Recap: Cleveland 102, Milwaukee 105 (or, please make some lineup changes)
2012-11-04Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way first. UNLESS THE GOAL IS TO LOSE, LUKE WALTON NEEDS TO BE WEARING A SUIT DURING GAMES. WE ARE NOT SURE WHAT YOU ARE THINKING, BYRON SCOTT.
![i-16](https://cavstheblog.com//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////wp-content/uploads/2012/11/i-16-520x780.jpg)
This guy is really good (and apparently bowled a few frames last night). The player's backing him up...not so good.
Walton played seven minutes last night, a timeframe during which Milwaukee outscored Cleveland by sixteen points, part of a stretch where a 22 to 10 lead became a 28 to 41 deficit. Walton’s PER is NEGATIVE 9.9. His Offensive Rating is 28. During his twenty-three minutes this year, the Cavs have been outscored by thirty-eight. I know the amazing bench disparities of the first three games are not all Luke Walton’s fault, but his name needs to officially become “Luke Walton’s Expiring Contract”, and we do not need to see him on the court. Play Leuer or Play Samardo.
Really, Byron, fix the rotations in general. The Sloan / Gibson backcourt is not going to work. Playing five bench players as a unit (especially including Walton) obviously leaves the Cavs at a major disadvantage. Generally speaking; keep two of Kyrie, Andy, Dion and TT on the court. The 31 to 6 run was amazingly frustrating for me to watch, and I am sure it was for Coach Scott, too. He has the ability to do something about it. Please make changes immediately.
Aside from the horrendous seven minutes fueled by the Sloan – Gibson – Miles – Walton – Zeller quintet, the Cavs were the better team last night. They were a Brandon Jennings buzzer-beater away from overtime. This seems encouraging, as on the second night of a back-to-back, on the road, against a possible playoff team; last night was the type of game I could foresee the Cavs being dominated. They were not though. After falling behind, they clawed back to take the lead early in the third. The teams traded buckets the rest of the way, until Milwaukee stretched to a seven-point lead with under two-minutes remaining, as Cleveland showed a shocking inability to contain Mike Dunleavy or Larry Sanders. If last night serves as any indication; those two may receive All-Star invites, with their 46 points befuddling Cleveland on only 21 field goal attempts. At the end though of course, Mr. Clutch, Kyrie Irving scored seven points in the last minute-and-a-half to force a tie. A desperation Milwaukee buzzer beater sealed Cleveland’s losing fate, and the Bucks walked away 105 to 102 victors. The battle of the bench was won by Milwaukee 62 to 15.
A few notes:
Offensively, Kyrie proved great again. He scored 27 on 63% true shooting, nailing jumpers off pull-ups and out-of-spins, and attacking the paint. The way he puts spin on the ball to convert layups off the glass is amazing; Derrick Rose-esque. His seven assists generally set Cavs bigs up for easy finishes. The Kyrie-to-Andy screen-and-roll is a thing of beauty that needs to stay in intact. Occasionally sloppy however, one of Kyrie’s four turnovers came with a minute to go, marring the otherwise excellent comeback. Finally, Kyrie obviously worked on his left hand during the summer, but on at least one occassion last night, he shot lefty even when unnecessary. Kyrie, we know you are good; there is no need to add degree-of-difficulty.
Somewhere between Lebron leaving, the hurt wrist last year, and tank-a-palooza 2012; the phenomenon of Anderson Varejao “taking a leap” has been overlooked. He tallied 20 points and 17 rebounds last night. During a twelve point third quarter; he drilled three jumpers and flashed his high-post drive into a righty hook. Last year’s averages of eleven points & eleven rebounds are surely in play this season. Borderline all-star discussion could be reasonable. Sometime in the last two seasons, Andy hit his ‘peak’, and it is a joy to watch. I do think he is over-helping on defense, frequently allowing his man scoring opportunities. The Nazr Mohammed drive-from-the-three-point-line on Friday night was one example; last night’s Larry Sanders explosion another.
It was not a great game for Waiters. He nearly air-balled a three. A possession later, he lost the ball in traffic, then complained about a perceived foul, while his guy, Monta Ellis, sprinted down court for an un-obstructed lay-up. He missed a box-out, allowing an easy Dunleavy finish, and seven of his twelve field goals were of the inefficient ‘long-two-point’ variety. But I ain’t mad at ya, Dion. He’s engaged on defense, and has displayed both an ability to get to the basket and be a shot-maker. From a twenty year old who is three games into an NBA career, I am content with his output.
C.J. Miles has been bad. Almost impossibly bad. Like he can’t get worse. Averaging 3.3 points and 2.3 turnovers per 17 minutes is not what Cleveland signed up for. Last night, he shot 0 for 6 and lost the ball three times. He’s not a good three point shooter, but is hoisting them at career-high frequency, including 3 more last night. His drives are out of control and a complete mess. He has not shot a free throw in three games. After Omri Casspi’s horrendous start to last season, now CJ this year…did Lebron leave a curse that forever befalls Cleveland small forward acquisitions? I hope not. Miles has a seven-year track record as a tolerable NBA player; this has to get better.
Speaking of Omri Casspi…where is he?
Alonzo Gee played really well last night, finishing with 18 points and 6 assists. He repeatedly put the ball on the floor with solid results, including a lefty baseline drive for a layup, and later, a ferocious posterizing of Larry Sanders. He canned two shots from long range, and nabbed a couple of steals. Even when it’s working really well; I still get nervous every time AG handles the rock. Something deep in my brain tells me, “this should not be part of the offense. He should be shooting open threes and finishing fast breaks”. Anyways, all the dribbling worked for him last night. His defense was occasionally suspect however, as he wandered away from Dunleavy, in part allowing the aforementioned offensive explosion from the Bucks’ small-forward-sub.
Donald Sloan scored eight, making two from deep, including once while getting fouled on the last possession of the third quarter. His other make was a twenty-foot shot-clock-buzzer beating jumper. This is all fine and well, but offensive-success-via-Sloan-jumpers seems nonreproducible. As a career 31% long-range shooter in the D-League and only 17% in NBA games; his early season 60% shooting is probably unsustainable. Even with those three made threes in five attempts, his PER is single digits. In my obligatory need to reference this; let Dion get the reps as second-string primary ball-handler. He needs the experience for later, plus the team is probably better now. Or keep playing the most overmatched lineups in the entire NBA. The choice is yours, Coach Scott.
Omri Casspi is hopefully in dress clothes sitting next to Luke Walton for the rest of the season.
I dig, Kevn and it’s “wine-colored glasses” not “rose-colored!” Ha!
I was at this game and while he struggled at times, waiters passed the eye test IMO. He needs to get stronger with the ball ( a couple times he made nice moves to get to the hoop but couldn’t finish or had the ball knocked away) but that should come with experience. He had some good passes and was engaged on defense, although he was guarding dunleavy for a stretch and got torched. Obviously, he has a ways to go, but hes gonna be a good player and pair well with Kyrie.
Agreed. Once again great read. I’ll be here throughout the season. Love the Waiters talk on here, as it seems to be the most credible source to read on the net and not being in Cleveland any longer(Zona) this is my go to for Cavs news. Keep it up.
I think the Cavs are easing into the season…even though we don’t like it.
There’s tons of potential with Kyrie-Dion, you have no idea what Grant is telling BScott to do regarding the second unit.
Waiters minutes will grow, but remember, he has NOT played anything like an 82-game season…neither have Kyrie, Tristan, or Alonzo.
NATE! Thanks for bring that up on the last play…Kyrie didn’t even have his arms out…gotta defend to the last shot!
Walton looks like Will Farrell playing basketball…horrible.
Btw, free throw shooting last night for the Cavs was atrocious. Obviously cost us the game…
Kevin, I think you kind of focused on the negative with Dion last night. You kind of picked out individual plays that quite frankly you can do to any player on the court, including Andy. But I ain’t mad at ya, you just have high exectations. Waiters defense continues to impress. Oh and yeah, it’s early but looking at the all the rookies so far, it looks like first team All-Rookie for Dion. He’s arguably the 3rd best rookie so far and I see no reason why he can’t continue to improve on that position. Btw, an O-fer for Beal… Read more »
Kj,
I’m trying not to view Dion solely through rose-colored glasses. I agree his defense has looked stout. A nice play early was the TT / Waiters trap, that led to a poor Jennings pass, a Kyrie steal, and finished with a Gee transition dunk. Pretty cool sequence involving all of the 25-and-under core. Also, with regards to free throws, D-Wait needs to start making them. 50% on the season so far.
Scott probably doesn’t want to overwhelm Waiters and that’s why were not seeing him overlap into the second unit. He needs to learn to play with Irving. Perhaps he could leave Kyrie on the floor with the bench slobs and then rest KI with Waiters. I dunno. The starters are solid.
I like the read, just disagree with Gee on defense. He gave Jennings issues all night long and wasn’t on Dunleavy most of the night, that would be the back up team of Miles/Walton/Boobie.
Corey,
I probably could have been more fair about Gee’s defense. I concede that many of Dunleavy’s points were not Gee’s fault. There were at least two possessions though when Gee was guarding Dunleavy, but wandered away and left an open three. In addition to the names you listed, there was at least one play where Dunleavy posted Waiters and shot over him. That will happen when the Cavs match Dion up on 6′ – 9″ tall guys. Cavs just couldn’t answer Dunleavy, which seems odd.
Kevin – I agree. But that is in a world where both Waiters and Irving play 35-40 minutes a game. If Scott played them at those minutes, I am sure he would make sure that at least one was on the floor at all times (like the Heat with Wade/James). But, because they want Dion to come along slowly, in the short-run they would have to cut into the Irving/Waiters minutes together drastically if they want Dion on the floor for all of the minutes that Irving is not.
Hot Sauce,
If Kyrie plays 34 minutes, then 14 Dion minutes per game would be as ‘back-up’ PG. He could play sixteen minutes with Kyrie, if Dion played thirty per game. Personally, I would be fine with that. I want to see additional line-up mixing. Zeller and Miles both deserve more of an opportunity to play with Kyrie, Dion, or both.
BScott seems to be trying to balance two things that limit his ability to let Waiters run the 2nd unit: 1) limiting Waiters minutes to 25-30 and 2) getting Waiters and Irving on the court at the same time. If Waiters runs the 2nd unit, you would have to cut into number 2). I think this would help the team in the short-run, but in the long-run I would rather see Irving and Waiters learn to play together.
In my view, even in the long, Waiters should be expected to be ‘a guy that runs the offense when Kyrie sits’. Might as well start getting reps doing that now. Splitting his time evenly between with-Kyrie and without-Kyrie has benefits.
A bit of lineup staggering would also be beneficial towards getting Miles and Zeller some minutes with Kyrie. Certainly Zeller is part of the future, and Miles may be, too. All of these guys need to learn to play together in a variety of packages.
I honestly do not comprehend Byron Scott’s line of thought. It scares me. Maybe he owes a favor to Bill or something.
Amen Kevin. This can’t be stressed enough: Luke Walton proves that you can’t win an NBA game in 4 or 7 minutes, but you can certainly lose it. Playing Luke Walton at power forward is like playing Drew Gooden at point guard. No. That’s being generous. It’s like playing Hasheem Thabeet at point guard. It’s like playing Boobie Gibson at center. I feel like the Cavs are playing 4 on 5 when he’s on the floor. There was an exchange last night where Fred McCloud asked, “Austin, why do you think the Cavs bench is playing so much better in… Read more »
Last nights game was the first one I’ve seen since last year. But been keeping up with the posts and recaps on this website (thanks to Mr. Hetrick’s analysis’s or is it analysese?) Anywho, got my first glimpse of the “bench” that all you have been criticizing. Egads! While watching that monstrosity in action, one thing kept coming back at me. At the very least the starting 5 is gonna be exhaused 20 games into this season but its gonna lead to injuries. The starting 5 plays balls to the wall to start the game. Then again when they come… Read more »
Kevin (and others): I think Scott is playing Walton is the early season so teams can get some film on him to hopefully determine he’s still at the least worthy of being a 10th or 11th man on an NBA roster. Cuz with his expiring contract looming critical at the trade deadline, teams that are likely to trade for his contract would rather sit him at the end of their bench rather than be forced to buy him out. But, ya, he’s no power forward, and he’s generally played like crap…but he’s a good guy, has got great bloodlines, and… Read more »
Man, that stretch with the pick-up league lineup masquerading as an NBA second string was brutal. It felt like Byron Scott was mad at me for something and he was punishing me by making me watch such awful basketball. “You think I enjoy watching this?! I don’t. But you made me do it. Now, think about what you’ve done.”
I’m sorry, Byron. Whatever I did to upset you, I take it back. Just don’t put Luke Walton back on a court with Donald Sloan and CJ Miles again, please!