Tony Allen Leads All-Defensive Team Voting, Larry Sanders Snubbed for Center Spot Despite Receiving More Votes than Marc Gasol
Tony Allen and LeBron James each received 25 First Team votes for the All-Defensive Team; the NBA's 30 head coaches select the All-Defensive First and Second Teams by position and are not allowed to vote for their own players. A First Team vote is worth two points, while a Second Team vote is worth one point. Allen received three Second Team votes, meaning that only one coach did not select Allen (since Allen's Coach Lionel Hollins is not permitted to choose Allen). Allen's 53 points pace this year's All-Defensive Team. James received one Second Team vote and thus finished with 52 points. James also finished second (to Marc Gasol) in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, which is conducted among media members; Allen finished fifth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Serge Ibaka is the other All-Defensive First Team forward (17 First Team votes, 12 Second Team votes), while Chris Paul (15 First Team votes, seven Second Team votes) completes the First Team backcourt. Tyson Chandler and Joakim Noah each earned 24 points, so they split the First Team center spot; Chandler received nine First Team votes and six Second Team votes, while Noah received eight First Team votes and eight Second Team votes.
The All-Defensive Second Team consists of forwards Tim Duncan and Paul George, center Marc Gasol and guards Avery Bradley and Mike Conley.
The NBA's official press release states that Larry Sanders finished with 16 points (including four First Team votes); it is not clear why he is not listed as the Second Team center over Marc Gasol, who earned 12 points (five First Team votes, two Second Team votes). Sanders is designated as a center at the Milwaukee Bucks' official website and at every other website/publication that I have seen.
Another irregularity in the press release is that only 149 of the 150 First Team votes are noted; the listed point totals correctly add up to 450 (30 coaches multiplied by five positions multiplied by two points for each First Team vote and one point for each Second Team vote), so apparently whoever put the press release together neglected to account for one of the First Team votes by listing it in parentheses next to the name of the player who received that vote. Also, although the voting is supposed to be done by position, the listed First Team votes do not add up properly. Forwards received 56 First Team votes (LeBron James 25, Serge Ibaka 17, Paul George seven, Tim Duncan three, Luol Deng one, Kenneth Faried one, Nic Batum one, Metta World Peace one) instead of 60. Since Sanders received four First Team votes it really looks like the coaches and the NBA wrongly classified Sanders as a forward. Guards received 60 First Team votes. Centers Chandler (nine), Noah (eight), Gasol (five), Dwight Howard (three) and Roy Hibbert (two) received 27 First Team votes. Those numbers--56 votes for forwards, 60 votes for guards, 27 votes for centers, four votes for Sanders--add up to 147, with the one uncounted vote pushing the total to 148.
The other two First Team votes belong to Andre Iguodala; it is not clear how the voters and/or the NBA categorized Iguodala but regardless of whether one correctly lists Iguodala as a guard (Danilo Gallinari is Denver's starting small forward) or whether one lists Iguodala as a forward (he can play that position, though he mainly played guard this season) the positional numbers still do not add up to 60, 60, 30 (i.e., two First Team forwards, two First Team guards and one First Team center on each ballot) the way that they should. Perhaps these concerns seem trivial but--unless Sanders has suddenly changed positions or unless the listed vote totals are wrong--the NBA should issue a correction and award Sanders All-Defensive Second Team status over Gasol.
As usual,
my All-Defensive Team selections closely mirrored the coaches' choices. The coaches agreed with three of my First Team picks (Allen, Ibaka, James) and six of my 10 choices overall--seven if in fact Sanders actually was voted as the Second Team center even though the press release does not list him as such. I left Avery Bradley and Joakim Noah off of my team because they missed 32 and 16 games respectively; I don't see how Bradley is a valid choice after missing nearly half of the season. I chose Thabo Sefolosha (who finished just four points behind Conley) and Roy Hibbert instead of Bradley and Noah.
I don't understand why the coaches picked Chandler over Hibbert. Chandler made the All-Defensive Second Team last season but this season his individual numbers are slightly worse (6.5 defensive rebounds per game in 2012 plus 1.4 bpg; 6.6 defensive rebounds per game in 2013 plus 1.1 bpg) and the New York Knicks' team defense is worse: the Knicks ranked 10th in defensive field goal percentage in 2012 but dropped to 19th this season and they dropped from 18th to 25th in defensive rebounding, though they did improve slightly (from 11th to seventh) in points allowed. Hibbert and Gasol clearly had more impact defensively both in terms of their individual statistics and in terms of their teams' defensive statistics.
Previous Articles About All-Defensive Team Voting
Interesting Contrasts Between All-Defensive Team Voting and Defensive Player of the Year Voting (2012)
Bryant and Garnett Each Earn All-Defensive First Team Honors for the Ninth Time (2011)
Analyzing the Votes for the All-Defensive Team and the All-NBA Team (2010)
Howard, Bryant Lead All-Defensive Team Voting (2009)
Labels: Avery Bradley, Chris Paul, Joakim Noah, Larry Sanders, LeBron James, Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Paul George, Serge Ibaka, Tim Duncan, Tony Allen, Tyson Chandler
posted by David Friedman @ 5:43 PM
Miami Versus Chicago Preview
Eastern Conference Second Round
#1 Miami (66-16) vs. #5 Chicago (45-37)
Season series: Tied, 2-2
Chicago can win if…the Bulls' defensive pressure forces the Heat to settle for long two point jump shots; the Bulls must keep the Heat--particularly LeBron James and Dwyane Wade--out of the paint while also tightly checking the Heat's three point shooters.
Miami will win because…LeBron James is on a mission; he plays multiple positions at both ends of the court, he has become
amazingly efficient offensively and he attracts so much defensive attention that his teammates are able to shoot wide open jumpers and/or cut to the hoop for uncontested dunks/layups. Dwyane Wade has been hobbling for significant portions of the season and Miami has not even missed a beat. Chris Bosh is a very underrated player whose versatility is an important part of Miami's success. Pat Riley made a wise choice when he selected Erik Spoelstra as the coach and Riley has surrounded the "Big Three" with an excellent group of complementary specialists who rebound, defend and/or spread the floor by making three pointers.
Other things to consider: Chicago
snapped Miami's 27 game winning streak: "The Bulls beat the Heat by attacking them in the paint at both ends of
the court, by making timely fourth quarter shots and by never backing
down mentally or physically. Is that the blueprint for winning a playoff
series against the Heat? Of course it is--but the problem for Heat
opponents is twofold: (1) not many squads have the coaching and/or
personnel necessary to execute that game plan and (2) in order to
eliminate the Heat a team must execute that game plan four times in a
seven game series." If the Bulls had a fully healthy, non-rusty Derrick Rose and if Joakim Noah/Luol Deng/Kirk Hinrich were fully healthy then they would have a realistic chance to beat the Heat four times in seven games. Even as things stand now--with Rose apparently not returning to action this season and the statuses of Noah, Deng and Hinrich seemingly varying from game to game (though Noah appears to be getting healthier)--the Bulls will fight the Heat tooth and nail, possibly even winning two games, but it is difficult to picture Chicago pulling off the massive upset.
The Rose situation is very unusual. I cannot recall another example of any player--let alone a recent MVP--being cleared to play by the doctors, practicing without restrictions for several weeks and not even attempting to participate in the playoffs. I agree with TNT's Kenny Smith that Rose has a track record that must be respected and that we have to trust Rose's assertion that he is not yet ready to play but it is undeniable that if Rose suited up then he would have a big impact even if he could only perform at 50%-60%; the opposing defense would have to respect his presence, which would open things up for Rose's teammates. If Rose could play even just 20 solid minutes per game then this would increase Chicago's depth and return several players to their normal roles. It is difficult to figure out what exactly Rose means when he says that he will not play again until he is "comfortable." Until his recent knee injury, Russell Westbrook had not missed a game in the NBA, college or high school--and I doubt that he was fully "comfortable" every time he stepped on the court. I hope that Rose is not sitting out to preserve his statistics; Kobe Bryant has played on one leg or without the full use of an arm/several fingers because he knew that even in a reduced state he could still have an impact but he once said that other stars are reluctant to do such things because they don't want to hurt their scoring averages. If Rose is healthy enough to play then he should do so even if would just average 10 ppg in 20 mpg.
Labels: Chicago Bulls, Chris Bosh, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Joakim Noah, LeBron James, Miami Heat
posted by David Friedman @ 3:45 AM
Veteran Duncan, Six First-Time All-Stars Headline Coaches' Selections
Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Zach Randolph,
LaMarcus Aldridge and David Lee have been selected by the coaches as
the seven Western Conference All-Star reserves, while Chris Bosh, Tyson
Chandler, Joakim Noah, Paul George, Luol Deng, Jrue Holiday and Kyrie
Irving are the seven Eastern Conference All-Star reserves. Last season,
five first-time All-Stars made the cut
alongside perennial All-Stars Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce and Steve
Nash; this season, there are six first-time All-Stars: Harden, Chandler,
Noah, George, Holiday and Irving, who is the sixth youngest player in
All-Star history. After not being selected last season, Duncan is once
again an All-Star, while Nowitzki is not an All-Star for the first time
since 2001, Pierce is not an All-Star for the first time since 2007 and
eight-time All-Star Nash is not an All-Star for the second time in the
past three seasons. Bosh earned his eighth All-Star selection; media
members have showered praise on Pau Gasol for the past several years but
Bosh is at least as good of an all-around player as Gasol: Bosh is
certainly more mobile than Gasol and Bosh is a better defender, the two
players are roughly equal as rebounders (9.2 rpg career average for
Gasol, 9.0 rpg career average for Bosh) and Bosh is a more productive
scorer while Gasol is better passer (Bosh is obviously the superior
player this season but the preceding comparison encompasses their entire
careers). NBA coaches appreciate Bosh's value but media members and
casual fans tend to underrate Bosh's skill set and his impact.
In 2012, the coaches chose 12 of the 14 players I
picked,
substituting Pierce for Rajon Rondo in the East (Rondo later joined the
squad as the replacement for the injured Joe Johnson) and giving the
nod to Nowitzki over Danilo Gallinari in the West. This time around, the
coaches agreed with all 14 of my selections. Several of the TNT
commentators objected to the omission of Stephen Curry; Curry is one of
my favorite players to watch--as was his father
Dell--and
he is having an All-Star caliber season but he is not having a better
season than any of the seven players selected as All-Star reserves.
While Curry is averaging a career-high 20.9 ppg, he is also shooting a
career-low .436 from the field; his three point shooting percentage
(.451) is hovering right around his career average (.444), so that
indicates that he is not finishing as effectively in the paint this
season. There simply is not a logical way to justify putting Curry on
the All-Star roster. Curry has not had a greater impact than Duncan,
Randolph, Aldridge or
his teammate David Lee, so Curry could not grab a wild card spot over
one of those guys; focusing specifically on the guards, Westbrook is a
better two way player than Curry and Parker is a bit more efficient as
both a scorer and a playmaker. Perhaps one could make a case for Curry
as a shooter/distributor over Harden as a driver/distributor but I give
Harden a slight edge: Harden is less efficient than Curry but Harden is
bigger, stronger and a more versatile defender (Curry is crafty with his
hands, like his father, but he can be overpowered by bigger guards).
Labels: 2013 NBA All-Star Game, Chris Bosh, David Lee, James Harden, Joakim Noah, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Zach Randolph
posted by David Friedman @ 7:30 AM
Chicago Versus Atlanta Preview
Eastern Conference Second Round
#1 Chicago (62-20) vs. #5 Atlanta (44-38)
Season series: Chicago, 2-1
Atlanta can win if…the Hawks utilize their athleticism to play aggressive defense, force turnovers and score a lot of points in transition. The Bulls play great half court defense, so the Hawks must speed up the game if they plan on scoring more than 85-90 ppg.
Chicago will win because…the Bulls consistently play much harder and much smarter than the Hawks do. The Bulls' active big men will control the paint at both ends of the court, while Derrick Rose will pick apart Atlanta's defense to create shots for himself and for his teammates.
Other things to consider: I should have had the courage of my convictions
regarding the Orlando Magic's prospects after their two big midseason trades but I somehow convinced myself to pick Orlando to beat Atlanta in the first round. Frankly, neither team particularly impresses me: the Hawks have essentially the same roster as last year (Kirk Hinrich was a nice midseason addition but in terms of total regular season minutes played, the only change this season is swapping Jeff Teague for Maurice Evans), and they ended up with nine fewer wins than they had in 2009-10 despite firing Coach Mike Woodson, who became a scapegoat for the team's failure to advance past the second round; the Magic went from being a legit championship contender the past two seasons to a team that I knew would struggle just to win a single playoff series. Ultimately, I thought that having the best player, homecourt advantage and the edge in coaching would enable the Magic to get by the Hawks but the fact that even those trumps could not save Orlando shows just how far that franchise has fallen in a short time--and that stark realization will become even more clear if the Bulls dismantle the Hawks as thoroughly as I expect that they will.
The Hawks are a talented team but they are frustrating to watch because they so often play without focus or direction; on paper, the Bulls may be considered less talented than the Hawks overall (even though Derrick Rose is clearly the best player on either roster) but the Bulls are much more focused than the Hawks; TNT's Kenny Smith made a great point about this series: the Bulls will dominate in a lot of areas that do not show up in the boxscore, such as deflections, corralling loose balls and hustle plays. The Bulls' tenacity will disrupt the Hawks at both ends of the court and after the Bulls convincingly thrash a team that beat Orlando 4-2 it will be apparent just how much work the Magic have to do to once again become a contending team.
Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Carlos Boozer, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Jamal Crawford, Joakim Noah, Joe Johnson
posted by David Friedman @ 3:03 PM
Jamison, James, O'Neal and West Lead the Way as Cavs Edge Bulls 96-94
Antawn Jamison scored a team-high 25 points and LeBron James fell one assist shy of a triple double (19 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists) as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Chicago Bulls 96-94 and eliminated the Bulls four games to one. Shaquille O'Neal had his best game of the series (14 points on 7-9 field goal shooting, eight rebounds and three assists in 26 very efficient and productive minutes) and Delonte West provided a huge lift off of the bench with 16 points, four assists and tremendous defense. Starting point guard Mo Williams had five assists but he scored just seven points on 2-13 field goal shooting, bringing back memories of his poor performance versus Orlando in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. We have seen that Williams can be a very productive player during the course of an 82 game regular season but the Cavs need for him to provide timely outside shooting during the playoffs.
Derrick Rose led the Bulls with a game-high 31 points and a team-high six assists but Cleveland's defense hounded Chicago's young point guard into 12-27 field goal shooting, including 4-14 in the second half when West and then James handled most of the one on one duties versus Rose. Luol Deng produced 26 points and six rebounds in a game-high 46 minutes. Joakim Noah had his worst game of the series--eight points, nine rebounds and seven turnovers. Kirk Hinrich added 12 points, four rebounds and four assists. Each of those four Bulls played at least 43 minutes as Coach Vinny Del Negro used only two reserves (Ronald "Flip" Murray and Jannero Pargo) for a combined total of just 21 minutes.
The Cavs made a concerted effort to establish O'Neal in the post and this paid dividends early in the game and then again in the fourth quarter, when O'Neal's activity created a defensive three second violation plus two foul calls against Brad Miller, sending Miller to the bench in favor of Noah, who promptly got his fourth foul while trying to guard O'Neal; in the next sequence, O'Neal caught the ball in the post versus Noah, wheeled toward the middle and dunked right over him to put Cleveland up 76-75. When I dubbed O'Neal
"The Big Bill Cartwright" this is exactly the kind of performance that I had in mind: 14 points and eight rebounds would have been an average half or a very good quarter for O'Neal during his prime but his impact now for this particular team goes well beyond those numbers because he can get the opposing team in foul trouble while putting the Cavs in the bonus. The Chicago Bulls used to regularly go to Cartwright in the paint early in games precisely for those reasons and also to force opposing teams to reveal their hand defensively so that Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen would see exactly the best way to attack, much like LeBron James is doing now.
O'Neal was also in fine form verbally; in his postgame press conference he explained that for the past several weeks he has been so limited by his thumb injury that he could not even "wipe my" and then he paused before saying "furniture"as the assembled media members chuckled. Thumbs are very important, O'Neal added earnestly, and he is very glad that he now once again has full use of both of his thumbs.
The Bulls are certainly scrappy and considering the talent disparity between these two teams they deserve a lot of credit for fighting down to the wire on the road in an elimination game. If they keep their current nucleus intact and manage to add a legit big to pair with Noah plus a wing player who can create shots for himself and his teammates to complement Rose then they could really make some noise in the East in the next few years. Of course, all indications are that their front office is in turmoil and that Coach Vinny Del Negro will be fired, so at this point the Bulls may be just as likely to become Clippers East as they are to become contenders--and perhaps all of this organizational turmoil is some kind of karmic payback for the gleeful haste with which Jerry Reinsdorf and Jerry Krause prematurely broke up a championship dynasty so that Krause could try to prove that "organizations win championships." Krause is now a scout for the Chicago White Sox and the Bulls have won just one playoff series since Krause dismantled the 1998 championship team.
The three staples for Cleveland's success in the past several years have been defense, rebounding and LeBron James' brilliance but in this game the Cavs only displayed those three characteristics sporadically. The Bulls shot .512 from the field in the first half, though the Cavs cut that number down to .461 overall by the end of the game. The Bulls also narrowly won the battle of the boards, 39-37. James had the kind of quiet first half--three points on 1-3 field goal shooting, five assists, four rebounds--that would spur endless questions/debates/criticism if authored by Kobe Bryant, though James contributed 16 points, six rebounds and four assists in the second half. However, James provided a huge scare to the sellout crowd of 20,562 after he was fouled with just 7.8 seconds remaining in the game and the Cavs clinging to a 95-92 lead. James calmly swished the first free throw but then he missed the second attempt badly while shooting left-handed due to a balky right elbow. James wanted to call a timeout between free throws to get some quick treatment but with the crowd roaring in anticipation of victory James and Coach Mike Brown had some kind of miscommunication on the sidelines regarding how many timeouts the Cavs had left, so James shot the free throw with his off hand to avoid putting any additional strain on the elbow until the medical staff could examine it. After the Cavs won, James noticeably avoided using his right hand when high fiving his teammates.
While waiting for James to make his postgame appearance in the press conference room, some members of the media engaged in gallows humor, suggesting that based on Cleveland's post-1964 drought in terms of professional sports titles this season could end up becoming known as "The Elbow," taking its place in local sports infamy alongside "Red Right 88," "The Drive" and "The Fumble." One wag said that with Cleveland's luck, James will blow out his elbow, the Cavs will lose to the Boston Celtics in the next round and then James will leave town once he becomes a free agent this summer.
It turns out that James has had a problem with his elbow off and on for several weeks; this--and not "rest"--is presumably the real reason that James sat out the last few regular season games. James claims that he does not remember exactly when or how he sustained the injury and he says that doctors are not even sure exactly what the injury is, which is the thing that concerns James the most; all James knows is that periodically his arm goes numb as if he has hit his funny bone. James admitted that during the off day after game four he had an MRI and X-rays but that the test revealed no structural damage. James fielded many questions on this topic before declaring that he does not want to make any excuses, that if he is on the court he should be considered healthy and that Cavs fans have nothing to worry about because he will be ready to go versus Boston. Until proven otherwise, we have no choice but to take James at his word but it would certainly be ironic if after Kobe Bryant hobbled his way through most of this season that the 31 year old, 14 year veteran turns out to be healthier during the stretch run of the playoffs then the young, seemingly indestructible James. Hopefully, both Bryant and James end up being healthy enough to carry their respective teams into a dream NBA Finals matchup of established champion versus hungry heir apparent.
*****************************
Notes From Courtside:
During the game I sat next to
Jim Chones, a 10 year pro basketball veteran who started his career in the ABA and then spent five seasons with the Cavs before being a key player for the Lakers' 1980 championship team. Chones is currently involved with several business and media ventures, including doing live in-game chats with fans at Cavs.com. It is fascinating to hear his opinions about past and current players. Chones told me that the three smartest basketball players he has ever seen are Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar--who Chones played with and against--and LeBron James. Chones said that right from the beginning of James' career he has marveled at just how deeply James thinks about the game. I said to Chones that what I respect most about James is how methodically he has attacked his skill set weaknesses (outside shot, free throws, defense, postup game) and I contrasted James with Carmelo Anthony, a player who--in my opinion--has not substantially expanded his skill set or minimized his weaknesses since coming into the league. Chones agreed with me, although he gave Anthony credit for improving his conditioning level.
Chones mentioned that in order to play basketball well you must understand angles. I replied that it seems to me that this kind of understanding is what enables crafty veterans to outdo younger, more athletic players who lack such knowledge--the crafty veterans know "shortcuts" to get to where they need to be on the court and thus they don't expend needless energy. Chones agreed, adding that the greatest compliment he ever received as a player was when then-Lakers General Manager Bill Sharman told Chones that he could see that Chones really knew how to play because Chones had defended three different players on one possession simply by taking advantage of correct angles/body positioning.
Chones' teams relied on him to defend centers, power forwards and even small forwards at times. Chones told me that the great Bernard King presented a particular challenge because King was so explosive that even though Chones enjoyed a four inch height advantage King would simply get to his spot and elevate right over him.
Chones said that when Michael Jordan was breaking the Cavs' hearts in the 1980s, Hall of Fame Coach Pete Newell--then a scout for the Lakers--marveled that he had never seen a player who was so good that even when you knew that he was going to drive straight to the hoop you could not stop him. I mentioned that Paul Silas once told me that prior to the
1972 ABA-NBA All-Star Game his former teammate Zelmo Beaty had told him that rookie forward Julius Erving "wasn’t a good shooter but he just went by everybody. He just took up the slack, penetrated around and dunked on everybody." Silas was incredulous but he became a believer after Erving stole the ball from him and proceeded to dunk from the foul line
during the game! Chones agreed that young Erving, like young Jordan, could get to the hoop at will even though defenders knew that this was what Erving was going to do. Chones shook his head when he told me about trying to guard Julius Erving during Dr. J's ABA prime: Chones did everything by the book--playing Erving physically in the paint, conceding the perimeter shot when Erving was on the wing, shading Erving to his left hand when he drove--and Erving still scored at will. I asked Chones if he agrees with me that there is a great stylistic/aesthetic similarity between Erving's dunks and James' dunks and Chones said yes, adding that James likely saw highlights of Erving's moves and copied them: like Erving, James extends his arm straight up in the air when he swoops to the hoop and he dunks with great power and ferocity. Chones noted that even though Erving was lean he was strong and he dunked with force over much bigger defenders.
Early in the game when O'Neal was whistled for an offensive foul, Chones grunted in disgust and lamented that many referees do not truly understand basketball, particularly in terms of post play. Chones told me that O'Neal did not commit a foul and he demonstrated--gently--to me what O'Neal did, acting as if he were holding a ball preparing to shoot and then brushing his forearm against my chest in a shooting motion. Chones contended that O'Neal did not extend his elbow--which would legitimately be a foul--but merely went through a normal, strong big man post move. I said that I thought Adrian Dantley made a career out of doing a similar move but that when the 6-4 Dantley did this maneuver the defenders were frequently whistled for fouls; on page 142 of the 1987 book
Hoops!, Dantley called this the "bump fake," advising that a post player should "Go up strong and bump him (the defender) a little with your shoulder or forearm to keep him from blocking your shot." Of course, when the 6-4 Dantley did this against bigger players it looked like a foul by the defender, whereas when O'Neal initiates contact it may seem like he is committing a foul even if he has established a legal position.
***
Mike Brown now owns a 40-25 career playoff record. He is just the sixth coach to achieve 40 playoff wins in 65 or fewer games, joining Phil Jackson (55 games), John Kundla (55), Pat Riley (56), Billy Cunningham (64) and Chuck Daly (65). Each of Brown's five predecessors in this category won at least one NBA championship and all of them are Hall of Famers (Cunningham earned induction as a player--though he certainly also merits consideration as a coach--while the other four were each inducted as coaches). Brown's critics may be tempted to counter that Brown only has so many playoff wins because he coaches LeBron James but keep in mind that Jackson has coached Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen (plus future Hall of Famers Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant), Kundla coached several Hall of Famers (including George Mikan, who was voted as the greatest player of the first half of the 20th Century), Riley coached Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy (plus future Hall of Famers O'Neal and Dwyane Wade), Cunningham coached Hall of Famers Julius Erving and Moses Malone and Chuck Daly coached Hall of Famers Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. You cannot win in the NBA if you don't have the horses but there are some coaches (who shall remain nameless) who have had the horses but somehow managed not to win as frequently as they should have.
Brown has started his coaching career in very impressive fashion.
***
In game four of this series, LeBron James became the first player since the NBA began using the three point shot in 1979-80 to have a playoff game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and six three pointers made. James finished with 37 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and six three pointers. That was James' second career playoff triple double with at least 37 points; Oscar Robertson is the only other player to have at least two such playoff triple doubles.
Labels: Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, LeBron James
posted by David Friedman @ 8:58 AM
LeBron Takes Over Down the Stretch as Cavs Beat Bulls, 112-102
LeBron James authored another masterful playoff performance while leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 112-102 victory over the Chicago Bulls in game two of their first round playoff series. James scored 40 points--including 15 in the fourth quarter, 11 of which came in a stunning outburst that took less than three minutes--grabbed eight rebounds, dished off eight assists, blocked two shots and delivered a thunderous dunk that is sure to be replayed countless times. Antawn Jamison chipped in 14 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Mo Williams struggled from the field (2-8) but made all eight of his free throws to finish with 12 points plus six assists and no turnovers. Jamario Moon provided a huge boost off of the bench with 12 points on 4-5 shooting (all of his shots came from behind the three point line), three rebounds and two blocked shots. Shaquille O'Neal produced eight points and seven rebounds in just 15 minutes but he also had four turnovers and did not return to action after going to the bench with his fourth foul at the 7:33 mark of the third quarter; the Cavs went to
"The Big Bill Cartwright" early in the game with mixed results: sometimes he scored or drew fouls but overall he seemed to be moving a bit slower than he did in game one. After the game, Cleveland Coach Mike Brown said that he originally had planned to put O'Neal back in the game in the fourth quarter but then he decided that he liked what he saw with the group that was on the court so he elected to keep them in the game. Coach Brown has repeatedly noted that he has slotted O'Neal for 28-32 minutes per game but that matchups, foul trouble and other factors can cause him to alter that plan. O'Neal's importance to the Cavs--much like Cartwright's importance to the Bulls--will not ultimately be measured in minutes, points or rebounds but rather in overall impact: when O'Neal is in the game he must either command double teams or else score in the post and he must be a factor defensively in the paint. So far in the first two playoff games O'Neal has done those things. If/when O'Neal faces Dwight Howard, O'Neal does not have to match Howard stat for stat but he simply has to reduce Howard's effectiveness and thus minimize the need to double team Howard, just as Cartwright used his savvy to make things tough for New York's Patrick Ewing back in the day.
The Bulls won the rebounding battle 37-36, outscored the Cavs decisively in the paint (56-38) and had three players score at least 20 points: Joakim Noah tallied a playoff career-high 25 points and had a game-high 13 rebounds, Derrick Rose notched 23 points and eight assists and Luol Deng recorded 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. The Bulls also got solid production off of the bench from Ronald "Flip" Murray (14 points in 29 minutes). Why did the Bulls lose? They shot just .441 (41-93) from the field and, even more importantly, they had no answer for James down the stretch. Regarding the latter, the first thing they might try is closing their collective mouths: anyone watching the game could see that James said something in the direction of the Bulls' bench after a few of his late game shots but what was not apparent if you did not have a courtside seat is that James had not initiated the conversation--he was in fact responding to repeated Chicago taunts. After the game, James explained, "They were telling me I can't make jump shots. They asked me to shoot a jumper so I did that. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again." At one time, it was indeed true that James could not consistently make jump shots and that skill set weakness is one reason that James' Cavs fell short in playoff battles versus elite teams in the 2007 NBA Finals (San Antonio Spurs) and the 2008 Eastern Conference semifinals (Boston Celtics)--but, as I noted in my
recent article about the 2010 NBA awards, from the 2009 season to the 2010 season James improved his accuracy in six of the eight midrange shooting areas that are tracked by
NBA/com/Hotspots. After the game, James said that he has worked very hard to improve his shooting because "if I become better as an individual then our team automatically becomes better."
James shot 16-23 (.696) from the field (including 2-4 on three pointers) and made all six of his free throws; James headlined a strong shooting performance by the Cavs from all three ranges: they shot 40-71 from the field (.563, the team's best mark in a playoff game since May 17, 1992), 10-20 from three point range and 16-17 (.941) from the free throw line (remarkably, the teams combined to make their first 21 free throws and shot 38-41 overall). That efficiency was vitally important for the Cavs in this game, because the Bulls fired up 22 more field goal attempts than the Cavs, a disparity largely created by Chicago's advantages in two categories, offensive rebounding (13-5) and turnovers (Cleveland committed 11 turnovers, which is not an exorbitant number but not good enough on a night when Chicago had only four).
The Bulls played with tremendous energy right from the start, getting two offensive rebounds in the game's first 2:36 and building a 10-6 lead--a marked contrast from game one, when the Bulls trailed for virtually the entire contest. The Cavs quickly bounced back to go ahead 19-14 and Chicago Coach Vinny Del Negro inserted rookie James Johnson into the lineup to play some bump and run-style defense against LeBron James, who decided to use Johnson's activity and enthusiasm against him, resulting in a tremendous dunk at the :59 mark of the first quarter: "I felt that I could just slow down and counter his energy by reading the defense and getting around him and once I did that I was in attack mode to the rim." Someone later asked James what goes through his mind during such plays and James replied, "I'm gifted; I thank the man above for giving me some God-gifted abilities and leaping ability is one of them. I just try to take full advantage of it. So, in that situation, when I turn the corner and I see the rim, it doesn't matter if there's a guy in front of me or a guy behind me, I'm going to attack the rim at it's highest level. And that's what I did tonight. I knew I got around him and I didn't believe he was going to jump. But once I saw him out of the corner of my eye, I decided to jump just a little higher.'' The way that James finished the play is a perfect illustration of why I
called James a stylistic heir to Julius Erving: "Erving soared high above the hoop and delivered an assortment of one handed jams with his arm fully extended, buggywhipping the ball over hapless defenders, much like James does now. The full extension of Erving's arm--made possible by the fact that his hands are so huge that he palmed the ball effortlessly--during his driving dunks is quite distinctive but James does something very similar." James' jam over Johnson looks much like a vintage Erving dunk.
It is difficult to fully convey what it feels like to watch live and in person when someone uncoils such an explosive and powerful move--you can almost sense more than 20,000 people simultaneously getting goosebumps and gasping in shock a millisecond before they begin roaring in thunderous appreciation. Fans, media members and players alike look around in shock, joy and disbelief and a palpable energy buzzes through the arena.
The Cavs rode that energy wave to push their advantage to 28-18 but the Bulls proved to be remarkably poised and focused, scoring on a possession that included three offensive rebounds and then capitalizing on a James turnover to net a coast to coast drive by Murray right before the quarter ended. Murray's bucket trimmed Cleveland's lead to 28-22.
Chicago did not commit a single turnover in the second quarter and outscored Cleveland 28-24 to cut the Cavs' advantage to just two points at halftime. It seemed natural to expect that the more talented and deeper Cavs would turn it on at some point and pull away like they did in game one but instead the Bulls continued their scrappy play in the third quarter and knotted the score at 77 heading into the final 12 minutes. With 4:45 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Cavs only led 96-93 and the Bulls seemingly had a golden opportunity to steal a road game and grab homecourt advantage--but then James took over, hitting a long three pointer over Noah, connecting on two free throws, spinning in a tough left handed layup and then burying two long two point jumpers to put Cleveland up 107-98 at the 1:36 mark. Two Deng free throws cut the margin to seven but then Moon delivered the fatal blow, a three point shot that killed any chance of a Chicago comeback.
The postgame press conferences focused on the way that James took over the game at the end. Cleveland Coach Mike Brown did not even try to pretend that the Cavs did anything fancy when the game was on the line: "The fun and exciting thing about it was that in the playoffs everybody knows what play is coming. A lot of times, it's about can you stop the players on the other team. We didn't do anything tricky. We just came down and threw him the ball and he made plays in crunch minutes."
Jamison almost sounded like an awestruck fan as he described his perspective on James' late game scoring binge: "It's a sight to see. To see how close the game was and for him to take over, you just have to realize that you are witnessing history. To be able to take over a game like that and put your team on top, there are only a certain amount of guys who can do that."
Del Negro admitted that there are no easy answers to the question of how to defend James: "He's so effective with his vision and the way they shoot the ball. If you come with the double too quick, they spread you out. You have to pick your spots. We have to do a good job on everybody. LeBron, I thought, took the game over like stars do in the league. We single covered him and tried to force him baseline a little bit. Then we came with the double team a couple times and they moved the ball to the weak side."
Another topic of discussion after the game was Moon's timely contributions in a reserve role after logging just seven minutes in game one. Coach Brown said, "I said it earlier when I first came out here (to talk to the media before the game), I said it all year, I said it to our guys: everybody's got to stay ready. At any given time, somebody's number can be called and they may contribute significant minutes to us."
Coach Brown's biggest concern is that the Cavs decisively "did not win the possession game," allowing the Bulls to launch far more field goal attempts than the Cavs did. "We have to clean that up," he declared, candidly admitting that the Cavs threw many "sloppy passes" that did not become turnovers only because the Bulls merely deflected them instead of actually stealing the ball. He also said that the Cavs will make some adjustments to try to prevent the Bulls from having a points in the paint advantage, a multifaceted issue that includes post defense, the transition game and screen/roll defense.
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Notes From Courtside:
Rose scored 28 points in game one on 28 field goal attempts and he had 23 points in game two on 24 field goal attempts; in contrast, James scored 24 points in game one on 19 field goal attempts and he had 40 points in game two on just 23 field goal attempts. A big part of the story of this series so far is that Cleveland's star player has been much more efficient offensively than Chicago's star player has been. This is not just a reflection of the fact that James is a better and more complete player than Rose but also that Cleveland's team defense is better than Chicago's: the Cavs are guarding Rose without fouling and without giving up an undue number of layups/points in the paint, while James has had his way with the Bulls so far.
During his pregame standup, I asked Coach Brown, "Doug Collins often talks about the value of holding the opposing team's star to a point per shot or less. In the first game, Derrick Rose scored 28 points but it took him 28 shots. What guideline do you have as a defensive-minded coach in terms of a ratio of points per shot attempt when you are looking at trying to hold down the other team's star player when you know that in the playoffs he is going to take a lot of shots?"
Coach Brown replied, "I've never really had a guideline. I look at if we are playing good team basketball and winning the game then it doesn't really matter to me if one guy is taking a ton of shots. Now, if one guy is taking a ton of shots and has a chance to beat you by himself or beat you with those shots then I am not necessarily worried about how many points per shot they're getting but now it's a matter of let's try to get the ball out of his hands and make somebody else beat us."
Later, I asked Coach Brown, "Do you expect Derrick Rose to take a similar number of shot attempts in this game or do you think that the Bulls will make an adjustment to be more balanced? What is your expectation?"
Coach Brown answered, "I really don't have any expectation. I'm not sure if he will or if he won't. It will just be a matter of how he feels, I guess. You'd have to ask (him)--he knows better than I do."
I followed up by asking, "From a game planning standpoint I was wondering what you are thinking."
Coach Brown still kept his cards close to the vest: "We've just got to keep making him work for his shots."
Coach Brown always emphasizes the importance of not giving up middle penetration and shots in the paint and his game plan for this series in particular seems to involve letting Rose and other non-jump shooting threats shoot contested two point jumpers while trying to wall off the paint but also not giving up open three point shots to credible three point shooters. Coach Brown does not want to provide any potential bulletin board material but I suspect that he is pleased that Chicago's point guard is taking the bulk of his team's shots without living in the paint or on the free throw line; Rose has had some success driving to the hoop but that success has usually come on contested shots with a high degree of difficulty and it simply is not possible to completely keep Rose out of the paint.
***
I asked Coach Del Negro a couple questions during his pregame standup:
Friedman: "Would you prefer for Derrick Rose to not have quite as many shot attempts, to have a little more balance in the offense?"
Del Negro: "It's easy to say that but if he went, like 26 for 28, everyone would say that he should have taken 35 shots because he was so hot. You know what I mean? It's ridiculous. So, we need him to score but there has to be a good balance. He can't get to the (free throw) line twice. He needs to start getting to the line more but if he takes 28 shots I have to believe he was fouled more than once, so we have to pay attention to that a little bit. His assists and his floor game and all of that, his defense and everything go into it (evaluating how well he played) but the other night I thought that maybe he forced a couple shots of the 28 but I thought that (mostly) they were good shots. He got his floater going, he didn't settle, he was aggressive and we need him to play well--obviously--like he has all year. When he does get in the lane, make plays in terms of finding guys and then guys have to step in and make shots to take some pressure off of him as well. There is a difference between taking 28 shots that are forced and out of character and just taking 28 shots that are in the flow of what he's doing."
Friedman: "You mentioned that other guys have to step up and make shots. Did you feel like some guys were hesitant, maybe they had open shots but did not take them?"
Del Negro: "I don't think anybody was hesitant. You can't rely on the jump shot all the time. You have to realize when you are not knocking shots down how you can be effective, taking things off the dribble, getting to the basket, getting your rhythm at the free throw line and putting some pressure on people. If you are struggling to shoot the basketball and you keep on shooting jump shots then you take some pressure off of the defense and bail them out. It makes the game easier for them. You want to put pressure on people all the time."
***
The Cavs have won their last seven first round playoff games by at least 10 points.
The Cavs are 24-7 in home playoff games since 2006.
Labels: Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Derrick Rose, Jamario Moon, Joakim Noah, LeBron James, Luol Deng, Shaquille O'Neal
posted by David Friedman @ 9:03 AM
Cavs Build 22 Point Lead, Coast to 96-83 Win Over Bulls
Several Cavaliers set career playoff highs in various statistical categories as Cleveland used a balanced attack to defeat Chicago 96-83 in game one of their first round playoff series. LeBron James led the way with a game-high 24 points on 9-19 field goal shooting plus six rebounds, five assists and a playoff career-high four blocked shots but he had a lot of help: Mo Williams added 19 points, a playoff career-high 10 assists and four rebounds, while Anderson Varejao scored eight points and grabbed a playoff career-high 15 rebounds. Antawn Jamison had a double double in his first playoff game as a Cav (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Shaquille O'Neal was aggressive right from the start and he had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists in 25 efficient and productive minutes--an excellent box score line for a 38 year old center who had not played in nearly two months after suffering a thumb injury that required surgery. The Bulls' offense was pretty much the Derrick Rose show: the dynamic second year player produced 28 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds but he also turned the ball over seven times and fired up 28 field goal attempts, a large number for a point guard; Rose shot a solid percentage (13-28, .464) but he only earned two free throw attempts, which means that the Cavs defended without fouling, forcing Rose to work very hard to create shot opportunities for himself and his teammates. Joakim Noah spent most of the game in foul trouble--and he wasted a lot of energy complaining about that; he finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Small forward Luol Deng was Chicago's only other double figure scorer (12 points) but he shot just 5-15 from the field and he had little impact during his 39 minutes of action. Flip Murray pumped in nine points in just 11 minutes, a ratio that he likely could not maintain if given more extensive playing time. The other Bulls were interchangeably invisible for most of the game.
The two big questions about the Cavs coming into this game were how effective O'Neal would be after his long period of inactivity and whether the team in general would be rusty after turning the latter part of the regular season into a second preseason. It did not take long for the Cavs to prove that their fans have no need to worry about either issue--at least not against an opponent as completely outmatched as the Bulls are. Although James missed his first two point blank shot attempts and O'Neal's initial layup attempt also went awry, the Cavs soon asserted their dominance over the Bulls in a variety of ways, taking a 32-18 lead by the end of the first quarter. Jamison got off to a fast start with nine points and five rebounds but O'Neal set the tone with seven points, three rebounds and one assist as the Cavs outscored the Bulls 16-4 in the paint in the first 12 minutes; O'Neal's tremendous presence distorted the Bulls' defense like a badly broken accordion, as the smaller Bulls collapsed into the lane to try to deal with O'Neal and then watched the Cavs use good ball movement to repeatedly create open shots for players left unguarded in the wake of the swath of destruction that O'Neal left.
The Cavs led 56-41 at halftime before scoring 10 points in the first 2:30 of the second half and eventually establishing a 22 point bulge. It seemed like the Cavs could simply name the final score as the Bulls could neither stop the Cavs from scoring nor find a way to get their anemic offense going but then the Cavs began getting sloppy, committing careless turnovers and settling for too many jump shots: in the second half the Cavs shot just 16-39 from the field (.410) after blistering the nets at a .511 clip (23-45) in the first half--and during one extended second half stretch the Cavs shot 9-27 (.333) as the Bulls battled back to trim the lead to 78-71 with 7:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. In theory, that is a quite workable margin for the trailing team with that much time left but the reality--as I
mentioned in my series preview--is that the Bulls will struggle to score 85 points against the Cavs so by that stage the Cavs were in effect just a few made baskets away from essentially putting the game out of reach regardless of what the scoreboard said; sure enough, jumpers by Jamison and Williams plus a Varejao dunk increased the Cavs' point total to 86 by the 4:47 mark and then James iced the game by awaking from his fourth quarter slumber (he did not score in the first 9:31 of the final stanza) with a three point play followed by a long jumper at the 1:28 mark that proved to be the final basket of the game for either team.
In his postgame press conference, Cleveland Coach Mike Brown did everything he could to avoid creating bulletin board material for the Bulls and to try to ward off overconfidence by his team; Brown praised the Bulls for being a "good, gritty team that competes real hard" and he emphasized a point that he made before the game (see below in Notes From Courtside) about how well the Bulls "shrink the floor and make the paint look crowded," which is part of the reason that the Cavs took 23 three point shots and experienced a second half offensive drought.
Chicago Coach Vinny Del Negro said that his team committed too many first quarter turnovers and got overpowered on the boards (Cleveland outrebounded Chicago 50-38) but he saw a silver lining because "our guys fought back in it."
O'Neal was not as lively as he has been in some press conferences but with a straight face he offered up some quirkiness/dry humor: first he declared that the exaggerated way that he ambles down court after a particularly impressive dunk is his "Diesel truck with no brakes" move--his message to opponents to get out of the way or get run over; then, O'Neal said that the Cavs are "LeBron Incorporated" while he is just "an unorthodox CEO who has been hired as a consultant." I still think that
"Big Bill Cartwright" is a very apt description of O'Neal's current role: a 33 year old Cartwright averaged 9.6 ppg and 6.2 rpg in 28.8 mpg (ranking fourth on the team in scoring and third in rebounding) as the Bulls' starting center in 1990-91 when Michael Jordan won the first of his six NBA titles; this season, O'Neal averaged 12.0 ppg and 6.7 rpg in 23.4 mpg for the Cavs, ranking fourth on the team in both scoring and rebounding.
James and Williams shared the stage for their postgame media availability and a very serious looking James was quieter than usual, often deferring to Williams to answer questions that were addressed to both players. James' most extensive response addressed a question about how deep and talented the Cavs are now; James noted that Jamison is a player for whom opposing teams must specifically create a game plan--something that was not true of Cleveland's previous starting power forwards--and he said that the Cavs can now wear down opposing teams by virtue of the number of skilled big men that they have.
The Cavs are so deep up front that two-time All-Star Zydrunas Ilgauskas--who is still a quite skilled pick and pop player in addition to being a good rebounder--played just nine minutes, J.J. Hickson--a very productive young player who started 73 games for the league-leading Cavs this year--played just 40 garbage time seconds and Leon Powe--a rotation player for the 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics who has battled back from knee surgery--was not even on the active list for this game. Thus, depending on matchups, foul trouble and other considerations, the Cavs could literally send out an entirely different wave of three good big men than the crew that wreaked havoc against the Bulls in game one.
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Notes From Courtside:
The Cavs dropped their last four regular season games as Coach Brown "rested" LeBron James and various other key players. In addition to the "rest versus rust" debate there a number of other issues associated with the practice of benching healthy players, including the effect that this has on the league's integrity/competitive balance and the impact that it has on fans who may have only bought one ticket all season long and thus missed the chance to see their favorite player(s) in action (it is easy to say that such fans should have "known better" and thus purchased tickets for earlier games but that option may not have been available for any number of reasons). I am not sure when it became a standard and somewhat accepted policy for healthy players to not play; I may be wrong but it seems to me that when I was a kid some players may have sat out the very last game of the season and/or had their minutes reduced in the final few games but I cannot recall teams deliberately putting an inferior product on the court for several games in a row.
During Coach Brown's pregame standup, I asked him about this: "It seems that in the past more teams played the season out all the way to the end but at some point it became more of a fad or a trend to rest players like you did. When do you think that changed and why do you think that changed?"
Coach Brown replied, "I don't know; I know that when I was in San Antonio (as an assistant coach to Gregg Popovich) from 2000 to 2003 Tim Duncan, at times, or David Robinson, at times, might not have been hurt--this is in the regular season, not just at the end--and Pop would just say, 'Hey, we're going to rest this guy for this game or that game.' So, I've always been around that situation in terms of resting guys whether they are hurt or not hurt. That is since 2000-03. I can't remember when I worked with Bernie (Bickerstaff) or Dan Issel and guys before that if that happened before 2000-03. It might have, it might not have, but I know some of what Popovich has done since I was with him from 2000 on in terms of resting guys."
I then asked, "I was thinking historically in terms of teams that have won 68, 69 or more games; the Bulls won 72 games--those teams had obviously wrapped things up before that last win but they still kept playing their players. Is there something that changed between the 70s, 80s, 90s and now? Or because some of those things happened before you were in the league are you not sure exactly when things might have changed?"
Coach Brown answered, "I got in the league in '92, so I'm not sure what happened before then. I didn't look into it, so I don't know."
For the record, here are some interesting facts and figures about some of the winningest teams in NBA history--none of which rested key players who were not hurt and each of which won the championship:
1) The 1967 Philadelphia 76ers set a league mark with a 68-13 record and won the regular season conference title by eight games but five of their top six players played in all 81 games.
2) Four of the top five players for the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks team that went 66-16 played all 82 games even though the Bucks won the regular season conference title by 15 games.
3) The 1971-72 L.A. Lakers set an all-time wins record--69-13-- that stood for 34 years and won the regular season conference title by six games but four of their top five players played at least 80 games and Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich played in all 82 games.
4) The 1995-96 Bulls went 72-10 and won the East by 12 games but Michael Jordan played in all 82 games and in the final game of the season Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Toni Kukoc each played at least 24 minutes in a "meaningless" 103-93 win over Washington.
5) The following year, the Bulls went 69-13 and won the East by eight games but Jordan and Pippen each played in all 82 games and they logged 39 and 38 minutes respectively in a "meaningless" 103-101 loss to the Knicks in the 82nd game.
***
Before the game, Coach Brown listed two main strengths of the Bulls, a team that he said has "a record (41-41) that doesn't really speak on how good they are (because of the) injuries and distractions that they had this year." Brown said that the Bulls' best attribute offensively is their ability and willingness to repeatedly drive and kick the ball until they get an open shot, while Brown said that defensively the Bulls do an excellent job of "shrinking the floor" and "making that paint look crowded"--i.e., forcing opposing teams to shoot contested jumpers outside of the paint.
***
The next time you read or hear some foolish person spouting off about Coach Brown's supposedly bizarre player rotations during the regular season, keep this quote from Coach Brown's pregame standup in mind:
"A lot of the things that we do during the regular season--we might not say it to our players or publicly--are for the big picture, which is come playoff time. Because we feel we are a championship caliber team, we make sure we use the regular season to get better for the postseason."
So, when Coach Brown takes out your favorite bench player and inserts a bench player who you do not like this does not mean that you know more about how to allocate minutes than Coach Brown does; sometimes, he uses the regular season as a sort of chemistry lab to test out different combinations of players--and this does not mean that he is not trying to win the game in question but rather that he is trying to ultimately put his team in the best possible position to win in the postseason.
Just minutes after Brown made the above remark, James said that he and Coach Brown talked about this very issue before the season began and they reached an understanding that even if it cost the Cavs some wins early in the season it was worth it for Coach Brown to get a better understanding of which lineups were most effective and which lineups were not as effective. I'd say that Coach Brown's laboratory experiments have worked out pretty well in the past few seasons: best record in the NBA two years in a row, two Eastern Conference Finals appearances (2007, 2009) and one NBA Finals appearance (2007).
***
Prior to this game, James had averaged 29.4 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 7.3 apg in 60 career playoff games. No other player in NBA history who has participated in at least 20 playoff games has averaged at least 25 ppg, seven rpg and six apg.
***
The Cavs have posted the best record in the NBA for the past two years. Since the 1976 NBA-ABA merger, only five other teams have had the league's best record for at least two years in a row: the 1980-82 Celtics (tied with the 76ers in 1981), the 1984-86 Celtics, the 1987-88 Lakers, the 1996-98 Bulls (tied with the Jazz in 1998) and the 1998-99 Jazz (tied with the Bulls in 1998). Except for the Jazz, each of those groups won at least one NBA title.
Just leading the Eastern Conference in wins for consecutive seasons is impressive; the only other teams to do that since the merger are the 1980-82 Celtics (tied with the 76ers in 1981), the 1984-88 Celtics, the 1989-90 Pistons, the 1993-94 Knicks (tied with the Hawks in 1994), the 1996-98 Bulls, the 1999-2000 Pacers (tied with Miami in the lockout-shortened 1999 season) and the 2006-07 Pistons. From that elite group only the Knicks, the Pacers and the latter Pistons crew failed to win at least one championship.
Labels: Anderson Varejao, Antawn Jamison, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, LeBron James, Mo Williams, Shaquille O'Neal
posted by David Friedman @ 11:51 PM
Explosive Rose Dazzles as Bulls Stun Celtics
In his first career playoff game, Chicago Bulls rookie point guard Derrick Rose provided a performance for the ages: 36 points on 12-19 field goal shooting and 12-12 free throw shooting, 11 assists and four rebounds in a 105-103 overtime victory over the defending champion Boston Celtics. Rose tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 39 year old NBA record for most points by a rookie in his playoff debut, repeatedly blowing by hapless Boston defenders to either finish strongly at the rim or dish to his teammates for easy scores. The only blemishes on Rose's line were his game-high five turnovers and his six fouls (Rose fouled out with 10 seconds remaining in overtime). Ben Gordon shot just 6-17 from the field but he produced 20 points and five assists, including 12 big fourth quarter points; Gordon is the ultimate feast or famine streak shooter and the Bulls definitely feasted on his clutch buckets down the stretch in game one. Joakim Noah (17 rebounds) and Brad Miller (12 rebounds) dominated the glass as Chicago outrebounded Boston 53-45.
Lost in the deserved superlatives already being heaped on Rose's playoff debut is the fact that in a losing effort his young Boston counterpart nearly matched him point for point and assist for assist: Rajon Rondo had 29 points on 12-21 field goal shooting while also accumulating seven assists and nine rebounds. Rondo only committed one turnover. He certainly shouldered more than his share of the load for the Celtics but Rondo could not overcome the total disappearing act by Ray Allen (four points on 1-12 field goal shooting, including missing a potentially tying jumper as time expired in overtime) and the up and down performance of Paul Pierce: "The Truth" only had four first half points and even though he rallied late to finish with 23 points he shot just 8-21 from the field and missed a free throw with two seconds left in regulation that could have won the game (Chicago had no timeouts left and would have had to immediately inbound the ball and traverse the length of the court had he made that shot). Glen "Big Baby" Davis--who self-deprecatingly called himself "the ticket stub" prior to the game--scored 18 points on 6-15 shooting while starting in place of "The Big Ticket," Kevin Garnett, the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year who is expected to miss this year's playoffs due to a knee injury.
The significance of winning game one should not be minimized; game one winners advance nearly 80% of the time in the NBA playoffs. That said, there are some mitigating factors that suggest that it is premature to write the Celtics off just yet:
1) The Bulls needed a historic level debut by Rose, Tyrus Thomas' best shooting game in the past three weeks and Noah's second highest rebounding total this season in order to win by two points in overtime.
2) Even though Chicago had the aforementioned great performances by several key players, the Celtics still came within one missed free throw from winning in regulation and one missed midrange jumper from extending the game to a second overtime that would have been contested without the fouled out Rose.
3) If you project a Bulls series victory from this one win then you are saying that it is more likely that the young Bulls can duplicate their high level of play three more times than it is that future Hall of Famers Pierce and Allen will not perform that poorly again versus Chicago.
Game one definitely indicated that this series will be more closely contested than I--and most other observers--expected. However, don't put it past the Celtics to tie the series by winning at home in game two and then retake home court advantage by capturing game three in Chicago.
Labels: Ben Gordon, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Joakim Noah, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen
posted by David Friedman @ 2:48 AM
