Jun
11
SPURIOUS COMEBACK!
Filed Under Loose Balls
Spurs Dominate through Three Quarters before Cavs Come to Life Way Too Late in Game Two!
After playing with no life and trailing by 27 points at one time in the second half of Game Two of the 2007 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers used a furious rally in the fourth quarter to at least make things interesting before succumbing 103-92 to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night.
Tony Parker once again had a big game, going off for 30 points. Tim Duncan just missed a triple double with 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists while Manu Ginobli rebounded from a sub-par Game One with 25 points and a huge four-point play late in the fourth quarter after Cleveland cut the game to eight points.
As for Lebron James, he picked up two early fouls in the first three minutes of the game and was relegated to the bench. San Antonio quickly opened up the game at that point. While scoring 25 points, James is not being aggressive enough in this series. Take the damn ball to the hoop and draw some fouls. You are not a good jump shooter, Lebron.
Here are my comments on Game Two.
Key Performers:
? Tony Parker: Another big game. Cleveland was letting him beat them with the jumper early and slowed him for a couple of minutes. However, as the game started to get out of control, Parker was able to get to the hole and do whatever he wanted.
With that said, Cleveland needs to play Parker physically. I don’t care what anyone says, you can get in Parker’s head. Parker looked a bit jittery as Cleveland made its run before getting away with an atrocious travel and knocking down a toilet-bowel jumper. What will it take for someone to put this guy on the floor. All he does is get layups. I know he’s quick, but Cleveland’s got to protect the rim.
? Tim Duncan: Just missed a triple-double. Cleveland Coach Mike Brown, who is having an absolutely terrible series thus far, needs to get Zydrunas Ilgauskas (who has also been brutal) off of Duncan and play more Drew Gooden and Anderson Varejao on him. Duncan was losing his cool late in the game when Cleveland made its comeback, which thus shows that if you can get physical with him, you can get him frustrated.
? Robert Horry: Good defensive game with five blocks and nine rebounds. Second-best performance in the playoffs, with his knockdown of Steve Nash serving as his biggest and cheapest contribution, regardless of what else he does.
? Manu Ginobli: 25 points off the bench, with 11 of his points coming at the free throw line. Big four-point play in the fourth quarter stopped Cleveland’s comeback.
? San Antonio Offense and Defense: For the first three quarters, the Spurs played an excellent game. They had great energy and ball movement on offense, and were equally aggressive on the defensive end. San Antonio has done a great job of hedging out on James in the first two games of the series, especially Duncan.
Cleveland Disappointments:
? Lebron James: I understand how he’s the type of player that does not necessarily look to dominate with the shot. But it comes to the point that you’ve got to go to the hole and make things happen with your incredible skill. James has been out-of-sorts and too nonchalant in the series. I hate when players turn it on when they want, and James too often does this. Keep running those Witness commercials Nike. James may have had an incredible Game Five performance against the Pistons, but he is nowhere near the level of Michael Jordan nor will he ever be. Jordan had the killer instinct and competitive edge for all 48 minutes of the game. James does so whenever he feels like it.
As Cleveland had a legitimate shot with less than four minutes to go, Lebron needed to be on the attack instead of letting San Antonio trap him. Attack the rim. Earlier in the game, James settled way too much for the jumper. With that said, it usually takes him a home game to get into a series. I’m expecting James to be a much different player in Game Three on Tuesday night in Cleveland.
? Mike Brown: This guy could be the worst coach to ever make the NBA Finals. Maybe he’s gotten Cleveland to be a better defensive team this year, but the Cavs certainly didn’t have it tonight. Brown has failed to make any adjustments this series and has pulled his players in the final minutes in the last two games. While the games were most likely over, Brown’s players haven’t given him a reason to pull them late.
Brown is absolutely making no adjustments. Big Z and Larry Hughes have been atrocious. Start Daniel Gibson and give Drew Gooden more minutes. These two guys have been Cleveland’s best players in the series. As I always suspected about Brown, he’s a caretaker and not much of a coach. It may be a pleasant guy off the court, but on it, he doesn’t do much. We’ve seen too many shots of Brown with his hands in his pockets this series.
? Zydrunas Ilgauskas: Big Z has been brutal. Can’t score against San Antonio’s big front line or even get garbage put backs to go. On defense, Duncan is burning him. Ilgauskas is seven-foot-three and does not put his hands up to alter shots. With everyone in the world knowing what he’s going to do, Duncan has gone to the bank shot several times when facing up Ilgauskas in this series. Zydrunas has barely made an effort to alter Duncan’s vision of the hoop.
? Larry Hughes: Giving Cleveland nothing. He’s hurt but not an excuse for some of the dumb passes that he’s been making. Every minute he’s out there is a minute that could be going to Daniel Gibson.
? Sasha Pavlovic: At least, he was aggressive tonight. Pavlovic was not too heady though and forced a lot of stuff. I’ll take his effort over what other Cavs have been giving.
Cleveland Positives
? Daniel Gibson: I underestimated this guy. He’s playing with urgency and no fear. Had 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting. More importantly, he’s being aggressive and going to the rim with no fear of Duncan or anyone else on San Antonio. Start this guy and let him play some defense on Parker. I think Gibson can be physical and pesky enough to give Parker some problems. You could live with his defensive mistakes as Gibson is at least giving you offense whereas Hughes has scored two points in the entire series.
? Drew Gooden: Maybe Cleveland should get him some touches early in the game. Let him face up the Spurs and take it to the rim. Gooden has been aggressive in the first two games of this series. Had 13 points on 6-for-12 shooting. Only had two fouls and only got 24 minutes. Mike Brown has not used him well this series. I would like to see Gooden and Varejao out there more together.
Final Analysis: San Antonio is halfway there to its fourth title in nine years. James has been disappointing. Mike Brown is a fraud. Cleveland has sucked but has bounced back from an 0-2 deficit to get Game Three at home before, which I’m expecting the Cavs to do in Game Three.
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Mike Brown really hurt the Cavs by sitting Lebron, especially once the Spurs made a run. That was the time to get him back in the game, he wouldn’t have been able to play aggressive D, but at least there would have been some offense.
By the time he got back in the game, every one of the Spurs were warm and took it to hot. Lebron was cold coming off the bench and the rest of team just confused.
Especially Larry Hughes - possibly the most overpaid player on the team. He was brought in as a 2 - (that Scottie Pippen role) but bad foot or not, he’s nothing but a 3 on a good day. He didn’t have to do much but be scrappy on the Wizards.
His lack of offense is just embarrassing and he plays like he could care less about the outcome.
Bench him for Boobie immediately.
The guy hits shots, plays D, with Sasha and as you pointed out Drew Gooden, it’s the Cavs best chance at putting points on the board.
Alex, thanks for the comment. I agree with you about Larry Hughes. Never been a big fan of his; he’s always seemed to be too hit or miss for my liking. He was brought into Cleveland to be a number two and he has been a huge disappointment. He was a three in Washington, and was able to get away with how he is playing now because Arenas was always scoring and Jamison was typically decent. While he is playing hurt, Hughes is giving Cleveland nothing. Gibson has really impressed me (I was not a fan of him at Texas). He’s playing with the type of aggression and confidence that you rarely see from rookies this late in the playoffs. Brown needs to adjust or this series will be over after Game Three.