what he could have done. He prevented everything that could have been done when he landlocked the club in 2005. He panicked. He felt he had to immediately justify his existence, and he blew his wad.
And Tim, it happens more and more, teams buying and selling first-round picks. I specifically mentioned that Steve Kerr could have sold back Paxson’s first-round pick to Cleveland because Portland ended up buying the very same pick lost in the Welsch deal. No players in return, no draft picks in return, just a $3 million check.
thats fine, alan. last i checked, ferry’s “reign of error” was good enough to get the team to the nba finals, and they are clearly better now. the issue isnt whether ferry can buy back first round picks. the point is, ferry was in a hole to begin with and shouldnt have had to deal with trying to buy back picks which should never have been gone in the first place.
no – its not “silly” to make suggestions. if youre going to go on and on about how bad ferry did, then at least be man enough to have suggestions on what he could have done better. making generalities like “he should have been patient” or “he shouldnt have blown his wad” is just a waste of time.
Ferry’s “reign of error” didn’t get Cleveland into the NBA finals, LeBron James did. James probably could have gotten Charlotte into the NBA finals, too, although I wouldn’t have given that mad genius Michael Jordan the credit for that.
And I don’t understand your refusal to accept Ferry’s terrible miscalculations, and come back with the illogical “well, tell me what he could have done instead?” I’ll tell you what he shouldn’t have done, and that’s exactly what he did. You don’t blow $30 million in cap space on bad long-term contracts preventing everything from being done for years. Having that much cap space is not being in a hole, just the opposite. James can’t go anywhere for three years at the earliest, tickets are still being sold because of the mere presence of James, so what’s the rush?
Ron Artest was available, he was eventually traded that season. Other guys became available. Players always become available. Trade exceptions are dealt from team to team to team, contracts don’t have to match up, teams are looking to rebuild, reduce payroll, whatever. Who knows what could have been done. But demanding alternatives is beyond silly, as Ferry summarily eliminated all possibilities for years within a span of two months on the job. That’s not even a “generality” as you refer to it, that’s plain old common sense. Because if those four didn’t pan out, for better or for worse, they were stuck in cement. Now that’s not smart.
But who cares now, moot point. But this all is actually your response to larry d.’s commentary, which was absolutely on the mark. Seriously, I don’t know how anybody in their right mind can defend Ferry’s moves from 2005 through the Mo Williams trade, with the exception of purchasing Ronald Murray’s contract from Seattle. It should never have taken this long to put a team together which doesn’t want to make James walk blindly into traffic.
“And I don’t understand your refusal to accept Ferry’s terrible miscalculations,”
i never said anything of the sort. your reading comprehension is miserable. ferry made some mistakes (hardly terrible miscalculations) but has rebounded from them nicely. the larry hughes signing was the only one even close to a “terrible miscalculation.”
“bad long-term contracts preventing everything from being done for years”? no: just a few short years after signing those contracts, he overhauled the entire roster after having been successful in getting to the finals. were you sleeping last year when he made that mega-trade? all those guys (jones, marshall and hughes were movable).
“don’t know how anybody in their right mind can defend Ferry’s moves from 2005 through the Mo Williams trade”
i never once “defended” ferry’s earlier moves. again, your reading comprehension needs some work. the point is ferry’s initial moves helped get the team to the finals (and no, im sorry, lebron isnt getting charlotte to the finals – he still needs at least marginal help around him). they werent the best moves imaginable and clearly that team benefited tremendously by having lebron, but a team of second stringers and lebron isnt getting to the finals.
just to continue to complain and moan. if you dont want to enjoy this season for what it is, thats not my problem.
I’m not “complaining or moaning.” But to credit Ferry for anything since he took over in July 2005 is beyond reason. James isn’t even close to the same player he was in 2005, and now Ferry has finally surrounded this dominating guy with competent guys who make reasonable decisions and play under control. That is, with the exception of Pavlovic, and Brown obviously doesn’t trust him and only plays him when somebody is hurt. This is the type of roster which could have and should have been put together by 2006.
And that “mega-trade” had little to do with anything last season. They were barely about .500 after it. So much of this has to do with Williams, who is really a shooting guard but can penetrate when necessary. They’ve never had that before. And those guys were finally “moveable” after THREE years. Ridiculous.
And I still can’t believe that anybody credits Ferry for getting to the finals. It was the combination of a really, really, really bad conference and James wearing a cape. The Cavaliers from that season will always be the punchline to a joke for the worst NBA team ever to make it into the finals. That’s probably something they’d rather not have attached to them, a punchline.
what difference does it make how bad the conference was overall? they still had to beat the pistons who many had picked to win it all.