Recap: Celtics 106, Cavs 87 (Or, the paint. You have to guard it.)
2010-12-01
Overview: The Celtics scored 60 of their 106 points in the paint during a 106-87 beatdown of the Cavaliers on Tuesday. Rajon Rondo led the Celtics with 23 points and 12 assists.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
– It’s 3:30 in the morning, and I still can’t think of many constructive things to say about this one. The defense was atrocious (there were the aforementioned 60 points in the paint, and 88 of Boston’s 106 came from the paint/the free throw line/the three-point line), but it was Rondo doing the damage. Rondo lives in the paint. No player is better at getting to the teeth of defenses than Rondo, and the Cavs aren’t great at stopping penetration. These things will happen. Some other Celtics pitched in (Marquis Daniels shooting 7-10 is a concern), but mostly it was one of the best guards in the NBA doing what he does best.
– It may be time to put J.J. on a milk carton. 0-4 from the field, two free throw attempts, and zero field goal attempts from the paint. The only good news here is that the Cavs have plenty of time to wait for J.J. Oodles and oodles of time. Hooray?
– Good to see Andy bounce back with a 16/12 and hold Shaq to a 2-5 shooting night. Andy’s post defense against bigger players is becoming Chuck Hayesian. Too bad nobody is helping him on that end.
– More atrocious wing play! Graham being a starter is no longer cute, but it’s not like the other swingmen did better: Moon/Graham/Jawad/Parker went a combined 5-22 from the field.
– Jamison with an awful night. KG is simply a nightmare matchup for him.
– Gibson with 16 on six shots. It’s hard to take much away from a loss to a much better team, but I really think it’s time to make Boobie a 35 mpg player and cut Graham/Parker’s minutes. What’s the worst that can happen?
– Sessions with 14 and 4. He always seems to do well in blowout losses.
– That’s about all I have for tonight. Cavs got blown out by a better team. No real reason to dwell on it. The only long-term storyline is J.J., and he’ll either snap out of this or he won’t. Heat on Thursday. Hopefully the Cavs find some of what they had in the opener before then.
Cavs gotta get Harrison Barnes (cavs wings suck) this coming draft! and if they are not lucky they should at least get Enes Kanter (Andy’s awsome, but he isnt young enough to be in the cavaliers future) or Perry Jones (Cavs wings suck)
Horrible game, but it was the Celtics – that sorta takes the sting down some? On to the Heat, maybe we can have Andy guard Bosh and Hollins start at center? Maybe to get JJ fired up a bit, we can assign him to LBJ – where his size and athletic ability can really disrupt Lebron, plus it would ‘force’ JJ to play D and can’t get away with what he’s been doing of late. I wouldn’t mind seeing Manny on Lebron either. Not that he has the size, but he has the quickness and heart. With Hollins and Andy… Read more »
Good lord Graham is terrible. We just need to go small and play Parker at the three and slide Gibson in at the 2 and play him with Mo. It isn’t like we’re defending anyone in the first place. Hickson….good god. I have nothing positive to say about him. He got 11 boards, but more than half were super cheap boards. Hickson isn’t even trying. He’s the last guy down the court on defense almost every time, which is ok for someone who is attacking the offensive glass, but he isn’t. He can’t shoot. Look at his eFG this year,… Read more »
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=101201/Cleveland read this story…wow
Honestly, I was pleased to see JJ get 11 boards. I’m a little tired of our starting PF getting 5 rebounds consistently.
surprised nobody has mentioned the refs last night… holy crap. that was some of the worst oficiating i have seen in quite some time. it was like the steelers were in another superbowl or something. although it didn’t affect the outcome of the game; we would have still go whooped with fair oficiating, the way we played last night. but still it was very frustrating to see the refs miss that many calls. just a frustrating game overall. j.j. was sleepwalking out there. jamison looked like playing basketball was the last thing he wanted to do. the only bright spot… Read more »
I agree about going to the small lineup. The obvious objection is that having two small guards would become a defensive liability, but honestly, how much worse can our defense get? I miss Mike Brown’s defense terribly right now.
Regarding giving gibson more minutes / 2 pg back courts, in looking at 82games. com stats for the season the following trend becomes apparent. Through 11/29 it appears that of the Cavs top 20 lineups (I could have added these numbers up incorrectly)… 325 minutes have been played by lineups featuring one of williams, gibson, sessions. These lineups have been outscored by 90 points. That’s 13.3 points per 48 minutes, which is horrible. 231 minutes have been played by lineups featuring two of williams, gibson, sessions. These lineups have outscored opponents by 18 points. This is 3.7 points per 48… Read more »
I was wondering why Boobie wasnt out there or at least replacing MO…i thought Parker played okay until he barely grazed the rim on two straight wide open 3’s and its like what?! i know the Cavs like to play hard and win games but is Manny Harris or Boobie and Sessions any worse than the Graham Jawad and Moon trio? Mo is just not a leader at all…everytime we all think he’ll step up and take it and he just doesnt do much and makes dumb decisions….Jamison really needs to go along with Hickson….those two just arent doin much… Read more »