(A shout out to Bryan Rogers and the "blog of brog" for making me feel like doing this)
The first entry in this blog that I hope to be interesting and somewhat funny is entitled:
"How the Cavs can beat the Celtics"
I came into this series (and the entire postseason) thinking that the Cavs were on too much of a mission to be stopped, especially by a team that has obviously lost a step. But the Cavs have played so inconsistently, and the supporting cast has lookes so much exactly like they did the past two postseasons that I am worried that they may end up blowing their title chances before they even get to the conference finals.
Anyone who has watched even a quarter in the Cavs-Celts series knows that this series has been about two players, Lebron and Rajon Rondo. The scary thing about it, though, is that Rondo has really looked better than even Lebron. While Lebron has had to use all his strength and athleticism to free himself from the Celtic defense, Rondo has looked completely unguardable. Rondo gets in the lane at will, finds teammates who seem to always be open and has made the once-stout Cavs defense look foolish many times. Anthony Parker has a deer in the headlights look on his face every time the Celts clear out for Rondo, and it seems to be for good reason because that often leads to an easy layup for Rajon. If Rondo could hit a 15 foot jumper consistently, he would score thirty a game in this series because all the Cavs defenders are doing when he isos is back up and try to stop him from laying it in.
The only solution that I can see to stop Rondo is to put Lebron on him, which appartenly he wants to do himself.(http://http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/columns/story?columnist=may_peter&id=5176274) No one on the Celtics other than Rondo has been a consistent offensive threat. Paul Pierce looks slow and perfectly content to ride Rondo, he doesn't call for the ball and is much more hesitant with the pull-up 18 footers than he was two years ago. Ray Allen is a great player but only puts up great numbers when he can get free and spot up to shoot. Anthony Parker would be much better on either of these two than on Rondo, because he would not have to guard them off the dribble. Lebron has thoroughly shut Pierce down and Pierce looks so off of his rhythm that a secondary defender could handle him for the next three games. I think Lebron could match Rondo's atleticism, take him off his game and force the Celtics offense to run through Pierce again, who hasn't scored more than 14 in the series and is shooting 32% against the Cavs this year.
The other major problem for Cavs in the series has been the play of the big men. Shaq has looked atrocious offensively. A career 58% shooter, he has shot 47% in the series, including a 4-12 performance in game one. He has looked better the past two games, including 17 last night, but the Cavs game plan of pounding the ball to him for the entire first quarter seems to get them a little off rhythm. JJ Hickson has been the really only high point of the Cavs inside scoring, because his youth and athleticism have let him get a lot of open looks against Garnett and Perkins.
The defensive inside play has been equally frustrating because even though Perkins has been thoroughly shut down (6 points a game in the series including 0 in game 4), the Cavs have had no answer for Kevin Garnett, who is scoring 18 a game, up from 14 in the regular season. I think the best way to stop him is to go big, move Jamison to the 3 and put Hickson or Varejao on him. Garnett seems to hate high-energy players, and a lean lineup with Shaq off the floor can get the Cavs running, so Garnett and Pierce might tire out on both ends.
The Cavs are the better team in this series and they had a better record for a reason. The Celtics can beat the best on any given day but they can also get beat by anyone when they're off (with bad losses to the Nets, Pacers and Knicks on the season). The Cavs have let Rondo do whatever he wants, with Mike Brown making no major changes to stop him even though he is getting better every game, and they have done nothing to show the age of the Celtics. If the Cavs push the tempo, find Shaq his spots and sit him when he's off, and can get Rondo off his game even a little, they should coast. If not, Tuesday night I might be writing my next entry: "What (I think) losing this series will do to the Cavs"
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I was wondering how long it would take you to join the over saturated world of sports blogs. No worries. Your opinion is in my opinion better than most.
ReplyDeleteAbout the Cavs. They have to stop Rondo. You're right that they could put Lebron on him, and that would almost certainly slow him down, but Pierce is still a weapon. I don't know if taking the risk of letting Pierce take on a lesser defender is the better trade off. Rondo tore up game 4. I mean absolutely was phenomenal. But that doesn't change the fact that of the big 3 on Boston, his name still isn't included there. I would risk Rondo keeping up his unprecedented pace verse putting Parker or West on Pierce.
On offense, they have to get Shaq out of there. He looks like he forgot how to execute a drop step. I agree with you 100%. The first quarter should be about establishing some rythym, not about Shaq ineffectively pounding the ball on Perkins to try and maybe get some fouls. I'd rather see Hickson, Jamison, Varejao and even Big Z in the game before Shaq, on offense that is. Shaq is still the one guy no one will back down on defense. So maybe the trade off is fair, just don't force the ball to him so much early in the game.
The Cavs lost home court, got it back and then got beat up in game 4. They are not going to have an easy time putting away a team of veterans who know how to win at this time of the year, even if they have lost a step.