From Distance: A Peek Around

Four point play…

1. With so much going down around the league, it seems silly that fans and NBA writers spend so much time dealing with hypothetical outcomes. Whether it is sad click bait about LeBron James joining the Warriors, or a 38th iteration of a trade that will never go down, it’s easy to forget that NBA games are actually being played.

That’s right sports fans, the NBA is actually a league with games, not just drama!!!

I’m tired of the nonsense. Like Nate said in the most recent podcast, I’d like to know what the final Cavaliers roster is going to look like so I can come to peace with that reality. Until then, watching, or even thinking about what the Cavs could be come April seems like an exercise in futility.

Let’s take a trip around the league.

2. While we in Cavaliers land have been mostly subjected to stagnant play highlighted by upright “defensive posture”, blown rotations, and a general lack of effort, some other fanbases around the league have been treated to an entirely different brand of regular season basketball.

This week, the Oklahoma City Thunder lost on a last second three against the Denver Nuggets. Down in San Antonio, The Beard led his Houston Rockets to a win over the always fundamentally sound Spurs.

The matchups looked fun on paper. Steven Adams’s brawny style versus the skill-set mastery of Nikola Jokic was sure to be a bloodbath in someone’s favor. Any game with Russell Westbrook has the potential to be laughably uncomfortable and/or riveting.

Though Adams didn’t end up having a big game, Jokic and Westbrook both delivered some serious box score craziness. Those two fellas dished out a combined 35 assists! In total, the two teams combined for 66 helpers. That is absurd for a regulation game.

The squads fired the ball around well from all angles, moving bodies to space. Clearly those assists don’t pile up unless guys are drilling shots.

Paul George, Gary Harris, and Jamal Murray all did their part in finishing the plays. Jamal Murray and George were particularly huge in a fun fourth quarter that saw the Thunder crawl back from a 15 point deficit. George’s dagger step back three from LeBron’s left wing three zone completed the comeback.

Only the Joker had one more assist in him. Gary Harris drilled the buzzer beater from the opposite wing ending one of the more entertaining games of the year. Oh Joker. You are so much fun.

A lot of those highlights involve Jamal Murray destroying Steven Adams on a switch. That part of Murray’s game has come a long way. People have long been impressed by his sweet shooting stroke.

His dribble drive game has developed well over the course of the season. Murray has finally realized the power of changing gears. His new hesitation skills were on full display against Adams and others. If Murray can continue to improve his handle, Jokic may already have his PnR partner of the future.

3. The San Antonio crowd has had the good fortune to have watched supreme basketball for roughly two decades. With that in mind, it doesn’t surprise me that James Harden received some MVP chants in the closing moments of the Rocket’s win near the Alamo. They know ball.

The Beard followed up his 60 point triple double against the Magic with a cool 28 and 11 against Pop’s overachieving team. Yet again, Harden drilled a four point play in the closing minutes to help the victory. Before that one, he danced his way into this bomb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OPTsvtzAJU&t=4m20s

That feels more like a Euro-step three pointer than a regular stepback. Sidestep? Whatever it is, it is totally unguardable.

As is Clint Capela rolling toward the rim when Harden gets a guy on his hip. Most of us talk about the necessity for all players to be able to shoot in 2018. Well, there is the rebuttal. Capela is obviously not the player he is unless he is paired with one of the most gifted PnR partners on the planet. It also helps that the other three guys on the floor can all shoot from 25 feet.

Still, Capela has been fantastic timing his rolls. That is a huge natural talent that can be cultivated. Clint doesn’t just fly down the lane allowing the weakside defender to know exactly how long he can come for his chuck responsibilities.

He dances with Harden, using good footwork to navigate the two-on-one that a good Pick and Roll creates. I thought he would be a Brandan Wright type player, but I didn’t expect him to exceed even Wright’s brilliant roll timing. Capela is quietly the second most important player on that team.

4. Blake Griffin made a decent debut with the Detroit Pistons last night. Though I gotta admit, I feel bad for the Piston fans already. Griffin had an open lane to the cup from the left side. League Pass called the thing Griffin did a “dunk”. It look more like a sad lay-in to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxgrawjJLvY&t=4m14s

Blake doesn’t have near the explosion that he used to have. Yes, he is more skilled than he was during his high flying days, but if the Pistons fans think that they are about to be treated to eye level dunk fests, they haven’t watched a Clippers game recently.

He will be a good player teamed up with Andre Drummond. Griffin’s experience with Jordan will obviously help any transitional process. But unless Griffin continues to improve his handle and three-point accuracy even further, he will never be better than he is right now.

Quickie:

If watching the Spurs, Rockets and Warriors slightly depresses my outlook on our beloved Cleveland Cavaliers, catching a game between the Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors gives me hope.

Yes, the Wizards were without John Wall, but that might have actually been for the best. The Wiz have now won three in a row without their overpriced lead guard. Is Wall good? Sure. Is he nearly as complete a player as people like to claim? Not even close.

Wall doesn’t play any real defense. Zach Lowe has often talked about how lazy the Wizards defend for the first part of the shot clock only to then help and defend their way into playing decent D.

He is right. The reason for that though is that Wall often doesn’t lock in early in defensive possessions allowing the offensive play-action to evolve under limited duress. Otto Porter and Marcin Gortat clean up a lot of Wall’s mistakes.

Whatever. Enough talking about poor point guard defensive stance. I think we have all spent enough energy examining that misery, and I’m sure we will have ample opportunity to rehash it after the Cavaliers play Houston this weekend. Good luck everyone.