Preview: Cavaliers at Bucks, March 6th
2010-03-06
Relevant Statistics:
Pace: Cleveland 93.4 (25th) vs. Milwaukee 94.9 (15th)
Offensive Efficiency: Cleveland 109.4 (2nd) vs. Milwaukee 101.7 (23rd)
Defensive Efficiency: Cleveland 101.0 (7th) vs. Milwaukee 100.9 (6th)
Notes:
This game worries me. Bogut is easily the best center the Cavs have gone up against without Shaq or Z. Cleveland’s on the second night of a road back-to-back. Milwaukee’s won seven of their last eight, and the one loss was in overtime against the Hawks. What’s more, that eight-game stretch has included five road games and three back-to-backs. This game is a serious test for the Cavs.
The key will be stopping Bogut. Throw double-teams, don’t let him get easy baskets on the pick-and-roll, go under the screen on Jennings and force him to slingshot in jumpers. Jennings has also struggled to finish at the rim, so it’ll be important for the Cavaliers to contest his drives.
The less time Luc Richard Mbah a Moute gets to guard LeBron straight-up, the better. He’s a beast on that end of the floor.
Luke Ridnour has been having the best season of his career this season. He’s been automatic on long jumpers, so the Cavs can’t take a nap on him when he checks into the game.
Recommended Reading:
Snob,
You are definitely right about Mike Brown’s decisions tonight. I have no issue with anything he did. We’re still two games plus the tiebreaker up on L.A. for HCA, so he can afford to step outside and try some experiments.
“10. Brandon Jennings “swag” is pretty phenomenal. Way bigger than his game. I kinda hope the Cavs play the Bucks in the first round now.” Brandon Jennings’ “swag” has always been phenomenal. I can remember playing against him in Vegas the summer before my junior year (I think he’s a year older), and he was just showboating the whole time. Now, he was probably the best player on the court during that game, so it was somewhat understandable, but that isn’t going to fly in the NBA. I can definitely see Shaq sending him to the floor if he tries… Read more »
Tonight’s loss was all about the 5-man units which have little to no experience playing together– you can’t reasonably expect them to go on the road and beat a really hot team. I think Mike Brown had three objectives in mind with Lebron sitting out. 1. Let Jamison out of Lebron’s shadow to have an offensive field-day, jump-start his in-game confidence with the Cavs— Success; he took a bunch of shots and it resulted in a very efficient 30 point game. 2. Similarly let Mo out of Lebron’s shadow so that he might shamelessly shoot his way out of this… Read more »
Oh..and can someone exlpain why we saw Danny Green and Darnell Jackson tonight? It was LeBron James hurt, not Jamison or Mo Williams. For the life of me, I have no clue whatsoever why Jackson is getting minutes, any minutes, over Leon Powe. And danny green..really? Can’t we just give more minutes to Delonte or Moon? I mean really?
Now Tom, I have disagree with the Cavs haven’t been playing good ball. Just because the opponents have been lacking doesn’t mean the team has. You can’t change who you get to play. If the Knicks game wasn’t good ball, then I don’t know what it is. It isn’t their fault the KNicks suck a ton. On the Varejao contract. Here’s the thing. The guy is worth that money ONLY ON THIS TEAM. Is he that valuable for this team? Yes. However, the fact is that he wouldn’t be this valuable on any other team, therefore, the Cavs could have… Read more »
Oh one more thing. I’m really glad the Cavs don’t get into all that “gamesmanship” that other teams do. When the Cavs lose, they don’t try to sugarcoat it. And they don’t make those passive aggressive statements like Van Gundy about fouls or whatever. I really like that about Mike Brown, he doesn’t try to play the “mind games.” The Cavs got blown out against the Bobcats and the psyche is “you know what, we got beat, we’re trying to work antawn in (instead of, “If antawn didn’t shoot 0-14 we probably win…”) they’re a tough team.” When the Lakers… Read more »
1. The sky isn’t falling. 2. Unless you’re Mo Williams 3. The Cavs aren’t exactly playing well either. When was the last game the Cavs won that could really be defined as a “impressive win”. @ Boston – Paul Pierce? @ Toronto – Chris Bosh? Home against Orlando? I mean you have to look pretty far back to find a good road win and really they should always win at home. 4. Delonte really impresses me. He’s going to be key in the playoffs. 5. Jamison looked very comfortable hitting contested jumpers. He might be one guy that can thrive… Read more »
As a Steelers fan, I’m much more concerned with the moronic Ben Roethlisberger than losing this single game. He’s going to no doubt get suspended and the season is going to be over b4 it starts.
/offtopic
I agree Colin. Milwaukee isn’t a scrub team…especially at home. They are now 20-9 at home at this just happened to be the game Brandon Jennings busted out of his shooting slump (although he’ll go right back into it…he just isn’t a good shooter). This certainly isn’t the oh crap loss that other teams have had recently.
Well, in an effort to try and stop all of this “the world is ending” talk…. can someone tell me why the Heat always seem to beat the Hawks (this year)? Seriously, the Heat have beaten them three times in a row this season. OK, now back to the Cavs…. Should we really be surprised by this loss? Right after the game ended, and I saw Jamison had 30-11, I realized that is exactly what he was doing as the #1 option with the Wizards this season. And that got them nowhere. But as the #2/3 option with this team?… Read more »
And really, is this not a game the Bucks should win. The cavs are missing two starters and two important bench players, it’s a back-to-back on the road, and the Bucks are a playoff team. This wasn’t a game I figured we’d win once I heard LeBron was out. Had Mo played an average game we probably would have won.
Well said. I think I need to sleep this off. I hope Mo does the same.
I actually think he breaks out of it. Besides, to much talent when healthy for this guy to sink us. Delonte will just take his minutes from him if it comes to that.
And all elite teams have dead spots. I mean the Lakers have Fisher, the magic have Matt Barnes, the Nuggets have Afflalo, ands o on. I don’t mind Parker….he at least realizes he isn’t an offensive machine and won’t force it. Mo forces it when he doesn’t have it..and Hickson just thinks it’s his job to go towards the rim everytime hecatches the ball.
Rich,
I agree that Mo is mentally unstable at this point. Parker is terrible on offense. That kind of production from a starting 2 guard on an elite team is not acceptable (though his defense can be awesome at points). I don’t understand why Mo has this mental block. And imagine for a second current LeBron on the 2007 finals team. I think Mo is going to sink this team in the playoffs. Too much of a high usage player, no where near the production worthy of his shot absorption.
http://twitter.com/MOGOTTI2
Mo owning it. The reason I don’t like this is because he’s putting to much pressure on himself. As much as it was his fault, it was Hickson’s, Parker’s, and Varejao’s fault. Varejao was a fouling machine, Parker was super passive when he needed to be aggressive, Hickson was somwhere in space. He’s taking to much of the blame when he isn’t the best player on the team. That kind of blame should only go to the guy who recieves that kind of glory when they win…and he iddn’t play tonight.
Man… if only Shaq or Mo Williams had played tonight….
M V P
Hope brown took some notes chalks it up.
This game is a painful illustration of just how much better Lebron can make certain players look.
Ok..I have to stop contributing at nba.com/cavs. The people there are totally irrational. I’ll just have to keep my comments here. I really have to question our signing Varjeao for as much money as we did. Did we not know he is only what he is because of LeBron? Of course he is a great compliment…but on another team the guy would have been what he was tonight. We so could have held out longer and signed him for less. He has to have LeBron to be effective. That said, Mo Williams owned it tonight on his twitter page. I… Read more »
Hahaha! Lebron James——DNP-Rest
They didn’t have the balls to give him a DNP-CD!
Also, love the decision by Mike Brown to give him the day off…guess who’s played the most minutes so far this season?
Cavs have a 9 game losing streak sans Lebron.
Why no Leon Powe tonight? I mean, Darnell got some time in the game. Powe could have slowed down Bogut more than any other guy on our team tonight beside Andy, or at LEAST kept him more than two feet from the basket.
I’m just saying if the game is within reach you might as well play to win…if he had just benched Jamison that would be one thing, but he put him back in like 2 minutes later. I’m a Mike Brown fan, but that was a bad decision.
Fun fact: We are 1 week away from the 3-year anniversary of the last time the Cavs won a game without James!
OK, he had 5 assists tonight, so I made a dumb statement. But 3-17 shooting, when a lot were decent/good looks, is atrocious. That guy needs to do some soul searching because if I was a betting man I’d say he feels so bad right now. That kind of mindset can tear a person down.
We as fans need some perspective. This game did not need to be won. You will forget about this night in a month or so. The fact that the game was within reach is meaningless because it will just be loss #15. We need to focus on the fact that a guy will will most likely log 30+ minutes in the playoff is not contributing anything–no assists, no points, no fast breaks. Mo Williams is deteriorating before our eyes and we will need him because Mike Brown will not bench him no matter how much of a liability he becomes.
Just seemed like the game was within reach, and the Cavs had just gone on a nice run. Once he went out the Cavs went flat offensively. Nobody but Delonte was giving them anything on offense. Jamison did come back in a minute or so later, so I can’t really understand the decision to pull him there.
Lol at Brandon Jennings. Guy is a terrible 3-pt shooter who goes 5-7 from 3 tonight. It happens.
At least we still rebounded the ball halfway decent with no inside presence whatsoever.
I agree, Kevin. I’ve been apologizing for Mo…but this can’t happen. he can’t shoot this poorly when we need him. LeBron is out, Mo has to step up, and he just fell completely flat tonight.
Probably to give him rest. Let’s be honest, this game doesn’t mean anything, Mike Brown is not going to let Jamison log extended minutes for what will down the road be a nothing game. The more important issue at hand is Mo’s struggles. No excuse for it at all.
Hickson is such dead weight on offense w/o LeBron to guide him through the game. We just had 0 inside game tonight…total jumpshooting team.
4 minutes left in the 4th…Why did Jamison just get replaced by Hickson???
J.J. Hickson has so many mental lapses. Look at him on offense, he’s not moving at all, he’s just watching whoever is handling the ball expecting them to draw the defender away. It’s hilarious. And sad.
Give me Gibson and we win this game.
Well…I know it’s only one game, but we see how useful Hickson w/o LeBron james. like 10 minutes, no points, 3 turnovers. Wow.
Mo Williams is playing like a steaming pile of garbage. Hope this guy gets some kind of rhythm soon.
Lol, why is Mike Brown leaving Mo Williams in the game..he is shooting the team out of it.
I can’t watch this game, but can anyone tell me how the defense has been in the first half ?
Good lord, just foul Jamison. Playing fantastic, but his FT shooting has been terrible since joining the cavs.
Mo..Parker…Varejao…Hickson. Need at least one of those guys to show up.
Jamison and Delonte are stepping up tonight…everyone else, not so much.
Jamison. This is why we got Jamison. A guy who can play w/o LeBron. Hickson im guessing is going to be a no show on the offensive end this entire night w/o LeBron.
Yea…I mean no Shaq, no Z, no LeBron, no Gibson…might as well just play some guys who don’t normally get to play. This game really doesn’t decide much.
Danny Green is in too. Almost looks like the Cavs are conceding the game and taking a look at their young players instead. They do have a roster decision coming up with Z returning.
Ok I can’t see the game tonight but I can see the gamecast. I understand LeBron is out, but why is Darnell Jackson in?
Well, Mo usually plays well against his old team. Perhaps he can go off?
yeah this game scared me WITH a healthy LeBron.
I don’t see us winning this game.
Milwaukee is a very underrated team and Salmons has made a huge difference for them.
this one could be ugly.
Windhorst just tweeted that LeBron will be out for tonight’s game… this should be interesting