Re: Cavaliers - Falling and falling
LeBron needs to do more than score
In his last outing, LeBron James tallied a whopping 56 points against Toronto! Unfortunately, his gargantuan effort had two unfortunate results — the loss of the game and the loss of Paul Silas' job.
LeBron James can score, that's understood. But it won't be as easy for him to do so when the playoffs roll around. (Ron Schwane / AP)
For sure, James is a colossal talent capable of overloading a scoreboard in any given game. However, one side-effect of his monopolization of the shot-chart against the Raptors was that his backcourt mate, Eric Snow, and all of the Cavs' five substitutes combined for only eight shots and zero points in sixty total minutes of burn. The point being that such lopsided, unilateral offensive displays, always produce headlines and highlights while rarely producing victories.
That's because winning basketball can only be played five-on-five; and because there are two baskets on every court — one to be attacked and one to be defended. So, if at the end of the Toronto game, LeBron was visibly peeved at his team's lack of defense, he's advised to discover the primary culprit in the nearest mirror.
In any event, the next opponent for LeBron and his playmates was the Detroit Pistons, a well-balanced squad that prides itself on defense. The Pistons coaching staff was well aware of LeBron's awesome performance against the Raptors, and would just as certainly be concerned with trying to prevent an encore.
There are several standard ways to defeat one-man bands:
Stack the defense to reduce Mister Points' touches and inhibit his movements with the ball, thereby forcing lesser players to try to win the game.
Play tough, mostly straight-up defense, expecting that the Big Scorer will get his, but making sure that everybody else is contained.
Make the hot-shot play defense — run him into perpetual picks, and go at him in isolation situations, to saddle him with foul trouble, and/or force him to expend more energy than he wants to on the uphill end of the court.
Exactly how, then, did Detroit deal with LeBron's offense? And how did Cleveland's new coach, the universally respected Brendan Malone, counter the Pistons' defensive game plan? What went right for each team? And what went wrong?
MIN FG FT 3FG REB A ST BS TO PTS
43 11-24 5-8 2-7 6 6 1 0 0 29
Tayshaun Prince guarded James for much of the game, not biting on any fakes, getting strategic help from his teammates and relying on his long arms to occasionally deny LeBron the ball. Prince mostly played straight-up defense when James received the ball near the baseline, but when LeBron had possession near either foul-line extended, Prince overplayed the sideline and forced James to the middle. And that's where Detroit's help was.
In half-court situations, James was successful (drawing fouls) on only two dribble-penetrations into the paint. With Ben and/or Rasheed Wallace rotating to the rim, James was compelled to either pass to a teammate on the perimeter, or force off-balance fadeaway jumpers (none of which he converted). Likewise, on the two occasions when James posted Prince, he eyed the help gathering in the paint and turned baseline to pass or shoot (again without success).
The Pistons only double-teamed LeBron twice — once in the pivot and once as he carried the ball across the time-line. Both traps eventually led to scoreless possessions. So how did James score 29 points?
He canned two long jumpers when Rasheed made casual switches on screen/rolls, and another when Antonio McDyess did the same. Another pair of jumpers were simply launched over Prince's outstretched hands. James also bagged two unstoppable step-back jumpers from the outskirts, and a pull-up jumper in early offense that was equally impossible to defend. A mid-range jumper was preceded by another unstoppable move — switching his pivot foot before he ever dribbled. (More and more, LeBron is allowed to travel, palm, and get away with veteran fouls.)
All of these makes were impressive, except that (discounting the fast-break jumper) they all came after LeBron spent several long seconds either dribbling or massaging the ball. It was the same-old, same-old — his teammates watching while James had the ball on a string.
(Two of LeBron's buckets, however, came at the catch-and-shoot end of weak-to-strong-side cuts. This is the kind of coordinated player-and-ball movement that the Cavs must execute to have any success in the postseason.)
How, then, did Cleveland's bench players manage to total 27 points? Simply because the Pistons' offense — which is balky to begin with — was totally out of synch with Richard Hamilton down with an ankle sprain. Without Hamilton's perpetual motion driving their attack, the Pistons sputtered and never generated any rhythm. Everybody mostly stood around and waited for somebody else to do something. This general inertia was to blame for most of Detroit's 14 turnovers which directly led to 21 points by the home team, many of which were scored by the scrubs. (By contrast, Cleveland's nine turnovers generated only two points for the visitors.)
If James made enough difficult shots to stymie Detroit's rugged defensive schemes, his own defense was a total embarrassment. Prince virtually had his way with James on a variety of post-ups and isos: A backdoor cut (and dunk) also left James in the dust. As did numerous spin moves, screen/roll maneuvers, and unadorned baseline drives. Carlos Delfino was also able to take advantage of James' slipshod defense, but missed several open shots. Worst of all, on seven separate occasions, LeBron resorted to mean-eyed stares to defend nearby jumpers instead of throwing a hand at the shots.
OK, teams are always amped whenever a new coach takes over, and the Cavs were no different (although they were listless throughout most of the first half). But the home team's 91-76 victory over the defending champs should not be over-valued. Cleveland's offense was still stagnant as LeBron's sticky hands dominated the ball. His individual defense was as impotent as ever (subtracting Prince's offensive production from LeBron's, left Cleveland with only a seven-point advantage).
Given his abundance of touches, LeBron will always be an explosive scorer. But when the money-season gets underway, his points will be much harder to come by, his putrid defense will be used and abused, and the Cadavers will be fortunate to escape the first round.
