Mike Brown isn't a coach I'm fond of. But his defense does work. He might be that missing Van Gundy brother we've been searching for, presuming anyone is searching for game-suffocating defense and boring offensive sets.
Incredibly, the starting of Sasha Pavlovic worked. Instead of Eric Snow, who is known for his hard defense, Coach Brown went with Sasha, who is better able to defend Chauncey Billups, thanks to his size. It worked - Billup's numbers: 13 pts, but only 6 FGA. Was he distributing? Nope, only 5 assists, versus 7 turnovers! Those turnovers were because of the defense of Sasha and Larry Hughes, on Billups.
But there is a darkside - Sasha pulled a Hughes on the offensive side, on a night in which Larry was also pulling a Hughes. They shot a combined 8-27, for 22 points. Worse yet, Sasha's other numbers: 0 rebounds, 0 assists in 32 minutes. That is not getting production from your starting backcourt.
LeBron was, well, okay for LeBron. He had a big defensive night, too: 4 steals and a block. He forced Prince into settling for crappy jumpers (instead of getting to the basket), and the result was 1-11 from the field for 'Tay, plus 3 TO (Tay did do a good job of giving up the ball, as he had 9 assists).
LeBron also had 10 boards, and 9 assists, mostly to Anderson Varejao and big Z, who continues to come up big over the last week. He had 22 point on over 50% shooting, on a night when the rest of his team shot 23-69 (33%). Z also had 13 rebounds, including 7 offensive. Thanks to him and LeBron, the Cavs out-rebounded the Pistons, which is going to be a necessary step to winning.
The road victory on Game 1 was there for the grabbing. The Cavs lead at the half 41-35, thanks to their defense. With 2:08 to go, Big Z had hits two big free throws to make it 76-75 Cavs. But Billups immediately hits a big three to make it 78-76 Pistons with 1:52 to go. LeBron misses a jumper, Rip misses a jumper, then Rasheed comes up with a big block on Larry Hughes layup attempt, then Larry Hughes strips Chauncey Billups.
So the Cavs were down 2 (78-76) with 35 seconds to go. They ran a play for LeBron, but by the time he got he was too slow to make his move. The double came over with less than 4 seconds on the clock, and he passed it off to Z, who missed a 20-footer. The rebound ended up in the Cavs hands (Hughes gets it), and so they called a timeout to run a new play with under 10 seconds to go.
LeBron gets the ball, takes it towards the paint, gets doubled and kicks it out to a wide open Donyell Marshall in the corner. Yes, wide open for three. The same Donyell Marshall who killed the Nets with 6 threes in Game 6. He bricks the three, and Chauncey hunts down the long rebound and gets fouled to seal the game.
Conclusions: The Cavs had a real opportunity to steal a needed game. The Sasha move was a great call by Mike Brown... on the defensive end. But in the end the Cavs couldn't muster enough offense. LeBron James could not take over with the necessary shots in the second half. It's not that LeBron is the next Vince Carter (although I've made that comparison quite a bit, haven't I?); he might just be the next KG, too... too smart to take a bad shot when he knows a teammate is open, but too trusting of the subpar teammates that surround him to realize that the only hope his team has is if he steps up in the clutch, not a teammate.
If it seems like I am being tough on him, I'm not. I just think your franchise player, no matter what his age, has to know when to take the big shots down the stretch. And I'm not going to harp on him for passing on the last play. I didn't think Carter was wrong to pass to Nachbar against the Cavs in Game 2, and I don't think LeBron was wrong to pass to a wide open Marshall at the end of this game. If anything, in both these cases what it illustrates is this: Big Shot Rob is far more than just a marginal role player. He does what Nachbar, what Marshall, haven't done - hit the winning three in a crucial playoff game. As for superstars passing: Jordan trusted Kerr, Paxson, Hodges - he trusted his guys. After lighting the Knicks up for 55 points, the game was won when Jordan was doubled and kicked it under the rim to a wide open Bill Wennington.
But correct me if I'm wrong here: none of those guys (Kerr, Paxson, Hodges) won a big playoff game, right? I don't care how open guys like Marshall and Nachbar are, hitting a three, even with no defense, is still a low % shot. What the Cavs should have done is what Jordan did in the Wennington game - LeBron should have drawn the double team out towards him on the wing, then swung the ball down low to someone who could get a high % shot in the paint. Unfortunately, he doesn't have that on this team. Z is a jumper shooter, and Gooden is a poor finisher; a finisher, yes, but not good enough to be considered a high% play.
So the best play the Cavs could run is this - either let James go up on two defenders and shoot over them for the 15 footer (and then try to win in OT on the road against a better team), or have him kick it out to a wide open Marshall for the win. The Cavs can't be faulted for running the play for the highest % shot at winning they had; they can only be faulted because the highest % shot they can take in that situation is so poor... that illustrates the lack of personnel this team has offensively....
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LeBron... I know people (including LeBron) will say "but I need great players around me", which is generally helpful, but we've all seen great players take over the game when needed.
If you're going to be the franchise, you have to take on the burden of playing like the franchise.
Agreed, Xtra P. He doesn't shoot enough in the 4th quarter of close games - I said the same thing during the Nets series. He needs to have one of those 8-10 point runs. I've killed him about that in past playoff posts. My point here was that, on the last play, he did the right thing. If Marshall is Horry, the Cavs pull off Game 1 and LeBron is a genius for passing to his wide open teammate.
Brian: I agree: Boozer+LeBron=Dynasty. Gooden+LeBron=Ugh.
Seriously, Ferry hasn't done too well though - he signed Larry Hughes (3 yrs @38 million left), which was overpaying for a so-so swingman in a league of so-so swingmen. He signed Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones, two marginal players who are now on the books for 2 more years each at a combine $10 million. If they were good role players, maybe, but both are three point specialists, and yesterday one of them didn't hit the shot they get paid to hit.
Gooden is a good deal for his salary, and re-signing Ilgaukas was a decent move, too. Even though he has 3 more years at $30+ million, and is not going to be effective much longer, he was the key guy yesterday. Drafting Daniel Gibson was good.
Trading Mike Wilks to the Sonics for Flip Murray - not so good. The Cavs could use a point like Wilks, who looks like he could be a legit player in this league.
However, improving the team is going to be hard thanks to his Hughes, Marshall and Jones signings. The Cavs are over the cap for the next two seasons; in three years, they have only $40 million committed, but that's to three players (Hughes, LeBron, a fading Ilgaukas); keeping Gooden, Sasha, Varejao, and Gibson plus any other role player will probably push them over the cap, again.
There is a strong chance that unless Ferry suddenly makes a great trade (when he has yet to make any trades really), this team is going to continue to fall just short of elite, unless LeBron can make yet another leap, to an "MVP, put the team on my back" level.
"But correct me if I'm wrong here: none of those guys (Kerr, Paxson, Hodges) won a big playoff game, right?"
Paxson won the deciding Game 6, 1993 Finals, on a 3 with under 5 seconds to play. Of course you were probably in Charles Smith-induced Hell at that time, so you may have missed it. The pass was from Horace. Jordan didn't even touch the ball after he got it to half court.
Kerr won the deciding Game 6, 1997 Finals, on a 18 foot jumper with I think 2 seconds left. Jordan was doubled and kicked it to him.
Of course, deciding Game 5, 1991 Finals is the classic example of a superstar kicking it to the open teammate. I think Pax hit 5 jumpers in the 4th to seal it?
Okay, so you corrected me, David Burns. I knew that, too. Plus Hodges won some big games, too.
That paragraph came out wrong. Taken the way I wrote it, it appears to contradict the paragraph right above it. Like I said, Jordan trusted his guys. I don't think I meant that sentence the way it came out... bad writing on my part. I'm a bad writer.
Yes, all those guys won games. I meant Nachbar, Gooden, Marshall - those guys haven't won games, right? They are the ones who are a low % shot to win the game.
My point was that even though passing to Marshall was the best shot the Cavs had to win, period, it is pretty pitiful that it comes down to that... at least with Horry, Paxson, etc. you know they have the track record to earn that trust. And it wasn't like the first time they (Horry, Paxson, Kerr, Hodges) won a game was in the playoffs - all of them proved themselves to be capable during the regular season, thus earning that trust from Jordan in the playoffs. Donyell did not, I'm sure. But the Cavs and LeBron had very little choice....
Thanks for the correction, David
Well, if it's a lack of another legit offensive threat, then a good portion of the blame has to go to Ferry's predecessor, Jim Paxson, because it should be Carlos Boozer at PF, not Drew Gooden.