Game Three Numbers And Words

For one night, it was Boston’s turn to sulk. For one night, it was Cleveland’s turn to believe. Here’s what hasn’t changed: Boston still has the series lead, Boston still has home court advantage, and Boston still has the better team. Here’s what has changed: Cleveland showed that with good ball movement they can find ways to score on Boston even with LeBron still unable to make shots. How will this revelation carry over into the next few games? Stay tuned. What follows is my analysis in numbers and words.

-A shot! A shot! My kingdom for a shot! If King Richard III were King James, he would give up his pleas for a horse in exchange for his pleas for a jump shot. Perhaps LeBron would, indeed, give up his fictitious kingdom for a jump shot at this point. In this Boston series, LeBron is shooting a meager 22.4%, which, in case you were wondering, is the worst shooting percentage over a three game stretch in the post-merger NBA history. Shakespeare wrote more than his fair share of comedies, but Richard III certainly wasn’t a comedy, and this isn’t funny either. The Cavs won one game without LeBron hitting shots. It seems highly unlikely they can three of the next four games this way. 

-Delonte West was just huge again for Cleveland. I felt he stepped up his game in the Washington series, but Delonte has stepped it up even more in this series. In the first 2 games (more so game 2 than game 1) Delonte did the little things that don’t always show up in the box score. Well, in Game 3, Delonte lit up the box score as well. West shot 7 of 11 from the field, including 4 of 6 from three-point range, on his way to a team high 21 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1 steal while turning the ball over just 3 times. He was successful again in keeping Rondo from getting to the lane easily. Delonte was the all-around player of the game for Cleveland.

-Wally Szczerbiak came out on fire. He cooled off later in the game, but it was essential that Wally was able to get the offense going early and made it easier for LeBron to trust him. The Cavaliers’ ball movement is at its best when LeBron is trusting his teammates and making the extra pass. Otherwise, he tends to hold on to the ball, which halts the offense in its tracks. The huge 1st quarter lead was largely because of Wally’s shooting.

-The Cavaliers finally out-rebounded the Celtics in a game, 37 to 33, but for most of the game the Cavs were trailing in this category. Only in the 4th quarter did the Cavs finally pull ahead of Boston in rebounding. This still troubles me greatly.

-How do you quantify ball movement? Simple….look at the difference in assists from Games One and Two to Game Three. In Game One the Cavaliers had 19 assists and they had just 18 assists in Game Two. In Game Three, however, they managed 29 assists. That difference shows you just how effective Cleveland was in moving the ball in this game. I know it would be easy to give credit to Mike Brown for making offensive adjustments, but was it coaching or was it just execution on the players’ part? Probably a little bit of both. I’m sure Mike Brown emphasized ball movement leading up to this game (I mean, he HAD to, didn’t he??). But why wouldn’t he have been emphasizing it prior to the first two games as well? Which makes me think this game had much more to do with simple execution on the players’ part…..which bothers me, because I still struggle to understand why this team has to always wait until their back is against the wall before they do something about it. It’s frustrating, infuriating, and it tries my patience with this team. I’d love to just focus on positives from this game, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t question the coaching again on this. Does Mike Brown need to take some blame for not having this team ready to play in Games 1 and 2? And will he be able to get this kind of performance from the offense again in Games 4 and 5?

-I often like dissecting games into smaller parts to find the little places where games are won and lost. I thought in this game, the biggest sequence might have been early in the third quarter. The Cavaliers came out lethargic again Saturday night to start the 2nd half, like they frequently do. An easy Kevin Garnett dunk closed the gap to 54-39, and it looked like Cleveland was on the verge of another epic collapse. However, LeBron answered by hitting a huge three. On the Cavs next possession, Zydrunas Ilgauskas missed on a good look and Boston had a break out the other way. Rajon Rondo went up for the layup, but LeBron was closing down on him from behind and LeBron was able to cradle the ball with one hand and pin it against the backboard to block the shot. Delonte West came back down and drilled a three to put the Cavaliers back up by 19 points at 60-41. That sequence was huge because it proved the Cavaliers were going to be able to handle any run that Boston was going to throw at them, and it took a bit of the Celtics’ spirit out of them.

-The Cavaliers perimeter defense was outstanding in this game. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce couldn’t find anything outside, and their lanes were generally shut down when they tried to drive as well. Rondo also struggled getting into any kind of rhythm setting up the offense. But the Cavs interior defense was really soft in this game. The Celtics had 6 dunks and 22 layups in Game 3. This will give Cleveland something to work on for Game 4.

-You can’t say enough about Ben Wallace and Joe Smith. Both bigs made a huge impact on this game. After being led to believe that Wallace would not be playing in this game, it was quite a surprise to see him listed as a starter when the official lineups were announced. His game was uplifting for the team early, as he provided lots of energy and defense. Joe Smith was a huge spark on offense, chipping in with 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting from the field, while holding his own on defense in this game. When Joe Smith is hitting shots like that, he makes Cleveland’s offense a little more dynamic when he’s in because it forces the Boston bigs to pay attention to him on defense….something they don’t have to do when Varejao and Wallace are in.

What The Inside World Is Saying

“–The Cavs defense has been pretty solid throughout the series. I think Garnett has been great and he was tonight, but Wally is doing a nice job staying with Ray Allen, who I thought was going to have a big series. He’s not getting the ball much and he’s almost never getting clean looks. Paul Pierce is having to work very hard to get shots, too. The Celtics defense is getting a lot of attention, but the Cavs have not let them crack 90 points yet and Boston is shooting just 41 percent for the series.
–This was an expected win, Game 4 will decide whether this is going to be a series or not. The Celtics are starting to fell heat again because of their road troubles and the fact that the Pistons look like they could close out the Magic very soon.” [Brian Windhorst]

“Forty-five minutes before Game 3, many of the Cavs players didn’t know if Ben Wallace would be playing.

He was suffering from dizziness after Game 2. The Cavs are glad he did. He had nine points, nine rebounds and two blocks in 28 minutes.

When he’s on the court, it gives the Cavs more confidence. He battles Kevin Garnett on the low post. He’s not going to stop KG. But he makes him work extremely hard.” [Bob Finnan]

“I was nervous when Coach Mike Brown talked about James “getting up 10 3s” if that’s what it takes for the Cavs star to get his shot back. But that would have been the absolute wrong approach, and James seemed to know it. He took his time, helped the ball move – six minutes into the opening period all five Cavs starters had scored. His approach was more under control. He allowed Delonte West to start the offense. He looked for his shooters and for the big men underneath. He seemed to be under no urgency to score – wanting to make sure the team played well, first. James had 17 turnovers compared to only 15 assists in the first two games. On this night, it was eight assists, three turnovers and lots of composed, smart basketball.” [Terry Pluto]

“A sign of something strange arrived before tipoff when PA announcer Ahmad Crump introduced Ben Wallace as the starter, but Anderson Varejao ran onto the court.

“I was in the back and my ‘fro bro had to get out there for me,” said Wallace about Anderson.

Wallace didn’t need much more help than that. His status was uncertain before the game because of allergies and an ear infection that knocked him out early in Game 2. But he was back Saturday night.” [Branson Wright]

“Before the Celtics left Boston, coach Doc Rivers was joking about bringing cult hero Gino with him on the road. Now he probably wishes he had.

Gino, an unknown American Bandstand dancer who has become a sort of human victory cigar, appears in a video clip that plays on the Celtics scoreboard whenever they’re closing in on a win. Boston apparently cannot win in the playoffs without the guy.” [Mary Schmitt Boyer]

What The Outside World Is Saying

“Boston’s “Big Three” played more like the “Teensy Trio.” KG had 17 points and 9 rebounds, but Ray Allen was 4-for-10 and Paul Pierce shot 3-for-8 and committed a game-high 4 turnovers. Rajon Rondo (3-for-10) and Sam Cassell (0-for-6) didn’t do much to help the cause, either. The bigger problem, though, was the Celtics’ “best in the league” defense, which allowed the Cavs to shoot 54 percent from the field and 52 percent from way out there.” [Deadspin]

“Take everything good I said about the Celtics defense after Game 2 and apply it to the Cavs tonight. Great performance. And those two blocks LeBron had on Rajon Rondo were outrageous. Meanwhile, didn’t it seem like the Cavs move around on offense a lot more? At points it seemed like they had 2-3 guys running off picks. And yes it’s not possible to have 3 guys running off picks at one time.” [Green Bandwagon]

“We’re not going to dwell too much on tonight’s performance.  With the exception of Garnett and Posey, the entire Celtics team was sub-par.  To paint a picture of the type of night it was, Boston didn’t attempt a single free-throw until there was 3 and 1/2 minutes left in the first half.  To close out the 2nd quarter, Perkins airballed a 7 foot jumpshot, and in the third he actually attempted a 15 foot turnaround jumper while being covered by Ben Wallace (look at the picture if you think I’m making that up).  Delonte West played “Rover”, wreaking absolute havoc on our offense.  Rondo had zero confidence in his jumpshot in the first half (he knocked down a couple in the second), effectively allowing Cleveland to ignore him.  Cleveland shot 54% from the field, 53% from downtown, dished 29 assists and only committed 10 turnovers.  West dominated Rondo, scoring 21 points and 7 assists (on 7-11 shooting with 4 3’s), to Rondo’s 7 points (on 3-10), 1 rebound and 0 assists.” [BostonsportZ]

“My biggest problem with the C’s last night wasn’t that they lost.  I think a lot of people expected a loss.  Its that they gave up too many offensive rebounds (which is a strength of Cleveland’s) and the offense got way too stagnant way too often.  I think I speak for most people when I say I’m a little sick of Sam Cassell turning into a black hole when he’s in the game.  Its ok if he shoots… but how about working the ball around a little, huh Sam?  And someone tell Rajon that those little baseline jumpers he was hitting in the 3rd quarter (when the C’s cut a 20+ point lead down to 12) are the shots he needs to make early in the game. 

So don’t put any stock in the “they can’t win on the road” mess that people will be talking today.  Game 3 was about their role players playing out of their minds.  There’s no way that can be sustained.  Maybe LeBron will step up and win a second game for them at some point… but if the Celtics come out and just…. play… basketball… they’ll win.” [Red’s Army]

[print_link]