Recap: Don’t Call It A Bounce-Back
2009-02-28
Overview: In a mettle-testing game the night after an embarrassing loss to Houston, the Cavaliers went to San Antonio and delivered a convincing rout of the Spurs, who were without Ginobili and Duncan.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
This wasn’t a must-win by any means, but the Cavs were sent reeling after losing so convincingly to a non-powerhouse. Add that with the start of a four-game road swing and the first game without Ben Wallace, and the Cavs had something to prove tonight. Well, they proved it.
The first quarter could have not have looked more different from the first quarter from yesterday’s game. Here were the differences I saw:
It started at the defensive end, and while I hate to bring out these tropes generally, there was definitely more of a sense of energy and purpose, not to mention that San Antonio was missing their two biggest playmakers. The lineup they sent out was essentially Parker, a limited playmaker in his own right, and four spot-up shooters, and the Cavs were able to jump on that and get turnovers.
The turnovers led to some fast-break points via LeBron in the first half , including some crushing jams. That was really just what the doctor ordered for LeBron and the team in general; it got LeBron easy baskets, energized the team, and opened up the driving lanes and cracks in the Spurs’ defense.
LeBron also started off by hitting two deep jumpers in rythym, another huge thing for him.
From there, it was really all gravy. LeBron was feeling good from inside and out, didn’t force anything, and showed an extremely smooth stroke (6-13 from outside the paint, with three threes), and took the lanes when they were there for 30 points on only 23 shots and 3 free throws. Normally you want to see more free throws than that, but tonight that’s just a reflection of how open the seams and how easily it was for LeBron to be getting points.
The four assists look low, too, but nobody really brought their outside shot; LeBron was getting lower catches, getting on the blocks and post+kicking, and keeping everybody involved tonight. And the 14 rebounds just go to show how much of a mission LeBron was on tonight.
Delonte brought his game as well, and if two of the Cavs’ three playmakers are on their game, the Cavs are really tough to beat, especially if they’re on the kind of defensive mission they were tonight.
We’re going to need better than 25 points on 27 shots from our bench if we’re going to roll with Ben out.
Andy’s numbers weren’t there tonight, but his energy was and his +30 doesn’t lie.
Bullets of Randomness:
It’s 3:30 on a Friday night. Those are your bullets of randomness. We bottled up Tony Parker all game because George Hill wasn’t making enough plays to take pressure off. There. Coraline in 3D=awesome.
Hey John – You hearing anything about the mystery buyout Windhorst alluded to last night?
Considering how bad Boobie’s been in most games — Say -120,000 on a scale of 1-100 — then this game has to be an improvement. I’d give him a 25. He actually made a good decision spin move that got him a layup (as opposed to the other 2 or 3). Hit that foot on the line 2 in Finley’s face and made at least one wide open tre. He even made one sweet defensive play holding his spot as Bonner came up into him in the post that resulted in Bonner leaving it short and the Cavs getting the… Read more »
Cool. Thanks John.
for the single-game, it’s from ESPN.com’s box scores, which are raw but still somewhat useful. I use the +/- on 82games, which is extrapolated to a per-100 possession basis a lot more to see which rotations are working on an individual team and compare players whose roles are more or less the same, and I find the raw +/- stuff on NBA.com good too. I haven’t found a good adjusted +/- spot as of yet because teams mostly own those, but periodically some will com out.
Good comparison between starting pitchers & shooters – I just wish Daniel would realize that’s what he is, and not a mini LBJ. It was refreshing to hear Hubie call him out in the first half for not hitting Mo for an open three. But you’re right, I’ll leave it alone for as long as I can… which will probably be tomorrow night where he doesn’t swing the ball, puts his head down, drives into traffic spinning his body around, only to have a layup blocked by the rim.
But I digress – Where do you get your +/- stats?
1. No arguments about Hubie Brown. The man is quite simply a God. 2. The less we say about Boobie, the better. Shooters are like starting pitchers; they’re not going to have good years every year, so you might as well pack backups. Fortunately, we did this year. 3. JJ did have a -21 in 14 minutes last night, which is probably bad. He’ll learn. He better. 4. I AM STILL CREEPED OUT BY CORALINE. I AM A 20 YEAR OLD MAN. HOW ARE CHILDREN SUPPOSED TO WATCH THAT. Actually, if I was a parent I’d take my kids to… Read more »
A couple observations from last night: 1) Listening to Hubie Brown call a game is like having honey poured directly into my ears 2) Boobie’s +/- for the first half had to have been something like negative infinity 3) Boobie has become the new DeShawn Stevenson with his stupid post-make machinations. Memo to Boobie: Stop it. Seriously. 4) While I continue to believe JJ getting more time is vital to our title hopes, the kid sure does make some amazingly boneheaded plays… Especially on defense where it sometimes looks like he’s discovered a small magical door out on the court… Read more »
You’re right, Coraline in 3D is COMPLETELY awesome.
i’m thinking of registering the domain name
HEYDANIELGIBSONMAYBESTOPPUTTINGSIDESPINONYOURJUMPSHOT.COM
would anyone read it?
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